What Vegetables to Plant In July

Planting in July and harvesting before fall is not only possible but surprisingly simple. It’s all about knowing your zone and your season. You can use this site to figure out what your zone is https://plantmaps.com. I know for example that Louisville has until late august before the hot season is over and then till late September before the warm season is over and the cool season begins. This means that by late September I will want to have all my hot and warm season crops harvested. Using this knowledge, I know that I can still grow any plant that has a life span of about 70 or less days which means many medium sized plants and any small plants, that can grow in the warm season, are fair game!

Small Plants

Small plants that can grow in the warm and hot season are plants like radishes, beets, arugula, and warm weather adapted lettuces.

Leafy Greens in Summer

If you want to grow lettuce or leafy greens in the summer than make sure you are using varieties that are adapted to be heat resistant and bolt resistant. When you use a lettuce that is not heat resistant in the warm or hot season then it will bolt before you can really harvest anything from it, and it will become bitter and unpalatable. The process of bolting is when the lettuce or leafy plant sends a long stalk from the center of the plant and at the top of the stalk it flowers. As soon as you see that the plant is growing up from the center you know the bolting process has started. Local seeds, like ones you may have saved from a past year, or seeds harvested from lettuce grown in your area are the best because they are naturally more adapted to your climate.

Even if you use heat resistant and bolt resistant varieties you will still need to keep them cool using shade of some kind. You can use shade cloth draped over some hoops or sticks just make sure it doesn’t touch the lettuce or get in the way of growth. You can also be smart about where you put your salad garden. The bed could be under dabbled shade like a tree, or you could use other vegetables like cucumbers grown on a trellis to create shade. If you do use something like a trellis with a vining plant on it, then make sure the trellis is on the south side of your lettuce. Growing lettuce and leafy greens in the heat can be tricky so make sure you are checking your plants closely for signs of bolting and give yourself grace if it’s not perfect the first-time. Lettuce seeds are cheap, and their season is short so keep trying!

Succession Planting

Another option you have with small plants that have short periods to maturity is something called succession planting this is when you plant the seeds spaced out over a period of time so that you always have a new crop ready to harvest. A great example is radishes, if you love radishes then instead of planting 50 at once plant 10 or 15 each week (think 3-5 plants per person who want to eat them per week). then in three or four weeks you can harvest the first batch and in a week another batch will be ready and where you pulled up the first radishes you can cultivate and plant more. This way in a small space you can keep a constant supply of fresh radishes all summer and you don’t have to worry about them going bad or storing them. This kind of planting strategy can be used for most small crops during their season like carrots, beets, radishes, or your leafy greens.

Medium Plants

Medium plants that mature in under 70 days (remember this is the growing season I have left, yours may be different wherever you are) include okra, bush beans, turnips, and most any herb. Even pepper plants, short harvest cucumber or squash can produce in a 70-day growth period if you buy a started plant and transplant them. So, if you really wanted to grow a hot pepper but didn’t get one in the garden in June go for it now! Hit up your local plant supplier and see if they have any young plants, you can stick right in that empty medium plant sized spot in your garden!

When you are planting young plants or seeds in the hot weather make sure you give them a little extra TLC. They are dealing with a lot, transplanting a plant can already be hard on the plant and the added heat and often dehydration that come with the hot season can stunt a plant’s growth or worse kill it. Make sure that you keep your seeds well-watered and the ground damp for the first week. You can also use a shade cloth or the shade of another more established plant for protection like you do for growing lettuce and spinach in the heat.

The most important thing that I like to remind the home gardeners I help and mentor is to pull the trigger! Try things in the garden, let yourself experiment and fail. Maybe you don’t get the biggest pepper harvest this year because you planted later, but you’ll still get something. It could be enough peppers to try canning or maybe you gain some more personal expertise in the garden, the kind or expertise you can only get by getting your hands dirty.