Backyard fruit that can be grown organically

Lemon tree on the left, fig in the center, kumquat on right

Sunday, July 19, 2026

There are many options for growing your own fruit in small spaces today and more come on the market every year.  You grow them in pots, as part of the landscape or garden bed.  I wanted fruit that can be grown organically that produce enough to preserve to eat year round.

We are growing apples, goji berries, strawberries, raspberries, blackberries, tamarillos, huckleberries, blueberries, mulberries, husk cherries and lemons.  The lemon trees are growing in the house during the winter and taken outside each spring.  Tamarillo trees can either be overwintered indoors or started each spring.  I have also grown fig trees.  You either have to bring in every winter or be sure to get one hardy for your zone.

I don't grow plums, peaches, apricots, cherries or big apple trees because of the spraying required to keep pests and disease at bay.  However, there are other options.

Apples You have 3 options with apple trees.  You can grow columnar apple trees which do great in pots or in the ground (this is the kind we have), you can purchase a dwarf apple tree that you can espalier against a wall, or you can put an apple tree in your landscape.  Apple trees require full sun and either a second apple tree or crabapple tree in the neighborhood to pollinate with to get fruit.  Apples are ready to harvest in summer, fall or winter, depending on the variety.  Our “Scarlet Sentinel” columnar apple tree ripens in late September.  Since I don't use chemicals, my apples doe get worms here and there.  You can spray for fireblight which is just an antibiotic in spring and not a chemical per se.  I don't grow typical apple trees because of the spraying required.

Figs  A fig tree is cool looking and very easy to grow either in the landscape or in a pot.  I never had any pest or disease problems with it.  We had ours in a pot for 5 years and then put it in the ground.  It did well in the bed for 3 years.  We got great fruit from it throughout the summer.  Last year, we have a record breaking warm spell in January and then a deep freeze in February which the fig tree did not survive.  

Ripe figs

If you decide to put your fig in a pot that you want to leave outside year round, this will lower the zone it can survive the winter in by at least one zone.  You can always bring the fig in for the winter, either into your home or a garage.  We had a “Chicago Hardy” fig that is hardy to Zone 6.  It can grow to a height of 25 feet if planted in the ground.  You can eat your figs fresh, dry them or make them into preserves.  Growing “exotic” figs

Passionflower vine  “Maypop” is a hardy passion flower vine that survives down to Zone 5.   It is a very hardy vine so either grow it in a pot or make sure it is blocked off from being able to expand into other areas.  They taste a lot like guavas and their flowers are beautiful.  I keep trying to grow from seed but have not had good luck.  I discovered they are growing wild in our field so I'll dig one this fall to transplant.

Goji berry  I grew the goji berry bush from seed.  Goji berries are high in antioxidants and easy to grow.  They are self fertile so only one is needed to produce fruit.  They are a shrub that can grow 8-10 feet at maturity.  If you keep them in a pot, they will remain smaller.  They are hardy down to Zone 5.  I brought mine in for several years and planted it in the ground a couple of years ago and it is doing great.  One watchout for goji bushes as they do get "thorns" so don't plant them where you would brush up against them frequently.

Strawberry  Strawberries are another easy to grow perennial fruit.  They prefer full sun and should be planted in the spring.  There are two types of strawberries, June bearing or Everbearing.  June bearing have one large harvest in early summer whereas the everbearing types produce berries from spring through fall.  They enjoy a rich soil so plant with lots of compost and bone meal.  If they begin to decline in production after 4 years, plant new plants in a different area of the garden.  We have ours in a raised bed.  This was their second year and we put up about 10 quarts of berries.
Back yard strawberries  

I also like to grow Alpine strawberries.  They produce spring through fall but their berries are small, but intensely flavored.

Blueberries  There are a couple of blueberries that are compact and acceptable for small landscapes and pots, “Draper” and “Tophat.”  Draper is a bush that grows to 3-4 feet.  Tophat is a nice little bush that can easily be grown in a pot.  It grows to a mere 16-24” high.  Blueberries require an acidic soil, a pH of 4-4.5.  Blueberries are self pollinating, but you will get a lot more fruit if you plant two bushes.  You get fruit in early tp mid summer.  If you have an extra, you can easily freeze or dry.  I am growing a few in pots.  They don't produce enough in pots to have extras for freezing.  In our area, southern high bush are large and prolific.  To have enough for freezing, they need to be planted in the ground and a few years to get established.

Strawberry

Raspberry and Blackberry  For raspberry lovers, the “Shortcake” variety is a thornless dwarf that grows to a 2-3 foot mound.  It can easily be grown in a pot and is self fertile so only one plant is needed to bear fruit.  It is hardy in Zones 5-9 and fruits in mid-summer.  Both raspberries and blackberries prefer full sun.  My raspberry and blackberry bushes are on their second summer in the ground.  The blackberries produced enough to put away a few quarts.  The raspberry canes have only produced a few handfuls so far.

“Doyle’s” thornless blackberry plant can be grown in a pot and can produces enormous harvests of fruit.  In the ground it can reach heights of 7 feet.  It is hardy in Zones 3-10 and bears fruit in the spring to early summer.  Another option is the dwarf red blackberry which grows to 1.5 feet in height. 

Huckleberries  I grew huckleberries for the first time this year in pots.  They produced lots of small black berries.  I probably won't grow them again.  The taste is okay but you have to make sure they are fully ripe or they can cause an upset stomach.  Plus the berries are small and break at the attachment point when picked so are messy and time consuming to harvest.

Dwarf tamarillo tree  I started one of these last year in a pot and overwintered it indoors.  You can also start it each year.  It produces small orange fuzzy fruits.  The taste was better on the one grown in the garden bed than the pot.

 

Husk cherry  I've been growing these for a few years.  They are a prolific self seeder.  The fruits have a pineapple banana flavor when fully ripe.  I grow mine in medium size pots so I don't get a ton of fruit from them but they are fun and tasty so I keep growing them.

Mulberry tree  Another native fruit tree is the red mulberry tree, Morus rubra.  Don't confuse it with a white mulberry tree which is invasive and non-native.  Mulberries are similar to blackberries but sweeter and more fragile.  This is why we don't see the fruit in grocery stores.  Mulberry trees are great for wildlife and produce prolifically.  I bought one this year.  You can get dwarfs so you can reach all the fruit so it doesn't become messy.  You can also cut the central leader to make a regular tree stay small.  I probably only need one to have enough fruit for year round eating.

Kiwi vines  Another fruit for small spaces is kiwi and they are hardy for Zones 3-9.  These are vines that can grow to 10-20 feet.  You can use these over an harbor or on a fence.  A male and female are required.  They prefer a part sun location.  The foliage of the Artic Beauty is beautifully variegated with pink, white and green leaves.  These vines fruit in September.  I keep thinking about growing these.

Pawpaw tree  A slow growing fruit tree that reaches a height of 12-15 feet is a native to North America is the pawpaw.  It tastes tropical with a banana/mango like flavor.  It is also high in protein, vitamins and minerals and hardy to Zone 5.  The fruits weigh around a pound each and are ready to pick in late summer/early fall.  Two plants are required for the tree to bear fruit.  Foraging for wild edibles

Honeyberry is another fruiting bush and they bear in late spring/early summer, as early as two weeks prior to strawberries.  They are a blue oval type berry and is hardy in Zones 2-8.  The “Smokey Blue” reach 3-4 feet in height, making them a good candidate for a pot as well.  They are high in antioxidants and taste similar to blueberries.  Two are needed for pollination for fruiting.  No special soil type is needed, but prefer partial shade.  I have not tried growing these.

Pear trees   Our neighbor has a couple pear trees that he does not spray and they produce very well without pest or disease issues.  They are a Bartlett and a Keiffer pear tree.  He always has lots to give away so I don't need to grow my own but if I do, these will be the two I plant.

What we're harvesting in the July garden

July garden at sunset

Saturday, July 18, 2026

This July's garden is a bit behind for some summer vegetables.  I started my squash, cucumbers, okra and beans in May instead of April so they are behind.  Peppers, tomatoes, eggplant and fruits are about normal.

We are harvesting eggplant, cucumbers, hot peppers, sweet peppers, Giant Blue Feather lettuce, dill, summer greens, herbs, garlic, onions, blackberries, raspberries, goji berries, Tamarillo fruits, husk cherries and tomatoes.  The flowers are very happy, too!  

We are getting rain a few times a week even into July.  The grass is green and growing like crazy.  If I don't get at least 1" of rain during the week, I do a deep watering with a drip hose.  I have only had to water the garden beds once this season.  The pots on the other hand need watering a couple times a week even with the rain.  Summer Edible Gardening Tips

I dug my garlic this week.  The bulbs were small.  Garlic harvest is here!  I'll pickle the smallest cloves and save the larger cloves for fall planting.  Have garlic any time you need it, just pickle some!  I've found this is the best way to preserve garlic for using year round.  I tried keeping the whole cloves, but most would disintegrate by early winter.

I started getting ripe tomatoes in June from my potted Better Boy that I got from a local nursery.  Most in the garden look good and have many baby tomatoes.  So far, have gotten a few Cherokee Purple and Chocolate Pear and 1 from Tropic, Rebel Starfighter, and California Tulip.  The production slowed down with the temps into the 90's.  Tomatoes will drop flowers when it gets too hot.  For what we can't eat, I freeze to save for making soups, sauces, roasts, and salsa all winter.  Preserving your extra tomatoes

Cucumbers started producing at the beginning of this month.  If you have more cucumbers than you can eat, make pickles!  Make your own pickles without a store bought seasoning mix  I had 2 summer squash plants die.  I have one with a couple of baby squash and the Trombetta is flowering but no babies yet.  Everything you need to know to grow squash 

All my eggplant are grown in pots.  We don't typically have many extra eggplant to preserve.  I have tried the freezing route in the past, but have not been impressed with the taste.  The best preservation method I have found is to make baba ganoush. Everything you need to know to grow eggplant, in a pot or garden bed

  I freeze the extra strawberries, blackberries and blueberries, blanching is not needed for these fruits to preserve the flavor.  I dry the goji berries.   The large strawberries were done early last month.  The Alpine strawberries will produce into fall.  Blackberries are almost done.  Goji should keep producing into fall.  No flowers yet on the Aronia.  Huckleberries were strong last month but have slowed to almost nothing now.  Tamarillo and husk cherry have many fruits.  They also produce into fall.  

I am using purple and green orach, New Zealand spinach, Giant Blue Feather lettuce, herbs, chijimisai, Barese chard, lemon balm and cultivated dandelions and plantain for salads and sandwiches.  The sprouting broccoli has gone to seed.  Should be getting new volunteers soon.   For extras of kale, sprouting broccoli, mustard and other summer greens, blanch and freeze them.  Freezing the extras for winter

For hot peppers, I am harvesting Jigsaw, Chiltepin, and Tunisian Baklouti.  For sweet peppers, so far on the Tricked You Jalapeño, the chocolate and yellow Doe has ripened.  Everything you need to know to grow peppers, in a pot or garden  

For all my herbs, there is plenty to use fresh with extras to harvest.  I like to dry them and make spice blends.  I have thyme, basil, oregano, winter savory, tarragon, rosemary, sage, and lavender to preserve.   Harvest and preserve your herbs  This year, I don't need to preserve basil as I have lots of pesto left from the last couple of years in the freezer.  Pesto is my favorite way of preserving basil.  Basil basics-harvesting, preserving, growing basil  

Oregano, basil, thyme, Russian sage and lavender is in full bloom.  It looks like the garden sage may bloom again.  The bees love the herb flowers!  All can be cut and dried now, but I love the flowers and will wait until fall.

There are lots of flowers that can be cut or just admired in the garden right now.  Zinnias, celosias, roses, Sweet William, honeydew, marigolds, borage, dianthus, petunias, lantana and borage are going to town right now.  The bees and hummingbirds are in heaven!

We are harvesting the vegetables and fruits that are synonymous with a backyard garden.  Soon it will be time to plant for continuing the harvest into fall and winter.  The garden keeps me busy year round.  It is so nice to be able to watch things grow and have fresh produce all year.

What to start in the July edible garden

Onion, oregano, lemon balm and zinnia in July garden

Sunday, July 12, 2026

You can still plant for summer harvests and July is also the month to start planting for fall harvests.  It may seem crazy to be sowing seeds in July for your fall and winter garden, but late in the month is the time to do so.  Everything you can grow for spring, you can grow for fall.  For winter harvests, look for cold hardy varieties.  

You can plant a second crop of summer veggies and herbs early in the month to keep the harvests strong through October.  Look for varieties that have short "days to harvest" or purchase transplants.  I noticed lots of plants are still available at the big box stores this year.  Summer lovers with quick harvest times include basil, beans, corn, tomatoes, and zucchini. 

Summer seedlings

You can also continue succession planting of lettuce.  You may get better germination indoors for lettuce as the temps are a little on the hot side for them this time of year.  

The trick to harvesting all fall and winter is to have your veggies to full size by mid-October.  With the shorter days of late fall and winter, your plants will not grow much after mid-October through mid-February.  This means you start sowing seeds July-August for fall and winter harvests.

The change I make from spring to fall plantings is for spring, I plant those varieties that are heat tolerant.  In the fall, I plant those varieties that are cold tolerant to extend the harvest as long as possible into winter.  Depending on the severity of the winter, many cold tolerant varieties revive in the spring and provide a really early, nice harvest surprise.

Because daylight hours are getting shorter in the fall, you will need to add about 2 weeks to the “Days to Harvest” your seed packet gives as the seed packet dates are based on spring planting.  Plants grow slower in fall because the days are getting shorter instead of longer and steadily cooler.  Frost date look up

Just like in spring, seeds have to be kept moist to sprout.  You can also plant the seeds in peat pots or you can reuse the plastic annual trays you got in the spring.  You can put the plastic trays in a water catch pan, find a shady spot convenient for watering, fill with seed starting mix, sow your seeds and keep moist until sprouted.  When the seedlings get their true leaves on them (second set), they are ready to transplant into the garden or a larger pot.  In hot temperatures, I transplant to a larger pot and let them get to a good size and transplant into the garden bed when it is calling for rain.  I will keep an eye on them after transplanting and water as they need it.  Peat pots require daily watering in summer months because the pots are so porous. 

There are some veggies that the temps are too high outdoors to germinate in our Zone 7, like lettuce.  These you will have to start inside or on the cool side of the house in the shade.  Lettuce has a hard time with germination with soil temps above 70.  

Indoor seed starting tips

Ideal soil temperatures for seed starting

July-Seeds or Transplants

Asian greens (pak choi, tat-soi) Fall and winter greens

Basil  Basil basics-harvesting, preserving, growing basil

Beets All about beautiful beets

Broccoli  Broccoli and cauliflower growing tips

Brussel sprouts  Growing Brussel sprouts

Bush beans  Growing beans

Cabbage Cabbage is nutritious and easy to grow

Carrots All you need to know about growing carrots

Cauliflower

Celery  Give celery a try, an easy to grow garden staple

Chinese cabbage

Cilantro  Growing cilantro (coriander)

Collard greens Grow a southern favorite-collards 

Corn  Growing corn

Cucumber

Dill

Endive

Escarole

Fava beans Grow a European favorite-the fava or broad bean 

Frisee

Fennel Growing fennel

Kale  Grow one of the super greens this year-kale

Kohlrabi  Another spring veggie-kohlrabi

Leeks
Lettuce, heat tolerant varieties  Everything you need to know about growing lettuce

Mustard  Mustard greens

Onions  Everything to know about growing onions

Oregano

Parsley

Parsnips

Peas

Rutabagas

Salsify

Scallions

Summer squash

Swiss chard  For year round steamed greens, grow chard!

Spinach  Grow spinach-a super nutritious, easy green

Tomatoes  Tomatoes 101, everything you need to know to grow great tomatoes

Turnips  All about turnips

Zucchini  Growing zucchini and summer squash

If you don’t want to start seeds for fall harvests, some big box stores and local nurseries have begun to have fall planting veggies.   These typically come into stores in late September.  If none in your area do, there are many mail order seed companies that carry fall bedding plants.

What's happening in the mid July edible garden

Baby peppers on potted pepper plant

Saturday, July 11, 2026

We are harvesting tomatoes, peppers, summer squash, cucumber, eggplant, herbs, onions, lettuce, Red Malabar spinach, New Zealand spinach, Chinese Multicolor Spinach amaranth, and sprouting broccoli.  Petunias, zinnias, fairy lilies, daylilies, marigolds, lantana, Cock's Comb and milkweed are all blooming.  With the heat, I am now watering fairly consistently. 

I got my summer veggies started late this year.  Peppers, beans, and squash are all behind where they normally are for this time of year.  

I just started getting cucumbers today.  Tomatoes are doing pretty good.  Peppers are loaded.  The melons, summer and winter squash I started from seed are flowering and growing quickly.  I did get a couple of summer squash off 2 different vines but they have died.  I have 2 more summer squash vines so all is not lost.     

The bean vines are growing quickly.  A couple are starting to flower so beans aren't far off.  

The hot pepper plants I overwintered have been fruiting since May and the sweet pepper plants have lots of green peppers and flowers. 

  Peppers are for every taste and garden

Tomatoes are pretty well on schedule this year for fruits.  Got our first ones last month on the potted Better Boy and production has started on the in ground peppers last week.  I have flowers and tomatoes on all the plants except the Brandywine.  Brandywine tomatoes have about the longest "days to harvest" of any tomato plant at 100 days so not surprising it is the last one to produce.  Brandywines take the longest to begin producing of all the tomatoes I am growing this year.

It is always a good idea to have 2 plantings of tomatoes if you want to have alot of tomatoes.  As the early plants start dying back, you can count on the younger plants to pick up the slack.  I may start a couple this week as back ups.  

Oregano in bloom

Our basil isn't very big yet.  I transplanted them late as it took forever for them to take off after sprouting with the cloudy May we had.  Probably be at least a couple of weeks before I can do my first harvest for pesto making.  They should still regrow to give me at least one more good harvest before fall.  Basil basics-harvesting, preserving, growing basil

Oregano is in bloom.  The bees love the purple flowers!  I need to check to see which herbs I need to dry to make my herb blend before summer is over.  I use this blend on/in everything from sauces to eggs to grilled chicken.  Harvest and preserve your herbs

Lettuce gone to seed

I fertilized all the pots again as well as the veggies in the garden using ReVita Pro dry fertilizer.  It is good to fertilize pots biweekly and garden plants monthly during the growing season to give them the nutrition they need to produce well.  I may use fertilizer spikes in pots the next time as it is slower release so hopefully it will get me through a month or so. Summer edible garden tips

  

Most of the lettuce has gone to seed.  When you see the white fuzzies, they are ready to save.  I just pull the seed heads, break apart, put in a ziplock freezer bag, label with type and date, and store in the refrigerator.  You can also leave them on the plant and you will get volunteer lettuce plants.  This year, I am being lazy and just either bending the seed heads over a pot that I want to get more lettuce going or cutting the seed head off and putting it into a pot to re-seed my pots.  It takes a couple of weeks for them to be of baby lettuce size to harvest.  I have several seedlings coming up. 

 

Succession planting of lettuce and planting types that are resistant to bolting can keep your lettuce crop going.  Plant them in the coolest part of the yard where they are not in full sun all day and get shade in the afternoon.  Pots are a good option to be able to move them to the cooler part of the yard.  Growing summer salads  Bolt-free, sweet summer lettuces

You may have to start the seeds indoors this time of year because lettuce doesn't germinate very well if soil temperatures are about 70-75 degrees F.  Never ending salad from one packet of seeds  Seed saving-fun, easy and a cost saver

In the greens department, summer is a hard time for the most common crops we grow for salads.  Sprouting broccoli, some lettuce, different types of sorrel, leafy cabbage, sweet leafy mustards, amaranth, arugula, dandelion greens, chard, lettuce, kale, cress, orach and herbs are all options.  The heat increases the sharpness of most of the traditional greens.  

I added a couple of varieties of greens that have a similar taste to spinach and lettuce years ago.  Red Malabar spinach, New Zealand spinach, sprouting broccoli, amaranth, orach, Barese chard, and Hilton Chinese cabbage are now staples in my summer greens garden.  They are not true spinach or lettuce but have similar flavor and are heat tolerant.  They don't get bitter in the heat.  

If you have extras of chard, dandelion greens, sprouting broccoli, sorrel, sprouting broccoli, kale or cabbage, you can blanch and freeze them for steamed winter greens.  Freezing the extras for winter

The annual flowers are doing well in the garden right now.  They attract all kinds of beautiful butterflies and moths as well as bees.  I love watching all the bees and butterflies that are visiting the garden. 

Key chores to keep the summer garden producing is to pick often, make sure plants have even moisture, keep ahead of pests, and give the plants the nutrition they need to keep going. 

This time of year, it is so nice to be able to walk through the garden and pick what is ripe for dinner and watch the garden grow. 

July 2026 Edible Garden Planner

July harvest-peppers, squash, tomatoes, eggplant, cucumbers

Sunday, July 5, 2026

July is the time of year for harvesting the heat lovers like tomatoes, eggplant, zucchini, cucumbers, green beans, all types of peppers, basil and other Mediterranean herbs.  With the hot, dry weather here, watering and fertilizing are key to on-going harvests.  It is also the time to plant for fall harvests.

I got my summer garden in mid May this year.  Most of my summer vegetables I started indoors and transplanted when it got warmer.  The large seeded transplants like squash, beans, and melons I started in pots outdoors in early May.  Now, we are having a long string of 90's at the end of June/beginning of July and it is forecasted to remain above average for the next 15 days.  The peppers, eggplant, cucumber and squash are loving these temperatures and growing quickly.

Typically all my summer veggies are being harvested at this time-peppers, zucchini, eggplant, cucumbers, and green beans.  This year, I have harvested 1 summer squash, a couple of eggplant, many tomatoes, both sweet and hot peppers, blackberries, raspberries, huckleberries, husk cherries and tamarillo fruits.  The pole beans, zucchini and cucumbers are way behind.  3 of my summer squash vines have already died.  Not sure why.  Did not see any sign of disease or squash vine borer but vine borer is the most likely.  Only one eggplant is flowering so far and producing well.  My other 2 eggplant are growing quickly.  There are many baby tomatoes, many baby peppers, and husk cherries.  The winter squash and melon vines are really running and have started flowering.  I got my okra started late so it is still quite short and will be a while before it is flowering.  I put in 2 plants so I should get enough for the year even if they are running late.  They all love thrive in hot weather so should be producing within the month of July. 

Eggplant-add this native from India to your garden

Growing zucchini and summer squash

Peppers are for every taste and garden

Tomatoes 101, everything you need to know to grow great tomatoes

Cucumber info and tips for growing

By the end of the month, there should be more summer veggies than we can eat and we will start preserving the extra for winter and spring eating.  I will start freezing extra tomatoes tomorrow as they are producing more than we can eat now.  Preservation garden

For salads, Red Malabar spinach, New Zealand spinach, Perpetual Spinach, sprouting broccoli, Blue Feather lettuce, chard and orach are growing robustly and I have been harvesting from them for daily salads and sandwiches.  Red Malabar and New Zealand spinach greens love summer heat and humidity so are great substitutes for cool loving spinach.  Hilton Chinese mustard and Chijimisai greens are growing nicely and volunteer multi colored Chinese amaranth plant has sprouted in a pot.  All are tasty all summer in salads.  Growing summer salads

The spring lettuce has flowered and is producing seed.  When you see the white fuzzies on lettuce stalks, they are ready to save the seed.  I just pull the seed heads, break apart, put in a ziplock freezer bag, label with type and date, and store in the refrigerator.  I will re-seed my self watering pots with some of the seeds by cutting off the seed heads and placing in pots.  If I don't have time to gather the seed, I just let the seeds spread throughout the garden and move the volunteers to pots or garden spots that I want them.  Never ending salad from one packet of seeds  

It is best to start new lettuce seed every 3 weeks to keep yourself supplied for salads.  This time of year, do start the heat tolerant varieties.  Bolt-free, sweet summer lettuces  Next round will be the fall and winter varieties that have cold tolerance.  Succession planting is key for keeping lettuce in the heat of the summer.  Start your lettuce seeds in a cool spot as they won't sprout when the ground is above 75 F.  You can start them in a pot indoors and then take outside when they have sprouted.

Pole green beans on trellis

I have put the yard long beans, pole snap and lima beans in the garden bed this year.  I went to yard long beans for snap beans again this year because they are so prolific in our climate.  When snap beans start producing, harvest them daily to keep them producing.  I keep a quart bag in the freezer and add mature green beans as they are ready for picking.  Any storage beans like lima beans will stay on the vine until the pod dries.  Legumes-peas for spring, beans for summer

 The garlic plants now have garlic scapes and flowers so they are doing well.  The garlic, onions and shallots are all starting to die back so harvest time is here.

Garlic harvest time is typically this time of year.  When the tops start dying, it is time to harvest.  After pulling, be sure to harden off in a shaded area.  If your soil has alot of clay, you will have to dig them.  Try to not cut into the cloves when digging.  After two weeks hardening, the cloves can be brought indoors for storing.  Hardening is critical for the garlic to not rot when stored.  I love elephant garlic as the cloves are as their name suggests, they are huge!  Save the biggest cloves for replanting in the fall.  Garlic harvest time is near!  My favorite way to preserve garlic is to pickle them in apple cider vinegar with a few hot peppers and store in the frig.  Have garlic any time you need it, just pickle some!

I am growing Yukon Gold potatoes this year in potato boxes.  Yukon Gold is supposed to be a good storage potato and should be ready to harvest this month.

Blue Spice basil is growing great.  Purple Bush and Cardinal basil are further behind.  I can harvest as many leaves as I want for cooking.  The Cardinal Basil need to get bigger before I will cut them back to make pesto.  I have switched to mainly Cardinal basil for harvesting as it doesn't get woody like Genovese basil.  I still grow Genovese basil because the bees love the flowers.  Basil basics-harvesting, preserving, growing basil

Oregano, dill and thyme have been blooming for a bit.  Garden chives have flowered but garlic chives have not flowered yet.  The bees love these small herb flowers!  All can be cut and dried now, but I love the dainty flowers, too, and will wait until fall.  Make your own "Herbes de Provence"

I fertilized all the flowers and vegetables again to keep them growing a couple of weeks ago.  Pots lose nutrients at a much higher rate than garden beds so I supplement them with liquid fertilizer.  I am using a liquid fertilizer for all the potted plants about every other week and using a solid fertilizer monthly around each plant.  I like Espoma or ReVita since both are all natural products.  I use tomato fertilizer for all fruit producing plants and their general purpose vegetable fertilizer for all other veggie and herb plants.  If the plants need just nitrogen (leaves are yellowish and not dark green), I use blood meal, alfalfa meal or a liquid fish emulsion.  Decorative container gardening for edibles

I have been using a mineral supplement in spring for my plants for the last few years, both the garden bed, pots and the potting soil I make.  Right now I alternate between Azomite and kelp meal each year.  So many soils are low in minerals and micronutrients.  Your plants can't absorb what the soil does not have.  Kelp has growth hormones in it as well.  They can cause your plants to outgrow their pot.  If your plants get a big boost when you add minerals to the soil, you know that it was needed.  Adding minerals to the plants and soil will significantly increase the minerals in the plant itself, giving you minerals in the veggies you eat.  The next step in garden production and your nutrition-soil minerals

A key to keeping the garden productive this time of year is to keep even moisture to all the beds and containers.  Inconsistent moisture can cause tomato fruits to crack and blossom end rot.  Water the beds weekly and deeply if there hasn't been a good rain; they need a good inch of water a week.  During hot, dry periods, your containers may need watering every other day.  Self-watering pots with reservoirs in the bottom or very large catch pans are the trick to extending time between waterings.  Summer garden tips

If you are getting higher than normal rainfall, you'll need to fertilize more often as the rain can wash away the nutrients.  Keep an eye on the growth of your veggies and if they are not growing and producing as expected, they may need some extra food.  

Strawberries are done for the season.  Blackberries, raspberries, husk cherries, huckleberries and tamarillo fruits have been producing for a bit now.  My thornless blackberry looks like it is done for the season; the thorny one is still producing.  Back yard strawberries 

Finally, there are many summer flowers in bloom.  The daylilies, petunias, echinacea, carrots, fairy lilies,  zinnias, celosia, sunflowers, morning glory, mums, gladiolus, as well as many herbs are all in full bloom.  The hummingbird vine, sedum, jasmine vine will be blooming sometime this month.  The early spring mustard, carrots, lettuce and broccoli have all bolted and are flowering.  The bees just love their tiny flowers!  Flowers are not only beautiful, but attract pollinators making the garden more productive.  

A butterfly on zinnias in the edible garden

At the end of this month, it will be time to start your seeds and seedlings for fall and winter harvests.  You have to start early so they are at full size before frost.  Time to plant for fall and winter harvests! 

Pests and fungus can also be a problem during this time of year with the hot temperatures and high humidity.  I have been finding which vegetables aren't bothered by our heat and humidity and making these my standbys.  Trombetta squash is one that can be used as zucchini but doesn't overwhelm in production.  It's an heirloom variety from Italy.  In my garden, it resists powdering mildew and squash bugs unlike zucchini.  Preventing and treating powdery mildew

You can try and stay ahead of pests by monitoring the garden closely and picking off the pests.  If they do get the best of you, here are some natural ways to combat them.  Natural, organic pest strategies and how to make your own bug sprays    If you want to let pests come into natural balance, the rule of thumb is that it takes about 7 years for the "good" bugs and other "bad" bug predators like toads, birds, lizards, to take up residence in your garden to keep the "bad" bugs in check.

Cabbage worms still decimate my sprouting broccoli.  And the flea beetles chow down on my orach and amaranth.  I keep hoping this will be the year it comes into balance, but it has not happened yet.  I first tried to use BT sprays or dust that needs to be reapplied after a heavy dew or rain or inspect and squish daily, but those did not solve the problem over the long term and it was a lot of time to do religiously.  The cabbage worm starts in June.  If I harvested all my mustard, cauliflower and broccoli by the beginning of June, this would eliminate the problem.  I don't because sprouting broccoli leaves are ones that stay sweet all summer long so I use them in summer salads.  I have enough volunteers that there is always a plant to harvest from.  Maybe later this year, they will come in balance. 

Have homegrown salads all summer

Potted Red Romaine with amaranth and morning glory

Saturday, June 27, 2026

It has taken me years to figure out what the best greens are to keep salads going through our hot and humid summers.  Lettuce is a crop that loves cool weather and moisture.  As soon as the temperatures start hitting the 80's, they sprout a stalk and flower, called bolting.  As soon as that stalk starts growing, most lettuce leaves turn bitter.  So, what are you to do to keep sweet greens going through the dog days of summer?  This is what I have found to work in my Zone 7 summer garden.

I read descriptors and articles on the most heat tolerant lettuces there are and I keep trying new ones to find the ones that last the longest in my summer garden.  There are some that even after they bolt still stay sweet if you harvest first thing in the morning or right after a nice cooling rain.  For my garden, the best summer lettuces have been Royal Oakleaf, Butter King, Bronze Beauty, Giant Blue Feather and Red Sails.  Grand Rapids does decent. Red Romaine and Giant Blue Feather seem to be the best self-seeders. 

A few years ago, I started growing different types of greens that have the sweetness of lettuce but can survive the dog days of summer.  So far, the ones that have done well as Hilton Chinese Cabbage, Chinese Bicolor Spinach (an amaranth), any color orach, Red Malabar spinach, New Zealand spinach, sprouting broccoli florets and leaves, young kale and sweet mustards Komatsuna Tendergreen and Giant Leaf.  The Giant Leaf and Red Malabar spinach are prolific self seeders.  I also get a few New Zealand spinach volunteers.

The other trick you can do is to practice succession planting.  Planting a few lettuce seeds every 2-3 weeks will keep you in young lettuce leaves through the seasons.  I do do this.  I let my lettuce go to seed and replant the volunteers that sprout while planting out a few seeds if I need to.  I always have various sized lettuce plants going.  How quickly they go from sweet to bitter depends on how dry they get, how much shade they get, and how hot it gets.  Sometimes they will bolt when they are only 4" tall!  

Keeping the greens moist helps they to stay sweet.  If you can plant them in a shadier spot of the garden in summer to give relief from the pounding sun or plant in pots that you can move to a cooler spot, this definitely helps, too.  Make sure in early April you switch to only heat tolerant varieties.  Come mid-August, it will be time to switch back over to the cold, winter hardy types to be ready for fall and winter harvesting.

Some nice green adds to summer salads are tarragon leaves, chives, parsley, thyme, oregano, mint and onion tops.  I always grow Radish Tail because it is just fun and the tender seed pods are fun additions to salads.

All amaranths and celosias are edible, even those grown as ornamentals like Love Lies Bleeding and Cockscomb.  So, if you have an abundance of leaves, they make great salads, too.

Doing these things makes sure that I have all the salads I want all the hot summer long.