What seeds can you plant in July?
What seeds can you plant in July?
Fill the gaps and sow more seeds to grow more food this summer.
Sometimes you have space that opened up from where you were growing spring lettuce or radishes, or perhaps you had a plant that fizzled out, or just haven't planted an area yet. Well, there is no better time than July to sow some more veggie seeds and increase your harvests this summer!
Cucumber seeds are great for planting seeds in July! Cucumbers are great to plant in July as early spring planted cucumbers may start to wain in mid-summer, so adding a second sowing will keep your cucumber harvest going into late summer and fall. Cucumbers are faste growing, and can start to be harvested in just 55 days, so they are a great vegetable to re-sow in mid-summer for an extended harvest come late summer and fall. Check out our Spacemaster Cucumber seeds for a smaller sized plant that can tuck into smaller spaces. Our pickling cucumber variety is a very vigorous vining plant that produces a large abundance of solid, crisp, and flavorful cucumbers. The firm crunchy cucumbers grow 6" long and the plant is resistant to common cucumber diseases. These are great for making our Spicy Refrigerator Pickles Recipe! Cucumbers are versatile and are usually pickled or eaten raw as a main ingredient in salads.
One of the most productive and fast-growing vegetables in our garden is the productive Zucchini – these sprout quickly when direct seeded in mounds in the garden in July and start to harvest in just 55 days! You'd be surprised how fast they grow and you won't regret planting zucchini seeds, they're so versatile in the kitchen! Enjoy their flowers in stuffed zucchini blossoms, and pick the zukes small to keep from getting overwhelmed, but if they get big you can use them to make breads, fritters, and even pickles! It's nice that you can direct sow these in the garden, too, as you don't have to make room indoors to get them started!
Another great seed to sow often directly in the garden in July is lettuce seed! Fast sprouting, you can sow the seeds directly into the garden soil beginning in early spring or anytime throughout the summer. Seeds germinate in about 5-10 days depending on the soil temperature - and they grow quickly for harvesting in about 50 days. You can also pick the small greens for baby lettuce greens sooner.
Beans are another great succession sowing plant to fill in gaps and build the soil in your garden in July! Green Bean Provider is the most dependable early green bean and it's very easy to grow. This variety has excellent flavor and is great for fresh eating, freezing, and canning. A late planting of beans is one crop you can usually plant in July and mid-summer and still get a harvest! We do like to soak these overnight first to get them nice and ready to plant directly into the garden in the morning.
In July, you could also plant seeds for spinach, broccoli, onions, carrots, basil, cilantro, oregano (perennial) or lavender (perennial) to extend the harvest through the late summer, fall and even over the winter if you have a mild climate or a cold frame or greenhouse. You can also grow seeds year round indoors with good lighting and ventilation. If you're starting seeds in July, we do like to start most seeds (except for carrots, cilantro and beets) indoors under florescent or LED lightsto keep them out of the harsh rays of the summer sun until they have their first set of true leaves. Then, we harden off seedlings off outdoors gradually and plant in the garden when ready. 
Trick for Planting Carrot Seeds in July:
In July, carrot seeds can be direct seeded in the garden. However, keep in mind that while carrots WILL germinate in the summer heat – they like temperatures to sprout ideally around 70˚ to as high as 85°F (30°C), and they hate dry, crusty soil. So in germinate carrot seeds in July, the trick is to use wood boards for germinating seeds. Just use an old untreated 2x4' to cover the seeds for about 14 days until they sprout, this helps keep them dark, cool and moist so you have good success. Once they've sprouted, remove the board in the evening and they should be good to go if kept well watered at first!
Summer Squash grows very quickly and produces beautiful yellow squash that are versatile in the kitchen! Because they come to harvest in just about 50 days, July is a great time to plant them for a late summer and fall harvest. Squash plants also help control weeds in your garden, thanks to their large, broad leaves and rapid growth, which quickly create a dense, green canopy across the garden bed, suppressing weeds and keeping the soil healthier.
Happy growing!
