How Late is Too Late to Start Your Garden?

By Jordan Freytag

June is here, and some of you might be wondering—have I missed the planting window? Is it too late to plant my garden? We say NO WAY! It’s never too late to plant in summer months as long you stick to more short term crops that will mature by summer's end when cooler temperatures set in. You'll need to manage the heat and light exposure your plants receive as well since summer months can be blisteringly hot. Shade cloths may be a necessity, but other than that, you are good to go!

You see, the later you are in the growing season, the more you’ll want to grow crops with lower days to maturity, such as radishes, taking as few as 25 days and carrots, taking 50 days. Choose herbs or leafy greens that can pop up in no time and can be continually harvested—even into colder temperatures. Try spinach, arugula, swiss chard, endive, kale, mustard greens, romaine lettuce, and leafy lettuce. If you find your self in mid-July, you may want to consider starting a fall garden at that point by sowing cold-hardy vegetable crops such as broccoli, cabbage, beets, and lettuces. But seeing as it is still early June, you have plenty of time to direct sow short-term crops before more a temperate climate eases in.

Can’t stress this enough—try radish seeds, just plant them, and be amazed by the lightning-quick results. Still, there really are so many seeds. When your short-term crops have been harvested, start another short-term fall garden. Maybe try some different varieties, or plant many of the same varieties as many crops such as leafy greens respond well to the cold.

We’ve made it very easy for you to locate seed varieties with short maturity periods on our website.

How to Find Short-term Seeds

• Under the “Gardening” tab, simply click on “Garden Seed”, which will take you to a category page with all the seed types we carry.

• Below the categories, there is an advanced search sidebar where you can isolate short-term crops by click the checkboxes that are applicable. For example, marking the "20-29 day", "30-39 day", and the "40-49" day range will isolate all varieties that will mature within that time frame.

• Also, you can check the box “Warmer” to ensure that you are only looking at seeds that are suitable for this time of year. If you are looking for cold-hardy crops for a fall garden, simply, click “Cooler” to find them!

Be sure to read up on each variety to make sure it’s what you are looking to grow.