Vegetable List

Florida-Friendly Vegetables

Check out Fleet Farming’s plant variety suggestions to get your garden growing in Florida’s unique climate.

Fleet Greens

Red Oak Lettuce


Season: Fall – Spring (late September till mid April, if cold enough)

Siberian Kale

Season: Fall – Spring

  • Details: Dark and Leafy, Mild flavor
  • Nutrition Facts: High in Vitamins A, C, and K
  • Recipe: Kale and Roasted Red Pepper Frittata / Recipe: Colcannon

Toscano Kale

Season: Fall – early Summer (September till early June)

  • Details: Hardy and Nutritious
  • Nutrition Facts: High antioxidants, low calories
  • Recipe: Tuscan Kale with Garlic Tomatoes

Red Russian Kale

Season: Fall – Spring

  • Details: Mild nutty flavor, slightly sweet and earthy
  • Nutrition Facts: Great source of Vitamin C and iron
  • Recipe: Squash and Kale Tart

Mizuna


Season: Fall – Spring

  • Details: Mild flavor and light texture; used to mild out a mustard greens based mix
  • Nutrition Facts: Supergreen very high in nutrients
  • Recipe: Wok Sautéed Mizuna & Portobello Mushrooms with Minced Chicken/(Chickun)

Swiss Chard

Season: Fall – Spring

  • Details: It is a leafy green and is a member of the beet family; earthy in flavor
  • Nutrition Facts: Vitamin A, Vitamin K, reduces blood pressure & enhances performance in sports
  • Recipe: Creamed Swiss Chard with Lemony Breadcrumbs

 

Bibb Lettuce

Season: Fall – Spring

  • Details: Tasty and distinctive flavor, thrives in cooler weather
  • Nutrition Facts: Very low in calories, high in nutrients
  • Recipe: Bibb Lettuce with Shaken Vinaigrette

Red Amaranth

Season: Year-round growing season in FL

  • Details: Protein-rich pseudo grain that will color the dish red! Perennial plant
  • Nutrition Facts: Similar to beets; offer carotene, calcium, iron, protein, and trace elements
  • Recipe: Amaranth in Coconut Milk

 

Red mustard greens

Season: Fall – Spring

  • Detail: Leaves are very thin and tender, mildly peppery and nutty when young; robust notes of pepper, garlic, and mustard when matured; they can get VERY spicy if stressed or grown to maturity. The flavor dies down when cooked.
  • Nutrition Facts: Many anti-inflammatories, antioxidants, and cancer-preventing compounds
  • Recipe: Sautéed (Red) Mustard Greens with Garlic and Sesame

 

Mustard greens

Season: Fall – Spring

  • Detail: Same as red mustard
  • Nutrition Facts: High in Vitamins A and E, antioxidants, and liked to cancer-prevention
  • Recipe: Balsamic-Glazed Chickpeas and Mustard Greens

 

Joi Choi

Season: Cool season plant with tolerance to heat! Year-round growing season, but for heads it’s best for Fall – late Spring

  • Detail: Mild flavor, dependable yields; provides crisp tender leaves for oriental dishes; adds flavor to soups, stews, and casseroles
  • Nutrition Facts: Leaves and stalk provide high amounts of Vitamins A, C, and K
  • Recipe: Garlicky Ginger Joi Choi

 

Red Pak Choi

Season: Makes small heads and best grown in cool season (Fall – Spring). Same flavor as joi choi and tat soi

  • Detail: Type of Chinese Cabbage
  • Nutrition Facts: Low calorie content, helps with digestion, cancer prevention, high in Vitamins A and C
  • Recipe: Simple Garlic Pak Choi Recipe

Tokyo Bekana

Season: All year long

  • Detail: Romaine replacement; a smooth loose leaf cabbage similar to bok choi; mild and used to balance out mustard and arugula mixes.
  • Nutrition Fact: High in vitamins low in calories
  • Recipe: Tokyo Bekana Spring Rolls

 

Tat Soi

Season: Grows year-round but heads are best grown in cool season

  • Detail:  salad green when small and sauté green when larger. It is known as an asian spinach with a buttery aftertaste. Good for cut and come again or for heads.
  • Nutrition Fact: Loaded with vitamins and trace minerals
  • Recipe: Avocado Citrus and Savoy Salad with pine nuts and pomegranate dressing

Collards

Season: Cool season crop. Should be started in the Fall and can grow though early Summer.

  • Detail: It is in the cabbage family, brassicaceae; date back to prehistoric time with thick slightly bitter leaves
  • Nutrition Fact: Excellent source of Vitamins K, A, C, E, dietary fiber, and calcium
  • Recipe: Coconut Curried Greens / Recipe: Vegan Southern Collared Greens

 

Bok Choy

Season: Year-round growing season, but for heads it’s best for the Fall – late Spring

  • Detail: Leafy green, mild flavor; great in stir fry, braising, soups, and pho
  • Nutrition Facts: Highly nutritious and very low carbs
  • Recipe: 10 Minute Lemon Garlic Sautéed Bok Choy

Red Mustard Frills

Season: Year-round

  • Detail: Crunchy yet tender, robust and peppery
  • Nutrition Facts: Cancer-preventing benefits, high antioxidants, anti-inflammatory, natural detoxifying properties
  • Recipe: Salsa Verde / Recipe: Golden Frills Mustard

Malibar Spinach

Season: Spring though early Summer

  • Detail: Similar taste to spinach, but not in the spinach family; thick leaves used for thickener in soups and stews
  • Nutrition Facts: Contains folate which helps ensure healthy pregnancies, cancer-prevention, and helps naturally treat depression
  • Recipe: Shawarma Greens

New Zealand Spinach

Season: All Year

  • Detail: Bitter taste, good for sautés or tossed in salads. Native to Australia, New Zealand, and East Asia
  • Nutrition Facts: Low in calories and fat, high in Vitamins A and C, iron, and antioxidants
  • Recipe: NZ Spinach Green Smoothie / Aussie Alfredo / NZ Spinach Greek Yogurt Dip

Sorrel

Season: Year round if established; needs to be direct seeded in the Fall – Spring.

  • Detail: Lemon flavored green; can add lemon flavor to salad
  • Nutrition Facts: Nutritional powerhouse (Vitamins A and C, rich in antioxidants)
  • Recipe: Dakota Soifer’s Sorrel Pesto  

Root Crops

Watermelon Radish

Season: Year-round growing season

  • Detail: Store in the fridge; skin should feel firm and taught before eating (avoid spongy); tops are edible but should be sauteed because of fruzz
  • Nutrition Facts: Great source of fiber and Vitamin C
  • Recipe: Watermelon Radish with Herbed Tahini Sauce

Purple Top Turnip

Season: Fall- Spring

  • Detail: Yummy light spice. Can be used as a potato subsitute and used in a mash!
  • Nutrition Facts: High in carbohydrates, proteins, fibers,  and vitamins
  • Recipe: Roasted Turnips

Hakurei Turnip

Season: Year-round growing season

  • Detail: Surprise sweetness! No need to peel, their outer shell is sweet and edible
  • Nutrition Facts: Great source of antioxidants, minerals, vitamins, and dietary fiber
  • Recipe: Pan Roasted Hakurei Turnips / Recipe: Ginger Soy Hakurei Turnips

Carrot

Season: Fall- Spring

  • Detail: Crunchy taste and highly nutritious! Array of carrot colors including orange, white, yellow, red and purple
  • Nutrition Facts: Carrots are a great source of beta carotene, fiber, biotin, Vitamin K1, potassium, and antioxidants
  • Recipe: Garlic Brown Butter Roasted Brussels Sprouts and Carrots / Recipe: Glazed Roasted Carrots

Breakfast Radish

Season: All Year (Best Fall – Spring)

  • Detail: Vibrant color, edible leaves; the radish is crispy and has a mildly spicy flavor (cooking brings out sweet and subtle nutty flavor)
  • Nutrition Facts: High in Vitamin C, calcium, folate, magnesium, and potassium
  • Recipe: French Breakfast Radish and Avocado Toast

Beet

Season: Fall – Spring

  • Detail: Pigments and nitrates in beets are found to naturally lower blood pressure!
  • Nutrition Facts: Packed with essential nutrients, such as fiber, folate, manganese, potassium, iron, and Vitamin C
  • Recipe: Psychedelic Vegan Salad Rolls / Beet Blood Orange Salad / Beet Brownies

Golden Beet

Season: Fall – Spring (usually take a bit longer to grow than regular beets)

  • Detail: Mild earthy, sweet flavor either raw or cooked
  • Nutrition Facts: High in beta carotene and folic acid
  • Recipe: Golden Beets and Brussels Sprouts / Recipe: Lemon-Herb Roasted Beets Recipe

Purple Carrot

Season: Fall – Spring

  • Detail: Essentially all vegetables were previously purple or dark in color before modern cultivation; purple carrots are making a reappearance in organic farming!
  • Nutrition Facts: Great source of anthocyanin which contributes to high antioxidants
  • Recipe: Honey Roasted Carrots

Sweet Potato

Large sweet potatoes grow underground, right, are first ploughed up, left, then migrant workers have to delicately lift them to the top of the soil mound, center, so they can be picked and sorted according to size, at Kirby Farms, a third-generation family farm, have for more than a century, worked their land in Mechanicsville, VA, just outside Richmond, in a year-around operation, that covers 500 acres, and generates produce and grains, on Friday, Sept 20, 2013. The potatoes, center, are still attached to the plants, showing how close together they grow. Fresh from the ground the red skin is easily rubbed off. They need to be cured in a heated warehouse to toughen the skin and bring its sweetness to the level commonly expected in markets. 200 acres of the farm are devoted to eggplant, spinach, beets, tomato, Jalapeno peppers, melons and a variety of greens. Soybeans and small grain are grown on the remaining 300 acres. The fertile Virginia soil and their management practices, allows Kirby Farms to double and triple crop fields with rotational crop selection. Wholesalers along the Mid-Atlantic from North Carolina to Maryland supply their produce to major supermarkets. Restaurateurs in the local area prepare and serve their harvest to patrons in the Richmond metropolitan area. U.S. Department of Agriculture Photo by Lance Cheung.

Season: Summer (harvest in the Fall)

  • Details: Color can be white and purple. Leaves are edible, only when cooked (Earthy in flavor).
  • Nutrition Facts:
  • Recipe: Oven-roasted sweet potato fries

Specialty Crops

Tomatoes

Season: Spring – Fall (growing season through early Summer)

  • Detail: Botanical fruit species originally from Peru
  • Nutrition Facts: Vitamin C, folate, potassium, and Vitamin K
  • Recipe: Tomato and Zucchini Galette with Honey and Thyme / Recipe: Tomato Avocado and Grilled Corn Salad

Beans

Season: Mid spring through early Fall.

  • Detail: 130 varieties of green beans
  • Nutrition Facts: Great source of Vitamin A, C, and K; high in chlorophyll which may block carcinogenic effects from grilled foods
  • Recipe: Green Beans with Lemon and Garlic / Recipe: Spicy Sesame Green Beans and Kale

Sugar Snap Peas

Season: Fall – Spring

  • Detail: Cross between snow peas and garden peas; thicker pods, more crunchy and sweet
  • Nutrition Facts: Rich in dietary fiber
  • Recipe: Sugar Snap Pea Stir-Fry / Recipe: Garlic Parmesan Sugar Snap Peas

Japanese Eggplant

Season: Late spring through early Fall; it is a warm season crop.

  • Detail: Mild and sweet, tender meaty texture when cooked; arguably a perennial if maintained
  • Nutrition Facts: Low in calories, high in dietary fiber, vitamins and minerals, including Vitamin C, folate, potassium and manganese
  • Recipe: Grilled Japanese Eggplant / Recipe: Japanese Eggplant with Chicken/(Chickun) and Thai Basil

Jalapeño

Season: Spring through Fall; warm season crop

  • Detail: Heat can vary depending on how they are cultivated and prepared; arguably a perennial.
  • Nutrition Facts: Low in calories, high in Vitamins C and B6. Research has suggested jalapeños are natural cancer preventing vegetables, as well as weight loss and overall pain reducer
  • Recipe: Jalapeño hummus / Zucchini Noodles with Jalapeño Pesto

Black Beauty Eggplant

Season: Late Spring through early Fall; warm season crop; arguably a perennial if maintained

  • Detail: Very flavorful. Great for lasagna!
  • Nutrition Facts: Rich in folate, potassium, Vitamin K, may reduce risk of heart disease, and aid in blood sugar control
  • Recipe: Easy Eggplant Parmesan

Okra

Season: Spring – Fall

  • Detail: Pick fruit at 3 inches; can pickle or use in stir fry
  • Nutrition Facts: Great source of minerals, vitamins, fiber, and folate
  • Recipe: Vegetarian Curry Okra

Prickly Pear

Season: Spring

  • Detail: Cactus plant, remove skin. Taste resembles pomegranate. Native to South America.
  • Nutrition Facts: High in antioxidants
  • Recipe: Prickly Pear Juice / Recipe: Prickly Pear Frozen Margarita

Butternut Squash

Season: Late Spring through mid Fall; warm season crop

  • Detail: Can enhance or form base of both sweet and savory dishes
  • Nutrition Facts: Low in calories, high in fiber and potassium; beneficial for digestion, blood pressure, and healthy skin/hair
  • Recipe: Butternut Squash and White Bean Soup / Butternut Squash and Pesto Rotini / Butternut Squash Pancakes / Hummus

Watermelon

Season: Mid Spring through mid Fall; warm season crop

  • Detail: Both a fruit and a vegetable! First recorded watermelon harvest was in Egypt
  • Nutrition Facts: Packed with water and nutrients, contains few calories, good source of Vitamin C
  • Recipe: Watermelon Pizza / Watermelon Arugula Salad

Broccoli

Season: Fall – Spring

  • Detail: Has existed for more than 2,000 years
  • Nutrition Facts: Excellent Source of Vitamins C and K, chromium, folate, dietary fiber, and potassium
  • Recipe: Roasted Garlic Lemon Broccoli / Recipe: Roasted Broccoli and Lemon Pasta

Cucumbers

Season: Fall – Spring

  • Detail: “Cool as a cucumber” comes from cucumbers ability to cool the temperature of the blood
  • Nutrition Facts: Amazing hydrating properties and nutrients, low in calories
  • Recipe: Cucumber Pitas / Cucumber Mango Salad

Herbs

Sage

Season: Fall – Spring (perennial, though stressed in the summertime)

  • Detail: Long growing season, used for both medicine and cooking purposes
  • Nutrition Facts: Wealth of nutrients and vitamins that lowers blood sugar and glucose, controls inflammation
  • Recipe: Pumpkin-Sage Lasagna

Cuban Oregano

Season: Fall – Spring (perennial)

  • Detail: Succulent herb, strongly flavored leaves
  • Nutrition Facts: High in Vitamins A and C, omega-6, and anti-inflammatories
  • Recipe: Cuban Back Bean Soup

Rosemary

Season: All Year

  • Detail: Woody perennial herb with fragrant evergreen leaves
  • Nutrition Facts: Anti-inflammatory compounds, nutrients useful for stimulating immune system, improving circulation and digestion
  • Recipe: Rosemary Flatbreads / Rosemary Sweet Potato Fries

Sweet Mint

Season: Best in late Fall and Spring. sensitive to both extreme hot and cold

  • Detail: Rich spearmint flavor; great for sauces and drinks!
  • Nutrition Facts: Helps with vision and immune functions, packed with antioxidants
  • Recipe: Iced Sweet Mint Tea

Chocolate Mint

Season: Summer (perennial)

  • Detail: Delightful minty chocolate flavor; dry leaves are great for flavoring dessert!
  • Nutrition Facts: Improves vision and immune functions; used to treat headaches and inflammation
  • Recipe: Luck O’ the Irish Brownie

Parsley

Season: Fall – Spring

  • Detail: Popular seasoning/garnish for a wide range of dishes and a palette cleanser!
  • Nutrition Facts: Leaves high in iron, as well as Vitamins A, C, and E
  • Recipe: Parsley and Lemon Pesto

Cilantro

Season: Fall – Spring

  • Detail:  Great for guacamole and salsa
  • Nutrition Facts: High in Vitamins A and K, folate, and potassium
  • Recipe: Lime-Cilantro Coleslaw

Dill

Season: Fall – Spring

  • Detail: Fantastic compliment to fish
  • Nutrition Facts: High in Vitamins A and C, high in antioxidants
  • Recipe: Braised Lemon Chicken/(Chickun) with Dill and Tumeric

Lemon Grass

Season: All Year

  • Detail: The flavor is found in the base of the stalks (remove leafy top and woody bottom, peel outer layer, mince/chop white inner stalk)
  • Nutrition Facts: Many important vitamins, antioxidants, and folate
  • Recipe: Thai Lemon Grass Soup

Thyme

Season: Spring- Fall

  • Detail: Aromatic herb (mint-lemony) that goes well with almost any dish and can also be used to make homemade soap!
  • Nutrition Facts: Vitamins A and C, reduces chest and respiratory problems
  • Recipe: Thyme and Witch Hazel Soap Bar

Fennel

Season: Fall – Spring

  • Detail: Flowering plant species in the carrot family, crunchy and slightly sweet
  • Nutrition Facts: High in fiber, Vitamin C, and potassium
  • Recipe: Chickpea and Fennel Ratatouille

Green Onion

Season: Fall – Spring (perennial)

  • Detail: The tops of these green onions may be used as substitute for chives in many recipes
  • Nutrition Facts: High in vitamins A, C, and K, helps reduce blood clotting and boosts immunity
  • Recipe: Mushroom and Green Onion Stir Fry / Recipe: Spring Onion Soup

 

Edible Flowers

Fennel Flowers

Season: Fall – Spring

  • Detail: A taste similar to licorice!
  • Nutrition Facts: High in Vitamin C
  • Recipe: Entree Garnish/ Pollen Vinaigrette/ Grilled Fennel Bulbs

Nasturtium

Season: Fall – Spring

  • Detail: Sweet, and with an after taste of a little bit of spice
  • Nutrition Facts: Nasturtium leaves have a high concentration of Vitamin C and are also a natural antibiotic
  • Recipe: Baby Greens with Roasted Beets and Potatoes

Mint Flowers

Season: Summer

  • Detail: Mint fragrance leaves and lilac flower petals
  • Nutrition Facts: Used in folk medicine to induce perspiration and menstruation
  • Recipe: Mint Lip Balms/ Mint Ice Tea/ Cucumber Mint Bath Soak

Basil Flowers

Season: All year

  • Detail: Brings flavor to sauces or soups
  • Nutrition Facts: Packed with Vitamin K!
  • Recipe: Spaghetti Squash Pizza Bowls

Snap Pea Flowers

Season: Fall – Spring

  • Detail: Self-pollinating flowers!
  • Nutrition Facts: Low calorie, high fiber flower plant
  • Recipe: Cake Decoration Pastry

Cilantro Flowers

 

Season: Fall through early Summer

  • Detail: The seeds of the cilantro plant can be used in Asian, Indian, Mexican and many other ethnic recipes
  • Nutrition Facts: Excellent source of Vitamins A, C, and K, as well as iron and manganese
  • Recipe: Cilantro Vinaigrette

Cranberry Hibiscus

Season: Fall – Spring

  • Detail: Striking and colorful plant, add bright color to food dishes and some flavor
  • Nutrition Facts: Low in calories, helps alleviate blood pressure
  • Recipe: Hibiscus Syrup / Recipe: Hibiscus Tea

Borage

Season: Fall – Spring

  • Detail: Old-fashioned plant with flavored leaves for tea; cucumber-like aroma
  • Nutrition Facts: One of the few low calorie culinary herbs, high in Vitamins A and C, antioxidants for improved vision
  • Recipe: Borage Jelly / Cucumber Salad / Lemonade

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