A Planting Guide for Summer Vegetables and Herbs

The feel of warm summer breeze, blooming flowers, and striving gardens are one of the goodies that come with summer. Irrespective of where you live, whether the southern coast of California or the mountainous inland of Maine, having a flourishing garden is very feasible.Here is a detailed guide on how you can plant summer vegetables and herbs:

Time to plant

Timing is critical in any endeavor, the same with planting during summer. Don't plant too early or too late. Planting too early brings risks of frost and freezing, which will lead to stunted growth of your plant, and finally killing them off. The best time to plant either your vegetables and herbs is the end of May or early June. It, however, depends on the climate in your locale.

Soil preparation

Right before you think of planting any plant, ensure that you have the right type of soil and walk an extra mile to prepare it. The type of land used in planting can make or mar your plants. To avoid unnecessary competition between your plants and weeds, ensure that you weed off every form of unwanted plants. Lack of competition with grass entails healthy plants. Next, it's time to loosen the soil by tilling, using a gardening fork or spade. A common and recommended technique is digging and turning the soil.

Planting your vegetables

There are two groups of vegetables; the cold season vegetables and warm-season vegetable. For the sake of this article, the focus would be on the warm-season vegetables. These vegetables strive better in warm temperature, sunlight, etc. Frost is like kryptonite, which is why you need to make sure you plant before the last spring frost date. Warm season vegetables include;

- Bell peppers

- Cucumbers

- Zucchini

- Beets

- Carrots

- Corn

- Eggplant

- Tomatoes

- Squash

Planting your herbs

After vegetables, other plants on your list are herbs. Some herbs perform better during the warm season; some don't. It is imperative that you know which herb performs best in summer and get them ahead of time. Below are a few herbs that have been known to strive very well during the warm summer season.

- Thyme

- Sage

- Basil

- Dill

- Parsley

- Chives

- Fennel

These herbs are delicious, coupled with a beautiful fragrance that can freshen the air in your home.

Taking care of your garden

After planting, the next item on the checklist would be to water your garden adequately to avoid dying for lack of it. Watering helps the soil to settle properly around the plant's roots. Giving them long and deep watering, they have been proven to work magic compared to a shallow sprinkling of water. Depending on the kind of plants, you can water every three days or weekly.

Planting is fun and can serve as therapy to many people. During summer, it can help much more than just having fun. It can also cut down on food cost. Are you yet to start your summer planting, now is the right time.