JACKSONVILLE BEACH, Florida. – Now that we’ve shown you how to build a vegetable gardenit’s time to plant.

GROWN AT HOME: Planting the first seeds from our new series to help you grow your own food

There are several vegetables you can start growing right now. We chose those that we can harvest for our holiday meals: carrots, lettuce and broccoli.

Mary Ellen Waugh, my mother who manages the BEAM garden in Jacksonville Beach, showed me some tips for planting them, starting with broccoli, which you should purchase as seedlings.

She said that before putting it in the ground, it had to be pruned.

“So you have to be careful to cut what we call false leaves. These are the first two leaves that come out of a seed,” Waugh said, demonstrating by cutting them with scissors along the stem of the broccoli plant.

She also showed us the importance of burying a plant deep enough to support the weight of the vegetable plant as it grows.

“We’ll plant up here,” she pointed along the stem, pointing about an inch below the bottom of the top leaves. “This will grow roots, in addition to the root that is already growing at the bottom.”

This helps prevent the plant from leaning to one side as it grows, she explained.

She said she also loosens the bottom of the seedling’s roots after removing it from the plastic pot to help it spread easily once buried.

We stagger the broccoli plants as we plant them in the crisper to give them plenty of room to grow.

We deliberately planted carrots in the next section of the box closest to where we planted the broccoli. For what?

As broccoli grows, it will shade neighboring plants. Carrots are a buried vegetable, so the impact of shading will be minimal.

Carrots can be planted from seeds. Use a rake to push the soil away.

You don’t need to plant them deeply, about 1/2 inch will be enough. Sprinkle the carrot seeds then cover them with the soil you moved to plant them.

Waugh likes to tap the ground where we have planted the carrot seeds to prevent the soil or seeds from being moved by the wind.

Lettuce can also be planted by seed, we buried black Simpson lettuce because it tolerates heat and grows better in our climate.

We used the same technique as for carrot seeds to plant the lettuce.

Here is a list of other vegetables that grow well this time of year:

• Cabbage (seedlings)

• Cauliflower (seedling)

• Broccoli (seedlings)

• Kale

• Spinach

• Beets

• Brussels sprouts

• Peas

• Radish

• Turnips

• Green cabbage

• Swiss chard

• Mustard greens

Companion plants

Do your homework before you plant! Some vegetables don’t grow well together in the same box.

“I suggest gardeners search online for the best and worst companion plant for your vegetables,” Waugh said. “The best companion plant adds nutrients to the soil that your vegetable needs or emits a scent that wards off pests that could damage your plant.

“For example, broccoli likes fragrant herbs like dill, oregano or sage. It’s not suitable for pumpkins or asparagus because they compete with the soil nutrients that broccoli needs to grow,” Waugh said. “Cauliflower likes nasturtium, thyme or spinach, but doesn’t pair well with radishes, onions or garlic. Cabbage grows well with beets, celery or marigolds. He doesn’t like lettuce or green beans. Nobody does well with fennel.

Many local nurseries sell seeds, but Waugh orders BEAM from Johnny’s Selected Seeds. Heirloom seeds can be purchased from Baker Creek Heirloom Seed Company.

We hope you will follow our progress as we watch our vegetables grow and plant alone with us.

Email me if you have any questions or send me your photos: [email protected].