AIR DATE DECEMBER 9, 2021
Title: Central Florida Veggies and Fruits
In this episode of Emily Tells All, we discover the types of veggies and fruits that Central Florida has been known for growing.
Guests and Locations
Fleet Farming and IDEAS For Us, Program Manager and Chief Operating Officer – Caroline Chomanics
UF/IFAS Orange County Extension, Florida-Friendly Landscaping Agent – Tia Silvasy
Exploring Farm to Table Gardening in Central Florida
Edible gardens and farm-to-table gardening in Central Florida are critical to improving local food accessibility. It also provides an educational opportunity for the community. With proper planning, families can grow nutritious food, reduce their cost of groceries, and promote an environmentally friendly lifestyle.
Central Florida is home to several organizations dedicated to improving local food accessibility and spreading knowledge on farm-to-table living. Hear from IDEAS For Us Chief Operations Officer and Fleet Farming Program Manager, Caroline Chomanics. Then, take a stroll through a local garden with Florida-Friendly Landscaping agent, Tiare Silvasy.
Growing Fruits and Vegetables with Fleet Farming
“There are so many environmental and social reasons behind growing food,” Caroline opens. Along with the education and health impact, those reasons are the drive behind Fleet Farming’s gardens. But their gardens are not tucked away in a commercial building. They get planted in Central Florida residents’ yards.
Their gardeners can cultivate exotic vegetables and fruits all year round, thanks to the local climate. “We can grow things like some perennial spinaches, Surinam spinach, New Zealand Spinach, Okinawa spinach, and Malabar spinach. There’s a lot of the spinaches. But even tropical fruits like lychee, mango, banana, and cassava,” she says excitedly.
If you live in the Audubon Park area, you can transform your yard into a micro-farm with Fleet Farming. Their team manages the garden, so you don’t need gardening skills. The crops yielded from that micro-farm are shared with the homeowner and The Fresh Stop Bus with EBI Nutrition.
Don’t live in the Audubon Park area? You can still take part in their edible landscaping service. They build cedar-raised beds, build vertical grow towers, install fruit trees, do food forestry, and perform garden maintenance.
Fleet Farming requests a $500 donation for all the tools, soil, drip irrigation, seeds, labor, and other supplies. Head over to Fleet Farming’s website to learn more and access a wealth of gardening resources.
Educational Community Gardening at UF
The UF IFAS Orange County Extension also provides farm-to-table resources for the local community. Tiare shines a light on their program, “I’m in charge of the four-acre exploration gardens, which is our demonstration garden, featuring ten different theme gardens, including one on vegetables, and herbs, and fruit trees. I also teach Florida-Friendly Landscaping practices, which is a way to help people be more sustainable with the choices they make in their landscapes.”
There are many growing methods for fruits and veggies, from raised beds to rain barrels cut in half, fake lumber, concrete blocks, hydroponic, tabletop, or basic containers.
The UF IFAS Orange County Extension published a guide that covers the appropriate varieties of fruits and vegetables to grow in Central Florida. It tells the dates to plant your garden and the results you will achieve.
Head to the University of Florida website to find their Central Florida gardening guide and a wealth of free resources.
