Even the most avid gardeners have a bad year! Any number of things can keep you out of the garden in April and May, weather problems, work commitments, family problems . . . we’ve all been there. But don’t give up on your summer vegetable garden just yet. There are still plenty of yummy veggies you can get planted now (in mid to late June) and get a nice harvest before the summer ends.
Let’s talk about what you can still get planted now and also talk about a few things that you can wait on and plant in about 5 or 6 weeks (Around August 1st for most of us).
Want more in-depth training to help you get the most out of your vegetable garden? Take advantage of Rick Stone’s decades worth of gardening experience by signing up for his online, self-paced gardening classes: Year-Round Gardening ($20 with current discount for Survival Mom readers) and Seed Starting Simplified ($14 with current discount).
Summer or Warm Season Veggies in Your Summer Vegetable Garden
Tomatoes
No summer garden is complete without a few tomato plants and you can still get some in. Hurry on this one! Most nurseries will still have a few tomato plants hanging around but they wont last much longer. (Don’t try to plant tomatoes by seed this time of year.)
You can also try some of the tomatoes that produce small to medium sized fruit. Think varieties like Early Girl, possibly Celebrity, or many of the Roma tomatoes. Try to find tomatoes that grow on determinate vines (vs indeterminate) as these will spent less time growing vines and more time growing fruit.
The 6 weeks you have lost in growing time means you won’t have a huge harvest this year, but if you get them in soon you should still have plenty for fresh eating and, hopefully, canning!
Summer Squashes
Zucchini and yellow crook neck squash are actually quite fast growing. Look for varieties that have a maturity date of around 60 to 70 days and you should still have lots of time to grow more zucchini that you can eat! You could also look for a patty pan squash with a short maturity date.
Green beans
Most bush type green beans have a maturity date of around 60 to 70 days, so there is plenty of summer left for beans. In fact I don’t make my last planting of green beans until mid July and still have a great harvest!
Melons
If you would still like to plant a melon, you have a little bit of time left. But choose the small “ice box” types as those take much less time to mature. You can also get cantaloupe planted now. Again, don’t expect a huge harvest this year, but you will still have a few melons that will be ready before the frost comes.
Potatoes
If you can find the seed still around at your local nurseries, there is time to grow a nice crop of potatoes. In fact, you could continue to plant potatoes until mid July in most areas of the country and still get a nice harvest of small roasting potatoes. This time of the year I would stay away from the big “baking” potatoes, like russets. You are running short of time to get them to maturity.
Cucumbers
Cucumbers are a good late season planter. Again, you may not get the huge yields you are used to but by planting seeds now, you can still have a fairly respectable crop.
Onions
If you can still find a package of onion sets at your local nursery, they will do okay this time of year. You won’t get a lot of large onions but you will have plenty of smaller onions and green onions. Don’t try growing onions from seed or starts this late in the year.
Herbs
Many herbs will still do well if planted this time of year. It would be best to plant starts, instead of trying to plant seeds.
Cool Weather Veggies
You can still have an awesome harvest of cool weather veggies by planning now to get them planted in late summer and early fall. Nearly anything you would normally plant in the spring time, you can also plant in the fall. A good, solid summer vegetable garden can extend into the cooler months, if you jump on it now!
Cole Crops
Broccoli, cabbage, kale, and kohlrabi. If you grow your own seedlings, mid June is a good time to start a fall crop of all these yummy cool season veggies. If you plant any of the Cole crops indoors now, they will be ready for planting out in the garden in about 6 to 8 weeks.
That means you will be planting them around mid August and they will mature in October when the weather has cooled back to those temperatures that Cole crops love so much! You may find many of these veggies are even tastier in the fall because a night or two of frost helps to sweeten the flavor.
Lettuce
You can start replanting lettuce about 6 to 8 weeks before your first frost (for us that’s August 1 – 15). Fall planted lettuce can last unprotected in your garden until early December, depending on where you live.
Spinach
Most people see spinach as a spring only crop, but it does very well in the fall! Again look at planting about 6 weeks before your first frost and you will be able to start harvesting in late October. Then cover those plants with a cold frame or hoop house and they will over winter for an extra early spring crop.
Root Crops
Carrots, turnips, beets and radishes all do well in the fall and you can start replanting them around 6 weeks before your last frost.
Would you like to learn more about starting your own seeds or gardening year round? Please consider taking one or both of my on line video courses – Seed Starting Simplified and Year Round Gardening. They are both on sale to thank The Survival Mom for allowing me to guest post on her site!!
Guest Post by Rick Stone of www.ourstoneyacres.com.
The post It’s June! Mid to Late Summer Vegetable Gardening by Guest Poster appeared first on The Survival Mom. Be sure to check it out!
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