Too late to grow a veggie garden? Heck no!
For many people, June is the busiest time of year, way crazier than December. Summer just started this week and school just ended for kids here in New York. You may feel like you’ve missed the window of opportunity to grow a vegetable garden this year, I’m here to tell you that you can grow some food at this point in time.
Growing food from seed. Beans are easy for beginner gardeners. Bean seeds insist on warm soil and will give you a delicious crop in 50 days or so. You’ll have beans in mid-August if you plant now. There are two types of beans: bush and pole. Pole beans are those Jack and the Beanstalk types that grow high into the sky. Bush beans are just that: bushy, they don’t need a frame to climb . My favorite variety of bush bean is Blue Lake, it is skinny, sweet and tender. Kids love to eat Blue Lake green beans right off the plant, no cooking needed.
Seedlings and plants are plentiful. You can always jump start your veggie garden by buying plants. As a matter of fact, many garden centers hold 1/2 price sales close to the 4th of July. Plenty of good edible plants are still looking for a good home. PS stay out of the big box stores and support nearby small local garden stores whenever possible. You can pick up some peppers and eggplants, if you have good full sun where you are planning to grow.
Garden beds come in all sizes. You don’t need a full on raised bed to grow veggies. There are containers of all sizes that will do the trick. I love fabric grow bags because they are portable and have great drainage. I use them with kids to grow potatoes and I’m using them this summer to grow zucchini at home.
My biggest veggie garden secret: I really don’t get going in the garden until mid-summer when I harvest all my garlic. I grow garlic because it is so darn easy, and when it comes down to it, I’m a lazy garden gal. I put the cloves in the ground in November with some mulch. I snip scapes in late June and harvest in July. More about garlic in previous and future blogposts.
Here in this part of NY, the garden season goes well into October. I put in another run of spinach and salad greens in the fall. Kale actually tastes better once it gets cold outside.
So don’t despair that you’ve missed an opportunity to grow some food close to home, get started today!
