Florida Gardening in August

Don’t let August’s weather limit you and your garden!  It may be hot and raining daily, but Florida Gardeners and Gardenistas can plant heat tolerant plants and plan for months to come.  Here are ideas for prepping and planting for folks on the Central Florida coast, a.k.a Hardiness Zone 9B.

Prep & Grow

Start with the soil.  The success of your flowers, vegetables, and herbs is very closely related to the health of the soil.  Many homeowners make the mistake of feeding the plant and don’t think about the soil. Gardenistas and gardeners can improve the health of the soil by amending with organic material, such as compost, garden soil, yard cuttings, and cold manure.   

A lot of money can be saved by growing edibles and plants from seeds or bulbs.  Avoid old seeds/bulbs by looking for the stamped “Packaged for 2019” usually found on the back bottom of the packaging. Tomatoes, beans, carrots are vegetables that you can start now to be harvested in the Fall.  Bulbs such as the Aztec lily, butterfly lily, walking iris (one of my personal favorites), and spider lily will offer great color and depth in your beds.  Look below for inspirational tips for what to plant:  


Edibles

  • Cantaloupe

  • Collard

  • Corn

  • Cucumber

  • Eggplant

  • Lima bean

  • Okra

  • Pumpkin

  • Snap bean

  • Southern pea 

  • Squash

  • Tomato

Gardenista tips:

  1. Melon and pumpkin seeds must be planted during the first part of August.

  2. Choose nematode-resistant veggie cultivars, if you can.

  3. Tomatoes like extra large containers and moist soil.

  4. Train vine crops early on stakes or trellises. 

  5. Planting flowers that pollinators love often yields a stronger harvest.

 

Bulbs: 

  • African iris

  • Aztec lily

  • Amaryllis

  • Bulbine

  • Canna

  • Day lily

  • Gloriosa lily

  • Louisiana iris

  • Spider lily

  • Society garlic

  • Rain lily

  • Walking iris 

Time to Plant

When visiting your local garden center, select annuals that can take the heat.  Plants like coleus and vinca offer a pop of color and can tolerate the height of the Florida summer.  For the herb garden, I find rosemary, Mexican tarragon, and ginger to be most resilient this time of year.  Below is a list of flowers and herbs best to plant in August for those 9b folks:

Flowers:

  • Angelonia

  • Begonia

  • Black-eyed Susan vine

  • Blue daze

  • Butterfly weed 

  • Chrysanthemums

  • Coreopsis

  • Coleus

  • Lantana

  • Marigold

  • Moon flower

  • Pentas

  • Periwinkle

  • Porter weed

  • Purslane

  • Salvia

  • Stokes aster

  • Sunflower

  • Torenia

  • Vinca

  • Zinnia

Herbs:

  • Anise

  • Basil

  • Chive

  • Dill 

  • Ginger

  • Lemon balm

  • Mexican tarragon

  • Mint

  • Oregano

  • Rosemary

  • Sage

  • Thyme


Monitor, Maintain, & Refrain

During the hottest months of the year, I do more container gardening rather than planting directly in the Florida soil.  I can monitor and control the elements better in a pot or hanging planter - increasing the survival rate of my new plant babies.  If the plant is getting too much sun or too much rain, it can be easily moved rather than dig it up out of the ground.  

Gardenista tip: Cleaning pots and planters before planting will minimize the spread of funguses and diseases between plants.  

The rain isn’t letting up and some of your plants may be showing signs of stress because they are losing nutrients.  Mulch conserves water, protects the roots, and overall promotes new and mature plants to thrive. If you haven’t started your mulching project, I’d recommend doing it ... ASAP! 

A few times a week, walk around your yard to deadhead, prune, and observe your plants to identify problem areas like deficiencies, diseases, or infestations early.  Common palm deficiencies are magnesium or potassium, which becomes visible by the yellowing of the fronds. Azomite is a natural solution that will help rebuild the health of the soil. 

Fertilizing to fix deficiencies is a very common gardener’s conclusion.  Most counties in the state of Florida currently (usually from June till the end of September) have a Fertilizer Blackout, or ban.  It doesn’t matter if it’s Weed and Feed for grass or fertilizer for your ornamental flowers, fertilizer is fertilizer. I’ve come across some homeowners while working at the Master Gardener Help Desk who rationalize that “A little fertilizer won’t hurt anything.” There are bans for several reasons and if everyone had that mindset, we would be in an even worse environmental situation that we are today.  O.K. I’ll get off my Soapbox now, promise!!


Whatever you decide to do in August, don’t be too hard on your plant parenting.  The summer months can be ruthless on our gardens. If nothing else, take this time to research, plan and organize what you want to do in your garden for future months.  And remember to be patient and have fun. Happy gardening!    



Kristy Buchler