What to Plant in Florida in July and August

Every July somebody messages me and says, Toni, my whole garden died, what am I doing wrong? And I always tell them the same thing. Baby, you are not doing anything wrong. It is just July in Florida.

Most gardening advice on the internet is written for people in Ohio. Up there, July is prime time. Down here, July is a survival test. The rain comes sideways at 3pm, the humidity sits on your chest like a toddler, and any tomato you planted in spring has already told you goodbye.

But here is the part those Ohio blogs never tell you. There is a whole list of crops that love a Florida summer. My grandmother grew half of them in Miami without ever calling it gardening. She just called it dinner. So let me give you the real list.

What Actually Grows in Florida in July and August

These are the plants that look at 95 degrees and say, is that all you got?

Sweet Potatoes and Boniato

If you plant one thing this month, make it sweet potatoes. Stick some slips in the ground, water them in, and walk away. The vines will cover the bed, choke out weeds, and hand you a harvest around Thanksgiving. In my Haitian household growing up, boniato, which is a white fleshed cousin of the sweet potato, was on the table constantly. It grows just as easy here.

Okra

Okra acts brand new when it is cool out, but in July it takes off. Clemson Spineless is the classic. Jambalaya is a shorter variety that produces fast. Pick the pods small, every day or two, because a pod you miss on Tuesday is a baseball bat by Friday.

Southern Peas

Black eyed peas, zipper cream peas, pink eye purple hull. These are legumes, so they actually feed your soil nitrogen while they grow. Plant them thick in any tired bed and you get dinner plus a soil fix in one move.

Seminole Pumpkin

This is old Florida right here. Seminole pumpkin is a native squash that laughs at heat, humidity, and most pests. Give it room, because the vine will wander like a kid at a cookout. The tan pumpkins store on the counter for months.

Everglades Tomatoes

Regular tomatoes stop setting fruit once nights stay warm. Everglades tomatoes never got that memo. They are tiny, about the size of a pinky nail, and they produce all summer long. One plant becomes a bush the size of a loveseat, so plan for that.

Hot Peppers

Bell peppers sulk in summer, but hot peppers thrive. Datil, Scotch bonnet, bird peppers. My kitchen is never without Scotch bonnet, that is just the law in this house. Plant them now and they will still be producing when the tourists come back.

Heat Loving Greens

Lettuce in July is a prank. Grow these instead:

• Callaloo, also called amaranth. Cook it like spinach.
• Malabar spinach. A glossy climbing vine that gets better the hotter it gets.
• Longevity spinach. A perennial. Plant once, pick forever.
• Sweet potato leaves. Yes, the leaves are edible and delicious. Two harvests from one plant.

Other Summer Champions

Roselle for sorrel drink around the holidays, plant it now. Cassava, papaya, ginger, turmeric, and pigeon peas all go in happily this time of year too. If you want my full list of proven performers, I put together a free Florida plant guide you can grab and keep on your phone.

What to Skip Until Fall

Save your money and your feelings. Do not plant these in July or August:

• Full size tomatoes. They will grow leaves and give you nothing.
• Lettuce, spinach, kale, broccoli. They bolt or melt.
• Cilantro. It goes to seed before you finish saying cilantro.
• Squash and cucumbers. Between the heat and the bugs, it is a losing battle right now.

All of those get their moment in a few weeks, which brings me to the most important part.

July and August Are Really About Prepping for Fall

Here is the secret nobody tells new Florida gardeners. Our real growing season starts in fall. September through May is when this state turns into paradise for vegetables. Summer is the off season, and the gardeners who eat well in November are the ones who did their homework in July.

Feed Your Beds

Pull the crispy spring leftovers, then pile on compost and mulch. If a bed had disease or nematode problems, cover it with clear plastic for six weeks and let the sun cook it clean. That is called solarizing, and summer is the only time it works this well.

Start Seeds in August

Around mid August, start tomato and pepper seeds in trays somewhere with a little afternoon shade or under a covered porch. By late September they will be strong transplants ready for the garden, right on time for the season.

Order Seeds Now

Fall seed shopping in Florida is competitive, I am not even joking. The good varieties sell out. Make your list in July, order in August, and be ready.

Your Quick July and August Planting List

July: sweet potato slips, okra, southern peas, Seminole pumpkin, Everglades tomatoes, hot peppers, callaloo, malabar spinach, roselle, cassava.

August: everything above, plus start tomato, pepper, and eggplant seeds in trays for fall transplanting.

Out in our food forest, Jermaine and the kids are picking okra every evening right now while I baby the seed trays on the porch. It is hot, it is sweaty, and it is still the best part of my day.

If you keep planting things that die and you are tired of guessing, that is exactly why I wrote The Florida Grow List. It is 50 plus plants that actually work in this state, season by season, with zero fluff.