What can you plant in July and still get a harvest? There are plenty of warm-season veggies that you can plant in July and still get a harvest by fall. Today’s post is intended for those of you living in Zones 4 to 6 and maybe even Zone 7.
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This post will answer the question, what can you plant in July? Where we live the weather in July is rough. We often have 10 or more days with temperatures over 100 with almost all the days over 90. Whew! That’s not the best planting weather. But if you live in USDA zones 5 and 6 there are still some things you can be planting this time of year.
Let me start out by giving you a quick link. This post is meant for those of you living mainly in Garden Zones 5 to 6. If you don’t know what your garden zone is, follow this link to find out!
Not in zones 5 or 6? Check out our articles on zones 3 & 4, 7 & 8 or 9 & 10.
I just added a video to my YouTube channel about this topic, Check out the video below and be sure to subscribe to my channel while you are at it!!
Look around your garden, are there some empty spots? Maybe a spot where the plants didn’t make it, or maybe you have cleared out some veggies already. You can still take advantage of all the warm weather by filling those spots with new plantings!
What can you plant in July?
We always have a big empty spot where our peas were planted. Peas are done here by July 1st and ready to come out. A lot of this space will just sit empty for 30 days waiting for the first of the fall carrot & spinach plantings in August. But we always try to plant some bush beans in at least part of the pea beds. Also, the spring lettuce beds are also empty and bush beans can also be planted there.
So what can you plant in July and still expect to get a harvest?
Summer Squash
An early to mid-July planting of Zucchini
, Crookneck
or Patty Pan
squash should still produce some fruit by the end of the season. The harvest you should expect will be smaller than you would have gotten if the plants went in during the month of May. But you can still have a good harvest from mid-September until the frost freezes your plants in October.
In fact, if you struggle with powdery mildew in your garden, a July planting of any of these summer squashes may be just the thing your harvest basket needs. When your spring-planted squashes start to fall to the powdery mildew, your July plants will just be kicking in!! Here’s our growing guide for summer squash.
Cucumbers
A second planting of cucumbers this time of year will yield a small early fall crop. It is never a bad idea to plant some extra cucumbers.
Doesn’t it always seem like Cucumber
plants kind of “burn themselves out”? My plants always seem to start fading in late August. This year try an early July planting of cucumbers. Those fresh plants will start producing in early September and will help to build your fall harvest! Don’t forget to grow them on a trellis.
Onion Sets
If you can find them at a nursery, you can still get onion sets in the ground. They WILL NOT bulb up so you will only get green onions.
Plant them deep (3 inches) and close together to save space. These can last well into the fall and help supply your meals with fresh green onions! Learn more about growing onions here.
Kale
July planted kale from either starts or seeds will yield a great fall and even winter crop. You will want to wait to harvest this planting of kale until the fall really settles in and you have had 2 or 3 frosty nights. The frost will help sweeten the kale and improve its taste. But if you want fall kale, you need to get it planted now! Learn why growing Kale in the fall is better!
Summer Crisp lettuces
Summer varieties of lettuce
will do great in July and August and seeds can be planted directly in the garden. Just be sure to keep the seeds moist till they germinate and get established. Most summer lettuce varieties resist bolting and tip burn. I love doing this as it gives me a very early crop of lettuce so that we can have fresh garden salads, garnished with fresh tomatoes!! If you would like to learn more about Summer Crisp Lettuces you can follow this link to a post specifically about these summer goodies!!
Fall Peas
Be sure to plant some fall peas, either snow peas or shelling peas. These need to go in around July 15th and will be ready in mid-October. I have found that snow peas do particularly well in the fall. If you get your peas planted in mid-July you can have a decent harvest in late fall. Just keep in mind, in areas where you have hot summers and short falls, peas don’t do as well in the fall as they would in the spring. Expect 1/2 the harvest in the fall as you would get from the same number of plants in the spring. Learn more about growing peas in the fall (including when to plant in your area) by following this link!
Green Beans
Green beans have a surprisingly short growing time. This is particularly true of the bush varieties. Many varieties of bush beans have a maturity date of only 60 to 70 days. That means a planting early in July will be ready to go no later than mid-September, and if you have a late first frost date even a planting at the end of July will still give you a great harvest!! Want to learn more about growing beans? Read my growing guide here!
Leeks
Midsummer is a great time to get started on a fall planting of leeks. If you live in a mild winter area then you may be able to get a harvest by planting seeds directly in the garden. In areas where winter arrives early, you may want to try and get a hold of some seedlings to plant, or try planting some of your own indoors and then transplanting them out in 6 weeks.
Other Ideas
It’s not too early to be thinking about fall crops, a mid-July planting of broccoli (especially sprouting broccoli) will do well. You could also get an early jump on your fall plantings of beets, turnips or even carrots.
The important thing to remember about any planting in July is that the weather (think heat) is very rough on newly sprouted seedlings. You will want to give anything you have planted in July lots of extra attention and be sure to water them often. For the first few weeks maybe even daily watering will be required.
So if you have some empty spots in your garden or if you had one of those springs and didn’t get anything planted it’s still not too late to get some seeds in the ground! Now you know what can you plant in July and still get a harvest!
What can you plant in July? Anything I missed? What have you had success with planting in July? Leave a comment!!
Using a Cattle Panel Trellis in your Garden
It hasn’t rained here much all summer. Quite a space was empty because the seeds just never came up. We just planted some six week green beans -they are ready in six weeks. Just exactly what we have left.
Perfect Vickie, exactly what I’m talking about. So many people just give up this time of year when there is so much they could still be planting!!
Mine too in Alberta Canada – starting over and planting this week (going to be a hot one)!!!
On the green beans, I lean heavily on Blue Lake pole beans. They simply never stop producing until frost, unlike so many others. I often plant stuff late. (read old and lazy) but these beans not only take up less room being the pole variety but the amount they produce, and continue to do so all summer, is fantastic. Please they taste GREAT. (my 2 cents) Trying fall peas this year (since Im always late LOL)
Steve, I agree. We love Blue Lake Pole. But I have found (at least in our area) that when I’m planting this late in the year, that I have to do bush beans. They have about a 15 day shorter maturity date which means i can squeeze a final planting in about mid July and still get a harvest by my October 1st frost date.
Don’t forget to get the most out of a little bit of space for some wonderful watermelon radishes!
Get them in and enjoy the fall harvest of their awesome mild taste,and enjoy the comments by friends and family who have never seen these when you’re serving on the table.
God bless all your gardening growth 🐝humble and thankful for the bounty of the land we are given.
I know it sounds really odd but I remember when I was young, my parents planted sweet corn on the 4th of July! I don’t remember why they planted it so late but they often commented over the years that that was the best corn they ever had!
I don’t doubt that Sonia. There are several varieties of sweet corn that have a 60 to 70 day maturity date so you could squeeze them in. The problem for me is this time of year, I don’t have much space for sweet corn, especially with all the popcorn I have scattered around our yard.
I live in Piemonte Italy. I think in a zone 8 or 9. What’s are Bush Beans?
Thanks
Kim, bush beans are a type of bean that just grow on small compact plants. No vining like a pole bean. You can learn some more about them in this post: https://ourstoneyacres.com/how-to-grow-green-beans
I really needed this shot in the arm! Thanks for writing it. I have a lot of open holes in my garden this year. It usually produces a lot but this year the weather was wacky and too cold even in the beginning of June. I am going to take your advice and stick some seeds in various spots today.
Get our there and get something planted!!
Thank you so much for this article. I don’t have the huge garden that I have had for many years. But I have been doing less, and less for the past few years due to a chronic illness. This year I didn’t get any gardening done until 2 weeks ago. A few raised beds, and pots is all I can manage. I loved spending all my free time in my garden, and it frustrates, and saddens me that I can’t do that anymore. I’ve only done vegies that are 60 days, I thought I was even too late for that. This article has given me new found hope, Thank you so much, you don’t know how much you have helped me.
You’re very welcome!
Thanks for info. I was wondering if it was too late to plant more tomatoes and cukes. I live in North Florida.
Marie,
Cukes should be fine. I’m not sure about tomatoes for your area. You are way warmer than we are. I would think if you have at least 4 months until your first frost you would still be okay. 5 months would be better. But I really don’t know much about your area, it might be a good idea to ask a fellow gardener in your area for advice.
What about scarlet runner beans?
Heidi,
That really depends on where you live. If we are talking about the same bean, I think the maturity date is more around the 90 day mark. So for us, planting them in July would make them maturing AFTER our first frost date, which doesn’t work. If you have a later frost date (like mid to late October) then you might get away with it. Look at days to harvest on your seed packet, then add 10 days to account for the shorter amount of sunlight in the fall. If that date still lands before your first frost date then give it a try!!
Great comments,,
you can also get in Radishes, swiss chard,
and carrots should do nicely but just a little smaller,
Agreed Sharon. But all of those are actually considered cool weather crops. They do better in the cooler weather and are actually quite frost tolerant. So I like to hold off until August to plant all of those, because July is so hot for us.
I live in zone 9a, and it’s pretty darn hot here and will continue to be most likely through October. Any suggestions for our area. I was really excited by this post, but then realized that it is gear towards different planting zones. Thanks for your feedback 🙂
Warm season veggies should still be okay for you to plant. I planted beans a week ago and they just came up yesterday, we have been at or close to 100 that whole time. Just offer plenty of water and maybe some much. Try experimenting this year to see what does and doesn’t grow in your area.
still can plant alot of flowers, sunflowers daisies etc. most only take 60-80 days.
I am in zone 7a here in NM’s high desert. It has been awful for the last 2 months. We have had weeks of 99-103. I have lost 3/4 of my tomato crop (40 plants) even with shade covering. So far we have only harvested a few potatoes, a small handful of tomatoes, and a few serranos. My garden is close to 1/8 acre. Every bug and disease seems to have taken over the area. Curly leaf virus seems to be the worst ever. No strawberries, cucs, beans, sweet peppers, beets, or carrots. Now to be fair, it wasn’t all weather early on. I have never seen so many rabbits. They took out 3 plantings of beets, all the carrots over and over, chewed the corn down, took out all sweet potatoes, and broccoli as well. They tore the leaves off of chile plants and ate stems. Even after we had 3 fences up they crawled down between 1 and 2 and came up through 2 and 3. (Zip tied those to death)They even would get in the compost pile and jump over the fences to get in. Once they CLIMBED the 4 ft chicken wire covered chain link gate!!!!! Now we are contending with squirrels, who have no problem climbing fences and stealing our melons. The corn is tasseling without having ears. We will get some tomatillos, despite the love affair the potato beetle has been having with them all summer long. I replanted sweet potatoes and are praying the broccoli, brussel sprouts and other seeds I started will have time to produce. Beets and carrots are going into the fortress now. We have knee high Chinese long beans. Finally, the bush and pinto are flowering. Can’t believe how long that took. We have finally received rain (3rd driest summer on record) and are expecting much more. The lightening helps the plants with nitrogen, which they desperately need. And God’s water is so much better than mine! Happy planting!
I can’t believe no one mentioned OKRA! It thrives in hot weather.
I have been sick and unable to do a spring garden so it’s turned into a summer/fall garden. I live in zone 7a in western NC literally just over the GA line. I was hoping to pop some tomatoes in as well as peppers & eggplant. However, I don’t want to waist the seeds or space if they don’t have a chance.
Summer, I’m afraid for a zone 7a it might just be a little too late. It would all depend on your first frost date. Check the maturity dates on your veggies add about 15 days and then count back from your frost date. That should give you the drop dead date for planting. But remember that maturity dates listed for Tomatoes and Peppers are usually calculated from transplant, not seed. So if you don’t have transplants ready to go out for those then it would for sure be too late for both tomatoes and peppers.
I live in Denver, CO. What do you recommend for fall gardening? We have such a short growing season.
I would need to know a little more about Denver. What garden Zone are you in. When is your first Fall frost and when is your last spring frost. These things would help me a lot. Also free free to email me at rick@ourstoneyacres.com.
Hello,
I am in zone 7b, is too late to plant eggplant?
Thanks
Jay, it all really depends on your first frost date. Look at your days to maturity on your seed package add about 15 days and then seed if you have enough time. My gut feeling is that you probably don’t have enough time left as Eggplant likes warm weather and by the time it matures it will be very late in the cool fall.
Can someone help me with my cucumbers? Planted in the spring and the plants are amazingly beautiful but after all that water and extremely early morning care all summer, I have only produced one cucumber. Last year I had them coming out of my ears and everyone in the family and neighborhood had homemade pickles! I fertilize on a regular basis and I HAVE had bees in my garden. I am now resorting to trying to pollinate my crop with a q-tip ha ha!
Lori, Without seeing them I would have a hard time helping. Are you treating them the same this year as last? I don’t often fertilize any veggies, unless you have terrible soil they probably don’t need it. Could you post some photos? Seeing them might help.
Treating them the same although I rotate the crops so they are in a different planter and also last year’s were plants from local nursery and this years are from seed (Ohio Heirloom organic seed co). We also are in the hottest place on Earth-Tucson, AZ Zone 9 I think. Took pictures but don’t see where I can attach them.
Hmmm, it could be a difference in variety, last years might be more heat tolerant???? I’m interested to see how the hand pollination does, that may be the trick for you. Are there female blossoms on the plants?
Just started my seeds for fall transplanting this week. Although we are zone 7b I find I have to get fall crops out 10-14 days earlier than recommended because of increased shade from neighbor’s trees.
I have 2 broccoli plants that I started too late in the spring, and they have not produced anything. BUT they are big and healthy and I’m hoping they will produce this fall. I also have a zucchini runt that may yet prove its worthiness! Any chance for either?
While I can’t guarantee anything I would think they are both worth a try as long as they are not in the way. If there is something else you could plant instead that would ultimately be more productive then I would go with those instead.
Good morning my name he is Yvette I like garden and anything to do with flowers but I don’t know exactly when to plant what at what time this summer I planted some watermelon cucumbers zucchini squash my zucchini came up good and the rest of everything that and the watermelon came but they didn’t get too big I’m in Birmingham Alabama I love to deal with flowers anything I can I love to do it I was trying to do a garden this year like I said I did plan a lot of things but I don’t think I did it right cuz everything that accept the zucchini squash in the watermelon I would like to learn how to plant something and it lasts all year round how to take care of it
Thanks for this post I will plant bush beans, leeks, kale and zucchini.
I will get busy and plant zucchini, kale,leeks and beans. Onions coming out leeks going in. Bush beans out zucchini going in, peas are out so beans going. In there spot. Thanks for the tips.
Bush beans 4 sure,contender does well,tomatoes sets should be available in feed stores. bell pepper sets as well. fall peas are great. I’m in southern miss. same zone as Florida panhandle. okra right now it’s a veg that loves heat as mentioned. keepem well watered and don’t over fertilize,feet in late eve,water in well.gardening for 65 yrs. 1 hr hoeing is worth 2 hrs with a psychiatrist. IMO. MATT
Add turnips to your list of July planting, July 23 rd was the date passed down through my family. I live in Eastern New York
I usually wait until August to plant turnips. They are on my August list.
I’m a new follower from MN, zone 4. Your printed materials include zone 4, but in your video you didn’t include it. I was thinking that I could extend the season a bit by covering the plants at night. Do you think that could work?
I will have a Zone 4 video up in a week or so.