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Last Updated on January 4 , 2025

tomato , cucumbers , helianthus , oh my ! Are you looking for idea and inspiration on what to grow in your summertime garden ? Here are some of the considerably summervegetable varietiesto grow , along with our top - choiceannual flowers and herbstoo ! This post will search the most democratic warm season crop , admit a list of our exact best-loved multifariousness , photograph , and why we love them so much .

A round table contains a huge harvest of fresh vegetable varieties, from melons, eggplant, basil, tomatoes, carrots, turnips, hard squash, cabbage, grapes and summer squash.

I ’ve been gardening for over 15 years now , and have raise hundreds of unlike potpourri of veggies . While it ’s playfulness to try out with a few new - to - me cultivars each season , these are the best summertime veggie varieties that I always uprise yr - after - year . They ’re the mostdependable , productive , beautiful and luscious ! I ’ll update the list as we discover new “ winners ” too .

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The center of a gravel pathway lined with pavers has raised beds along each side of the pathway full of sunflowers, zinnias, cosmos, calendula, bachelor buttons, squash and pole beans. There are so many best summer vegetables to grow, your garden will be overflowing.

What are warm season crops?

As the name suggests , warm season crops are those that fly high in ardent conditions – stark for the summer garden ! This includestomatoes , peppers , bean , eggplant , cucumbers , melon vine , summer squash(e.g . courgette ) , winter squash(e.g . butternut or pumpkins),along with tender annual herbaceous plant and flowers . These flora are mostly not frost - large-minded , so they will requirefrost protectionas needed .

In contrast , cool season crops let in vegetables like cabbage , cauliflower , Brassica oleracea italica , carrots , radishes , peas , leafy greens , and more . These are best to grow during the saltation or fall in most places . Garlicis a singular one . It ’s planted in the fall but overwinters , resumes growth in fountain , and is glean the following summertime . Some of our spring crop last into summer too .

Need summer garden seeds?

As you explore this list of summer vegetables to grow , you may note that many of them are fromHigh Mowing Organic Seeds – where we get the bulk of our cum these twenty-four hour period . High Mowing is a wild small certify organic seed company that offers a wide variety of high - lineament veggie , bloom and herbaceous plant seeds . Yet we wish to spread the love and store with a few other come companies too . See a full leaning of blank space to grease one’s palms heirloom andorganic veg seed here .

Choosing the Best Summer Vegetable Varieties

The goal of this post is to bring in you toourfavorite summer vegetables , bloom , and herbs to grow – and perhaps serve you narrow down your selection this time of year ! Yet there are SO many interesting options out there , so I always encourage you tohave playfulness and experimenttoo .

We ’ve selected our list of the “ best ” tender season crop diverseness based on age of experience and experiment . They grow and bring forth reliably well in our garden , which is located in zona 9 on the moderate central slide of California .

Of course , every miscellanea may not perform the same in every garden … yet many of our friends indifferent zoneshave success growing these same summertime veg varieties in their garden too ! Similarly , High Mowing ( where we get most of our cum ) is base out of Vermont , but their diversity maturate exceptionally well in our California garden .

An image of a garden harvest, many wicker baskets are huddled around each other with a bounty of fresh carrots, beets, summer squash, cucumbers, beans, tomatoes, chard, lettuce, berries, figs, basil, and various flowers.

call up toread plant descriptionscarefully and choose things that suit your needs . For representative , we look for vegetable varieties with natural resistance topowdery mildew – something that is otherwise rampant in our expanse . Folks with shorter produce seasons will especially want to pay up attention to “ day to maturity ” and select sort that will mature quicker .

When to Start or Plant Summer Garden Crops

It ’s ripe to start most lovesome season crop from ejaculate indoors inlate winter to early bound , while it ’s still too cold for them to be outside . Then seedling are plant outside after in bounce , once the grunge warms and risk of frost has yesteryear .

The exact sentence to plant your summertime garden depend on thetype of crop and your grow geographical zone . Refer to the Homestead and Chillplanting calendarsto figure out the best garden planting agenda for you garden . We have calendar for every maturate zone !

Best Summer Vegetables to Grow

Without further ado , here a full list of our favorite summer vegetable varieties to grow , along with annualflowers and herbsto follow . I ’ve also include quick growing tips or golf links to helpful resources in each section .

I ’ve also include a handful ofmy favorite fountain vegetable varietiesat the ending of list too ! If we ’re favorable ( and pick out heat - resistant varieties ) many of our spring crop will last into summertime here .

Tomatoes

Tomatoes are arguably one of the most popular summer vegetables to grow , and for honest reason ! They ’re versatile in the kitchen , fairly easy to grow , and taste like summer . Tomatoes also amount in many playfulness colors , SHAPE and sizes !

As you browse the tomato variety show below , observe that we grow mostly indeterminate ( vining ) tomatoes on atrellis , but usually grow a yoke determinate ( bush ) variety inlarge DIY tomato cagesas well .

Our favorite tomato varieties:

Summer and Winter Squash

Despite the potentially shoddy name , wintertime squash vine is a tender time of year crop too . It ’s plant in spring and grown during the summertime – just like courgette . In fact , winter squash racquets is one of my favorite summer vegetable to get ! It ’s simply called winter squash because it stores for a long fourth dimension post - harvest , but it ’s not ice tolerant .

Summer Squash

Winter Squash

Beans

Beans have slowly become one of my preferent summer vegetables to grow over the years . Who does n’t get laid a fresh spiffy homegrown green bean ? Plus , garden trellis expect so sorcerous dripping with long pole beans in the summertime !

Quick pourboire : imbue bean seedsin water for several hour before direct - inseminate them alfresco for a quick sprouting . Pop over to ourbean grow guidefor even more confidential information , and be sure to come back and try oureasy pickled dilly gullible beanslater !

Eggplant and Peppers

aubergine and pepper are both part of the nightshade household . These summertime vegetables arise well in hot conditions , in container , and can even be winter as perennials with the right care ! We eat a lot of fresh eggplant in the summertime , and love to continue peppers many path : ferment hot sauce , refrigerator pickle capsicum , homegrown chili con carne powder , and more .

Eggplant

Peppers

Melons and Cucumber

I figure I ’d chunk these two juicy quick season craw together as well . Cucumbers and melon are part of the samecucurbitfamily and have passably interchangeable rise requirements . get wind how togrow cucumbers here , including our favoritecucumber trellis ideas ! Melon plants require more blank space than cuke , but can be raise up trellis too . Just be certain to support the hang fruit with littlehammocksor net .

Melon

Cucumber

Annual Flowers

I love planting annual flowers in our raised bed flux amongst the summertime vegetables . They add a beautiful pop of color , draw in pollinators , and some even deter pests ! get a line planting here , and a full tilt of ourtop 23 plant for pollinators here .

Forcultivation tipson all these beauties , see:7 Best Easy Annual Flowers to produce from germ

Annual Herbs

We already have many established spot of herbs that originate as perennial here , include sage , rosemary , oregano , bay laurel , lemon balm , mint , and thyme . That means the only annual herbs we usually constitute arebasil , dill , and cilantroincluding :

We always grow at least 6 to 8 Basil the Great plant so we can stock up the deep freezer with enoughBesto Pestofor the whole year , along withdried basil leavesfor the pantry . Learn how to uprise shaggy basil to glean all season long here . ( wind : pruning young seedling and routinely slue back institute plant are key ! )

Spring Vegetables: Brassicas, Root Veggies and More

As I mentioned originally , we grow the vast majority of our cool time of year crops in ourfall - wintertime garden . Yet I care to plant out a handful of cool time of year harvest in the spring too , specifically select unity that I know stand a hazard to last through former summer . For instance , sure varieties of kale or Swiss chard aremore heat tolerant(less likely tobolt ) than some of our other pet leafy greens .

Root Veggies

Remember , it ’s best todirect sowroot veg seeds rather than start them indoors ! Root veggie do n’t take kindly to transplanting .

Brassicas

Leafy Greens

Other Fun Crops to Grow

And that concludes this list of our favorite summer vegetables to grow.

Other Useful Resources to research :

Two flowering artichokes in the foreground with a number of raised garden beds beyond full of a variety of squash, carrots, melons, flowers, and a number of other vegetables.

Seed containers, packs of seeds, seed catalogues, and a planting calendar are littered across a walnut table.

Learn when to plant seeds by using this planting calendar for Zone 9, it has many different vegetables lined up on the left side of the chart and all of the months of the year listed on the top of the chart. Each vegetable has different colored lines that correspond with when to start seeds inside, transplant outdoors, and plant seeds outside, along with corresponding last frost date and first frost date where applicable. The lines start left to right, showing what months you should do each particular task depending on the season and where you live.

A variety of tomatoes are lined up in rows in order of tomato variety and color. Large red tomatoes, smaller yellow tomatoes, red and green blush, to smaller red and orange cherry tomatoes.

Two raised beds each have a large A-frame tomato trellis support structure sitting on the top of the beds. Green plants stakes are spaced evenly and in a vertical fashion with a plant at each stake. The tomato plants have almost reached the top of the 7 foot support structure. Basil plants and zinnia are planted in the foreground of the tomatoes.

A hand is holding a large red tomato with fluted edges. Below are two wicker baskets full of a variety of red tomatoes. Tomatoes are a quintessential summer vegetable to grow.

A wicker basket full of butternut squash, a couple vines from the plant are hanging over the raised garden bed and are bordering the basket. Two pairs of boots, one blue and one green are standing next to the basket. Even though butternut squash is called winter squash it is a great summer vegetable to grow.

Three raised garden beds are shown overflowing with various vegetable plants and flowers. The main plant that is center stage is a zucchini variety squash plant, it is quite large and has white or gray molting on its leaves. Various squash fruit are growing, poking their flowered ends towards the sky. The other beds contain onions, basil, kale, and beans, along with marigolds, zinnia, calendula and borage.

A hand is holding out a harvested winter squash that is orangish brown in color. Beyond, is a raised bed with many harvested winter squash inside of a wicker basket as well as squash lined up on top of the raised bed and soil.

An outstretched arm has four long pole beans splayed out from their elbow to their palms to illustrate the length of the bean. Pole beans are a great summer vegetable to grow.

DeannaCat is standing underneath an arch trellis of pole beans. She is holding a wicker basket full of green and purple beans that have just been harvested.

An eggplant plant is hanging over the edge of a raised bed due to the weight of the fruit that is growing on it. Long and slender eggplants are hanging from its branches.

A flat lay image of a wicker basket full of a variety of sweet peppers which vary in color and shape from orange, to light and dark green, to red. A large wooden bowl is next to it with a variety of hot peppers varying in color and shape, some of them are purple, green, and red.

A hand is holding a small eggplant fruit that is a mottled white and purple. Below is a wooden bowl full of harvest eggplants from long and slender with deep purple hues, to long and slender fruit that is lighter purple in color, to smaller, more oblong eggplant that is molted purple and whit in color.

A close up image of a jalapeno chili plant with many dark green to black chilis hanging from the plants branches. Peppers of all varieties are a great summer vegetable to grow.

A cat is laying underneath a trellis of cucumbers which is hanging off the backside of a raised garden bed. Cucumbers are hanging down from the vines, ready to be harvested. Cucumbers are a great summer vegetable to grow.

A raised be is fully of watermelon plants, their long vines are taking up much of the space while there are 4 or 5 baby watermelons growing amongst the vines. In the middle of the bed is a zinnia flower growing tall amongst the vining melon plants.

Aaron is holding a freshly harvested baby watermelon amongst raised beds full of a variety of flowers and vegetable plants. Melons are a great summer vegetable to grow!

A purple flowering statice plant is in the foreground while a raised bed of artichokes, sunflowers, and cosmos are beyond.

A bachelors button plant and a zinnia on the other side line a walkway in the garden, almost covering it. Beyond is a trellis with some green beans growing on it. There are so many plants that can be the best summer vegetable to grow.

A raised bed full of annual chamomile plants with many yellow and white blooms.

A close up image of a salmon pink color zinnia with a number of fluffy flowering heads in full bloom.

A dill umbel is being held to show the top portion of the flowering seed head.

Aaron is holding a large bowl of freshly harvested basil that is both green and purple in color. Basil is one of the best summer vegetables to grow.

DeannaCat is standing next to a raised bed full of growing carrots and beets. She is holding a large bunch of freshly harvested carrots by their greens.

A hand is holding up three large red beets with their greens still attached.

A hand is touching a large green cabbage that is growing, it is close to harvest time. If the temperatures aren’t too high, growing cabbage is a great summer vegetable to grow.

A raised bed full of swiss chard and celery is in the foreground with a number of raised beds in the background with a variety of plants growing in them from eggplant and tomatoes to onions and cabbage.

Aaron and DeannaCat are standing next to each other, each is holding a large wooden bowl of freshly harvested potatoes of differing varieties. Potatoes are a great summer vegetable to grow.

Dozens of hands of freshly harvested turmeric rhizomes are lined up along the edge of a concrete patio with their greens still attached to the top. Beyond is a large wooden bowl with more harvested rhizomes that have had their greens cut off. Even though turmeric is harvested before frost hits, it’s a great summer vegetable to grow.

DeannaCat standing next to a raised bed full of freshly harvest onions that are still laying on the soil. She is holding three large onions with their greens still attached in each hand.

A garden plot plan drawing with rectangles for raised beds with letters written inside of each bed as well as a key at the bottom with A-Z and a corresponding vegetable next written to it.

DeannaCat signature, keep on growing.