Welcome to the first edition of FNP Garden News! | |
Here you will find recommendations on garden activities for the season, suggestions for connecting your garden with classroom activities, tips for engaging your school community to support your garden program, and spotlights showcasing your very own beautiful gardens around the state. Let’s Dig In! | |
It's Vegetable Planting Time! | |
In Florida, fall is often considered the beginning of the garden season and is a great time for planting a large selection of cool-season garden crops. If you have existing garden beds, remove cover crops or weeds, harvest any remaining summer crops such as sweet potatoes, till the soil, and add fresh soil amendments (compost or fertilizer) in preparation for planting your fall season crops! | |
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Selecting Your Garden Crops - What to Plant in Fall | |
Fall is the time for planting cool-loving vegetables such as brassicas, lettuce, and cilantro and getting your long-season crops such as carrots planted so they have a full cool season to develop. Check out the October Planting calendar below for what to plant in your region in Florida. | |
Cole crops are cool crops! | |
Did you know cole
crops include broccoli,
cabbage, cauliflower, Brussels sprouts, Chinese cabbage, and kohlrabi? These cole
crops are cool-season
vegetables, and in
Florida, the autumn
months are the best
time to plant them.
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Check out the November and December planting calendars if you are planting in these upcoming months! | | |
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Have you tried Square Foot Gardening? | | |
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With square foot gardening, plants are placed close together in order to increase the vegetable yield per square foot. This can also help with weed control since the closely growing plants will create a shady canopy, making it more difficult for weeds to take over your vegetable bed.
You'll plant either one, four, nine, or sixteen plants per square. Exactly how many depends on what you are planting.
Want to learn more? Click here to find out more information on square foot gardening.
Source: UF/IFAS Extension Solutions for Your Life
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Gardens can serve as a resource to learn and grow in many subject areas – math, science, language arts, social skills, mental health, nutrition, physical activity, and more! You can use your creativity to integrate the garden with your classroom lessons, and many fun gardening curricula resources are available to support you. | |
Contact FNP in your area to learn about our FREE opportunities for scheduling nutrition education lessons in your school. | |
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Fall Is The Time To: Eat Your
Sweet Potatoes!
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Did you know October is National Farm to School Month?
You can celebrate by hosting a Florida Crunch event at school!
This is a tasting event that highlights something grown in our state. It can include collaboration between many partners such as FNS departments, Florida farmers, students, chefs, FNP, and more - you can celebrate in your classroom with your students or with the whole school in the cafeteria.
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Check out our Florida Crunch Toolkit for ideas to plan your own event! Reach out to FNP for promotional resources and support with activities to celebrate Farm to School Month in your school.
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Have you considered engaging classrooms, teachers, parents, community groups, and members in your school community with your garden? |
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There are many roles and
ways to invite support for
your garden program.
Check out the Florida School Garden Planner for some planning resources and ideas for growing your garden team.
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This material was funded by the USDA’s Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program – SNAP. This institution is an equal opportunity provider. SNAP funding is provided through the Florida Department of Children and Families. | | | | |
