Grow Your Own Summer Herbs and Savories

The temperature in Southwest Florida is inching up every day, and you may be thinking that it might be too late to plant your summer herbs, savories, and vegetables. According to UF/IFAS Extension, most people think that Florida vegetable gardeners don’t have much to choose from in the summer months: it’s too hot and too humid, and veggies get fungus and disease from almost daily rain. But you will be surprised to find a list of hardy herbs and vegetables that are heat-loving and low maintenance. To minimize the effects of the intense summer heat, I have been successful in using container gardening, so I can easily move the plants into more sheltered locations. 

Let’s start with the following list:

Basil. You might know them as Thai, Sweet Basil, and Purple Basil. I prefer the larger and more aromatic sweet basil, also referred to as Italian sweet basil. It has a mild peppery and sweet taste. And don’t forget that green creamy sauce called Pesto, using the more traditional sweet basil.

Purple basil has vibrant, deep purple leaves and offers a milder, sweeter taste. It adds color to green salad mixes, pasta dishes, and cocktails. You might be able to detect anise or licorice flavor in their purple leaves. For culinary use, purple basil is best used in stir-fries, soups, and salads.

Thai basil has purple stems and thin leaves with saw-like edges that appear crinkled. Thai basil is a common ingredient in Southeast Asian cooking, imparting a stronger and spicier blend of pungent aromatics. Thai basil is best added to curries and also to stir fries as it retains full flavor in the cooking process. 

Basil plants thrive in small or large planters and even inside the lanai, and you will harvest or pinch the basil leaves all summer long. And if you neglected it over the summer, it will re-seed itself! Basil is a year-round herb favorite for Florida, but I prefer their flavor in the summer. 

Peppers are another versatile heat-loving and low-maintenance Florida favorite. This year, I bought Banana peppers and yes, they look like a miniature banana – yellow and long with a slight curve or bend. And depending on the heat, they can taste sweet or slightly spicy – perfect for that summer salad!

Eggplants are always on my list! This time, I bought the Black Beauty variety – it’s well suited for the Florida summer heat. The fruit is large with deep glossy purple skin and one fruit can weigh up to a pound – there’s a lot to grill, bake, and add to curries and pasta dishes. Or make that classic Italian eggplant parmesan, lasagna, or ratatouille – all vegetarian!

I don’t plant dill for its culinary taste, though a few sprigs added to soups and meat stews enhance the flavor. My reason for planting dill? Dill attracts the black swallowtail butterflies! By mid-summer, my tall flowering dill has yellow flowers that are both a food source and “landing” spot for the swallowtail butterflies! For this reason alone, it is worth planting dill. It does very well in a container year-round or as a companion to other pollinator plants.

Everglades Tomatoes are a year-round favorite! According to the Everglades Tomato Association, “the little tomato berries pack all the flavor of a full-size beefsteak fresh off the vine.” It is a small bush producing dime-sized hardy sweet tomatoes, and it grows in Florida’s extreme heat! No garden should be without a planter of Everglades Tomato, and you will find a bounty of small seedlings around the planter, ready to be transplanted or gifted to family and friends. Here is a tip: order seeds or find someone with an Everglades Tomato plant and barter with them for a seedling. In two months after you’ve planted the seeds in the ground, you’ll be harvesting them, and yes, they are that good! Plant so they get full sun for at least six hours.