Attention Gardeners! Perfect Vegetables for Planting in July
As a market garden farmer looking to extend the harvest season, Hanna Jacobs likes to cram as many plantings as possible into July. When you plan your garden to include fall crops, July is the time to sow many of your seeds. There is a wide selection of vegetables and herbs to plant throughout the month to ensure you’re eating fresh from your garden all the way into November.
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To help get you started, here’s a list of cold hearty veggies, including cut off dates so that you don’t plant too late and miss the window for optimum production.
Beets
At the farm Hanna grows three varieties of beets to get a rainbow of colour. The greens will hold well into the fall and the roots store well all winter long in the fridge. Try to harvest all beets shortly after the first frost.
Plant beets before July 20 for best results.
Carrots
Hanna’s family is still eating carrots from last year’s fall harvest! You can safely leave carrots in the ground until mid-November, assuming your region doesn’t experience early winter temperatures.
Plant carrots by mid-July at the latest.
Radish
It’s a great, quick-growing crop that can mature in 30-55 days depending on the variety. Not all varieties are great for storage, but they all thrive in cooler temperatures.
Plant radishes right up into mid-August.
Cabbage, Broccoli, Cauliflower, and Kale
These cruciferous vegetables are some of the most reliable fall crops.
Direct seed (the sowing of seeds directly into the soil) these in mid-July for harvest in September and October.
Lettuce, Arugula, and Spinach
Enjoy fresh garden salads all summer long!
These greens can all be planted throughout July and will give you multiple harvests from one planting.
Beans
Most bush beans can be planted into the second week of July. It will be a short but bountiful harvest in the fall — try freezing excess beans for winter meals!
The keys to success with any edible garden are good soil, weed control, and adequate water. Keeping this in mind, and planting on time, you could easily find yourself with a bountiful fall garden and homegrown meals well into the winter.
Hanna Jacobs is the founder and owner of Matchbox Garden & Seed Co. She lives in Haldimand County where she farms on one-and-a-half acres of land and raises her family with her husband, Chef Jason Inniss.