Vegetable planting calendar — Sebastian, Florida

Sebastian follows the central Florida column of the UF/IFAS Florida Vegetable Gardening Guide, which covers the part of the state between State Road 40 and State Road 70.

UF/IFAS splits Florida into three planting zones by highway. North is all of Florida north of State Road 40, central is the section between State Roads 40 and 70, and south is everything below State Road 70 (UF/IFAS VH021). Sebastian, at the north end of Indian River County, lies well south of State Road 40 and north of State Road 70, so the guide's central dates are the ones that match the city.

The difference between columns is real for a Sebastian garden. The same table gives bulbing onions an October slot in central Florida, while the north column runs September to December. Tomatoes go in during January to February and again in August to September in the central column, against late March to April and August in the north. Planting dates for edible gardening in Florida are being reviewed, and UF/IFAS directs gardeners to their county Extension office for the most current advice (UF/IFAS Gardening Solutions), which for Sebastian is UF/IFAS Extension Indian River County.

In Sebastian, cool-season crops go in from October through January, warm-season crops from February through April, heat-tolerant southern crops in May through July, and fall tomatoes and beans in August and September.

The calendar's monthly notes carry warnings as well as lists. In February, cold-tender vegetables need protection if a frost or freeze is predicted, and by June it is too late to plant tomatoes (UF/IFAS EP450). In July and August the same calendar points Sebastian gardeners to solarizing the vegetable bed to prepare for fall planting, and July is the month to start Halloween pumpkins while watching for mildew.

Around Sebastian, tomatoes, peppers and most other warm-season crops have two central Florida windows, roughly January to April in spring and August to September in fall, per UF/IFAS.

The two-season pattern comes from summer heat, not winter cold. Supported tomatoes are listed for January to February and August to September in central Florida, peppers for January to March and August to September, and bush beans for February to April and August to September (UF/IFAS VH021). Okra and southern peas are the exception: their central window runs February to August, which is why the calendar names them for May, June and July in Indian River County gardens.

Days to harvest decide when a spring crop has to be in the ground. A supported tomato needs 90 to 110 days from seed, so a Sebastian bed seeded in late February is harvesting into June, the month the calendar says is too late to start new tomatoes. Sweet potatoes, at 85 to 130 days and planted February to June, carry a Sebastian garden through the summer.

Cool-season vegetables in Sebastian are planted from late summer through winter, with broccoli, cabbage, kale and lettuce listed for September to February in the central Florida column.

The long fall and winter window is the main advantage of a garden in Indian River County. Carrots run August to March, Irish potatoes November to February and bulbing onions October in the central column (UF/IFAS VH021). Strawberries have the tightest slot of any crop on the list: September 25 to October 25 in central Florida.

The monthly calendar repeats the point. October is for crops that will grow and produce through the winter months, including broccoli, collards, kale and lettuce, and December still lists celery, cauliflower, lettuce, cabbage and carrot (UF/IFAS EP450). Seed for these Sebastian winter crops is the kind found in the seed collection on Digital Towns Market. Digital Towns Market is our marketplace.

Frost is occasional rather than routine in central Florida, so the Sebastian calendar is limited more by summer heat and rain than by cold, with June the cutoff for new tomatoes.

UF/IFAS states that frosts and freezes occur occasionally in central Florida and rarely in south Florida (UF/IFAS VH021). For spring gardens in north and central Florida, the planting time for most frost-tender plants is March, and planting earlier means being ready to cover tender vegetables against late frosts (UF/IFAS Gardening Solutions). Frost-hardy vegetables can go in much earlier, which is why January plantings in Sebastian lean on potatoes, peas and greens.

Fall is described the same way across the guide. UF/IFAS calls fall an excellent time to start a vegetable garden in Florida, with broccoli, lettuce, carrots, Brussels sprouts and radishes among the cool-season choices, and advises removing dead or diseased plant matter from beds used for spring and summer crops (UF/IFAS Gardening Solutions). In a Sebastian yard that usually means clearing the summer okra and sweet potato beds in August or September before fall seeding.

Vegetable gardens are exempt from the summer fertilizer blackout in the Sebastian city code, and UF/IFAS Extension Indian River County in Vero Beach is the local source for current Sebastian planting advice.

The county ordinance bars fertilizer application between June 1 and September 30 and when a flood, tropical storm or hurricane watch or warning is in effect, but it lists vegetable gardens and trees grown for edible fruit among its exemptions (Indian River County). The ordinance, No. 2013-012 as amended by No. 2013-014, was approved by the Indian River County Board of County Commissioners on August 20, 2013, and it requires fertilizer with nitrogen to contain at least 50 percent slow release nitrogen beginning June 1, 2014. The City of Sebastian adopted its own fertilizer rules for homeowners in May 2012 (Vero News). Those rules, now Section 50-5 of the city code, apply within the City of Sebastian, bar fertilizer containing nitrogen or phosphorus from June 1 through September 30 and exempt vegetable gardens and trees grown for their edible fruit (City of Sebastian). The county ordinance applies in the unincorporated areas.

Help is local. UF/IFAS Extension Indian River County lists its office at 1800 27th Street in Vero Beach, phone (772) 226-4330 (UF/IFAS Extension Indian River County), and runs the county Master Gardener program, whose volunteers are trained through the University of Florida to educate residents in research-based Florida-friendly gardening (IRC Master Gardener Program). Transplant trays, soil and other grow supplies for Sebastian beds appear in the grow supplies collection on Digital Towns Market.