Bayshore Garden Center experts give tips on fall gardening
Now that fall is officially here, professionals at Bayshore Garden Center talked about gardening and landscaping tips for this and other seasons.
Fall is a great time to plant they said. As far as the garden goes, this will be vegetable growing season, basically beginning in October, said the Center s Ken Ellam, a gardening and landscaping expert who has worked in the field for over 16 years.
The best vegetables to grow include tomatoes and peppers and as weather get cooler, crops like cucumber, broccoli, lettuces, snow peas, radishes, carrots – pretty much everything.
It’s also a great time to grow herbs.
“Cantaloupes, okra, collards, you do during the summer. Watermelons are also more of a summer thing, which is why you see guys on the side of road selling them then. You plant them in February and harvest around May.
“Here in South Florida and California we grow a lot of the vegetables for the whole country during the spring and the fall.”
It is still a little bit hot for certain plants, he said.
“But it is a great time to start seeds. In the first couple of weeks of October, that’s when we’ll start bringing in little vegetable starts.
Herb starts are in now.
Many seek advice from the center, which has been a consistent winner of The North Fort Myers Neighbor Reader’s Poll, winning Best Nursery Center and Best Landscape Company for many years.
Ask for advice, said the center’s owner Terry Chepy. “Our expert staff has a combined experience of well over 30 years in the landscaping and plant business. We have the expertise on hand for any problems you may have with plants and landscaping.”
They even identified a certain type of caterpillar on a bird of paradise.
“Our Cinda Layton did that in 30 seconds after the customer came in.”
If you want advice on landscaping, he said, “Please bring in a picture with larger shot of area. That really helps us. If we can see what you can see that will help us give you the best possible advice.”
They’ve already been busy in the last month for fall gardening. People are starting to come back in from their summer places, to do clean up and a lot of landscaping.
Fall is also a wonderful time to landscape, said Ellam.
“A lot of folks that were gone for the summer will be here to water. If you are a seasonal resident, this is the time to get in and get your plants – citrus and palm, get them in the ground while you are here and nurture them.”
And get that compost, he said. “What we’re lacking here is organic material in the soil, and plants like that. That encourages microorganisms in your soil that are beneficial to your plants.”
Organic material could be in form of compost, cow manure, peat moss, some of more common. A point, too, as far as fall goes, hold out on planting until you can properly prepare soil, do weeding, putting organic material in.
Also, do a little research he said. “Like what type of tomatoes to plant, on something you’ve done before or on something different.”
If you can’t wait to get started with tomatoes and green and hot peppers, leave them in containers now, not that hot afternoon sun, and you can plant them in a few weeks.
Starter plants for all types of vegetables and herb gardens will now come in and continue through the season.
They were also busy over the summer with community projects, said Chepy. “We’re proud to be involved with the Park of Palms, planting trees for First Responders for 911, and were involved in project with a childcare center in downtown Fort Myers. We helped set up a butterfly garden, so kids could watch them grow, along with landscaping and plants.”
Bayshore Garden Center is at 5870 Bayshore Rd. in North Fort Myers. The phone number is 543-1443.