Category: Producing Your Own Food

Spring Harvest Tour – GA & FL

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Find the complete tour guidebook by clicking HERE.

Brought to you by the Millstone Institute of Preservation, the Spring Harvest Tour 2025 will take you on a self-guided tour of over 30 different local businesses. Highlighting local producers, growers, and creators through South Georgia and North Florida, the tour will take place May 10th and 11th. 

Many of the featured businesses will be hosting classes, workshops, talks, or other activities throughout the weekend. More information on each participant’s offering can be found in the guidebook. Some highlights include: Allison Acres offering a class on blueberry care, Sandhills Native Nursery offering a Native Harvest talk, Forty Creeks Farms’ Sustainable Gardening Practices talk, and Sweet Magnolia Ridge’s cooking demonstrations – all just a fraction of the offered opportunities!

The Institute recommends that you come prepared: bring a cooler for all your goodies, wear close-toed shoes, bring sunscreen and bug spray, carry cash, and bring plenty of water.

 

2nd Annual Sandhills Celebration

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Click image to learn more!

Founded in the Bay County, Sandhills Native Nursery is hosting their 2nd Annual Sandhills Celebration! It’s an event focused on education and conservation taking place on April 12th &13th. Join them for two family-friendly days of scheduled educational talks, local community organizations, animal ambassadors, local artists, food, trails, and more! The event is free to attend but bring cash for art vendors, food and drinks from local cafe Wild Root, plant purchases, and more. Parking is limited, please carpool. 

 

Day of the Mushroom

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Today is the Day of the Mushroom! It’s a day to celebrate all things fungi. Mushrooms prefer dark or shady areas; that’s why they are often found on forest floors. The best time to hunt for mushrooms is a few days after a good rain. To celebrate these fun guys, here’s a list of local edible mushrooms to keep an eye out for while out in the woods today!

PLEASE REMEMBER: when foraging any food, do not eat it if you’re not 100% sure what it is – better safe than sorry. Additionally, here is a quick guideline for identifying mushrooms:

  • Season: the time of year you can find them.
  • Cap: top part of the stalk. Look for width, shape, and color.
  • Underside of Cap: look for pores, spines/teeth, gill-like ridges, and tubes.
  • Stem (stipe): on which the cap sits. Look for strips, striations, rings, and protrusions.

MUSHROOMS:

Chanterelles (Cantharellus cibarius)
King Bolete (Boletus Edulis)
Common Puffball (Lycoperdon Perlatum)

Jackson County Seed Library

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The Jackson County Public Library is hosting its Seed Library Kickoff tomorrow! Head over to the library from 10:30am to 1:30pm to benefit from this season’s seeds. Adults with a current library card can get up to FOUR seed packs. The Library would like to thank the Master Gardener Program and the UF|IFAS Extension Office for their support. Learn more by visiting the event Facebook page. 

Winter Veggies

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Despite the cold nights, it’s not a bad time to plant certain herbs and vegetables. Some herbs thrive in the cold weather; consider planting parsley, dill, garlic, and cilantro. The list of cold-hardy vegetables is shorter but there are still some great choices: English pea, cabbage, radish, beet, and broccoli.

Now is also a good time to start planning your spring garden, especially if you would prefer to start from seed. Beginning now gives you the time to choose your plants, secure seeds, and start them indoors. Most vegetables are more successful if they are transplanted rather than sown directly in the garden. Some good warm-season crops to start inside are tomatoes, peppers, and eggplants. 

August Gardening

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August might seem like it’s too hot for planting but that’s not the case in the Florida Panhandle! Now is a good time to transplant a number of fall crops and start a variety of seeds. Transplant beets, broccoli, Brussels Sprouts, cabbage, cauliflower, collards, eggplant, kale, peppers, tomatoes, and tropical spinaches. As for seeds, now is a good time to start lima beans, pole beans, carrots, cucumbers, onions, squashes, and turnips.

May (Veggie) Gardening Tips

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Here in the Florida Panhandle, May weather can be hard to pinpoint when attempting to work in the garden. Here are some tips for making the most of your veggie garden in May:

  • Periodically harvest from your spring garden to keep it going for as long as possible.
  • Plant tomatoes, okra, green beans, cucumbers, squash, eggplant, peppers, and melons. 
  • If you want lettuce, choose a heat-tolerant variety. This is the last chance to harvest lettuce for spring/summer.
  • Water your crops regularly and adequately according to their needs; skip days with adequate rain.
  • Plant okra, melons, squash, and green beans.

April Planting in the Florida Panhandle

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Now is the perfect time to begin planting your garden for the summer haul! April is a good time to transplant gingers, roselle, and tomatoes. If you have any starters ready to put in the ground, now’s the time! April is also a good time to transplant long squash, luffa, papaya, Seminole pumpkin, and sweet potatoes; however, these baby plants are still a little sensitive to the weather, so be sure to watch these transplants carefully after planting them. There is also a number of seeds that can be planted in April including beans (bush, lima, pole), cantaloupes, corn, cucumbers, okra, peanuts, peas, squashes, and watermelons. 

If you’d like to begin preparing for May planting, consider starting tropical spinaches, pigeon pea, amaranth, calabaza, Seminole pumpkin, or sweet potatoes inside the home or in a greenhouse. This way they have time to root properly before it is time to transplant them in May. For more detailed information about gardening in the Florida Panhandle, visit THIS LINK to access the UF | IFAS Extension North Florida Vegetable Gardening Guide.