Cool crops to grow in the summer heat

There’sa bit of healthy tension in the midsummer vegie patch. We want to get cooler season crops in soon, such as leeks, parsnips and brassicas, because they take a long time from transplant to harvest. But conditions right about now aren’t exactly their favourite. None of these crops are fans of intense heat. Add to that, the garden soil is likely tired, dried out and not necessarily crop-ready. We need some tricks!

Time it right

The evening is a glorious time to garden – gentle and cool. Use it for all of your planting and pricking on. This gives your seedlings the cool of night in which to recover. Don’t expect them to handle roasting away in the full sun the day following! Tuck them in the warm shade.

Conserve water

Pre soaking seedlings is always a winner. Then, when you pop them out of their pot or tray, the roots stick nicely together. It’s a particularly useful habit when water is hard to come by. Team this practice with watering the hole before you plant and this might be all the water you need to start the seedling off. Feel the soil to check though. Pushing your finger in is the best gauge. Add a bit more water if needed.

Watering like this saves you from having to water the whole bed. My preference is the whole bed if it’s dry, but needs must. Planting next seasons dinners, is a priority.

Seal the deal and hold the moisture in by piling on mulch. No dig

The worst thing you can do to dry and baked soil is to dig about

PAKIHI/Business I Ōtaki Today Pepuere/February 2023 in it. Rather than trying to fluff it up (tempting when its rock solid) – leave it well alone and go on top. Lay newspaper or card directly on the weeds before dolloping on enough compost or good soil, to hold the seedling. Forgo the paper is there’s no weeds.

Good companions

New seedlings do really well beneath older crops. Plant them among established green crops or crops where they find shade, shelter and an easy connection to established root networks that bring minerals, water and all the news. Create shade DIY the shade, if your garden is new, and absent of older crops. Shade cloth draped over cloches or stakes is the perfect substitute, and will slow transpiration, saving your seedlings from wilting. Which is what happens when water out is faster than water in. And instead of steady growth, we get stop-grow, stop-grow and sometimes just plain stop. n Kath has been growing vegetables to feed her family for 21 years.

The cooler air beneath the shadecloth keeps the water cycle steady, and seedlings upright and growing strong. The soil dries out slower – another bonus of shade – making your water go further. Further still, if everything is well mulched.

A surprising number of summer crops – basil, courgette, beans –produce really well, when under a bit of shade. As long as they are warm, that’s the main thing. The sun can be pretty harsh!

Spray-free, natural, low-input food gardens are her thing. Kath offers organic gardening advice through her articles, books, workshops, and garden consultations.