Ditto on "Okra, sweet potatoes, cowpeas......." A cover crop? Or start some "late" tomatoes? I started some tomato seeds last week to plant in July and they came up in 4 days. Most years they will produce a good crop after the old ones have stressed out from the summer heat and quit producing very well. I have planted summer squash this late in the year and had good results also. Pumpkins also do very well.

Sounds like you are all ready for some fall planting - beets, parsnips, turnips (check DTM, too early for some of the faster ones). Put in some Swiss chard, kale, cabbages, carrots. Save a little bit of space to add in chicory, endive, arugula and mache in another month or two, as they grow quickly and survive a frost. If you can get some Brussels sprout plants of an earlier variety, they could go in now as well.

Kohlrabi is crispy, crunchy, and it has a mild cabbage flavor (it is a brassica, after all). If you shred it you can use it as a substitute in any recipe that calls for shredded cabbage. It's a small plant, it's fast growing, and even if cabbage worms and loopers attack it they don't really do any significant damage. It's pretty much the only brassica I grow besides turnips and radishes. Also, if you overwinter it then the following spring it will produce florets not unlike broccoli in flavor, although much smaller. I apologize for rambling but it happens to be one of my favorite veggies. lol I'll be planting mine in a couple weeks or so. If you can keep it alive through the heat then it will last well into fall, it laughs at frost. And I'm direct seeding mine. Rodney

If you are considering something permanent so you will always have fall/winter interest (which I think is a very good thing in your area) you might consider: dwarf conifers (I love my little "Christmas tree.") regular and/or dwarf nandina (I love firepower for it's gorgeous fall and winter foliage and the regular nandina for red berries) abelia - I have Edward Goucher and Frances Mason, I think there is a new variegated one? Last year I put a bunch of kale/cabbage and pansies but the kale/cabbage looked better by far all winter I also have hellebores which bloom in winter, you could stick those about. Good luck, Laurie