Last Updated on December 18, 2025 by Homegrown Florida
The rest of the country has tucked their gardens in for a long winter nap. Here in Florida we are just getting cozy with our cool season instead. December is still a planting month for most of the state, but what you grow and how bold you can be really depends on which part of Florida you are in and how much frost you have already seen in your December Florida garden.
- North Florida, cold snaps and real frost are very possible
- Central Florida, light frost is possible, hard freezes are less common
- South Florida, you are basically cheating at gardening right now in the best way
Let us walk through what you can plant from seed, what makes more sense to buy as starts, and the one big exception in South Florida where you can keep growing warm weather crops while everyone else is pulling tomatoes out.
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What to Grow in Your December Florida Garden
Leafy Greens
If the word for summer is survival, the word for December in Florida is salad. You can still start most cool season greens from seed right now.
- Lettuce blends and romaine
- Arugula
- Endive and escarole
- Kale
- Collards
- Mustard greens
- Swiss chard
- Traditional spinach if you want to experiment
- Tropical spinaches if you are already hooked on those
The soil is cool, the air is comfortable, and the pest pressure is lower, which makes this one of the easiest times of year to grow greens. Direct sow them into beds or containers, keep the surface moist until they sprout, and then just protect them from the odd light frost if you are in North Florida. If you have shady corners that were too hot for lettuce in October, this is when those spots finally become useful.
Brassicas
December is still prime time for the brassica family in Florida. These are your classic cool season workhorses.
- Broccoli
- Cauliflower
- Cabbage
- Brussels sprouts
- Chinese cabbage and napa types
- Kohlrabi
- Kale, again, it lives in both lists
You can still start many of these from seed in Florida, especially the quicker heading types like broccoli and smaller cabbages. A few notes:
- Brussels sprouts and celery grow very slowly and want a long cool stretch
- In North Florida and the cooler parts of Central Florida, it is usually smarter to buy these two as starts instead of trying to raise them from seed in your December Florida garden
- In South Florida its best to skip these at this point unless you have some extra space and healthy expectations
Root Crops
Root crops love this time of year in Florida, as long as you match them to your region. You can still plant
- Radishes
- Turnips
- Rutabagas
- Carrots
- Beets
- White potatoes for Central and South Florida
North Florida is the one area where I would be a little more conservative with potatoes. They handle light cold, but they are not as tough as brassicas, greens, onions, or garlic. Waiting until January to plant potatoes in the far north part of the state usually lines them up better with your late frost dates. For everyone else, December potatoes are still fair game.
Just know they may take a little longer to poke through cold soil, and they will grow more slowly than a February planting. Root crops in general do not mind cool air, but they still need sun. If your carrots and beets are crawling, check how many hours of direct light that bed gets in your December Florida garden. Shorter winter days already slow things down, and every extra bit of shade cuts into that even more.
Alliums
Alliums have their own timing rules, and the seed packet does not care that you live in Florida.
Onions
By December it is too late in most of Florida to start bulbing onions from seed for this season and expect full size bulbs. They take a long time to go from tiny hair like seedlings to transplantable size, and they care a lot about day length. Here is what does work
- Short day onion starts or bunches from a good supplier like Grow Hoss
- Getting them into the ground as soon as you can find them
Ideally onions went in the ground last month, but if you did not get to it, you can still plant starts in your December Florida garden. Just expect slightly smaller bulbs at harvest since you are losing a bit of growing time. It is still worth doing, especially if you find nice sturdy starts.
Garlic
If you followed the fall plan and chilled your garlic in the refrigerator for six to twelve weeks, December is the last call to get those cloves into the garden.
- Pull them out of the fridge once your weather looks steadily cool
- Plant them into well prepared, loose soil
- Let them sprout into the cooler season and then ride along as temperatures warm
If you missed the vernalization window and did not chill your garlic, your only realistic option now is to track down pre chilled garlic from a seller, which can be tough this late. You can still plant regular garlic, but you will get green garlic rather than full bulbs, more like garlicky scallions than heads of cloves. Both onions and garlic are very cold tolerant once they are established, so do not panic if you see a frost in the forecast. They can handle it.
Peas
Peas love the cool season but are a bit touchy about hard frosts. You can still plant
- Shelling peas
- Snap peas
- Snow peas
They can handle light frost and temperatures around freezing, but if a strong cold front is coming and you are in North Florida, it is smart to sow a second round of seeds at the base of your existing plants before the cold hits. Think of it as free insurance or succession planting. If the cold knocks back your first planting, the new seedlings will be right there waiting to take over.
Strawberries
December is late but not impossible for strawberries in Florida. Start with plugs or potted plants for best results. Bare roots will be very slow to get going at this point and can run out of season before they really hit their stride. If you plant plugs now, you should still get a decent late winter and early spring harvest.
South Florida, your bonus planting list
If you are in South Florida, you are in a completely different world compared to the panhandle and even parts of Central Florida. In addition to all the cool season crops listed above, you can keep planting a lot of warm weather favorites.
- Tomatoes
- Peppers
- Squash
- Cucumbers
- Tomatillos
- Corn
- Beans
- Hot season staples like cowpeas and sweet potatoes can often keep growing too
Everything grows a little slower now because the days are shorter and the nights are cooler, so add about thirty extra days on top of what the seed packet says. You still get the best of both seasons, just at a slightly calmer pace.
Need help planning your garden beyond this month? Check out What to Plant Each Season in Florida for a full breakdown of the best vegetables, herbs, and flowers to grow throughout the year. It’s your go-to guide for staying ahead of the seasons and getting the most out of your Florida garden.
