Below are some common veggie crops that typically mature quickly enough to start from seed in midsummer and still get a solid harvest by season’s end!

Beets

Beets are an excellent crop to seed in summer and grow into fall. Beets are sturdy plants that can grow in the heat but will also appreciate cooler fall temperatures, and they’re typically ready to harvest in 55-70 days. Don’t feel constrained to just growing plain old purple beets- there are beautiful golden, white, and ‘candy cane’ (pink-and-white striped) varieties that add visual interest in the garden and the kitchen! For beet growing tips be sure to check out Grow Great Root Vegetables.

Chard

Chard is a beet relative that is usually grown for its large, spinach-like leaves. Chard performs well in spite of the summer’s heat, and it can also handle some seriously cold temperatures. Chard typically matures in 40-60 days which means for many gardeners a midsummer planting will give ample time to reach maturity and continue to produce a harvest well into fall and even early winter. Harvest only the outermost chard leaves and it will keep on growing and producing harvests for weeks to come.

Beans

Beans might be a surprising candidate for summer sowing, but they’re a quick-growing crop that does very well planted in midsummer for early fall harvests. Bush beans tend to mature faster than pole beans, so if your growing season is waning make sure to look for a faster-growing bush bean variety. Beans are a warm season crop that prefers full sun, so be sure to plant them in a sunny spot that will also receive maximum warmth as fall approaches. When cooler nights start to roll in you can use season extension techniques to keep your beans producing just a little while longer.

Lettuce

While lettuce does not at all enjoy the heat of summer, it’s good to plan for multiple plantings of lettuce throughout the growing season (this is called succession sowing). Lettuce is generally a quick-growing crop, especially if you are growing it as cut-and-come-again lettuce rather than full lettuce heads. Lettuce planted in the summer may need a little TLC to produce a harvest. Shade cloth can help block out too much searing heat from the sun, and consistent watering can help to avoid stress to the plant that could accelerate bolting. And once cooler temperatures hit, your lettuce crop will be even more prolific!

Carrots

Carrots might seem like a plant-once-and-done crop, but there can be a massive difference in the days to maturity depending on the variety. ‘Early’ carrot varieties can be ready to harvest in as little as 50 days, whereas more substantial storage varieties can take up to 120 days to mature! So be sure to select carrot varieties for summer sowing carefully. Carrots can be tricky to germinate, and summer’s heat does not help matters. Water regularly to keep the soil consistently moist after sowing carrots- some gardeners even put down a piece of plywood over the soil to hold in moisture (be sure to check for germination every day if you go this route!)

Cilantro

Cilantro is possibly one of the most bolt-prone crops around, which means the only way to be able to keep harvesting it for fresh summertime salsas is to keep on planting it! Keep watering and harvesting your cilantro regularly especially in summer to try to stave off bolting as long as possible. Cilantro that does flower helps to attract pollinators and other beneficial insects that can help your summer crops along– if you have enough space just leave the flowered plants in and plant a new round. You can also easily save seed from cilantro for upcoming plantings!

Radishes 

Radishes are an excellent crop to sow midsummer (or almost anytime, really) as they grow  extremely quickly. Radishes can reach maturity in as little as 25 days, and their compact size means that they can be tucked into almost any garden space that frees up as spring and summer crops kick the bucket. And if your radishes happen to bolt before you get a chance to harvest them you can always let them continue growing- the green seed pods are edible (and delicious!) Then plant a whole new wave of radishes!

This is just a small sampling of our favorite crops to plant in summer- there are many more summer sowing possibilities to explore. Don’t let your garden dwindle down to just tomatoes and peppers as the season wears on- sow a fresh round of summer crops for full garden beds and abundant harvests!

The greens we’ll cover in this article should be seeded quite densely to be grown for salad greens (roughly 1.5’-2’ between plants)- this helps the leaves stay salad-sized and makes it easier to harvest them with a knife as cut-and-come-again greens. So long as you don’t entirely cut off the top growing crowns of the plants, you can keep harvesting the greens as they regrow until they finally bolt. If you’re particular about bug-bitten leaves (or if you have some especially hungry pests), be sure to cover your greens with insect netting to help keep the leaves intact.

Arugula

Also known as rocket or rucola, arugula is a delicate leafy green that packs a peppery punch. If you don’t mind salad with a kick you can use arugula as the sole green, but it also makes a great addition to mesclun mix where its spiciness is balanced out with lettuce and milder greens. Or, skip the salad and sprinkle it on top of homemade pizza or sandwiches for a gourmet touch! Arugula can tend to bolt easily so be sure to keep it well-watered to avoid drought stress, and consider sowing in regular successions to be able to continue harvesting throughout the season.

Mustard

Mustard packs a good amount of spice- similar to arugula but arguably a notch more intense, and with a flavor all its own. Mustard greens are not necessarily green- there are red varieties available such as ‘Red Giant‘ that add a pop of color as well as flavor. Mustard leaves have unique crispy-juicy stems and serrated or savoyed leaves that add a really interesting texture to salad mixes. Mustard can be a bit intense as a sole salad green but if you’re needing a change from salad entirely it’s also excellent in stir-fries and soups.

Tip: Mustard is listed under Herbs in Planter as it can also be grown for mustard seed

Baby kale

Kale is often grown for full-sized leaves that can be turned into kale chips, chopped salads, and green smoothies. But if you sow kale seeds densely and cut off the leaves while they are young and tender you have ‘baby kale’ which is a wonderful salad green. Baby kale has the same strong flavor that fully mature kale does, but the texture is much softer so the leaves are pleasant to eat whole in salads without needing to chop them down first. Also, if you cease cutting the baby kale leaves and thin out the plants, the remaining plants can grow into fully mature-sized kale so you can harvest larger leaves (kale doesn’t tend to bolt as easily as some of the other greens in the list).

Baby chard (and beet) greens

Chard and beets are related plants that have very similar greens. Chard is often grown for full-sized leaves, while beets are often grown for their sugary roots- but they can both be seeded densely and grown for salad greens. Like beet roots, beet greens (they can often be purple-red in color) have an ‘earthy’ undertone to their flavor that may not appeal to everyone. Chard has a more neutral spinach-like flavor and the colorful stems and bright-green leaves are visually striking. Both can add a nice depth of flavor and pop of color to a salad mix.

Endive/escarole

While endive and escarole can look like little lettuces, they are actually members of a unique chicory sub-group of plants (genus Cichorium). These greens are most commonly described as bitter- if you’re not a fan of bitter flavors they might not agree with you. Endive and escarole is typically blanched when growing- that is the growing stem is blocked from receiving sunlight to maintain a white color and a milder flavor. They can be used as the sole green in a salad, but the strong bitter flavor often needs to be balanced out by adding plenty of sweet, salty, and/or acidic ingredients. They can also be grilled first which adds a depth of flavor that works really well with the bitterness.

Bonus: Nasturtiums

Nasturtiums are often added to edible gardens for their beautiful color and as companion plants that can attract pollinators and discourage pests. But did you know that all parts of the nasturtium plant are also edible? They have a mild peppery taste and they make for a stunningly beautiful salad with the flowers and the leaves combined together. Nasturtiums may look super-delicate, but they are surprisingly easy to grow in the garden! Direct-sow nasturtiums into any available nooks and crannies to add beauty and color to your garden and your salad plate!

Salads are a great way to enjoy garden veggies at their peak freshness! But if you start to get tired of the same old salad ingredients, don’t give up on eating salads entirely. Up your salad game instead by adding some of these unique and interesting greens to the mix!

Do all veggie plants need full sun?

For the most part, vegetable plants grow and produce best in full sun (at least 6 hours of direct sun per day). Veggie plants need ample sun to be able to photosynthesize and grow as quickly as possible- a lack of sun may not outright kill them but it can severely stunt their growth. But there are some plants that will still produce a respectable harvest in partial shade (4-6 hours of sun per day). Gardening successfully in part shade comes down to being selective about what you choose to grow and having realistic expectations about how much you’ll be able to harvest.

If your potential garden location is in near total shade and gets only a few hours of sun each day, you may want to skip down the Alternatives to gardening in part shade section of this article. While you can certainly have fun experimenting with growing edible plants in shade (you might even discover some non-traditional edible plants that grow well in shade), you’ll likely only be able to muster up a meager harvest.

Veggie plants to grow in part shade

Lettuce and leafy greens

Lettuce and other leafy greens such as spinach, chard, and arugula are star performers in the shade. Growing them in part shade can even have some benefits, as blazing summer sun can contribute to them bolting. To get the plants off to a good start you may want to consider starting them indoors then transplanting out to the shadier parts of your garden. It can be challenging to get lettuce to form full-sized heads in part-shade, but you can certainly harvest it as cut-and-come-again lettuce.

Green onions and chives

‘Bulbing onions’ require full sun to form their large, edible bulbs, however green onions and chives are excellent shady garden plants because they are primarily harvested for their slender, pungent greens. While they will produce best in full sun, you can tuck them into shady spots and still harvest enough to make the effort worthwhile. To learn more about growing these and other allium-family crops be sure to check out Grow Amazing Alliums.

Radishes

By now you might be noticing a theme with shady-garden plant picks: they tend to be green and leafy. Radishes can add a nice burst of color to an otherwise monotone shady salad garden. Radishes can still form nice-sized roots when grown in part shade- although it might take longer than usual for the bulbs to form. Be careful not to use too much high-nitrogen fertilizer where you plant radishes, as this will stimulate them to form lush leafy tops and tiny roots. If this does happen all is not lost- radish greens are edible too!

Beets

Like radishes, beets are another root crop that can be grown in partial shade. The roots of shade-grown beets will likely be smaller than their full-sun counterparts, but you can always roast them whole and just call them ultra-gourmet baby beets. Don’t leave beets in the ground for an excessively long time hoping that massive roots will form- they might just turn woody and tough instead. Beet greens are also totally delicious in salads or sauteed, so if you do find the bulbs are too diminutive the greens will not disappoint!

Brassicas (such as broccoli, cabbage, collards, kale)

Brassicas can be grown in part-shade locations- but they must receive at minimum 4-6 hours of direct sunlight per day. If your location has dappled sun throughout the day, you may want to avoid growing brassicas there. Because brassicas, like leafy greens, are prone to bolting under stress caused by heat and drought, growing them in shade may help to delay this. Patience is key as brassicas are already slow-growing crops and they will grow even more slowly in the shade. You likely will not be able to get super-sized heads to form on your broccoli, cauliflower, and cabbage, but it’s at least possible to grow small, tender heads. Start brassicas indoors to give them the best possible chance to grow and reach maturity in the shade.

Peas

While peas perform best when in full sun, you can still get a harvest if they’re planted in part shade. You might even be able to trellis your climbing peas so that the plants are able to climb out of the shade to reach more sun. It is important to plant your peas with enough time for them to reach maturity before the summer heat comes. While partial shade will help keep them cooler for longer, eventually they will stop flowering and producing peas in the summer’s heat. For more info on growing peas, check out Grow Awesome Legumes.

Certain herbs (such as mint, cilantro, dill, and parsley)

While Mediterranean herbs such as rosemary and oregano prefer full sun and soil on the drier side, other herbs such as mint, cilantro, dill, and parsley don’t mind a bit of shade. The shade will help keep the soil moist and will help delay bolting. Trim (and cook with!) herbs planted in part-shade regularly to help keep the plants bushy and compact. And a special warning about mint: be sure to plant it in a container to keep it from spreading prolifically.

Alternatives to gardening in the shade

Container gardening

While your yard might be submerged in shade, perhaps there’s a sunny spot on a deck or front porch that could be a great spot to grow veggies in containers. Virtually every type of veggie can be grown in a container provided the container is large enough for the crop, and you water and fertilize regularly to keep the growing medium moist and full of nutrients. Containers can also be moved around as needed to capture the most amount of sun available as the sun’s angle changes.

Rent a community garden plot

If your house is in the middle of the deep woods your best bet for getting a sizable garden harvest could be to rent a plot at your local community garden. Community garden plots are typically very inexpensive to rent for an entire season and will let you grow sun-loving veggies much more successfully. If you garden in a community plot be sure to set reminders to water your garden when the weather’s hot and dry, as you won’t be able to check the state of your plants as easily as in a backyard garden.

Garden with neighbors and friends

If your neighbors and/or friends have unused backyard space that gets full sun exposure, try striking up a deal with them! If they let you use the space for gardening you can bestow them with tasty garden-grown produce throughout the season. If your friends happen to be gardening enthusiasts all the better- you can share the work, share knowledge, and share the reward!

Don’t let the semi-shaded parts of your garden be nothing more than wasted space. Maximize your harvests by growing some of these shade-tolerant plants and saving the full-sun spaces for sun-loving crops. Every harvest you can get from a shady space is a gardening win!

Kale

Kale is truly an incredible plant. Not only is it astoundingly cold-hardy, once established it can grow through almost anything you can throw at it. Kale is a top low-maintenance plant pick because you plant it once and enjoy continuous harvests all season long (assuming you are harvesting it for larger, individual leaves). To harvest kale just snap off the lowest, largest leaves as close as possible to the stem, making sure to leave the top of the plant and several upper leaves intact. When harvested this way, kale can keep on producing well into fall and even winter…You might even find it grows back again the following year!

Chard

Like kale, chard is another season-long powerhouse producer. Chard is also cold hardy, so you can sow seeds early in the season when the planting schedule is not as intense! Chard has a spinach-like flavor and a similar texture when cooked, but unlike spinach chard is amazingly resistant to bolting. Chard leaves remain tasty and sweet all season long, even through the blazing heat of summer. Chard is harvested similarly to kale- cut off the largest, lower leaves as close to the base of the plant as possible.

Green onions

Green onions* are one of the least-fussy plants you can grow. They germinate readily, require minimal fertilizer, and can even tolerate a slight drought (emphasis on slight). Green onions are significantly less tricky to grow than bulbing onions, and there’s no curing process involved - you simply pull them out, wash them up and store them in the fridge. Green onions also ‘hold’ well in the garden - that is, you don’t have to harvest them all at a super-precise time. They’re happy to keep on growing until you need them (although eventually you might end up with some humongous green onions!)

*Note: green onions are a variety of onions in Planter!

Zucchini

Zucchini* makes the list of low-maintenance plants because of how hyper-productive it is! Growing just one or two zucchini plants could easily provide enough zucchini for your family (and you might even be giving it away!) Zucchini plants tend to be on the larger side but there are compact container varieties available that can help save space in the garden. With zucchini the only time-sensitive task is harvesting - it’s important to harvest the zucchinis before they get too large so the plant will keep on producing! Zucchini plants can produce all season long, although at some point they might succumb to pest and disease pressure. Rather than spending time battling pests and disease it may be more efficient to start a couple of back-up seedlings, timing them to reach maturity in the mid-late season. 

* Note: zucchini is a variety of squash in Planter!

Bush beans

While beans are a popular garden plant, for a low-maintenance bean harvest bush beans are the way to go. Bush bean varieties, as the name suggests, have a bushing growth habit which means they don’t require a trellis or support structure to grow and produce a harvest. Pole bean varieties in contrast are vining plants that do need a structure to climb on. Bush beans are also relatively easy to harvest since you don’t need to reach around a trellis. And, since bean plants fix nitrogen from the air (with the help of soil bacteria), you can skip the fertilizing routine for beans!

Herbs (not technically a plant)

‘Herbs’ is a bit of a catch-all, but truly they can be some of the easiest plants to grow. Mediterranean herbs such as rosemary, thyme, and oregano thrive in poor soil (soil low in nutrients) and actually prefer to dry out between waterings! Some herbs are also perennials- depending on the variety and your hardiness zone they can come back year after year without the need to re-plant. Then there are herbs such as mint and dill which are infamously easy to grow because they self-seed prolifically (and mint also spreads by rhizomes). Grow mint and dill in containers otherwise they grow so readily that they can turn into garden weeds!

Dwarf cherry tomatoes

Tomatoes can arguably be one of the most maintenance-intensive crops, depending on the variety, but dwarf cherry tomato varieties are easy-peasy. They are small, well-behaved little plants that produce prolifically without a need for trellising. They do not require much pruning - only to remove damaged or yellowing leaves and leaves touching the soil. Plus they grow well in containers- so weeding is minimized and you can keep them within reach for easy mealtime harvesting (or a quick garden snack!)

Incorporate these low-maintenance plants into your veggie garden this season to enjoy maximum harvests with minimal effort!

Even though summer can get hectic, don’t forget to take a step back from the to-do list to plan your fall garden. While the tomatoes are ripening and the peppers are plumping, it’s time to be thinking about which seeds to sow and seedlings to transplant for fall harvests.

Why plant a fall garden?

As your first frost date approaches, you can still plant cool season crops as they can tolerate a frost or even a freeze. In some ways, fall crops can be easier to grow than spring crops as the ground is readily workable and temperatures drop into the ranges that cool-season crops prefer rather than getting hotter. Cool-season crops can sometimes struggle to germinate in high heat though, so if you are planting from seed you may want to consider starting indoors or setting up some shade cloth. Above all, make sure the soil is kept consistently moist until the plants start to take off.

Another advantage of planting cool season crops in fall is that some of them, such as carrots, parsnips, beets, cabbage, and kale, will actually sweeten up after enduring a frost!

What plants can I grow in fall?

Most cool season crops will grow well in fall, so long as they are started with enough time to reach maturity. These include:

Brassicas: brassicas such as broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage, and kale do very well growing into fall as they are generally quite frost-tolerant, and their flavor improves with the frost. These crops do take some time to reach maturity though, roughly 60-80 days or more from seeding to harvest depending on the plant and variety, so be sure to start seeds in time or buy transplants from a garden center.

Lettuces and leafy greens: lettuces and leafy greens such as spinach, chard, and arugula are rock stars in a fall garden. They grow quickly and can be harvested repeatedly until the cold weather finally knocks them out. In most cases the leafy greens are not as frost resistant as brassicas, so you may want to consider protecting them with a hoop house or some floating row cover, to help extend the harvests once chilly weather sets in.

Root vegetables: root vegetables are great candidates for a fall garden. Radishes are especially quick to mature and can be planted well into fall. Others such as parsnips, carrots, and beets take longer, so again be sure they have enough time left in the season to mature. Root crops often don’t transplant well, so buying seedlings from the garden center may not be a viable option.

Garlic and shallots: unlike the other fall crops that are planted in summer and grow into fall, garlic and shallots are planted in late fall for harvesting next season. While they don’t need to go in the ground now, you will still want to be thinking about where to plant them when the time comes and ordering sets soon to be sure they will arrive in time for planting.

When should I plant my fall garden?

To sort out when to get your seeds started and your transplants planted out for your fall garden, look for Cool season plants in Planter:

Then, look at the number of days needed for Germination and the number of days from Sprout to Harvest for that plant. Work backwards from your first frost date to determine when you need to plant to ensure there is still enough time for the plant to mature and produce a harvest. While frost-tolerant plants can keep growing past your first frost date, it is good to get your fall crops planted with a bit of extra time in case of slower growth or extreme weather conditions.

There is a lot to tend to in the garden in the midst of summer, but it’s also time to plan ahead and start planting for fall. Planter makes it easy to figure out which crops can be planted for a fall harvest, so you can spend more time getting out in the garden!