What to Plant in December in Central Florida

Happy December, everyone! One of the things I love about living in Florida is that you can grow food all year round. Florida is a place where you still have a full list of vegetables to plant even in December. Keep on reading to learn what to plant in December in Central Florida – Zone 9b.

Florida Vegetables You Can Grow In December

Here’s the lineup for December in Central Florida (Zone 9b):

Warm Season: You can start growing these three from seeds indoors this month: Eggplant, Peppers, and Tomatoes.

Cool Season: Beets, Broccoli, Brussels Sprouts, Cabbage, Carrots, Cauliflower, Celery, Chinese Cabbage, Kale, Kohlrabi, Lettuce, Mustard, Bunching Onions, Peas, Potatoes, Radish, Spinach, Swiss Chard, and Turnips.

Gardening Recommendations and Tips For December

To help you with your garden this month, I’ve collected a list of the top articles on this site that could be beneficial for you. Feel free to check out any topics you’d like to read more about.

If you decide to get a head start on your eggplant, peppers, and tomatoes, I would recommend using a  grow light indoors. These plants can be transplanted easily, unlike cucumbers and beans that are much more sensitive. I typically start my plants indoors for a month or two before transplanting outdoors. Check out How to Start Seeds Indoors to learn more. The benefit of starting your warm season plants earlier in the year is to prolong the growing season. It starts to get pretty hot mid-year here.

While December is a great time to plant in Florida, it’s also a good time to get a frost blanket if you don’t have one already. Check out the post Protect Your Plants from the Cold to learn more about keeping your plants warm. There are maybe a dozen times during the season where I pull mine out to cover my plants, typically during December through March. One time I forgot to cover my avocado tree… I don’t have that avocado tree anymore. Learn from Candice – use the cover :D. 

If you’re just starting to plan your garden this month then I recommend checking out Using a Garden Planner. I use a garden planner every season and it has helped me a ton with keeping track of what works and what doesn’t and planning for the future. If you’re still designing your garden layout this month I also recommend checking out Companion Planting and Crop Rotation. These help to give your garden an organic advantage to preventing your soil from being depleted and decreasing the number of pests in your garden.

If you don’t already have a reliable seed source, I recommend Botanical Interests. The majority of the seeds I buy come from here. I find the company to be extremely reliable, and provide a wide variety of organic an heirloom seeds.

What to Plant in December in Central Florida Vegetable Guide

Now without further ado..

Below is the December Vegetable Planting Guide for Central Florida! You can print this out and hopefully, it makes your planning a little bit easier. 🙂

Planting dates here are based on the University of Florida IFAS Extension, and you can find more information on that here: http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/vh021

And if you’re not sure what zone you’re in, you can check out the USDA Plant Hardiness Zone Map. If you go to their website you can type in your zip code for confirmation of your location. The picture below is from their site:

Because I have raised garden beds, I do my planting based on square feet. Square foot planting is included in the chart. For example – if you’re growing cabbage you only want to plant one seed per square foot. For carrots, you can plant 16 per square foot.

Days to harvest depends on the quality of your soil, so keep that in mind when waiting for your vegetables to ripen – they can take longer than the time stated above. Days to harvest is also based on when your seed germinates, and not when you plant your seed.

I hope this December Vegetable Planting Guide for Central Florida helps you with your garden!

Interested in getting a head start for next month? Check out the January Planting Guide.