Category: Fruits & Vegetables

herbs in a community garden plot, mostly rosemary and curly leaf parsley with a sign that says all things grow with love

A scent-sational invitation to you!


November 14, 2025

Join me for an herb-alicious good time at your local Sarasota County library. Our “Breaking the Rules – herb trio” One Seed classes are scheduled November 2025 through January 2026. These classes are a bit social so whether you are a novice ... READ MORE

Category: Fruits & Vegetables, Health & Nutrition, Home Landscapes, Horticulture, UF/IFAS Extension, Work & Life
Tags: Companion Planting, Container Gardening, Cooking With Kids, Edible Gardening, EdibleGardeningSeries, Event, Food, Garden, Growing Food In Florida, Healthy Eating, Herbs, Horticulture, Kids Gardening, Memory, Nutrition, Pgm_Gardens, Recipe, Tiny.cc/ufsaraext_oneseed, Ways To Save
raised garden beds with food and flowers growing, a garden sign, a garden arch trellis with cattle paneling and a succulent garden at the other end.

ex•plore: Edible Gardening with Extension


October 30, 2025

Let’s Ex.plore what we’ve been up to! We’ve been busy at our UF/IFAS Sarasota County extension campus located in Twin Lakes Park off Clark Rd. We’ve added an edible garden demo area featuring different garden beds of varied heights ... READ MORE

Category: Events, Fruits & Vegetables, Health & Nutrition, Horticulture, UF/IFAS Extension, Work & Life
Tags: Edible Garden, Explore, Garden, Grow, Pgm_Gardens, Produce, Vegetable Gardening
photo of seeds featured in the one seed breaking the rules edition - cilantro, flat leaf parsley, and dill

Breaking the Rules! ‘One Seed’ at a Time


October 10, 2025

Breaking the Rules- why just one when you can have three? Herbs, that is! Okay- maybe we aren’t breaking a ‘rule’, but instead of just sharing one type of crop to grow - we are busting out a trio of herbs in our ‘One Seed’ packets ... READ MORE

Category: Fruits & Vegetables, Health & Nutrition, Home Landscapes, Horticulture, Work & Life
Tags: Edible Gardening, Food, Growing Food In Florida, Health, Herbs, Horticulture, Nutrition, One Seed, Pgm_Gardens, Pgm_HortRes, Seed Library
Forest Hecker with Jackfruit tree in Sarasota loaded with 25lb fruit!

Suncoast Grown and Gathered: July’s Heavyweight Jackfruit!


August 14, 2025

At UF/IFAS Extension Sarasota County, we've been cultivating a "Food Forest" to showcase the most productive, unique, and often-underutilized fruits suited to our distinctive, Southwest Florida climate. Through this project, we aim to inspire ... READ MORE

Category: Florida-Friendly Landscaping, Fruits & Vegetables, Home Landscapes, Work & Life
Tags: Ag, Agriculture, FFL, Florida-Friendly Landscaping, Food, Garden, Horticulture, Landscape, Landscaping, Pgm_Gardens, Pgm_HortRes, Suncoast Grown And Gathered, SuncoastGrownAndGathered
Bee hive comb with baby bees.

Suncoast Grown and Gathered: Beekeeping for Sweet Summer Honey!

Forest Hecker, Florida-Friendly Landscaping™ Community Educator for Sarasota County's UF/IFAS Extension and Sustainability Department.
August 14, 2025

One of the most rewarding ways to get Suncoast Grown & Gathered honey? Starting your own backyard beehive! Whether you’re interested in harvesting your own honey or boosting pollination for your foodscape, beekeeping in Florida can ... READ MORE

Category: Agriculture, Florida-Friendly Landscaping, Fruits & Vegetables, Home Landscapes
Tags: Agriculture, FFL, Florida-Friendly Landscaping, Food, Garden, Horticulture, Landscape, Landscaping, Pgm_Chemicals, Pgm_HortRes, Suncoast Grown And Gathered, SuncoastGrownAndGathered

Suncoast Grown and Gathered: August Dragonfruit


August 11, 2025

At the Sarasota County UF/IFAS Extension Office, we've been cultivating a Food Forest to showcase the most productive, unique, and often underutilized fruits suited to our distinctive southwest Florida climate. Through this project, ... READ MORE

Category: Florida-Friendly Landscaping, Fruits & Vegetables, Home Landscapes
Tags: EdibleGardeningSeries, FFL, Florida-Friendly Landscaping, Food, Garden, Horticulture, Landscape, Landscaping, Pgm_HortRes, Suncoast Grown And Gathered, SuncoastGrownAndGathered

Suncoast Grown and Gathered: Summer Mango Mania!


June 26, 2025

At the Sarasota County UF/IFAS Extension Office, we've been cultivating a Food Forest to showcase the most productive, unique, and often underutilized fruits suited to our distinctive southwest Florida climate. Through this project, ... READ MORE

Category: Florida-Friendly Landscaping, Fruits & Vegetables, Home Landscapes, UF/IFAS Extension, Work & Life
Tags: FFL, Florida-Friendly Landscaping, Food, Horticulture, Landscape, Landscaping, Pgm_HortRes, Suncoast Grown And Gathered, SuncoastGrownAndGathered

Suncoast Grown and Gathered: April is for Star Apple (Caimito)


April 6, 2025

At the Sarasota County UF/IFAS Extension Office, we’ve been cultivating a Food Forest to showcase the most productive, unique, and often underutilized fruits suited to our distinctive southwest Florida climate. Through this project, ... READ MORE

Category: Florida-Friendly Landscaping, Fruits & Vegetables, Home Landscapes
Tags: FFL, Florida-Friendly Landscaping, Food, Garden, Horticulture, Landscape, Landscaping, Pgm_HortRes, Suncoast Grown And Gathered, SuncoastGrownAndGathered
Jaboticaba and some of its uses.

Suncoast Grown and Gathered: March Jaboticaba – A Bountiful Harvest from Trunk to Table!

Forest Hecker, Florida-Friendly Landscaping™ Community Educator for Sarasota County's UF/IFAS Extension and Sustainability Department.
March 14, 2025

At the Sarasota County UF/IFAS Extension Office, we've been cultivating a Food Forest to showcase the most productive, unique, and often underutilized fruits suited to our distinctive southwest Florida climate. Through this project, ... READ MORE

Category: Florida-Friendly Landscaping, Fruits & Vegetables, Home Landscapes, Horticulture
Tags: Eating Locally Grown, EatingLocallyGrown, Edible Gardening QOTW, EdibleGardeningSeries, FFL, Florida-Friendly Landscaping, Food, Garden, Grown And Gathered, GrownAndGathered, Horticulture, Landscape, Landscaping, Pgm_HortRes, Suncoast Grown And Gathered, SuncoastGrownAndGathered
Round springtail navigates through the sandy soil in a landscape

Spring Forward – Like a Springtail!


March 14, 2025

All across the state, many disgruntled denizens adjusted their clocks this past Sunday, March 9, to accommodate daylight savings time. While this lets us have longer days, a historically helpful tool for farming...it can be a bit disruptive ... READ MORE

Category: Agriculture, Conservation, Florida-Friendly Landscaping, Fruits & Vegetables, Home Landscapes, Lawn, Natural Resources, UF/IFAS Extension, Wildlife
Tags: Collembola, Entomology, Garden, Insect, Pgm_Chemicals, Soil, Spring, Springtail

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