Growing seasons in Central Florida are honestly a little crazy. The average last spring frost is on January 30th, and the average first fall frost is Dec. 20. That means that planting recommendations for season extension can run right into each other. For example, if you can plant broccoli 6 weeks before the last spring frost, that runs you right up to BEFORE the first fall frost.
Not that I'm complaining. We have one of the shortest frost danger seasons in the nation (except for South Florida, for which the books literally read "no frost" instead of a date)! For some parts of the country, the last spring frost date is in May or June. What a short growing season that is!
Why, then, do we Southerners need to pay any attention to season-extension recommendations? While we have a super-long season, the majority of it is too hot to grow "cool season" vegetables. Let's take broccoli again as an example. If we wait until spring to plant it, the weather will heat up to temperatures outside of broccoli's growing range far before it's ready to harvest. If it's too hot for broccoli, the plant will never form a "head," which is a problem since that's the part we eat. Similarly, if the weather is too warm for lettuce, it will get really bitter (we can testify to that!) and will produce flowers and seeds instead of edible leaves.
Don't let your long growing season go to your head! You, too, need to look into season extension methods and be on the ball if you want to grow any true "spring" (cool weather) crops.
Note: Readers may be interested in skimming back through earlier posts, as I've recently added links (especially notable for the composting post) and pictures.
Book used for above research: The Backyard Vegetable Factory (Duane Newcomb)
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