I started gardening in Zone 6A in Michigan. Our last frost date was mid-May most years, and even that could not always be trusted. I concentrated on warm-weather crops and paid very little attention to cool-weather crops. I grew chard, turnips, tomatoes, zucchini, and Quinault strawberries for the kids.
Once summer was over and the plants had died, gardening was finished for that year. I was young and had very little gardening imagination or insight. Years later, I brought that same limited gardening attitude with me to the state of Florida. When it comes to gardening, Florida does not take prisoners.
Gardening in Florida was brutally heartbreaking. Each year, I was left feeling like a complete moron. My gardening self-esteem was broken so badly that I avoided the garden centers in the big-box stores. I knew I couldn't do it.
Why couldn't I do it? For starters, I had to unlearn everything I had learned about gardening in Michigan. Since that was all I knew, I held on to it like super glue. I planted everything directly in the ground in areas where the plants could get full sunlight. Those seedlings were lucky to live a week. Planting in sand and exposing tender seedlings to intense, direct sunlight was the worst thing I could have done.
Eventually, I graduated to grow bags on a shaded porch. Yes, I could grow some cucumbers and tomatoes, but that was not going to put much of a dent in my grocery bill. Even with that goal, I was still planting for only one season. When a cucumber plant was struggling and begging to be put out of its misery, I was still coaxing it along for one more cucumber. By the end of summer, I had very few plants left. Little did I know that fall was a wonderful growing season in Florida.
I don't know exactly when it clicked in my brain that I could replace spring vegetables with summer vegetables, and then replace summer vegetables with crops suited to a Florida winter. That realization changed my gardening life. It is the only logical way I have found to get the most out of gardening in Florida.
When you never allow your garden to go dormant, and you stay mindful of Florida's unique growing cycle, you can keep produce moving from your garden to your table throughout the year.