Seeding our July Garden Bed

It's mid-July and we recently experienced a heat wave they referred to on the news as a "heat dome" that was stuck above most of the United States during Fourth of July week. The week before, I was down in Connecticut visiting my family for my father's 85th birthday celebration.  When you're away from your garden for a week, you can really see the difference in growth when you return; it seems to me everything has more than doubled in size.  The plants love the heat and thankfully Mother Nature took care of watering in my absence.

Since returning to New Hampshire just in time for the temperature to be peaking in the middle of this week, I have been going out to the garden very early (around 5:30am) in the morning with the dogs. I spent time wandering the garden as I water the beds and the smart sacks - hose in one hand, coffee in the other.  The dogs are usually also in the garden smelling the fragrant odors that waft from the plants and flowers.  I'm fortunately to have a wonder space for our garden - it's basically flat, fenced-in and faces southwest. So it's able to soak up more than 8 hours of sunshine usually.  It's also at 1500ft so there is no any obstructions such as trees which cast shade upon it and it sees the sun until about a half hour before sunset.

While we were away, our 3'x6' garden was attacked by a ravenous chipmunk who dined on our lettuce and peas, which I had forgotten to harvest and take with me down to Connecticut.  Now I must clean out the remaining bolted lettuce and dried peas, add some fresh compost and reseed.
Succession planting is the practice of planting something new in place of a crop that's been harvested. Seeing how it's early July, there is plenty of time to seed some new crops in the place whre we had the peas and lettuce.

Here in Zone 5, there are plenty of time to enjoy growing beans, beets, Brussels sprouts, sweet corn, cucumbers and radishes, just to name a few.  There are varieties of broccoli and cauliflower which could also be seeded now.  Once thing to consider is what was growing in the space before and how it may have effected the soil.  Remember no matter what you sow, you need to replace the nutrients with some fresh compost.

The 3'x6' originally started the season off with lettuce, peas, and carrots. The lettuce and peas are done but there are some remaining carrots to take in to consideration when choosing what I will seed next.  Bush beans grow quickly in the hot summer soil, so they would be a good option. Bush beans are also good companions to carrots; other thing to consider veggies that complement each other, instead of possibly hindering growth.  Not everyone plays nicely in the sandbox garden together. If you want more information about companion planting check out my post

Brussels sprouts is another consideration and would do fine with the carrots but would be better suited to be coupled with beets and onions.  Cabbage and Kale could also be on the list; however we don't eat a lot of it so I'd rather use the space for the veggies we do enjoy more often.

Sweet corn is another possibility. Corn likes beans and also gets along with cucumbers too if I choose to include those in the bed. Corn would be fun - I've grown it successfully once before and know there are few things in life as sweet as the taste of an ear of corn you have grown in your own garden. Mark usually gives me a hard time about growing corn since it usually invites critters to the garden. Growing corn isn't difficult, but keeping the harvest can be since it's trust that critters love corn.  Whether its the crows or squirrels- they find it as tasty as we do. The other reason Mark balks against growing corn is that it generally needs a lot of space. However, you can grow corn in a small garden. By sowing the seeds 12' apart We should be able to grow 18 cornstalks in our 3'x6 raised bed.

A quick trip to our seed storage tells me I have a few varieties to choose from. I've picked Sweet Country Gentlemen corn, Golden Bantam 12 Row corn and Glass Gem Corn which I will couple with Alibi Hybrid Pickling cucumbers since cucumbers and corn make for good companions in the garden.

Gentlemen Sweet Corn - introduced in 1890 by S.D.Woodruf & Sons which is described by Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds as "sweet, delicious and milky...with tender white kernels."

Golden Bantam Sweet Corn - introduced in 1922 by the Clark Seed Company in Milford, CT. This golden yellow corn is suitable for freezing and fresh eating.

Glass Gem Corn - introduced by the Native varieties of Carl "White Eagle" Barnes, the famous Cherokee corn collector.  This corn has amazing color that looks like strands of glass beads.

It's Never Too Late to Start to a Vegetable Garden!

How did it get to be mid-June already? Father’s Day is just days away - many people, gardeners in particular may be feeling where did the summer go? Time flies by our busy lives as we juggle taking care of family, work and ourselves - making us feel like we never have enough time. The good news is, summer has not even officially started yet, so we can all take a collective deep breath.

Over the years of installing gardens, one of the most repeated reasons we heard why people hadn’t started the garden was that they felt they ran out of time. “Before I knew it was the end of June or July 4th.“ We would hear over and over again. “Why bother at that point, by the time I get anything going, summer will be over.” I find more and more how instant gratification is permeates so many aspects of our society‘s lives. We want things done yesterday, once we’ve decided to actually make the decision to do something.

Gardening can’t be rushed, you may be able to nudge Mother Nature along little, but that’s all you will really be able to get away with with her. Many people find the months of May and June rush by and the blow off any thoughts of starting a garden in July or August because to them what’s the point? They miss the growing season didn’t they? It would be too late to start a garden, would it?

No! It’s never too late to put in a garden bed and depending upon what zone you’re in, you may be able to start a garden 12 months throughout the year, while others may have to wait for snow so far. 

If you goal is vegetable gardening yes there are certain plants that can be seeded throughout the year. If you’re just starting your garden and it’s July or August , we suggest you begin with planting some herbs in the bed first. Herbs starts can be found your round at a local nursery or farmers market. Flowers too, such as marigolds are geraniums will give you a raise bed instant color which will spread out and last into the fall. But what about the vegetables? By this time they’re usually are no more starts to be found at the farmers market or nurseries so you will have to start from seed. 

There are plenty of delicious fresh vegetables which can be seeded in July and August delivering to you a delicious fresh harvest in September and October. By midsummer, the sun is strong and it will heat the soil in your new raise garden bed quickly. Raised bed gardens warm up faster than in ground garden beds and depending upon the material used can be a few degrees warmer too.

There are a multitude of quick growing vegetables that enjoy summer heat. We look for slow-bolting and heat tolerant seed varieties that work better in the hot summer. When starting a garden “late” in the season, we look for quick-growers that will give us a harvest before the growing season is through.  These vegetables don’t take too long to reach full maturity and most of the specific ones listed, we have used successfully in our clients’ gardens, as well as our own.[The links I include are for your convenience, I do not get any profits from any of the sales from the seeds, but I do recommend these companies]. Some vegetables are generally known to be quick growers such as radishes and lettuce. Many times we will use this quick growers when we do succession plantings in our garden. These quick growers generally  take less than a month to reach full maturity on average. Cherry bell radishes ( 22 days) or French breakfast radishes (25 to 30 days) or Viola radishes (24 days) - all can be enjoyed in a salad that’s all homegrown in a little over a month from the time a garden is started. 

A few years ago we added a second garden bed for a client - it was around mid-summer when the decision was finalized, so when we planted the new garden bed we planted a fall garden, meaning that everything would be harvested in late September- early October. We seeded summer squash, turnips, lettuce, beans, carrots. Summer squash loves hot summer soil and we picked a variety that matured in around 60 days, yielding multiple, bountiful fall harvests. Certain varieties can take even less time such Yellowfin and Sunburst squash which mature in 50 and 55 days, respectively. Or look for a super quick grower like Fortune squash which which matures in as little as 39 days! Tokyo Cross turnips mature in a quick 35 to 60 days and Golden Ball Turnips 45 to 65 days. 

Seeding the new raised bed 

Beans love the summer heat and there are plenty of varieties they can be enjoyed into the fall months like Speedy beans (50 days) or Wyatt beans (54 days). Other varieties include Calima, Mascotte and Golden Butter Wax.

Beets are also quick growers and there are plenty of variety that are heat tolerant. Early Wonder Tall Top beets mature in 45 days and are adaptable to all seasons. Touchstone Gold only take 53 days and Pablo beets 45 days. Bulls Blood and Golden beets also only take 50 days to mature.

Kale is another quick grower which should be sown in July to enjoy your fall crop. Nero di Toscana for instance matures in 50 days as does Redbor kale. 

It’s also not too late to enjoy carrots. There are a variety of carrots which one seeded in late July to early August can be enjoyed by the end of fall, early winter. Mini Adelaide carrot take 50 days, Mokum carrots take only 56 days, , CandySnax 65 days, Napa 63 days and Yaya carrots only 60 days.

There are even some cucumber varieties which can be started in late July which will allow you a harvest by summer’s end such as Chicago Pickling, 55 days to maturity but can be harvested smaller. Or Double Yield cucumbers 55 days or Excelsior and Straight 8 at 50 days.

It’s important to remember to think about the days needed to germinate as well which can range from 5 to 12 days on the average. This adds time to the overall time before your harvest comes in.

Fall garden favorites include a return to some of the cold crops of spring. The days maybe getting shorter and the nights cooler but that doesn’t mean an end to the growing season necessarily. There is plenty of arugula, lettuce, spinach and Swiss chard do you continue to enjoy in the fall if you didn’t have a chance to start your raised bed garden until late summer.

Fall, of coarse, is the only time to plant garlic bulbs which will overwinter and produce healthy harvests the following summer. We love cooking with garlic, onions and shallots so we always include these in our garden. These ingredients can add up if you use them a lot at the grocery store so growing them in our own garden is much more economical in the long run. Adding these bulbs couldn’t be any easier to plant too and it always makes us feel good to know that something is going on underneath all that snow in the winter time. There is also a wide variety of overwintering vegetables which can be seeded in the fall which will produce an early spring harvest; these include peas onions shallots and spinach. Spring onion seeds that are sown in August will be ready to harvest in early spring,  White Lisbon is a winter hardy variety that we have with had success with in the past. 

Autumn is also a good time to start an asparagus bed but choose autumn planting varieties like Pacific Purple. You can add another variety in the springtime to the raised bed.

Extend the season with a cold cover

cabbage and pak choi

Finally there are a few more veggies that can be started late in the season but require a little protection like a cold frame or cold cover. With a little protection you can enjoy winter salads, carrots , cabbages and pak choi through out the entire winter, particularly if you are lucky enough to have a greenhouse!

Life gets busy and there is no perfect time sometimes to do things, we just do them when we can get to them. So if you find you’re interested in growing your own food and you think it’s too late - know that it’s not.  Remember even starting late in the season you will be able to enjoy healthy harvests and will be ready to go come the following spring.

Tower Garden

If you want to push things along a little and don’t want to spend time setting up a raised bed gardens but you’re interested in growing your own food you can start a Tower Garden. Tower Gardens grow food three times faster and produces 30% greater yields on average than traditional methods.