GAINESVILLE, Fla. — Do you want to know if it’s the right time of year to plant a vegetable? Want to buy Florida produce but you don’t know whether it’s in season? UF/IFAS has a new app to guide you.
It’s called the “Florida Fresh” veggie app, and you can now download it for free on your mobile device.
Sydney Park Brown, an associate professor emeritus with the UF/IFAS Center for Landscape Conservation and Ecology, said the idea for the app emanated from one of the most popular Extension documents ever written: “The Florida Vegetable Gardening Guide.”
It’s pretty simple: You enter your Zip code, and the app tells you what vegetables to plant at that time of year.
“This type of information is really popular, so we thought it would be cool have an app,” said Park Brown. “We see it as useful to gardeners who see vegetable seeds and plants for sale, but don’t know if it’s really the right time to plant them.”
But the app’s uses go way beyond timely planting of vegetables. You can also discover the seasonal availability of Florida-grown produce.
And there’s more. If you touch any of the photos, the app provides lots of information about each fruit and vegetable, including planting tips, best varieties for Florida and nutritional value. Additionally, the app gives you links to Extension documents about the plants. They come from the UF/IFAS Electronic Data Information Source – or EDIS.
” ‘Florida Fresh’ is the fifth app or mobile website sponsored by the CLCE, and center director Michael Dukes said these apps “are a great way to promote timely and relevant Extension information.”
“We believe that this is an efficient way to provide this Extension information to the citizens of Florida,” said Dukes, who’s also a UF/IFAS professor of agricultural and biological engineering.
Florida Commissioner of Agriculture Adam Putnam is also excited about the app.
“Florida is blessed to be able to grow an abundance of healthy, wholesome fruits and vegetables year round,” Putnam said. “And now, with UF/IFAS’s Florida Fresh app, you can find information on the best times to plant your own produce and the availability of Florida-grown products at your local store.”
The app can be downloaded from the following sources:
- UF/IFAS: http://m.ifas.ufl.edu
- Android: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=edu.ufl.ifas.planting
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By: Brad Buck, 352-294-3303, bradbuck@ufl.edu
Sources: Sydney Park Brown, 813-757-2286, spbrown@ufl.edu
Michael Dukes, 352-392-1864, ext. 205, mddukes@ufl.edu
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