Home Garden
# Home & Garden >> Plants, Flowers & Herbs >> Growing Vegetables

What Vegetables to Plant in the Spring, Summer & Fall

Home gardeners can plant vegetables from spring through fall to extend the season and grow a wider variety of crops. Cool weather crops perform better during the spring and fall, while warm weather crops need the warmth the summer months provide to flourish. Make sure you have access to the right crops during the right planting season by starting your vegetables from seeds indoors under grow lights, then hardening them off before transplanting them into the garden.

  1. Starting Vegetable Seeds Indoors

    • Seeds offer more diversity than buying vegetable plants.

      You should start vegetable seeds indoors in spring or summer to get a head start on the growing season. Vegetables require a certain number of days after the seeds germinate before they flower and fruit. Starting these seeds indoors in containers means the plants you transplant to the garden are older, thus they produce faster. Start seeds for late spring or early summer indoors in late winter or very early spring. Sow seeds for crops intended for the fall garden in late summer. Harden the seedlings off by gradually putting them outdoors in a protected, semi-shady area for a few hours each day. Increase the amount of sun the vegetables receive and the amount of time they spend outdoors over the course of two to three weeks, until they are fully hardened off and ready to transplant into the garden.

    Spring

    • Spring is an ideal time to plant cool season vegetables such as lettuce (Lactuca spp.), carrots (Daucus carota), beets (Beta vulgaris), potatoes (Solanum tuberosum), peas (Pisum sativum spp.), leeks (Allium ampeloprasum), radish (Raphanus sativus spp.), turnips (Brassica spp.), spinach (Spinacia oleracea) and watercress (Nasturtium officinale). Cool weather crops prefer a soil temperature of 40 degrees Fahrenheit. Take the temperature of the soil with a soil thermometer -- if you cannot find a soil thermometer, a kitchen meat thermometer works fine. Placing a cold frame over the top of the plants when extreme cold weather or frost is expected offers enough protection to keep the plants alive. Even plants that appear frozen on a cold spring morning generally are fine by mid-afternoon. A cold frame is a boxlike structure with a clear lid used to protect crops from frost and extreme cold temperatures. Lettuce is hardy in U.S. Department of Agriculture plant hardiness zones 4 through 9. Carrots are hardy in USDA zones 4 through 10. Beets and radishes are hardy in USDA zones 2 through 10. Potatoes are hardy in USDA zones 1 through 7. Peas and leeks are hardy in USDA zones 3 through 11. Turnips and spinach are hardy in USDA zones 3 through 9. Watercress is hardy in USDA zones 5b through 11.

    Summer

    • Plant warm weather crops such as peppers (Capsicum spp.), tomatoes (Lycopersicon spp.), corn (Zea spp.), melons (Cucumis melo) and eggplant (Solanum melongena esculentum) once the ground temperature reaches 70 F. Lay black plastic on top of the soil to help heat it if you live in a cooler climate. Start seeds of these crops -- except for the corn, which is best direct sown into the garden -- indoors approximately six to eight weeks before the last expected spring frost in your area. Warm weather crops that are at least eight weeks old can handle unexpected cooler temperatures, especially when protected with a cold frame or row cover. A row cover is a lightweight polyester or polyethylene fabric that insulates the plants growing below it while allowing light and water to penetrate. Peppers are hardy in USDA zones 1 through 11. Tomatoes are hardy in USDA zones 2 through 10. Corn is hardy in USDA zones 4 through 8. Melons and eggplant are hardy in USDA zones 4 through 10.

    Fall

    • Fall is an ideal time to plant a second round of cool season crops that you can harvest quickly or keep growing into the winter months with the use of a cold frame. Vegetables to plant in the fall include arugula (Eruca spp.), kale (Brassica acephala group), broccoli (Brassica botrytis or Italica group) or cabbage (Brassica spp.), endive (Cichorium endiva), Swiss chard (Beta vulgaris) -- in addition to any of the cool season crops you planted in the spring. Select short-season varieties that are ready to harvest in 30 to 45 days from the date the seeds germinate if you prefer to harvest all of your crops before winter arrives. Arugula is hardy in USDA zones 3 through 9. Kale is hardy in USDA zones 1 through 11. Broccoli is hardy in USDA zones 3 through 10. Cabbage is hardy in USDA zones 1 through 9. Endive is hardy in USDA zones 4a through 8b. Swiss chard is hardy in USDA zones 2 through 10.

Previous:

Next:

Growing Vegetables
  1. Spring Garden vs. Fall Garden
  2. What Kind of Vines Bloom in the Fall?
  3. What Flower Bulbs Can Be Planted in the Spring & Summer to Come Up in the Fall?
  4. What Do I Do With My Marigolds in the Fall?
  5. What Kind of Plants or Flowers Grow to Fall Through the Winter?
  6. What Kind of Grass Seed to Plant in the Fall
  7. What Grass Should I Plant in the Fall?
  8. What Vegetables Can Be Planted Before the Last Frost?
  9. What Fall Vegetables Can I Plant in Zone 6B?
  10. How to Plant Flowers in the Fall to Bloom in Late Spring
  11. The Best Time to Plant Parsnips
  12. What to Plant During the Fall in Greenhouses

Home Garden © https://www.98905.com