graphic version rss
LSUAgCenter.com
innovate, educate, improve lives
Home | Calendar | About Us | Our Offices |
Search: [Go]
Topics
Lawn & Garden
Family & Home
Crops
Livestock
Money & Business
Community
Food & Health
Environment &
Natural Resources
Kids & Teens

 Home>Lawn & Garden>Home Gardening>Landscaping>

Choices for Summer Vegetable Gardens

[Image: Okra, Tomatoes]There are not a whole lot of heat-loving vegetable crops. Some choices to consider are as follows.

In late spring-early summer, you can plant collards, Swiss chard, vine crops such as summer squash, cucumber and pumpkins, or crops like okra, malabar vine, spinach and southern peas. The other garden crops are a big risk.

If you plant tomatoes, plant only the heat-tolerant varieties like Bella Rose, Solar Set, Sunchaser, Phoenix, BHN-190 or 216, Sunmaster or Sunleaper. You might also try cherry tomatoes for summer fruit.

Mostly, however, I would take a break from gardening until starting the fall crops in August-September. You can use the fallow time to clean out weeds like nutsedge with a glyphosate herbicide and let the insect pests find somewhere else to graze. The key to nutsedge management is not letting the plants form "nuts" in mid- to late summer. You must cultivate well or spray them out.

Fall planting will start soon enough in this hot time of the year.

Posted on: 10/3/2004 5:25:33 PM


Have a question or comment about the information on this page?
Click here to contact us.