What to plant in the May edible garden

May edible garden

Sunday, May 3, 2026

May is a "shoulder" month.  The cold crops are peaking and it is warm enough to start the summer lovers like tomatoes, peppers, squash, cucumbers, melons and eggplants.  It will take a couple of months for the summer crops to begin producing well. You can count on having fresh from the vine tomatoes by the 4^th of July.  A double reason to celebrate!

Here is a list of plants and seeds you can put in the May garden: 

May-transplants or seeds

Artichoke  Growing artichokes and cardoons

Basil  Basil basics-harvesting, preserving, growing basil

Bee balm (monarda)

Beans-bush and pole  Growing beans

Beets  All about beautiful beets

Borage  Flowers that are edible

Broccoli  How to grow broccoli and cauliflower

Brussels sprouts  Growing Brussel sprouts

Catnip

Cantaloupe  Growing melons and cantaloupe

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

Chard  For year round steamed greens, grow chard!

Chives  Add chives to your garden

Cilantro (Slo Bolt)  Growing cilantro (coriander)

Cucumber  How to grow cucumbers-in pots or in the garden

Dill

Eggplant  Eggplant-add this native from India to your garden

Fruit bushes  Fruit for small spaces and pots

Horseradish

Lavender  All about lovely lavender

Lemon balm

Lettuce (heat tolerant)  Everything you need to know about growing lettuce

Lovage

Okra  Growing and harvesting okra

Papalo-a heat loving cilantro substitute

Peppers  Peppers are for every taste and garden

Pumpkins  Everything you need to know to grow squash

Radicchio

Rosemary  Start a kitchen herb garden!

Sage 

Stevia  A sweet alternative-grow your own

Strawberries  Back yard strawberries

Summer and winter squash  Everything you need to know to grow squash

Sweet potatoes  Growing sweet potatoes

Tarragon

Thyme

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

Turnips  All about turnips

Valerian

Watermelon  Growing melons and cantaloupe

May-start seeds directly in the garden

Beets  All about beautiful beets

Carrots  All you need to know about growing carrots

Corn  Growing corn

Peas  Time to plant peas!

Potatoes (seed potatoes)  Time to plant potatoes, even if you only have a patio

Radishes  Easy to grow crispy, peppery radishes

For tips on starting your seeds in the garden:  Outdoor seed starting tips  I also like to put a pot on our covered deck and start seeds there throughout spring, summer and fall.  Once they are to a good size, I transplant them into their permanent pot or into the garden bed.  Vegetables you can grow in pots

May 2026 Edible Garden Planner

Early May edible garden

Saturday, May 2, 2026

May Day or Mother's Day is when the old timers say is the best time to plant your summer garden in the Midwest.  Prior to May 1, there is still a good chance of poor weather, chilly temps, and even a late frost in our Zone 7 garden.  This can be catastrophic for tomatoes, eggplants, basil and other heat lovers.  This year our last frost was 2 weeks ago.

Check out your 15 day forecast to know if it looks safe to plant those tender summer veggies as it is possible to have chilly temps even into May.  If direct planting summer vegetable seeds, chilly and rainy conditions can cause the seeds to rot.  Warm, moist conditions are the best for summer seed success!  

You just don't want to plant the summer lovers too early as they don't like being cold and don't grow much until the soil warms.  Earlier is not always better.  If you have already planted, no worries as long as you protect them if Jack Frost comes calling.  They just won't grow fast until the weather warms.

I started the summer lovers from seeds this year indoors for veggies with small seeds in late March and started the large seeded summer veggies of squash, melons, cucumbers and beans outdoors in peat pots 10 days ago.  The small seeded plants like tomatoes, peppers and eggplant were transplanted into the garden and large pots a couple of weeks ago.  The large seeded veggies have just begun to sprout.  As soon as they have their first set of true leaves, I will transplant to the garden. 

If you started yours indoors and have already transplanted outdoors, what do you do if they are forecasting frost?  Give them a jacket!  You can cover your frost sensitive plants with a row cover or light sheet.  You just want to be sure that the cover is not too heavy and crushes your plants.  For heavier covers, be sure to put stakes around your plants to protect them from the weight.  Remove after the frost is melted.  If you plant in pots, you can move your pots into the garage for the night.  For more on protection for plants, see Starting the garden earlier, outwitting Jack Frost... 

Row cover

Spring has had days above and days below average temperatures and below average rainfall.  I've had to water all my pots and garden beds on and off through April.  The greens that love the cool weather are doing great!  

May is the time to get the summer lovers growing.  The summer edible garden  For the plants to get going in May: What to plant in the May edible garden  If sowing your summer veggie seeds outdoors, see Outdoor seed starting tips 

The cold crops are at their peak at the beginning of the month with many bolting and going to seed by month's end like spinach, cilantro, lettuce, chard, kale, sprouting broccoli, and onions.  To preserve greens while they are still at their peak is quick and easy.  Freezing the extras for winter  The only green that is not frozen?  Lettuce.  I keep lettuce going in the garden by planting new seed every 3 weeks.  I also plant greens that love summer heat like New Zealand Spinach, Red Malabar spinach, orach and amaranth.  

Lettuce, spinach and cilantro all go to bolting as soon as the temps hit the 80's in our garden.  I have chard, Ruby Streaks mustard and winter cress that are flowering.  You can let them go to seed and either save the seed to plant or let the seed fall where it may to give you new lettuce, spinach and cilantro plants.  An added bonus to letting these plants go to seed is that the bees love their small flowers.  Seed saving-fun, easy and a cost saver

Mid May garden

So, what are we planting this year?  Of course, we will plant the number one veggie in the USA-tomatoes!   This year, I grew them all from seed.  You could also just buy plants as there is a great selection of heirlooms at local nurseries, hardware stores and big box stores these days. Last year we had such long stretches of upper 90's that our tomato harvest was small.  Once the temperatures stay in the upper 90's, the tomato flowers start to get sterile.  

This year, I have started my standby heirlooms and am trying a few heat and disease resistant varieties.  I have 12 ready to transplant.  Standbys-Chocolate Pear, 3 different Brandywines, Cherokee Purple, Italian Red Pear paste tomato.  Disease/Heat Resistant-Tropic VPN and Mannon's Majesty.  Just for fun-a storage tomato Long Keeper and California Keeper.  Also bought a large Better Boy that I put in the biggest pot I could find.  Last year, we got tomatoes in June from this type.   Choosing which tomatoes to grow   Different colors in tomatoes give different nutrition   Tomatoes 101, everything you need to know to grow great tomatoes  

If you have limited space, look for the dwarf/bush types like Bush Early Girl (only 54 days till ripe tomatoes), Patio Princess, Husky Red, Lizzano, Little Napoli, Front Runner, Tumbling Tom among many others. Typically, you can expect to have your first ripe tomatoes around the 4th of July.  The earliest tomato bearing variety I have grown is Yellow Tumbling Tom and Better Boy plants that I bought that gave me tomatoes in June.  They grow great in the garden or pots.  The Tumbling Tom is a small plant so it can be grown in a large pot.  Better Boy is a larger plant so needs a pot the size of a half whiskey barrel.  Compact tomato plants for small spaces  Nowadays, you can purchase full grown plants to get tomatoes sooner if the temperatures cooperate.  Tomatoes need many days in the 80's to produce tomatoes and ripen.

I will be growing vining yard long beans (growing 3 different kinds this year-Chinese Red Noodle, Yancheng and Taiwan Black)  They are very disease resistance and high producing.  Will also grow Christmas Speckles lima beans and 1500 Year Old Cave beans.  The 1500 beans can be picked for either snap beans or left on the vine to be storage beans.  Now is a great time to get beans planted.  Legumes-peas for spring, beans for summer  

For peppers, I am growing a few different sweet peppers for fresh snacking-Spanish Bull Nose, Doe Hill Golden Bell, a red snacking pepper from saved seed, Habanada, a sweet Jalapeño hybrid-Nadapeno.  I also have 4 hot pepper plants I overwintered-Jigsaw, Tunisian Baklouti, and a red and orange Chiltepin pepper plants.  The red Chiltepin is 10 years old now.  I grow hot peppers for hot sauce and to add to my salsa.  The small hot peppers I use in my grilling spice mix and for spicy olive oil.   Homemade hot sauce wings with homegrown celery  Quick, homemade salsa  Preserving peppers  Using herbs, flowers and fruit for flavored sugars and salts

 This year I am again going to plant all my peppers in pots.  It just seems that my peppers do better in a pot than in the ground for the smaller peppers.  I tend to plant more of the smaller peppers because the plants produce more than larger pepper plants.  Bell peppers seemed to produce more in ground when I have grown them in the past.  I'll put them in the largest pots.  It's a good idea to refresh your potting soil each year to get the most production.  Re-energize your potting soil!   Peppers are for every taste and garden

I am growing a few eggplants that have stayed sweet in our garden, all in pots.  Our summers get so hot here that eggplant skins can get tough and the fruits bitter so I always look for the varieties that are good for our temps.  My choices this year are Rotanda Bianca, Amadeo, and AO Daimaru.  Eggplant-add this native from India to your garden

White eggplant fruit

I am growing 2 summer squash-Trombetta and Zapallito Del Tronco.   Both are supposed to be disease and squash bug resistant.  I have grown Trombetta over the last 3 years and they were not affected by the squash vine borer or squash bugs, they had almost no powdery mildew, and you can eat when the fruits are young as you would zucchini or let them stay on the vine and the skins will toughen to use as winter squash.  They also don't produce a huge harvest all at once.  Just a couple a week which is perfect for us.  Growing zucchini and summer squash  One plant produces as much as a typical family needs during the summer.  Trombetta has vines up to 20 feet long so I just let it grow on the ground.

I found some great ways to use and preserve zucchini that any extra will be stored for many new ways of using.  What to do with all that zucchini?!  I really liked spiralizing zucchini into "zoodles" and using in place of spaghetti.  I'll spiralize and put into freezer bags so I have a low carb, nutritious option anytime for spaghetti.

I am also trying a few winter squash varieties-Buttercup, Thai Kang Kok, and Ayote Green.  I use winter squash in pies and pumpkin bread.  If you want to save seed, only grow one type of squash variety.  Summer squash cross pollinates with other summer squash; winter squash and pumpkins do the same.  

I Red Burgundy okra again this year and re-trying Heavy Hitter.  I've tried a few different varieties but Red Burgundy seems to do the best in my garden.  I'm giving Heavy Hitter another chance.  Growing and harvesting okra

  I've got cucumber, spinach, and lettuce seedlings this year for salads and to make green smoothies.  Grow your own juice garden   I am growing a bush cucumber and a vining cucumber so I'll only need one trellis.  Cucumber info and tips for growing  I have plenty of volunteer celery and mustard in the garden so no planting needed for them.  The pink celery I started last year looks healthy so hoping for some volunteers from it this summer. 

Lettuce varieties that are in my spring garden are Red and Green Romaine, Iceberg, Buttercrunch, Giant Blue Feather, Grand Rapids, Royal Oak, Bronze Beauty, Butter King, and Solar Flare.  I am always trying new varieties to see which are the best at staying sweet in our summer heat and also re-sowing themselves.

Lettuce and spinach aren't the only greens you can use for salads.   I have transplanted orach, Chinese Multi Color Spinach amaranth and Pink Beauty amaranth which are great for summer salad leaves when lettuce has bolted.  Orach and amaranth leaves stay sweet all summer.  I also have New Zealand spinach and Red Malabar spinach I overwintered indoors, seedlings of Perpetual Spinach and Verde de Taglio chard, Hilton Chinese cabbage for salads and wraps, Komatsuna Tendergreen and Giant Leaf mustard for sweet summer salad leaves.  I always grow Radish Dragon's Tail for salads, too.  They're just fun and add a pop of not too strong radish flavor.  See more on summer salad greens at  Growing summer salads

For the next round of lettuce sowings, I'll go with the more heat resistant varieties like Jericho Romaine which has been tested to last 3 months before bolting as well as Red Sails loose leaf lettuce which stays sweet after bolting.   Want continuous harvests? Succession planting!   Look for varieties that have heat tolerant in the descriptor.  Here are some varieties that are proven to do well in the summer   Bolt-free, sweet summer lettuces

Spring potted lettuce

For herbs, I have a bay tree and moringa tree that overwintered in the basement. I have sown seeds for Cardinal and Purple Ball basil, dill, Butterfly papalo (cilantro substitute that does well in the summer), rosemary, and marjoram.  Many of my herbs are perennials and are going strong in the garden right now-tarragon, garlic chives, garden chives, onions, oregano, thyme, mint, and garlic.  For more on herbs, see  Start a kitchen herb garden!

As I transplant my seedlings, I like to powder the roots of each plant with plant starter as well as dig in some fertilizer in each hole.  Plant starter has mycorrhizal microbes which fixes nitrogen to the roots of the plant, helping it to grow sturdier, bigger and faster.  Once you have the microbes in the soil, they should stay year after year, but adding each year can't hurt anything!

I add Azomite in each hole of my transplants when I plant every other year.   Azomite contains many minerals which can result in significantly improved growth for your plants and more minerals in your harvested plants for a healthier you.  A win-win for your garden and your family.

During the growing season, you should fertilize monthly.  Only add what a soil test said your garden needed when it comes to phosphorous and potassium.  You can get too much of both in the garden.  We added compost, sulfur and a natural fertilizer to the beds before we mulched.  Wood mulch raises the pH over time.  Mine was up around 7.8 so it was time to bring it down into the 6.5-7.5 range.  Sulfur lowers pH gradually over a few months.  When it gets above 7.5, vegetables can't absorb the minerals they need from the soil.

  The next step in garden production and your nutrition-soil minerals

Before you send your new transplants into the garden, insure they have been sufficiently "hardened off."  If you started your own seeds indoors, take your plants out daily over a week or so into a partially shady spot, letting them get used to the strong sun and wind.  I put mine out on the deck to get used to the sun and wind for several days before planting out.  "Hardening off" seedlings

If you purchased your transplants and they were already outdoors, they are ready to be plopped into the ground or pot and grow!

I always interplant my garden with flowers.  This year, I am using petunias, red flowering Hummingbird Vine, Blue morning glory flowering vine, cock's comb, marigolds, Love Lies Bleeding, dwarf Cocks Comb, flame cock's comb and Sweet William for annuals.  For perennials, there are pink Fairy lilies, white flowering jasmine vine,  hollyhocks in a variety of colors-Summer Carnival, Red and Peach, purple coneflower, lilies, day-lilies, irises, and gladiolas.  I am also encircling all my beds with daffodils and creeping thyme to repel voles.

May is an exciting time in the garden.  Every day you go out, you can see things growing.  The spring vegetables are in their prime, the summer veggies are just starting, and there are so many herbs ready for seasoning your favorite salads or dishes.  Just be sure to keep ahead of the weeds and provide even watering.

How to choose the tomatoes to grow

Potted volunteer tomato plant

Sunday, April 26, 2026

There are hundreds of tomatoes to choose from.  There are whole catalogues devoted just to America’s favorite home garden vegetable.  There really is nothing like a homegrown tomato, fresh off the vine!  With so many to choose from, how do you decide which is best for you and your garden?

Some considerations for deciding what to plant-space you have, flavor, how you use tomatoes, and which types grow best and give the biggest yields in your area.  Ask your neighbors or farmers market sellers which types they have found grow the best for them.  For heirloom and open pollinated types you buy from the farmers market, save the seeds from the ones you like and you can grow them in your garden!

I prefer heirloom and open pollinated, organic veggies.  I love the idea of seeds being handed down from generation to generation with loving care, through good times and bad.  Back in the day, every vegetable  and vegetable seed was precious.  You should save the seeds from your very best tasting, performing plant with the biggest fruits.  It was a sacrifice to take the biggest, juiciest fruit for its seeds.  Seeds were like gold back then.

Today, we save seeds from the best performers in our garden so year after year our veggies are better adapted to our specific garden conditions and tastes.  Seed saving-fun, easy and a cost saver

Chocolate cherry tomatoes

Family lore has it that my great grandfather killed a man in self defense when one of my great uncles stole some seeds the neighbor had ordered.  The neighbor came with a gun and confronted my great grandfather for the theft of his seeds.  The family had to leave the state, worried that the law would come after him.  At least, that is a story I heard told.........

For myself, I look for tomatoes that are disease resistant and can stand up to the crazy heat we are experiencing in our summers now.  Typical tomatoes become sterile when the temperatures average 85F.  We saw weeks where daytime highs were above 95F last summer.  

The second consideration for me is how I use the tomato.  I like to have 1 paste for canning (Italian Red Pear), 1 cherry type for salads (Chocolate Pear) and one for slicing tomatoes (Cherokee Purple).  My husband loves the slicers.  He has been growing a tomato patch for the last few years.  Up until this year he was growing them in upside down 5 gallon buckets.  Pots get hotter than soil so you get tomatoes earlier but the flowers go sterile quicker in the heat.  This year he is putting them in the ground.  We will grow 10-12 plants.

You may be surprised with my canning tomato choices.  I can all types of tomatoes.  I plant tomatoes that give lots with great taste and preserve all that we can't eat.  I try to have one paste per quart freezer bag as paste tomatoes give a silky sauce.   

I like growing the darker tomatoes since they are so healthy!  For more on the benefits of darker veggies, The Power of Purple  If you are curious on how the color of tomatoes affect its health benefits, 

Different colors in tomatoes give different nutrition or just a ranking on overall health benefits by type, 

 Most nutritious heirloom tomatoes  They even have tomatoes today that are bred specifically to increase the healthiness of the tomato!

 I get the best yields from the smaller tomatoes.  In the past, I used to get loads of tomatoes with Juliet (a hybrid, 1999 All American) and Yellow Pear (a heirloom from pre-1800).  Both are indeterminate, meaning they produce from summer through frost.  The Juliet is a mini Roma, great taste.  With the higher heat, the Juliet and yellow pear tomatoes have not been doing well in our garden.  I now grow Chocolate Pear every year for salads.

The smaller tomatoes are great for drying as well.  I like using my electric dehydrator for "sun dried" tomatoes as it is usually just too humid in the Midwest to dry tomatoes in the sun.  

Preserving the tomato harvest  

Large heirloom Italian Red Pear tomato, good for sauce and slicing

For slicers, the heirloom Brandywine, dates back to 1885, is a taste favorite which we have grown many times.  It continues to win taste tests to this day.  My husband lovers Brandywine tomatoes so I start pink, red and a chocolate Brandywine every year for him.  I also start 1-2 Cherokee Purple slicer tomatoes as they produce sooner and seem to hold up to the heat.  

I started a few disease and heat resistant slicers this spring too to experiment.

Lately, I have been trying a different type of storage tomato so we have fresh tomatoes further into winter.  I haven't found one that I want to add every summer yet.

Just as a note, hybrids will not come back like its parent.  Be sure to save seed from heirloom or open pollinated types to be sure you will get what you expect.  Or if you like surprises, feel free to plant the seed and see what happens!  What do the terms GMO, natural, heirloom, organic, hybrid really mean?

If you are short on space, there are many dwarf and patio varieties that can even be grown in pots!  We have had good luck with Bush Early Girl (only 54 days ‘till ripe tomatoes), Patio, Husky Red, and heirlooms Lizzano and Tumbling Tom.  There are many more options!  Just keep in mind that the smaller plants will not produce as much as a huge plant.  

Compact tomatoes for small spaces and pots

Yellow Tumbling Tom, a dwarf variety

Just three tomato plants should give a family of 2 enough for eating, freezing for salsa, and canning.  You don't need many plants to get a whole lot of fruits!

For more on growing tomatoes, these blogs can help you get started growing your own tomatoes this season:

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

Top 10 Tomato Myths (And Some Truths)

Summer garden seeds started this week

Summer garden bed

Sunday, April 19, 2026

I started my larger summer seedlings outdoor this week.  I do the indoor seed starting routine for most of my edibles but the larger ones like cucumbers, squash, beans and melons I start outdoors in peat pots.  It is fun to go outside every morning and evening to see if I have any little green shoots poking through the soil.

I planted all my spring edibles indoors mid February.  I started my smaller summer loving seedlings indoors at the first of March.  You can start your spring crops outdoors, too.  I have done that in the past. 

A spring edible garden

Now that we are well past any chance of frost (our average last frost date is April 2) and they are not calling for any lows in the 30's for the next 2 weeks, I am going to start the bigger summer veggies on peat pots outdoors.  You can start them indoors and earlier but they grow so fast you need larger pots for them and they take up a lot of indoor space.  I just start them outdoors once it is warm.

A summer edible garden

 Beans-Planted snap and shell beans to climb up on a trellis. Going to go with asparagus beans as snap beans this year.  Replanting Chinese Red Noodle and adding Yancheng and Taiwan Black.  Shell beans are 1500 Year Old Cave Bean and Christmas Speckles lima bean. 

Cucumber-trying a few that are supposed to be disease and pest resistant this year.  Aonaga Jibai, Shintokiwa, White Heron and Poinsett 76.

Herbs-I started Cardinal basil, Purple Ball basil, Chinese Pink celery, Pink dandelion, Butterfly Papalo (heat loving cilantro substitute), Red Shiso, Chervil. 

Squash-Ayote Green Flesh winter squash, Zucchini Rampicante summer or winter squash, Zapallito Del Tronco summer or winter squash, Thai King Kok pumpkin, Buttercup winter squash. 

Melons-Lemon Drop watermelon and Kajari melon.

Okra-a Red Burgundy and Heavy Hitter.  Have tried Heavy Hitter before and it did not produce as well as advertised but thought I would try it again as I don't need that much okra anyway.

Flowers-Blue Queen butterfly pea vine, Chaters Double, Summer Carnival Blush Pink and Summer Carnival Yellow hollyhock, Empress of India and Sahin's Paso Double nasturtiums, Borage, Orange King zinnia.

Resow-Starting Regina alpine strawberry, OTV Brandywine tomato and Black goji berry again.

This should be the last major seed starting I do until mid summer's fall planting starts.  Could do some June starts of tomatoes and squash if the first round isn't doing great.  

      Happy gardening!

The summer edible garden

Early May garden

Saturday, April 18, 2026

A summer edible garden has the crops must of us associate with backyard vegetable gardening like peppers, eggplants, cucumbers and the fresh favorite tomato.  The summer garden is planted in May to early June.  Summer crops love warm soil and air temperatures.  Most are subtropical in origin so a frost can kill them.  Plant seeds or transplants after all danger of frost has passed.  Since summer lovers thrive in warm temperatures, they don't really grow until the soil has warmed up so starting early outdoors isn't an advantage.  You can start them indoors early and then transplant when conditions are right to get a head start.  

For the summer garden, you plant in late spring, early summer for the heat lovers and then in the middle of summer for fall and winter crops.  You will need to save space to plant edibles for fall and winter harvests in July through early September.  For more on timing and types for planting the fall and winter crops, Time to plant for fall and winter harvests!.  

 There are two categories of edible garden crops, cold crops and warm season crops.  Cold crops like lettuce, spinach, peas, radishes, carrots, cilantro, kale, chard, cabbage will bolt and become bitter as the temperatures start hitting the 80's.  For us, this used to be the end of May.  Now, we can get 80's in April.

Warm season crops love the warm days of May through September and start waning in October.  Most will continue to have some production into November or the first hard frost of the year, including tomatoes and peppers.  There are many herbs and vegetables that love the heat and humidity of summer, too.  Folks here in Kentucky say Derby Day week end is the time to plant out summer veggies.  The Kentucky Derby is always the first week end of May.  Others swear by Mother's Day.

You can start your warm season crops indoors from seed or buy plants to get a jump start on getting harvests.  There are many options nowadays at the local hardware store, local nurseries and big box stores, from hybrids to heirlooms.

For indoor seed starting, here are some pointers.  Indoor seed starting tips, Ideal soil temperatures for starting your seeds

Crops that do well with just planting seeds directly into the ground outdoors are corn, cucumbers, melons, squashes, and beans.  They have large seeds and very sturdy stems.  Outdoor seed starting tips  Sweet potatoes are started using slips that you buy or start indoors and then plant directly into the ground.

Everyone loves to brag about their first ripe tomato, but tomatoes don't appreciate cold feet so resist the urge to plant too early.  Once it warms up, they will really take off.  If you just can't resist, use a plastic covering on the ground to get the soil warm to plant early or use something like Wall o Water around each tomato to give it a coat to keep it toasty in spring.

Be sure to fertilize when planting and then monthly.  Water during dry periods.  Even moisture is important.  Letting the soil get very dry and then giving a good watering can give you split tomatoes.  For more on summer gardening, Summer garden tips

Warm Season Crops for the Summer Garden-Vegetables

Artichokes Growing artichokes and cardoons

Arugula  Growing fabulous lettuce and greens

Beans (fresh and shelling)  Legumes-peas for spring, beans for summer 

Celeriac  

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

Chard  For year round steamed greens, grow chard!

Corn  Growing corn

Cucumbers  Cucumber info and tips for growing  Quick tip-Grow Up!

Cultivated Dandelions,  Grow Cultivated Dandelions

Edamame (soy beans)  Growing beans

Eggplant Eggplant-add this native from India to your garden

Kohlrabi  Kohlrabi-a less well known spring vegetable

Malabar Spinach  Growing summer salads

Melons  Growing melons and cantaloupe

New Zealand Spinach

Okra  Growing and harvesting okra

Peppers (sweet and hot)  Peppers are for every taste and garden

Sorrel Want a vegetable and fruit garden that you only have to plant once? Try perennials!

Sprouting broccoli  Sprouting broccoli- a year round fav

Summer squash  Growing zucchini and summer squash

Sweet potatoes  Growing sweet potatoes

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

Zucchini  What to do with all that zucchini?!

Mid-May garden

Herbs are the easiest thing to grow.  They thrive on heat and don't mind dry conditions.  If you are just starting out, this is a great one to start with.

Start a kitchen herb garden!

Make your own "Herbes de Provence"

Warm Season Crops for the Summer Garden-Herbs

Basil  Basil basics-harvesting, preserving, growing basil

Bay

Bee balm

Borage

Catnip

Chives (Garden and Garlic) Add chives to your garden

Cilantro (heat tolerant variety)  Growing cilantro (coriander)

Comfrey

Dill

Egyptian walking onions  Egyptian walking onions

Horseradish

Mint

Lavender  All about lovely lavender

Lemon verbena

Lovage

Marjoram

Parsley (flat leaf) Self-seeding crops, plant once and forget 'em

Oregano

Rosemary

Sage

Salad Burnet

Summer savory

Tarragon

Thyme

Mid to late summer (July-September) is the time to plant for fall and winter harvests so be sure to have a spot for these tasty vegetables.  For more on late summer plantings for fall harvests, here is more information.  Time to plant for fall and winter harvests!

Crops Planted in Mid to Late Summer for Fall and Winter Harvests

Broccoli, Cabbage and Cauliflower (for fall harvests)

How to grow broccoli and cauliflower  Cabbage is nutritious and easy to grow

Beets, Carrots, Radishes, and Turnips (for fall and winter harvests)

All about beautiful beets  Easy to grow crispy, peppery radishes  All you need to know about growing carrots  All about turnips

Cilantro  Growing cilantro (coriander)

Escarole, Radicchio, and Frisee (for fall and winter harvests)  Fall and winter greens

Fennel Growing fennel

Greens (Lettuce, Kale, Mustard, Pak Choi, Spinach)

Everything you need to know about growing lettuce  Collards and kale in your garden  Mustard greens  Grow spinach-a super nutritious, easy green

Leeks (for fall harvesting)  Everything to know about growing onions

Winter squash  Everything you need to know to grow squash

 You can procrastinate until June and still have a productive edible summer garden.  It is not too late to start a garden in June!

I always interplant my garden with flowers.  Flowers bring pollinators and other beneficial insects into the garden.  For fruiting veggies like tomatoes, squash, peppers, cucumbers, eggplant, the more pollinators around, the more fruits you get.  If you want, you can grow edible flowers that are fun to add to salads.  Flowers that are edible

I use borage, amaranths, zinnias, marigolds, petunias, snapdragons, old fashioned Cock's Comb which is ruby red and grows 4 feet tall, red flowering Hummingbird Vine, Moonflower vine, Blue morning glory vine, heirloom sunflowers, and alyssum for annuals.  For perennials, there are spiderwort, delphiniums, hollyhocks in a variety of colors-Summer Carnival and Peach, day-lilies, irises, dahlias, fairy lilies, and gladiolas.  Five years ago I started a pollinator garden that is primarily natives like yarrow, echinacea, Black-eyed Susan bee balm, sedum, violets and many others.  Starting perennials from seed takes 2-3 years for them to really start filling out.  Now it will be survival of the fittest as flowers like bee balm and yarrow vie for space.

Summer is an exciting time in the garden.  Every day you go out, you can see things growing.  Just be sure to keep ahead of the weeds and provide even watering.  I garden in my flower beds so they are always mulched, providing protection against weeds and keeping even moisture.  Weed free, self fertilizing, till free garden beds