JACKSONVILLE BEACH, Fla. – Now that we’ve shown you how to build a home garden, it’s time to plant.
HOME GROWN: Planting the first seeds of our new series to help you grow your own food
There are several vegetables you can start growing right now. We picked ones we can harvest for our holiday meals: carrots, lettuce and broccoli.
Mary Ellen Waugh, my mom who manages the garden at BEAM in Jacksonville Beach, showed me some tricks to planting them starting with broccoli, which you should buy as a seedling.
She said before you put it in the ground, you need to prune it.
“So you need to make sure you trim off what are called the false leaves. Those are the first two leaves that come out of a seed,” Waugh said, demonstrating as she clipped them with a scissor along the bottom of the stem of the broccoli seedling.
She also showed us the importance of burying a seedling deep enough to support the weight of the vegetable plant as it grows.
“We’re going to plant all the way up to here,” she showed along the stem pointing to about an inch below the bottom of the top leaves. “This will grow root, in addition to the root that is already growing on the bottom.”
That helps prevent the plant from leaning to one side as it grows, she explained.
She said she also loosens the root bottom of the seedling after removing it from the plastic planter to help it spread out easily when it’s buried.
We stagger the broccoli seedlings as we plant them in the vegetable box to allow them plenty of room to grow.
We purposely planted carrots in the next section of the box closest to where we planted the broccoli. Why?
As the broccoli grows it will shade the plants next to it. Carrots are an inground vegetable so the impact will be minimal from the shading.
Carrots can be planted from seed. Use a rake to push back the soil.
You do not need to plant them deep, about 1/2 an inch will do. Sprinkle the carrot seeds and then cover them with the dirt you moved to plant them.
Waugh likes to pat the ground where we planted the carrot seeds to keep any soil or seeds from being moved by the wind.
Lettuce can also be planted by seed, we buried Simpson black seed lettuce because it’s heat tolerant and grows better in our climate.
We used the same technique as we did with the carrot seeds to plant the lettuce.
Here is a list of other vegetables that grow well this time of year:
- Cabbage (seedling)
- Cauliflower (seedling)
- Broccoli (seedling)
- Kale
- Spinach
- Beets
- Brussels sprouts
- Peas
- Radish
- Turnips
- Collard greens
- Swiss chard
- Mustard greens
Companion plants
Do your homework before you plant! Some vegetables do not grow well together in the same box.
“I suggest gardeners look up online the best and worst companion plant for your vegetables,” Waugh said. “The best companion plant either adds nutrients to the soil that your vegetable needs or emits a fragrance that wards off pests that may damage your plant.
“For example, broccoli likes fragrant herbs such as dill, oregano, or sage. It does not do well with pumpkins or asparagus as they compete with the soil nutrients that broccoli needs to grow,” said Waugh. “Cauliflower loves nasturtium, thyme or spinach, but does not do well with radishes, onions or garlic. Cabbage grows well with beets, celery or marigolds. It does not like lettuce or pole beans. Nobody does well with fennell.”
Many local nurseries sell seeds, but Waugh orders BEAM’s from Johnny’s Selected Seeds. Heirloom seeds can be purchased from Baker Creek Heirloom Seed Company.
We hope you will follow our progress as we watch our vegetables grow and that you plant alone with us.
Email me if you have any questions or send me your pictures: jwaugh@wjxt.com.