St. Petersburg Agriculture Guide: Backyard Flocks, Bees, Community Gardens and the Youth Farm

Yes on both counts: St. Petersburg lets a household raise as many as 10 birds behind a secure fence, and beekeepers holding state registration can site hives on private land anywhere in town (City of St. Petersburg Good Neighbor Guide).

Chickens, ducks, turkeys, geese and guinea fowl all count toward that single St. Petersburg cap of 10, and loud birds, crowing roosters among them, are not permitted. A coop needs 50 feet of separation from the nearest neighboring house, a distance the neighbor can waive in writing (Gardening and Yard Animals guide).

State law comes before city law for hives. Florida law requires every beekeeper with honey bee colonies to register with FDACS, the state agriculture department, and an inspector conducts an inspection to complete the registration (FDACS Beekeeper Registration). Registration costs $10 for 1 to 5 colonies, certificates are renewed annually, and FDACS can be reached at 1-888-397-1517. St. Petersburg apiaries on properties not classified as agricultural must also follow the state best management requirements for European honey bee colonies on non-agricultural lands.

The Urban Farming in St. Petersburg guide walks through coop placement, hive siting and neighbor consent in more detail.

A St. Petersburg community garden on vacant property needs a city permit that costs $50 to start and $10 to renew each year (City of St. Petersburg Urban Agriculture).

The city allows community gardens as a principal use in all zoning districts, subject to administrative approval, and the use covers growing, harvesting and selling edible fruits and vegetables to neighboring residents (Urban Agriculture). Every community garden permit expires on September 30 of each year, and the guide sends permit questions to the Development Review Services Team at [email protected] (Good Neighbor Guide).

A new program is in the works. The Office of Sustainability and Resilience says it is developing a Community Urban Agriculture Program to back food forests and help gardens that already hold permits, after gathering public input at informational sessions (Urban Agriculture). As of October 15, 2026 the city page names no start date and asks residents to check back.

Commercial-scale growing has its own rule: commercial gardens and greenhouses are allowed in St. Petersburg Industrial zoning districts, where staff review the site plans and no hearing is needed (Good Neighbor Guide).

Yes, on a schedule: St. Petersburg permits home sales of value-added goods like pickles, jams and a registered beekeeper's honey on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays in daylight, capped at 36 days per calendar year (Good Neighbor Guide).

Off the property, St. Petersburg sellers can use a farmers market or an empty commercial lot covered by a Roadside Vending Permit, applied for through stpete.org/BusinessApplications (Gardening and Yard Animals guide). A permitted community garden may also sell its harvest to people in the surrounding neighborhood (Urban Agriculture).

The city guide places no restrictions on gardening on St. Petersburg residential property, provided the beds are kept up and watered under the city watering rules (Good Neighbor Guide). The Urban Farming in St. Petersburg guide lists the setbacks for raised beds, greenhouses and edible plantings in the right-of-way.

St. Petersburg lends seeds at three library branches (City of St. Petersburg Urban Agriculture) and gives eligible residents a free compost bin after a city workshop (City of St. Petersburg Composting).

The seed libraries are at Childs Park Community Library, 691 43rd St. S; James Weldon Johnson Community Library, 1059 18th Ave. S; and West Community Library, 6700 8th Ave. N (Urban Agriculture). Several community organizations stock them with organic, native or naturalized varieties of vegetables, fruits and flowers.

Bins come free to single-family residential customers in incorporated St. Pete, but only after an in-person class; the bin stands roughly 33 inches tall on a 33 inch base (City of St. Petersburg Composting). Classes rotate through St. Pete recreation centers each month and stop taking sign-ups 5 business days ahead, with dates now scheduled into 2027. People living in multi-family units or outside city limits do not receive a bin even if they register for a workshop.

UF/IFAS Extension Pinellas County, 12520 Ulmerton Rd in Largo, (727) 582-2100, answers gardening questions by email, phone and at Lawn and Garden Help Desks, offers free and low cost classes and runs a Master Gardener Volunteer training program (UF/IFAS Extension Pinellas County Lawn and Garden). Its urban agriculture page links UF/IFAS resources on aquaponics, backyard chickens and beekeeping (UF/IFAS Extension Pinellas County Urban Agriculture).

The St. Pete Youth Farm is a City of St. Petersburg Parks and Recreation farm at 1664 12th St. South, open Monday through Thursday from 3:30 to 6:00 p.m. and closed Friday through Sunday (St. Pete Youth Farm).

Participants there start as workers, then become mentors, managers and eventually food systems leaders, learning real-world business principles while serving the community (City of St. Petersburg Urban Agriculture). The farm posts notices of produce available for pickup on its website and invites a call to 727-565-3930 (St. Pete Youth Farm).

Its calendar tracks the school district: the farm is closed whenever Pinellas County Schools are closed, federal holidays included (St. Pete Youth Farm). In 2024 a WEDU PBS short film about the South St. Pete farm took home a Suncoast Emmy, and on October 15, 2026 the home page was advertising the free 4th Annual Farm-O-Ween for the start of Halloween weekend. The Urban Farming in St. Petersburg guide covers the farm alongside the other city programs.

Yes, on paper: on October 15, 2026 the St. Petersburg watering page still carried an in-effect banner for a Modified Phase 3 order from the regional water district, limiting lawns to one irrigation day a week (City of St. Petersburg Watering Restrictions).

Garden beds fare better than turf in St. Petersburg. Hand watering of plants other than lawn, and micro-irrigation of those plants, is allowed on any day so long as it happens before 8 a.m. or after 6 p.m., and hoses must carry an automatic shutoff (Watering Restrictions). These rules bind St. Petersburg water customers inside city limits; anyone billed by another utility checks with that municipality, Pinellas County or the district.

The page disagrees with itself on dates. Its FAQ says Water Shortage Order SWF 25-015 began December 1, 2025 and that the stricter measures run from February 8 to October 1, 2026 unless the district extends, modifies or rescinds them, yet the in-effect banner was still up two weeks after that end date (Watering Restrictions). Before planting a fall bed, a call to the St. Pete Water Watch line at 727-892-5300 settles which rule applies, and new plant material can get a 30-day variance from the Water Resources Department at 727-893-7261.

Citrus came before the city: the St. Petersburg history page says settlers of the 1830s and 1840s set up homesteads, planted citrus and other crops and raised animals (City of St. Petersburg history).

In 1875 John Constantine Williams of Detroit bought 2,500 acres of waterfront land that became St. Petersburg, Peter Demens brought the Orange Belt Railroad to the settlement, and the first train arrived in 1888 (History of St. Pete). The St. Petersburg founding history guide now carries that story, including the former Pinellas citrus history page, while the Urban Farming in St. Petersburg guide covers what can be grown, kept and sold in the city today.

Last verified: October 15, 2026, on the City of St. Petersburg website, with state and extension rules checked on the FDACS and UF/IFAS Extension Pinellas County sites. City urban agriculture permit questions go to [email protected], and the city main line is 727-893-7111 (City of St. Petersburg).