10 Tropical Vegetables That Grow Great in a Florida (Easy Garden Swaps)

Florida is a big state and has different Hardiness Zones.
You didn't mention of the hardiness zones, that becomes more confusing as what to follow/grow or not? 🤔

How do I find seeds for the seasoning pepper

I where can I get seeds for planting? I was able to grow butternut squash, it keeps flowering and it does off. I managed to get a big fruit, but that's it and plant died.

Love this video! I live in Puerto Rico and would love to have a video like this but more fine-tuned to the PR climate. I'm borrowing almost all these recommendations and will see how they perform in PR. Thank you so much!

Thank you so much for information ❤

Nice, I started my garden in August 2021 in Cape Town, South Africa, lots of mistakes. I use square foot in the back yard and started a food forest in the front yard. I have noticed micro climates in different places so I still have to adjust for this still. Also learning about what goes in the food forest and what in the square foot parts. From grass to what I have now, from tree less to 3 small trees. This is a mediterranean climate, not a lot of Utube input.

I grow plenty of large tomato varieties here in central Florida. You can put up with a little struggle, or you can get your tasteless slicers from the supermarket. Cherokee purple is my favorite so far. They'll go dormant in the summer heat and come back during the fall. If we have a mild winter, they'll come back the next spring. So, I made it to about 4 minutes and moved on.

Bell peppers are among the easiest veg I grow here in Florida.

Hi. Thnk u for this video. Can you make more of these videos. Thnk u again

Great information

I have had very good success growing bell pepper in rolling raised beds on our back patio. I keep them in the shade and have had some actually produce for several years. Definitely the key is shade and not growing in the ground where nematodes can get them.

It's so odd to hear that bell peppers are sensitive to soil nematodes. I have a major issue with soil root-node nematodes, yet bell peppers grow like weeds for me. I once excavated a bunch of sand from the ground and put it in a wheelbarrow. It sat around during that summer. In the fall I ended up throwing some bell pepper seeds atop the excavated sand as I had nowhere else to toss them. They grew huge, and fruited. I didn't even water them. They only died once it got much too rainy the following summer. The ones I grow in very rich soil, surprisingly died early on from sudden wilt caused by stem rot and the soil remaining moist.

I definitely will have to try some of those alternatives so thanks for the video. Green beans or "bush" beans taste way better than long beans. We have not had a problem growing green beans in our Florida backyard in spring or fall. They don't mind the sandy soil. It's one of my top recommendations for new Florida gardeners.

Red noodle beans taste like mushrooms when you cook them down. Love them too!

Luffa tastes just like asparagus to me!

Try gypsy bells. They taste like bells but are very prolific. They produce from early summer until it freezes. They are thinner walled but I don’t care. I live in southeast Texas and I can’t grow bell peppers either!

I like cucumbers more than tomatoes. I also agree the currant tomatoes grow wild and are very sweet. I have found a few varieties of tomatoes that will grow here, but the tradeoff for disease and heat tolerance is flavor, so they are more suitable for cooking. Cucumbers on the other hand I have had success with. Beit alpha, Soarer, Suyo, Diva, Summer Delight, Dasher II have good disease resistance when they are young and healthy and some of them do have good heat tolerance. I the heat tolerant varieties in summer. Chayote and Upo are more tolerant squashes in the tropics. I grow komatsuna and perpetual spinach as spinach substitutes. NZ hot weather spinach is also good. I don't like malabar, okinawan spinach, or Egyptian spinach because they are more slimy.

TY for this awesome video. It was very insightful. You mentioned celery sitting around too long and it goes bad. When my kids were young my second boy was tasked with cleaning up after a meal. He didn't know how to wrap up the lettuce or the celery. So he got paper towels and wrapped each and stuffed them in a plastic grocery bag. I didn't notice his "mistake" until a couple weeks later. When I finally found the lettuce it was in better shape than I expected because of his mistake. The paper towels act as a desiccant absorbing the moisture that causes premature rot. Since then we've been wrapping all our leafy vegatables they last 3-4 times longer.

Florida sucks

What zone are you in? I’m in 9b along the gulf in the panhandle. Thank you for any help 😊

Longevity Spinach and Sisso spinach does very well in zone 9B ..Im in central florida. ….and they love the shade. Btw. I still have producing collard greens 😀Thank you on info on garlic chives

My recommendations: cassava, chaya, true yams, sweet potatoes, Everglades tomatoes, Seminole pumpkins, yard-long beans, okra, Okinawa spinach and longevity spinach. Those all do incredibly in Florida, and make gardening super easy. Also - you are right on seasoning peppers!

and mexican cucumbers has a spikes, so not very plesant to eat, but pickle, yes

snake beens not even close to zuccini. taste wise....but, you can leave the skin on and try to eat them raw...it tastes like cucumber, great substitute!!!

Swiss chard esp the fordhook kind is truly a prolific green. But I find celery grow fantastic for me here as well. Either from seed if you start it enough ahead of time or transplants. Harvest one stalk from each plant at a time and from about 10 plants I get a full bunch of celery every week from late nov/early dec until sometime in May usually. Just need a bit a of shade and lots of water/mulch.

awesome vid, thx!

Thanks for the info.

I'm in Naples Florida and it's hard to grow here before summer and now, you are spot on about the beans. My bushbeans struggled but produced and quickly started dying. My asparagus yard long beans have produced more and continue to produce. But you need a trellis. I love the purple flowers it makes also before the yard long beans. In Naples my biggest struggle this time of year is spider mites, aphids, and horned caterpillars. Plus diseases and other miscellaneous bugs. It's tough right now but doinable still. Shade cloths helps or areas that get shade parts of the day. Also I had a Carolina pepper that was struggling bad, I put it next to the yard long asparagus beans and now it's thriving and become very large and healthy. They are entangled in some areas but not in a bad way. Seems like those two hit it off and are both thriving off each other. Sorry for the rant! And great video and advice!!!

I grew peppers, they take a long time to fully mature (4 months) but once they do, they are sweet as candy. Grow them in large pots away from direct summer sun, they thrive in 70-80 degrees. They can last for years if you protect them from the cold and extreme heat. I grew mine from seeds from a store-bought pepper.

I would like to grow yucca. Do you have any to propagate or a way to help me? Thank you

Another suggestion for celery is tropical celery. The stems are skinnier but the flavor is identical. It grows well down in the Caribbean. Same with Culantro which grows year around in my Florida garden. 😊

I grow garlic in sw Fl. I just vernalize it for an extended time.

Excellent information.

I never would have thought swiss chard would be a substitute for celery, I will definitely have to try this. Just started growing long beans this year and have been very happy with the results. Your garden looks really good, working to make mine as productive but I put off improving the soil for so long I'm trying to make up for lost time. Florida sand is no joke.

I really enjoy your videos. Thank you so much for the information. I grew green yard long beans last year and loved them..even as a raw snack. I'm now growing the red variety. Tasty and beautiful! Also have enjoyed growing okra and roselle hibiscus.

Fantastic information! Thank you so much! ❤

Malabar spinach. Try it

I tried the yard long bean this year. It really didn't last and we didn't like the taste of it. I grew blue lake beans until this month and now the black eyed peas are taking off. Most people don't realize you can eat the young ones like green beans and they are SO good! We mix those in with the bigger ones we shell and they are called "field peas and snaps". Those will be our go to after green beans fizzle out.

Rat tail radish is called dragon bean here in COMMIEFORNIA

What zone is all your advice for? I want to get seeds but im in 9a.

Your link for buying seeds is not working for me.

Might you recommend a beginners book for gardening in W Central FL? Also any recommendation for companion gardening here? Thanks

Oh, it's on now. You got me motivated to grow in Kissimmee 😊

Thank you. 😊

thank you for your advice! I'm a novice gardener in florida and I've been struggling to find heat-tolerant plants for my limited space on my apartment patio. I'm growing bush beans now (it's mid-may and they're just flowering) and we'll see how long they survive LOL I will try long beans next time. Would love to see a video on things to grow with limited space, and what plants grow well together.

Amazing and very helpful. You give me hope! Can't wait to document what I grow!

Do you have a video on? Was supposed to grow here in Florida in containers? I’m in Fort Myers and I can’t plant in the ground because I’m on the golf course can only plant in containers on the lanai. Thanks for your help.

I am in central Florida, every year I grow all kind of tomatoes, big, medium! I start my crop in December, by by April and May I am picking tomatoes, squash, peas, carrots, green beans, onions, potatoes, celery, drying my herbs, canning! By the rainy season I am done! That’s my time to do other projects!!! I grow Marconi peppers,very prolific, I have grown bell peppers from ALDI seeds! Peppers, potatoes they are very heavy feeders.

wow ur videos are so helpful and ACTUALLY geared towards florida heat gardening THANK YOU! subbed.

Great information. Thank you