The Endless Summer in the Veggie Garden

Depending on your exact location & microclimate, there are SO many crops you can continue to plant right now. Stop by the nursery to check out our stock of fresh organic veggie/herb starts, we will help you find just the right varieties for your garden.

Root Vegetables to Plant in Late Summer

As mentioned above, there are quite a few root crops you can plant and harvest before the ground freezes. Certain varieties even do quite well when you leave them in the ground and cover them heavily with mulch.

If you plant beets in late summer, be sure to plant them densely and harvest the leafy greens as you thin the plants out.

Certain varieties of carrots actually get sweeter if they’re left in the ground once winter hits.

Other root vegetables like radishes are pretty fast-growing and you’ll have plenty of time to harvest for fresh eating throughout the remainder of the growing season.

Always check your seed packets for the growing window as well as how well the variety handles cold. Even within a specific vegetable, there will be varieties that do better growing into the winter season.

A finished hoop house or bean tunnel with crops growing up the sides and on the ground inside the tunnel.

Peas & Bush Beans to Grow in Late Summer

Peas will be happy through a light frost, however, beans will need to get in and harvested before a frost as they don’t handle the cold as well.

It’s also better if you plant a bush bean variety, not a pole bean.

 

A large garden row with cabbages and other crops growing.

Brassicas You Can Plant in Late Summer

When planting brassicas you’ll want to be sure to check the length of time they need to grow to maturity.

For cauliflower, there are some quicker varieties you can grow, so choose accordingly!

For broccoli, sprouting broccoli will be best. They won’t grow those large crowns we’re used to seeing for broccoli, but you’ll get a lot more side sprouts. These are also wonderful because they’ll die back and winter over, then it will be one of the first things you’ll see come back in the garden come springtime.

Cabbages do great when planted in late summer as they can handle the winter cold much better than other vegetables. We specifically love the Chinese cabbages and they’ve done very well for us in the past.

As always, check the seed package or the catalog for a variety that does well with colder temperatures.

Greens growing in a bed in a greenhouse.

Leafy Greens

Leafy greens are wonderful because they grow up so quickly and can be harvested young as microgreens if you don’t have time to let them grow to full maturity.

Some greens like kale and spinach can handle colder temperatures quite well.

But what we love about lettuces is that, when planted densely, they will grow upright and be very easy to harvest. We’ve found that leafy greens will continue to feed our family well into the winter, especially when we utilize our greenhouse to extend the growing season.