Tomatoes rank high among the favorites for home gardeners, cherished for their versatility and flavor. Whether planted in traditional garden beds, confined to containers, nurtured in hydroponic setups, or suspended in hanging baskets, tomatoes thrive in the Florida Panhandle given the right care and understanding of essential growing principles. With a bit of advice and a dash of perseverance, achieving a beautiful harvest of delicious tomatoes is not only fun but also fulfilling. Check out these tips for successfully growing tomatoes in your home garden.
A bin of cherry tomatoes UF/IFAS Photo by Amy Stuart
PERFECT TIMING In the Panhandle, we’re fortunate because we can start planting tomatoes earlier than many other places. But because tomatoes thrive in warm weather, it’s important to wait until the risk of frost is gone before putting them outside. If you’re eager to begin, you can start growing tomato seedlings indoors. Once the weather warms up, you can move these seedlings outside. Another option is to plant tomatoes in lightweight containers. This makes it easy to protect them if there’s a late frost or freeze by moving them to a safer spot. However, don’t delay planting your tomatoes for too long! They need time to grow and produce fruit before the summer heat sets in. Once nighttime temperatures stay above about 80 degrees consistently, larger tomatoes might stop growing fruit. But smaller types like cherry and grape tomatoes usually do just fine.
DETERMINATE OR INDETERMINATE Some tomatoes, called determinate or “bush” types, grow to a specific size and don’t need pruning. Their fruits all ripen together within 1-3 weeks, which is great for container gardening and canning. Then there are indeterminate or “vine” tomatoes, which keep growing and producing fruit all season long. These kinds need support like stakes and some pruning to keep them neat and tidy in the garden.
RIGHT PLANT, RIGHT PLACE Tomatoes are sun-lovers, needing about four to six hours of sunlight every day. So, when planting them, choose a sunny spot in your yard. Before planting, consider getting your soil tested by your local Extension office. You’re aiming for a soil pH between 6.2 to 6.5, which is ideal for tomatoes. Also, enrich your soil with organic materials like composted manure. When planting your tomatoes, it’s helpful to bury them slightly deeper than they were in their original pots. This encourages better root growth.
TOP TOMATO VARIETIES FOR THRIVING IN NORTH FLORIDA’S CLIMATE Florida’s warm and sometimes damp weather can cause problems with insects and diseases that harm tomatoes. To avoid these issues, it’s smart to pick tomato types that can resist common diseases such as verticillium wilt and fusarium wilt, as well as pests like nematodes. Check the seed package for information about resistance. For this region, some good choices are the ‘Better Boy’ and ‘Celebrity’ varieties. If you prefer heirloom tomatoes, think about trying ‘Cherokee Purple’ and ‘Green Zebra’.
Tomatoes are better able to resist disease and dry off quickly after rain showers when they are trellised. Photo credit Anh Ngo Hoang (Pixabay)
PROVIDE SUPPORT For tomatoes that keep growing, like indeterminate ones, people often use wire cages, stakes, or trellis systems to support them. It’s a good idea to put these supports in place either right before planting or shortly after, so you don’t mess up the plant’s roots. As the tomato plants get bigger, you can use clips or ties to attach them to the support. Another way is to put stakes between each plant in a row and weave string through them to help support the plants as they grow taller.
FEEDING THE PLANT & TAILORING FERTILIZATION Just like people need food to grow, tomatoes also need specific nutrients to thrive. Using a fertilizer with a ratio like 6-8-8 or something similar will provide these essential nutrients for your plants. You can choose between a liquid fertilizer mix or granular fertilizer. It’s important to fertilize when you plant your tomatoes and continue to do so regularly during the growing season to keep them healthy and strong.
DROPLETS OF SUCCESS Pick a location for your garden that’s near a water source, like a hose or watering can. Drip irrigation is a good choice because it gives the right amount of water and helps keep leaves dry to prevent diseases. Make sure watering your plants is convenient for you. Aim to water your garden with about 1-2 inches of water each week to keep your tomatoes healthy.
Tomatoes growing on a vine. Photo taken 05-20-21
Successfully growing tomatoes requires attention to detail and consistent care. Ultimately, providing your tomatoes with the proper care such as adequate water, sunlight, and nutrients, is essential for their health and productivity. With these practices in mind, you can look forward to a harvest of delicious tomatoes from your Panhandle garden. For more information about growing tomatoes in the Florida Panhandle, contact your local County Extension Office.
Muscadine cluster Credit: Peter C. Andersen, UF/IFAS Extension
Muscadines are a terrific grapey treat this time of year ’till fall throughout North Florida. To grow muscadines well in the home garden, care must be taken when pruning to maximize spatial efficiency and yield.
August is the very beginning of the muscadine harvest in the Florida Panhandle, which may last until October. Therefore it is also the time to begin thinking about pruning.
Once harvest concludes, it is usually a gardeners’ natural inclination to immediately prune their muscadine vines. This fast action is not the best for plant condition and next year’s yield, especially if there is an early frost. Early frosts surprise the plant before sugars have been moved to the roots for storage during dormancy. Therefore, waiting to prune in mid January to mid March will ensure that the vine has had adequate time to go dormant and acclimate to the winter season. A good rule of thumb is to wait to prune until bud swell or even first leaves emerge. This will greatly reduce the chance that vines are damaged by late frosts.
K.T. Kelly and JH. D. Gray, MREC/ UF/IFAS Extension 2003
Muscadines flower and fruit on shoots from current, not previous, years growth. These new bearing shoots arise from the leaf axils of the previous years’ growth. Pictured above is the bi-lateral cordon training system. This is the most popular system for muscadine production. Pruning must be performed to maintain this configuration. If vines are too vigorous, it is acceptable to prune lightly throughout the growing season.
Vines must also be trimmed before herbicide application at least 2 feet from the ground. Nonselective systemic herbicides don’t harm tissue with bark, but must not come in contact with green tissue or it will be translocated to the roots and damage the plant.
Using a bi-lateral cordon system, there are two main branches or “cordons” of the vine. Along each cordon, fruiting spurs should be spaced approximately every six inches. Each fruiting spur should contain 2-4 nodes.
If fruiting spurs become more than one foot from the cordon, it is time for spur renewal. This is typically done every 3-6 years. Entire spurs can be removed if they lose productivity and replaced by new shoots. Additionally, cordons may lose productivity or die off after 5 to 10 years of production. If this occurs, simply remove the cordon and train a new or existing branch into a new cordon.
Pruning with a design in mind and at the proper time will enhance performance and longevity of muscadines in the home garden.
Everyone is interested in growing an easy plant that offers interest all throughout the warm season. Look no further than an old favorite, the purple hyacinth bean, Lablab purpurea.
Purple flowers are held above foliage.
An warm season annual vine that grows easily from seeds plants directly in the ground or started in small pots, purple hyacinth bean will quickly cover a trellis, fence, or other sturdy support that you provide. One of the features will be beautiful purple flowers that form on purple stems during the summer. Purple pods will form after the flowers fade and persist until a frost. Mature seeds can be collected and saved for planting the following spring. Seeds that fall to the ground are likely to sprout on their own when soils warm again the following year.
Even though purple hyacinth bean is an edible plant in many parts of the world, it is mostly considered an ornamental in our area. One of the reasons is that raw beans are poisonous and must be properly cooked before eaten. Because of the toxicity of the beans, it is best to plant in the ornamental garden rather than the edible garden.
Additional features of this easy vine are that it is low maintenance, requiring little fertilization and it attracts bees and butterflies. Install seeds or transplants in well drained soil in full sun and you are ensured a plant that will attract attention.
Like any other vine, it grows quickly and may spread across your garden, so keep this in mind when choosing a location. It prefers full sun, is drought tolerant, adapts to many soil types, and should be given support for twining tendrils. Purple passionflower has intricate purple flowers that are followed by the fruit called a maypop, which is another common name for this vine.
Gulf fritillary butterflies are primarily orange with some black and white markings. They prefer sunny areas and adults will feed on nectar from many different flowering plants. However, they are more specific about where they will lay eggs because the diet of the caterpillar is more selective than adults.
If you have purple passionflower in your landscape, look for tiny yellow eggs and orange caterpillars with black spikes to see if you have a backyard Gulf fritillary nursery. Plants may be totally defoliated by the hungry caterpillars, but healthy plants can tolerate the damage and should flush back out without difficulty.
