New York Slicing Cucumber: cool and fresh in the Summer heat
Many summer vegetables will grow quickly in the long days of the northern latitudes. Some crops such as Green Beans, Basil, Cilantro, Carrots, Beets, Sweet Corn and more will produce and then wane and finish their productive life cycle. This is where planning for successive early summer plantings comes in!
What to Plan + When (again!)
Take Green Beans, for example, they tend to mature in about 60 days and then produce a sustained flush for about 2 weeks and then they stop flowering and stop making pods. So, the wise move is to plant successions about 2-3 weeks apart for a continual harvest. For instance if you planted green beans on May 15th, then you'd want to start another wave on June 5th and then another on June 20th and maybe even a 4th planting after that for a sustained harvest of fresh pods.
Zanadoo Sweet Corn in the field, Siskiyou Seeds
In some climates, Cucumbers and Zucchini may become besieged by powdery mildew or other diseases so that their productivity begins to wane. In that instance, you would be well served to plant a later wave that is coming into productivity as they first planting is tapering off.
Other crops like Cilantro, Arugula and Basil struggle with providing a consistent supply of fresh green leaves and the best bet is to replant more and then compost the early plants that may be bolting (flowering).
Root crops definitely require successional planting because the part we harvest, the root, requires the removal of the plant. We plant a spring wave of carrots, beets, radishes and turnips in March and then another in May.
In June and through late July depending on your location you will want to consider sowing seeds for for fall harvest and winter storage.
Here is a link to our Planting Calendar to help you plan for the transition from spring to summer and Summer to Fall.
More here:
Teya Jacobi
One of the many things I miss about Southern Oregon is you, Don. The climate at 6000 ft. in northern Colorado is quite a change from my last decade of gardening in Ruch! I’m just about to plant my newly created fenced, raised bed garden. I was lamenting planting my starts so late, when I was then grateful I couldn’t because we had a ferocious hail storm last night. The guy who built my garden calls it the Fort Knox of gardens. Hopefully the local bear stays out (He already got my hummingbird feeders on my deck!)