We finally have heat! My squash and tomatoes are starting to flourish. While my cool weather loving salad greens are fading. Time to plant the next cycle! This is called succession planting.
You can get another crop of tomatoes, summer squash (Zuchini, yellow Crooked Neck, Patapan, Spaghetti), mixed lettuces, strawberries, short carrots, small cucumbers, (I like the small, round, Lemon Cucumbers.) I plant the bush version of the summer squashes and beans for smaller spaces.
You can also plant your winter squash for the fall harvest. I choose the smaller ones for a quicker harvest. I like Acorn, Delicata, Buttercup, Sweet Dumpling and small Sugar Pumpkins (best pumpkin pie flavor!) I plant the vine version of the winter squashes. Choose a hot area to plant squashes.
Plants will grow anywhere. They just need water, nutrient rich soil, and sunshine. I have planted a squash in a low pot on my patio. Then moved the long vines around the patio, keeping a walking path clear. Tomatoes also grow in patio pots. Give them some support to climb. I put a trellis inside the pot.
I grow my mixed lettuces in a lightweight planter box. Lettuces love shade. So if the summer gets too hot I can pick them up and move them to a cooler place. You can grow strawberries in a tall strawberry pot with the little side pockets. Or in a large, low, flat container with drainage. Place it where you want it to stay before you fill it up with soil. It will be heavy to move after it is full.
Children get so excited watching plants grow and then picking and eating them. This is a great way to get them to eat their vegetables! Commercial plant farms are making it easy for patio gardeners. They have created Patio Plants. They are a smaller, compact versions of the larger plant. I have grown patio tomatoes and patio squash. The yield is smaller so grow several of each. Look for other varieties too at your local nurseries. And don’t forget the flowers for the pollinators. We don’t get fruit without our bee friends pollinating those flowers which later become the fruit we eat.
You can also plant an herb garden in pots near the kitchen door. Pasta herbs? Mexican herbs? Savory herbs? Grow what you normally buy and use in your cooking! I enjoy the local nurseries because they have such a variety of plants and knowledgeable staff to answer your questions and guide your plant variety choices. Grow organic. Use organic fertilizer. If you must spray use organic spray. I have experimented with different ways to grow food. You can too. Water and nurture your plant babies and they will feed you well.
