Growing Tampa Bay by Terralink

Your backyard is bigger than you think

A lot of people think growing your own food means you need land, equipment, and some kind of “farm setup” with acres of space, tractors, and perfectly lined fields. So it’s easy to assume it’s just not something you can do at home. But that’s not really how most food growing actually starts. It usually begins in small, ordinary backyards, patios, even a few pots by a fence.

In Tampa Bay you can get surprisingly far with very little. One or two raised beds in a sunny corner can give you herbs, vegetables, and real harvests you actually use in your kitchen.

What Tampa Bay actually gives you (we have a bit of an advantage):

• We can grow pretty much year-round (no snow is a huge perk)
• Things grow fast once they take off (I’ve had basil go from a tiny nursery plant to giving bunches away to friends)
• You can usually get more than one harvest in a year without much effort

It’s just one of those places where things want to grow if you give them a little help.

These are some of the negatives I’ve experienced:

• Heat stress in summer – grow seasons not matching the ideals suggested by up north
• Inconsistent watering (lots of rain or drought/county water restrictions)
• Pests (Leaf Miners currently driving me crazy)

My favorite beginner friendly harvests to grow in Tampa Bay:

• Herbs. Things like basil, lemon balm, sage, parsley, rosemary grow like weeds
• Jalapenos (these fruit like crazy and are super spicy).
• Passion Fruit (extremely easy to grow if you have space. They can grow so aggressively that you need to trim it every week!)

What does success looks like?
Success doesn’t need to be rows and rows of plants fully supporting a family of 4. Success for me is growing enough tomatoes to enjoy them freely throughout summer and to share with friends.

Other forms of success in your community could look like:

• Mushrooms grown from a spare room for pasta night each week
• 5 different herb bushes on your balcony which flavors your food
• 1 mango tree in your backyard that produces delicious fruit for you and your neighbors
• Purslane in a small planter for salad (if you haven’t heard of this plant it grows FAST in St Pete)
• 1 jalapeno bush to make delicious jalapeno pickles

Before buying a single plant, I’d spend ten minutes just looking at the space you’ve got. Is it a balcony? A sunny patch by the driveway? A corner of the backyard you’ve never really paid attention to? The best place to start is usually the space you already have.

Some spaces that could work:

• Spare room or kitchen counter
• Balcony/lanai
• Small garden bed next to a walkway
• Front yard around a driveway
• Backyard

Next I would assess the level of sunlight the area receives:

• Is it full shade or filtered light?
• Is it partial sun?
• Is it full sun?

Now it’s time to research what grows best in your situation and space size – I’ll be positing more on specific layouts in the coming weeks.
For starters make sure you’re matching the plants sunlight requirements with the space. It also important to take note of seasonal planting, often plants that thrive in summer are better suited for Spring/Fall in St Pete/Tampa due to our extreme temperatures.

The more people I meet around Tampa Bay, the more I realize there are backyard growers everywhere. My hope with this blog is to share what works, learn from other local growers, and help more people realize that growing food doesn’t start with a farm – it starts with whatever space you already have.

Those things might seem small, but they add up. They connect you to your food, your seasons, and the community around you in a way that’s hard to explain until you’ve experienced it yourself.

And it all starts with planting something.