Gardening projects in Tampa Bay: raised beds, butterflies & color

In much of Tampa Bay the soil is fast-draining sand on top and soggy below, because the water table rises close to the surface in the rainy months. A raised bed solves both problems: it lifts roots above wet ground and gives you a body of real growing mix instead of sugar sand. Starting with fresh soil also means starting without the root-knot nematodes that build up in old in-ground plots.

We size beds so you can reach the middle from either side, set them where vegetables get a full day of sun, and fill them with a soil and compost blend. Each bed gets a drip or soaker line on a timer, tied into an existing irrigation system or a hose bib. Mulch goes on lightly, about an inch around seedlings and two to three inches once plants are established.

UF/IFAS's Florida Vegetable Gardening Guide (revised 2025) sets the windows we plant by. Lettuce, broccoli and kale go in from September through February, carrots from August through March and collards from September through November. Peppers have two windows, January through March and July through August, and so do bush beans, February through April and August through September. Okra and southern peas run February through August, sweet potatoes February through June.

Strawberries have the tightest slot of all: roughly September 25 to October 25, the same fall window behind the winter strawberry harvest around Plant City. Late October is prime time for fall beds, greens and herbs. If you're starting from scratch, a fall build gives you the longest, easiest growing season of the year.

From June through August, heat, daily storms and insects make most vegetables a losing fight. Okra, southern peas and sweet potatoes keep going; nearly everything else is better pulled out. Instead of leaving beds bare to weeds, UF/IFAS suggests two ways to use the summer.

The first is solarizing: cover moist, weeded soil with clear plastic for the six hottest weeks; the top layer heats past 130°F, which knocks back weeds, disease and nematodes. The second is a cover crop such as sunn hemp or sorghum, which suppresses root-knot nematodes and adds organic matter when it's turned in. Either way, the bed is clean and ready when the fall window opens. Crops like okra and Swiss chard are highly susceptible to root-knot nematodes, so a summer reset pays off quickly.

Florida's state butterfly, the zebra longwing, lays its eggs on passionflower vines, so a passionflower trellis makes a natural centerpiece for a butterfly garden. Around it go nectar plants in sun and part shade, layered by height so something is blooming in every season.

Milkweed needs a careful choice. In June 2025 the Florida Invasive Species Council listed tropical milkweed as a Category II invasive, and UF/IFAS now steers gardeners to native milkweeds instead. We use Florida's own swamp milkweed, aquatic milkweed and butterfly weed, which feed monarch caterpillars without the problems tied to the tropical species. Because these gardens are for wildlife, we don't spray them; a few chewed leaves mean the plan is working. Our landscape design team can fold a pollinator bed into a larger front-yard plan.

Since 2019, Florida Statute 604.71 has barred cities and counties from regulating vegetable gardens on residential property, front yard included. HOAs aren't covered by that law, so in a deed-restricted community we check your association's rules and design beds that fit its standards before anything gets built.

Water is less of a hurdle than people expect. As of October 2026, the SWFWMD order running through March 31, 2027, limits lawns to one day a week, but hand watering and micro-irrigation of other plants, vegetables included, are allowed any day before 8 a.m. or after 6 p.m. If your property runs on reclaimed water, check with your utility before using it on edibles, since reclaimed water carries limits for food crops. Our watering-rules guide has the details by county.