Just because it’s July doesn’t mean vegetable planting season is over! This is the month to ensure an abundant fall harvest.
First, prepare your beds. Remove any plant residue from early and mid-season plants like peas and lettuce. Clear out any weeds, make sure your irrigation is still working, and add a general 4-4-4 or similar gentle fertilizer (like Down to Earth’s Fish and Kelp) and an inch of compost if you haven’t already done so for your first crops. Use a garden fork or broadfork to lift and loosen the soil (but don’t turn it all the way over – you want to protect your soil structure). Consider setting up low hoops with a light row cover for greens (to protect tender young leaves from insect damage). Row covers can also protect plants from light frost damage.
Then, look at the calendar and note how many days are left until our first average frost to decide what to plant. Here in Colorado, that’s somewhere between September 18th and October 10th. Tender plants, like lettuce, radishes and beans, will need to mature and be harvested before first frost (which will turn them into mush). Frost-tolerant plants like kale, kohlrabi, cabbages (the brassicas) can handle and in fact become sweeter after a light frost – those can often be harvested into November. Schedule your seed-sowing based on days-to-harvest and get tender ones in first! (Make sure those days are counted from sowing, not transplanting. Seed packets show both or either, so don’t hesitate to cross-reference on the web. CSU Extension has useful local information).
Sow. If you’re planting before the end of July you can sow: bush beans, lettuce, watermelon and Spanish black radishes, Easter Egg radish (we’ve found these can take the heat before bolting), faster beets, turnips and carrots. In August, sow greens (lettuce, kale, Asian greens), spinach, arugula. If your radishes or greens bolt, re-seed again in mid-August.