It maybe June (can you believe we’re halfway through the year?), but there’s still plenty you can plant for a late summer/fall harvest!
(This is an excerpt from my #1 Amazon Bestselling book Organic By Choice: The (Secret) Rebel’s Guide To Backyard Gardening. If you want a great resource to help you grow everything listed below, grab it on Amazon right here!)
Believe me when I say that there’s veggies on this list I’ll be planting myself – I just cleaned out the greenhouses, spread rabbit manure to add nutrients to the soil, and I’ll be planting some beans, beets, and greens I hope to overwinter!
Even if you haven’t started your garden, don’t despair – there’s still plenty of time!
Here’s 17 plants you can still start this month!
Beans
Lots of varieties love the warmer weather! You can harvest some varieties in as little as 45 days. In hotter areas, stick with bush varieties to conserve water. Direct sow every two weeks for a continued harvest well into fall. Plant 10-15 plants per person in your family.
Beets
You can grow beets for either the roots or the greens. Direct sow in the soil now, and they’ll be ready to harvest in 45-60 days. Pickle them to preserve them!
Bok Choy
I love bok choy because it’s mild (aka not bitter), you can harvest it when it’s still young for a super nutritious addition to any sandwich or salad.
Broccoli
While you might not connect broccoli with something you should grow in June, especially in climates with a shorter growing season, you can start it now so it’s ready to harvest when the nights start to dip below 50 degrees.
Cabbage
If you plant cabbage now, you can harvest well into cooler weather (cabbage loves lower temperatures!) It takes a bit of time to grow big enough for harvest, so make sure it has a dedicated space you won’t need for anything else.
Calendula (C. officinalis)
This medicinal herb/flower can be used for so many purposes, from giving chickens golden egg yolks to creating healing salves for your family. Direct sow, and seeds will germinate in about 2 weeks.
Carrots
If you start your carrots now, you can still get an early fall crop – and they can hang out in the garden well into late fall.
Corn
Corn grows fairly quickly, but it needs full sun and lots of water. You can harvest it in as little as 70 days if you choose a fast-maturing variety. If you want to harvest enough for your whole family, plan on 12 – 15 ears per person.
Cucumbers
Consider bush cucumbers to save space and water. You can harvest them when they’re small for sweet pickles.
Eggplant
Eggplant loves heat, and you can see purple eggplants starting to form in as little as 60 days. Choose a fast-growing variety. If your family loves eggplant, you should plan on 3 plants per person.
Herbs
There’s plenty of herbs you can start right now, including:
- Basil (grow several plants for a winter full of pesto)
- Oregano (Greek oregano has great, large leaves)
- Thyme
- Sage (grow 7-10 plants for smudge sticks)
- Dill (grow 3-4 plants for leaves, 10 or more for dill seed for pickling)
- Parsley
- Cilantro
- Lavender
You can plant herbs outside or in pots so you can bring them in at the end of season. Remember you will need time to dry them – so don’t plant too many and get overwhelmed.
Melons
Now is a great time to start watermelons and cantaloupe! Plan on 3 – 4 plants per person in your family.
Peas
Count on 20 plants per person.
Squash
Squash loves heat, and will grow quickly in the higher temperatures. Yellow summer squash is a great variety, as are gourd varieties.
Sunflowers
You can let them go to seed for a healthy snack or harvest them for cut flowers.
Swiss Chard
Perfect if you have a shady spot in your garden, which will help the leaves from bolting and becoming bitter.
Turnips
Plant for greens and/or the roots. You will be able to harvest them long into the fall.
I’d like to hear from you!
What are you planting right now? Leave a comment below!
Maat van Uitert is a backyard chicken and sustainable living expert. She is also the author of Chickens: Naturally Raising A Sustainable Flock, which was a best seller in it’s Amazon category. Maat has been featured on NBC, CBS, AOL Finance, Community Chickens, the Huffington Post, Chickens magazine, Backyard Poultry, and Countryside Magazine. She lives on her farm in Southeast Missouri with her husband, two children, and about a million chickens and ducks. You can follow Maat on Facebook here and Instagram here.
Thank you a very informative article. I am very happy to have this resource, since I haven’t planted this year. Love your blog! I’m getting about 10 layers next spring so will be using your advice.
Again, thank you!
You’re welcome! I’m glad it helped you out!
what am I planting right now? I am trying my hand at siberian pea shrub. A fantastic shrub/tree that grows quite quickly once it’s germinated and can be used as a wind break hedge, and it fixes nitrogen in the earth, and the ‘peas’ are edible for chickens and people, so I’m looking forward to cutting my feed bills when they are established!
I’ve also got some malabar spinach growing for the first time this year – it loves our heat (south east Spain) and I’m growing it up a pergola to give some shade near the swimming pool. The leaves are edible raw in salads or steamed or sautéed like regular spinach. I’ve got greek oregano growin on my porch which I plan to transplant into a semi shadey spot this month, and I’ve got basil and nasturtium growing round my tomato plants, which I’m growing from seed. Thanks for giving me the tip on melons – I thought I’d left it too late, but I’ll try planting them this week between my sunflowers.
We are trying the potato tower and just planted our second planting of squash,cabbage and beans later we will be planting a cool weather planting of radishes
We are in our late 70’s so we have time to care for our veggies and fruit
I’ll be planting garden beans, yellow crookneck squash, cucumbers, melons and flowers. I’ve already put in watermelon and sunflowers are over 10 feet tall, planted in April. Some veggies have died due to heatwave in the 3 digits last month.Thanks for the great article and good luck with your garden.
I just plant Brussel sprouts , collards & spinach yesterday I soaked the seed for a little while in peroxide . I had read that it is supposed to help them germinate better & wanted find out.. I am going to order kale seed soon.