Category: Fruits & Vegetables

The Landscape Order of Operations: Water. Test. Fertilize—if needed.

by Lauren Spaduzzi
July 15, 2026

A simple guide to diagnosing landscape problems before reaching for fertilizer. When plants start looking unhealthy, it's tempting to reach for a bag of fertilizer. Yellowing leaves, stunted growth, or poor flowering often seem like obvious ... READ MORE

Category: Agriculture, , Conservation, Florida-Friendly Landscaping, Fruits & Vegetables, Home Landscapes, Horticulture, Lawn, Natural Resources, UF/IFAS, UF/IFAS Extension, UF/IFAS Teaching, Water
Tags: Central Florida, Fertilizer, Fertilizer Ordinances, Florida, Florida-friendly Landscaping, Fruit, Garden, Gardening, Hillsborough, Hillsborough County, Home Landscapes, Irrigation, Landscape, Master Gardener, Soil Ph, Soil Test, Uf/ifas Extension, Vegetable, Vegetable Gardening, Watering Efficiently

Getting the Most Out of Compost in Your Home Landscape

by Tia Saracino
June 28, 2026

How to using compost in a home landscape?Compost can be applied to various garden and landscape areas, including vegetable gardens, landscape beds, turfgrass, especially before installing sod, flower beds, grow boxes, container gardens, and ... READ MORE

Category: , Florida-Friendly Landscaping, Fruits & Vegetables, Home Landscapes, Lawn, UF/IFAS Extension
Tags: Central Florida, Compost, Fertilizer, Home Landscapes

Chop and Drop Gardening: Turning Plant Waste into Healthy Soil

by Lauren Spaduzzi
May 29, 2026

Nature doesn’t waste nutrients, and your garden doesn’t have to either! What is ‘chop and drop’ gardening? Chop and drop gardening involves ‘chopping’ plant material, and then ‘dropping’ it in place, where it decomposes naturally ... READ MORE

Category: Agriculture, , Florida-Friendly Landscaping, Fruits & Vegetables, Home Landscapes, Horticulture, Lawn, UF/IFAS Extension
Tags: Central Florida, Chop And Drop, Compost, Florida, Florida-friendly Landscaping, Garden, Gardening, Home Landscapes, Mulch, Uf/ifas Extension, Vegetable Gardening

Growing Everglades Tomato

by Tia Saracino
May 26, 2026

Everglades tomato is a wild type of current tomato that thrives in Florida's hot humid summers. The small red fruits, about the size of a dime, are abundant and tasty. This is an indeterminate type of tomato and can easily grow 6 to 10 feet ... READ MORE

Category: , Florida-Friendly Landscaping, Fruits & Vegetables, Home Landscapes, Horticulture, UF/IFAS Extension
Tags: Central Florida, Edible Landscaping, Everglades Tomato, Florida-friendly Landscaping, Fruit And Vegetables, Home Landscapes, Tomato, Vegetable Gardening, Video

Growing Citrus in the Florida Home Landscape

by Tia Saracino
May 25, 2026

Growing citrus in your home landscape is challenging. The citrus disease greening affects much of the citrus in Florida and requires extra attention to insect management and fertilization. Getting Started with CitrusIf you are ready to plant ... READ MORE

Category: , Florida-Friendly Landscaping, Fruits & Vegetables, Home Landscapes, Horticulture, Pests & Disease, UF/IFAS Extension
Tags: Citrus Fruits And Vegetables, Florida-friendly Landscaping, Food Forest, Garden, Hillsborough County, Home Landscapes, Orange, Tsilvasy, Video

Growing Seminole Pumpkin in Florida: From Seed to Harvest to Table

by Tia Saracino
May 19, 2026

Growing Seminole Pumpkin in Florida pumpkin is a great vegetable to grow in Florida's summer heat because it is heat tolerant. It's an heirloom vegetable that dates back to the native American times you can save the seeds from year to year. ... READ MORE

Category: , Florida-Friendly Landscaping, Fruits & Vegetables, Health & Nutrition, Home Landscapes, Horticulture, Pests & Disease, UF/IFAS Extension
Tags: Florida-friendly Landscaping, Home Landscapes, Pumpkin, Roasting Pumpkin, Seed Saving, Vegetable, Vegetable Gardening

Growing Collard Greens in the Florida Vegetable Garden

by Tia Saracino
April 25, 2026

Growing Collards Collard greens are an easy to grow long lasting vegetable. Plant from seed or transplant in the spring and they will grow into the heat of summer. You can continually harvest the lower leaves and have fresh greens to add ... READ MORE

Category: , Florida-Friendly Landscaping, Fruits & Vegetables, Home Landscapes, Horticulture, UF/IFAS Extension
Tags: Collard, Florida Friendly, Greens, Home Landscapes, Vegetable Gardening

The Hidden Grove: Bringing Home Florida’s Citrus

by Alyssa Vinson
April 17, 2026

When You Think of Citrus, What Comes to Mind? As I wrapped up this month’s episode of Roots in the Sunshine, I wanted to pause and ask a simple question: What do people think of when they think of citrus? I asked a few folks and listened ... READ MORE

Category: Agriculture, Fruits & Vegetables, Home Landscapes, Pests & Disease, UF/IFAS Extension, UF/IFAS Research
Tags: Urban Forestry Extension

Closing the loop: seed saving and roasting Seminole pumpkin

by Tia Saracino and Joshua Payne

February 8, 2026

Seminole Pumpkin Seed SavingIf you have been successful in growing a Seminole Pumpkin, the last very important step is to save seeds from this heirloom vegetable so we can grow them again next year and pass along to friends. Start by cutting ... READ MORE

Category: Agriculture, , Fruits & Vegetables, Health & Nutrition, Home Landscapes, Horticulture, UF/IFAS Extension

Spring Vegetable Gardening Class

by Tia Saracino
February 2, 2026

Time to Plant your Spring Vegetable Garden Thursday, Feb. 12 from 10am - 11:30am - UF/IFAS Extension Hillsborough County 5339 County Road 579, Seffner, FL Cost $12.50 per person Ready to grow your own fresh vegetables this spring? Join UF/IFAS ... READ MORE

Category: Agriculture, Events, Fruits & Vegetables, Health & Nutrition, Home Landscapes, Horticulture, UF/IFAS Extension
Tags: Agriculture, Class, Consuming Fruits And Vegetables, Edible Landscaping, Extension, Vegetable, Vegetable Garden, Vegetable Gardening, Vegetables

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