Heat tolerant vegetable advice

[Clade]

The heat of the south Louisiana summer is right around the corner. I would like to add a couple plants to my garden, maybe watermelon or peas? Any advice on which (or any) plants would set in the heat would be great.

I have an outside container garden.

Charles

[rainbowgardener]

Definitely not peas! They are a cold weather crop which shrivel up and die as soon as it gets hot. But southern peas (cowpeas) are very heat tolerant.

Watermelon is a good choice as well as other members of the cucurbit family - squashes, cucumbers, etc. Also okra, eggplant, and Malabar summer spinach.

Best Wishes and keep us posted what works best for you!

[Francis Barnswallow]

The only summer plants that did OK for me during the hot/humid season were cukes and bell peppers. Tomatoes (including the "heat resistant" ones) still dropped their blossoms. Other than that, I don't plant anything else just before or during the summer. There's just too much heat/humidity which causes plant diseases (powdery mildew is a big problem) and especially pests. I basically leave summer gardening alone until early September when I get the seedlings started. A month later I plant the seedlings I planted a month before i.e. tomato, peppers, cukes, zukes, carrots, broccoli, onions and other spice plants.

Bottom line, summer is the slow season for my garden.

[imafan26]

I think Francis may be right. There is still time to plant beans, eggplants, melons, peanuts, and hot peppers, but most of the planting season is winding down

http://www.lsuagcenter.com/NR/rdonlyres ... de2014.pdf

Now would be a good time to do some work on the compost pile
Amending the beds or maybe plant a green manure to get them ready for the fall.

Weed, and control pests

Solarize the beds and it is also a good way to keep weeds down

Work on maintenance on the sprinklers and house.

Plan our garden for the fall

Plan some vacation time.

My planting lull is coming up June-July are better spent at the movies or the beach.
I always have weeds to pull, but although I won't be planting much, the plants I already have will need to be mulched and watered a bit more. I will have to scout and work on controlling pests. This is a not a white fly year, but spider mites come up in the heat of summer. This would be when I would do touch up painting and caulking around the house. I check my sprinklers in the Spring. I have the house and garage to purge (I do a lousy job of that. I am a better packrat).

I will probably be spending more time at the movies or the beach where it is a lot cooler.

[gumbo2176]

I've got 2 varieties of pole beans, Kentucky Wonder and Japanese Yard Longs. I also have cucumbers, eggplant, tomato, Swiss Chard, several varieties of peppers from mild to very hot, radishes, soybeans for edamame and of course, okra which is a staple in my diet and grown every summer. Okra is very heat and drought tolerant and I too live in La. New Orleans to be specific.

I find tomato plants generally play out in late July for me between the high heat and humidity, but they are in the ground by March. If you are just getting them in the ground now, they may last a bit longer but I've never put tomato plants in this late in the spring.

[Marlingardener]

Celebrity tomatoes do well for us here in central Texas with heat and humidity. We plant in March and have a nice June harvest, then when the plants stop producing, I cut them back by about 1/2 to 1/3 and keep them alive through the heat of July and August. When things start to cool off in mid-September, they start to blossom and set tomatoes. We get a smaller fall harvest, but still enough to justify the summertime watering.
Okra could be planted now, as could squash.

[applestar]

I KNOW -- all the plants I could think of are space hogs and Clade said container garden. But there ARE "bush" variety short vine squash varieties and dwarf okra meant to be grown in containers. Of course it depends on the size of the containers, too. And it seems that sub-irrigated / self watering containers can handle larger plants.

[imafan26]

I have grown okra in containers and actually if you have a whisky barrel or a 55 gallon half drum, it is possible to get three or four plants in it and they still produce a lot of okra.

I can still plant corn in June, but I would not get much in a container

You can try some heat resistant tropical and Mediterranean plants

Nz hot weather spinach
Yard long beans
Jicama (if you have at least 150 days of hot weather left)
Roselle
Sweet potatoes
Amaranth
sugar baby watermelon (ice box melon with shorter vines)
Zucchini and other squashes are heat tolerant but will need adequate water. They are good candidates for a self watering container
Malabar spinach (very heat tolerant but I warn you it can be slimy)
Peppers
Herbs do well in containers and the gray leafed herbs can handle the heat with good drainage and watering as needed.
Oregano, thyme, sage, and rosemary are fairly tolerant of heat.

[catgrass]

South Louisiana here-You can plant cukes, squash, okra, eggplant, purple hull peas, cowpeas, yard long beans, sweet potatoes, different herbs, watermelon and canteloupe. Be forewarned though, it will be war with bugs!

[Clade]

Thanks for the advice! I got a couple sugar baby melons, okra, and a cucumber(not expecting that to make it but we will see). I also got some 20 gallon pots. Hopefully those will be big enough.

Thanks again for all the responses. Happy gardening
Charles

[imafan26]

Suyo long, General Lee, and Tasty Green are heat tolerant cucumbers. If you pick the right varieties they do better.

[ElizabethB]

Hi Clade,

Welcome to the forum.

Good job Imafan on the LSU link. Clade, I live in Lafayette and the LSU Ag Center is on my favorites list.

We are blessed with a very responsive Extension Office team. Make use of their knowledge and know how. My County Agents are my best friends.

If you want tomatoes try Heat Wave - starts not seed. 18" - 24" pot.

Cucumbers fade in the heat so I usually plant from seed at least 3 times - early spring (mid March to mid April) late spring/early summer (mid May to mid June) and late summer/early fall (mid August to mid September) I like Point Set cucumbers. They are small and tasty. I do not care for burp less. To me they have no flavor. They also get too large.

You are container gardening why? No yard?

If you have any yard space consider raised bed gardening (SFG).

Cucumbers and tomatoes are easily grown in hanging baskets/buckets.

Grow herbs either from seed or starts - basil, thyme, oregano, rosemary (perennial), sage (semi-perennial), dill, marjoram. Mint in a container. NEVER in the ground. Talk about invasive.

Review the link Imafan provided and then browse through the LSU Ag Center web site for lots of wonderful, research based, region specific information.

What Parish do you live in? The northern part of the state has different growing conditions than the southern and coastal regions.

Looking forward to hearing more from you.

Good luck

[ElizabethB]

Bush beans, black eye peas, field peas are all good summer crops.

[Clade]

Thank you Elizabeth for your kind response. I'm from Harahan Louisiana, lived in Lafayette for a couple years though; loved it.

A raised garden is my goal. But I must first prove to my wife that I'm building a garden and not a transplant graveyard. I've had a couple gardens but mostly failure. I guess arrogance has to be the main reason. Funny thing though, I never expected gardening to be so humbling. So I'm trying to do it right, and I appreciate all the advice.
Thanks again