Summer heat has come quite early here too, and I've got cabbages that have only just started to form little heads. I've got peas flowering, fava beans flowering, lettuces making heads, and kales. I was not prepared for the 80-90 degree heat every day. What I've been doing to help the plants is a) keeping the soil moist always, never letting it dry out even a little b) spraying everything with water once or twice a day, even in full sun, it doesn't burn the leaves. When spraying I make sure to moisten the soil as well, not just the leaves. c) I also water everything again in the evening so the plants can get their strength back during the night. It doesn't really take much water if you keep on it and never let the soil dry out. Watering like this is the only reason my peas are still alive, 90 degrees and peas don't mix as I've learned.

hunter tx thanks for the pics. I am going to try some trellis in the garden next year. We have a 12ft tall grape arbor in the center of the garden to help shade. We had about the hottest summer here last year & reached about 113deg couple times. This year whilst you-all are burning up we here in the San Joaquin Valley are experiencing our best, mildest, summer ever. I planted my first go-round of fall veg seed yesterday. Good luck & keep growing your own food!

Okay. Last year, farmerdill gave me his planting schedule for fall gardens. I copied it all into my garden journal so I wouldn't forget. Here goes. Mid July: Start collards, brocolli, cauliflour, and cabbage from seed. Sow it into pots, barely covering the seed with a light dusting of potting mix. Set the pots into dappled shade and water daily. Dappled shade for me is on my deck under the deck benches. Underneath there, the plants get full sun in the morning until approximately midday and light to full shade the rest of the day. It works. This year too, remarkably. Also, in July, I pull most of my first crops: tomatoes, beans, squash, etc. which are now finished and replant them, beginning to leave room for cool season crops. This year I have successfully seeded okra, cowpeas, cucumbers, and squash, though last year mildew got the squash and cucs. Also, it's helpful to keep the squash under row covers to keep squash vine borers away from them at least until they begin to bloom. August:Late month direct sow turnips, rutabagas, mustard greens, and Asian greens. You can also sow carrots and beets, though I have yet to get a good stand of beets. Septembmer: set out your seed started brassicas from July around the middle of the month. You can still direct sow leafy greens too. Mid month, start onion seeds (short day) in flats. And in the third or fourth week, plant lettuce, garlic, spinach (tough), and red mustard. Plant the onion seedlings into the garden in late November or early December. It helps to get better germination in extreme heat if you cover the sown beds with fabric row cover and water through the fabric. I guess it holds the moisture in the beds longer. You certainly need to water daily until germination, which is really fast, 3-4 days for most things. I have only had a fall garden two years now, but it's wonderful! I keep all my greens and lettuces under floating row covers draped over fence wire hoops and both years, absolutely everything lived and produced all winter long. (Temps above 10 both winters.) I also mulch the beds well with pinestraw. This is for freeze protection, but it also has a benefit of keeping the greens perfectly clean. If you harvest the leaves with scissors and don't pull the plants out by the roots, cleaning the greens is a snap. I hope this helps you!

A couple things Azura, I already had the pea seed in the ground by the 1st of August, I'm guessing that I was out there about the 25th of July with the Oregon SugarPods. The bok choi was planted August 2nd but I seem to have success with planting the baby bok choi for about the first 3 weeks of August (and then I can switch to broad-leaf mustard for another week or 2). Seeding these veggies isn't likely to work in July or even late June - they are just too willing to bolt. I'm probably not pushing the germination temperature margins of the peas. I kind of doubt if the soil gets too high at pea seed depth. But, shell peas or snap peas would never have time to develop pods properly. Usually, I'm eating pea tendrils at this time of year (which are okaaaay ;o). The study I have shows that soil temperature at 86°F will result in pea seed germination in 6 days. Most veggies take LONGER or fail altogether at 95°F soil temp. Only 3 onions came up in about 20 feet of row when planted at the same time as the bok choy and those wouldn't grow! I wasted the seed. The peas didn't like so much heat once they emerged and have only grown about 20" high but they, at least, didnÂt need trellises! The Mei Qing Choi could be larger. And, the Toy Choy essentially didn't make it - I think some of the plants are about the size of a silver dollar with a thin flower stalk rising about 10" above the ground. Gardening is all about plant life and the old axiom is that in life, it's all about timing. Even with pampering, I can't start carrots later than mid-June but here I'm out there in the hottest 2 weeks of the year planting peas and bok choy. d'S'