Corn, tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers, okra... I just pulled up all of my lettuce because of the heat and sowed some okra instead. It's been in the mid to upper 80s here and won't be getting any cooler, and it peeked its little head out of the soil in three days! :) Hope that helps!

Like Garden Geek said Okra loves hot weather. It will make all summer.

Squash, beans, cucumbers. All direct sow friendly and enjoy the heat.

Great! How about carrots?

Carrots don't like the heat so much. They tend to grow tough and bitter. Try those again in mid August to winter over in the ground. That has worked very well in my Mid-Atlantic zone 7 climate. They even seem to continue growing over the winter.

Besides the vegetables mentioned above, chard can handle the heat too. Don't forget melons!

Hepatica

OK, I think I will go with squash. Anything else not mentioned?

I already have chard going and I think I will fill in bare spots with more of that :)

I'm going to try sowing beans at the beginning of July. This is in central Texas, where our summer highs are several weeks over 100F and lows in the high 70s. So this is a big experiment. Nah, don't be fooled by the 8b zone. Zones are based on low temps, and don't begin to express how hot summer is. This will be in a big patch that's about to be vacated by basil, which desperately needs to be pesto-ized. If I'm gutsy, I'll go for regular pole or bush, but if I chicken out, I'll go for yard-long, which is much more heat-friendly.

If you are concerned, you can insulate them by light covering with some loose straw, leaves until they germinate
During germination there s no need for light.

Well, I'm pretty sure they'll germinate. The question is what happens after that. Optimum germination soil temp for beans is 60-85F, and the max is 95F. That's according to my extension service. So I suspect they'll squeak by, especially if the soil is moist. But at least throwing some shadecloth over the just-planted patch might be smart.

melons love the warm soil to germinate too, I have yet to get the watermellons in, waiting for the pea harvest, which should be in the next few days.

I can tell not many here like egg plant which loves heat also but needs a long warm season.

Re eggplant, I'm growing Ichibans, but I don't need twenty cubic feet of Ichibans. Twenty cubic feet of basil is nice, as would be twenty cubic feet of beans.

If you look up one of the many online soil temp charts for vegetable planting/gardening you can learn about all the different planting times needed for each vegetable that is direct seeded. Linked one below but if you indicate your state we can find one for your state..

And your local country extension office is a wealth of info about when to plant what in your locale. They have all sorts of free gardening info available both online and in the office.

Bit late in your zone for carrots but zones are big areas so it may be possible still in your area - that's why location info is so important.

Here is a link that might be useful: Soil temps for germination

I would think that there would be some good planting strategies for direct seeding in hot weather, where dessication is a threat. For large seeds, like beans, presoaking before planting seems like it would be particularly useful. I was also thinking of putting a handful of peat over each seed when I plant it. That would retain moisture a lot better than regular soil. Of course, keeping direct sunlight off the bed until germination also seems advisable. Anything else?

Our season isn't long enough to direct-sow things like peppers or eggplant. But I just put in beans yesterday when the high was 88 (today 92). Didn't check the soil temp but it had been 70 weeks ago (then cold snap, then heat). We had rain the night before (and 4" the previous week), edamame packet said not to soak so I didn't. But I didn't soak the bush beans or pole beans either, though the raised beds were drier than where I put the edamame.

I was thinking that if I soaked the beans and it got really hot this weekend (which it's supposed to) and didn't rain (iffy) that they would die, better to keep them in the ground and next good rain they'd sprout? I covered them with a couple inches of loose (shaken on) old hay.

I just put my squash in today plus some bush cukes. I am watering those in since they're near the house and the kale in that garden needed it (wilting).

I direct sowed edamame of which only three out of thirty seeds sprouted. So i went for round two only i soaked them first. Planted those three days ago, no sprouts yet. Why aren't you supposed to soak edamame?

I don't know, just a note on the packet not to. Maybe you had poor germination rates because you hadn't grown them there before so needed to inoculate? But it's still early for the soaked seed, give it another 4-7 days. How long ago did you plant the first 30? How warm was the soil?

I grew a few plants as a trial last year, don't remember how many germinated but didn't seem bad, and I hadn't soaked or inoculated them. Seed was also from 2011 (didnt' plant that year b/c i was soooo wet), packed in 2010 so not like it was really fresh seed. How old was yours?

Why aren't you supposed to soak edamame?

Good question and although every single planting guide for them says to never do it (usually in big caps) they never explain why. The only possible explanation I have ever found is that they soften quickly and that if pre-soaked there is risk of damaging the embryo and/or rootlet.

They also used to say to never inoculate them but recent studies call for re-evaluating that claim since sobeans are less effective at using the nitrogen in the air than other legumes apparently.

Dave

I think that's correct. I have not planted edamame, but I understand that the seeds are quite soft and can absorb too much water. In fact, I understand the seeds tend to rot if in overly wet soils. The soil should be moist, but not wet. That may be a challenge in midsummer, as soil can dry quickly if it isn't completely drenched.

My seed packet didn't say anything about not soaking. I only soaked overnight and a few split, other than that they all looked fine. I ordered the seed on Amazon from Southern Exposure Seed Co.
When I direct sowed the first time I am certain I had poor germination because of cold soil as I planted them in early May then we had a few cold snaps.
I wonder if any will come up now that I know I shouldn't have soaked them :(

FWIW, all seeds mentioned here are summer crops. But at least in the North, Fall crops have to be seeded in summer. As others have noted, carrots and lettuce will not germinate. But turnips are by far the best of the fall crops at germinating in the heat. Arugula is a good one too. Both, basically, germinate at any temperature.

I had my first vegetable gardens in Indiana long ago. Then after several years, we moved to the Deep South. I tried for several years to grow veggies here and finally gave up. I then began growing ornamentals. A few years ago, I finally learned some crucial information about vegetable gardening in this part of the country and have gotten back into it enthusiastically.

Because of my experience, I never assume that people know the basics of growing in the south. So...just in case the OP doesn't realize it, I want to state clearly that we have two distinct growing seasons here. Right now, we are in hot season. Come fall, we will be in cool season. What you need to understand is the vegs that we grow in the cool season, we grow then because they will not grow in the hot season. The advantage is that most of them can be grown all the way through the winter.

Cool season veggies are lettuce, carrots, beets, greens, broccoli, cauliflour, cabbage, and onions. Some are started from seed inside during July or August and then transplanted outside in the fall. Others are direct seeded in the fall.

Hot season veggies are tomatoes, corn (grown only in spring and early summer), beans and all their kin, squash, cucumbers, okra, sweet potatoes, peppers, eggplant.

In our intense heat, tomatoes and green beans stop setting fruit (or slow down dramatically, depending on the variety) in July. When the weather cools in the fall, if you have given the plants excellent care, they will begin to fruit again.

I personally keep only my cherry tomatoes through till fall. I pull the other plants out when they stop bearing and replant that space with something productive like okra, butter beans, cowpeas, or squash.Long beans do extremely well in the worst heat too.

I wait until early to mid August and replant green beans. They come up fine in the heat (with watering, of course) and are ready to bear by the time cooler fall temps roll around. Some years I can pick beans on Thanksgiving day.

If you are having trouble getting seeds to germinate in the heat, you can cover the rows with some kind of fabric and water through the fabric into the soil. The fabric will keep the moisture in the soil and help the seeds to come on up. Just keep an eye on things and remove the fabric as soon as you see germination.

Mulch is a virtual necessity here to keep moisture in and weeds out.

Excellent post, Donna. Yes, sometimes I see gardening advice from people up north who just have NO CONCEPT of how we have to do things down here. The idea of two growing seasons is totally foreign to them. I too started gardening up north (in Oregon which is perversely almost the same growing region I'm in now), and I've had to relearn almost everything. I now plant my peas in November, and harvest them in March! I plant my tomatoes in February, and I'm harvesting loads right now. I may or may not be able to keep them going through July. Winter, for us, is when we grow our cool season stuff. Spring and fall is when we grow our warm season stuff. July and August are, to gardeners here, simply to be endured.

I had a post above asking for advice about planting beans midsummer. It sounds like you do that regularly. I have a big patch of basil that is almost done, and I'd like to plant beans in that patch at the beginning of July. Any advice (aside from just watering regularly) would be appreciated.

For cold weather/hot seeding veggies, besides arugula and turnip, I would like to add daikon, mustard, and gai lan.

Beans can be tricky, because they don't do well with either too much or too little moisture during germination. Dark-seeded beans absorb moisture more slowly than white beans. Also, some varieties are better for harvest in cool fall weather than others. Contender, a fine early bean in the South, develops some nasty fiber (not strings) in cold fall nights.

Some years, white flies destroy seedlings in hot soil here, but this seems to be a spider mite year. I have started late melons and dark Hopi limas indoors. Limas are more heat-tolerant than regular green beans. Forecast today is 103 degrees. I will transplant the melons before they get true leaves. The limas I will allow to form a root ball before transplanting. Hoping for the best.

Re beans being tricky for mid-summer direct sowing, yard-long beans were recommended to me. A better choice than regular pole or bush for this, you think? Limas are another possibility I suppose, but I'm after green beans, not seeds.

We're in Southern Virginia. Black-eyed peas/purple hull peas love hot weather. We usually plant ours in mid-June, once the English peas are done. Some folks plant them around July 4. Now is also the time to plant sweet potatoes here. They love hot weather too.

Yard long bean and luffa are good in hot weather.

Also, they aren't a direct-seeded veggie, but sweet potatoes do well in the heat (so I hear - this is my first year trying them).

sweet potato leaves are good for your health too, to lower your ABC ( A1C, Blood Pressure, Cholesterol).

You can use blackeyed peas or other cowpeas as "snaps", though they don't have the same flavor as regular green beans. Long beans are related to them. I have some old seed for a small-seeded variety of cowpea meant specifically for snaps -- Dixielee, I believe. Haven't seen it in the catalogs in recent years. I don't eat cowpea snaps (or snow peas) now because they trigger migraine for me. You're welcome to some seeds if you want, but it would be a gamble because they're old. They also attracted wasps, which got so drunk in hot weather on the nectaries beneath the blooms that they didn't sting if you grabbed them accidentally.

You could also just buy a bag of dried blackeyed peas and plant some of them. Pick pods young.

My favorite limas are the fat Fordhook 242s. The challenge in growing them is getting those big seed leaves above ground in heavy soil. I've never planted them when it's in the 100s here, though. They grow fine through the heat of summer, but don't set seeds until the weather cools. Hopi limas set seed while it's still quite warm.

So squash and zucchini would be an option for.me to.direct sow. I live in between Nashville and Jackson Tennessee.

So squash and zucchini would be an option for.me to.direct sow. I live in between Nashville and Jackson Tennessee.

In the northwest, carrots, spinach, chard, collards, etc. are winter crops. And it's almost time to plant them :).

I think here it would be too late to start squashes and tomatoes and eggplants from seed, but starts would be fine.

I've lost late-seeded squash to soil diseases in my garden, but they could be worth a try where you are (depending on disease and insect pressures). I'm trying a few late-seeded winter squash this year but I think it's a bit of a gamble here. The Moschata (butternut) family does better here than the other species of winter squash over summer, though Kabochas are harvested commercially in June for export to Japan - before our long, hot summer.

Try a few squash and zucchini if you like. Okra, corn and blackeyed peas, cowpeas or long beans (or adzuki or mung beans) sound to me like more reliable plants to direct-sow if you're planting a large area. I don't think this is a good time to direct-sow regular green beans. I've never tried direct-sowing edamame in hot weather. Some varieties are daylength-sensitive. You might try one of the gourds like angled luffa, fuzzy gourd or cucuzzi. Check days to harvest.

daninthedirt: I am constantly experimenting with beans trying to figure out a way to keep a steady supply through the summer season.
For several years now, I have planted pole beans (we're not crazy about bush ones) in April which give me a good crop until the temps start hitting daily into the nineties. Then I pull them and plant cowpeas. By the time the cowpeas are done I plant pole beans again, which is usually in August. They come up with no problem and grow like gangbusters. Typically the weather is cooling by the time they are large enough to bloom and I pick beans until frost. Honestly, I think the beans are of a higher quality in this late crop.

I have found that Kentucky Wonder will continue to produce lightly through our very worst heat. (Your heat? Only you can find out.) However, you have to be very faithful to pick because they turn woody if you wait even one day. So, the trick there is plant enough so you can get a mess at least once a week. (for me, that is two teepees)

Last year I tried Rattlesnake Beans during the late summer. Oh my goodness they were so delicious! And prolific. So this year, I planted two teepees of them first and I am going to keep them through the heat of summer as an experiment. They are reputed to be quite heat tolerant.

I planted Red Noodle beans last year for July and August. They do great in the heat. No doubt about that. Their flavor was not like snap beans though. We didn't dislike them, but we weren't crazy about them either. I bought a green variety to try this year to see if we like them better. If my onions ever get ready to dig (this is me being patient:), I will plant a teepee of those. It doesn't take many plants to keep you in all the yardlongs you want. I couldn't believe how productive they were!

And of course, there are butterbeans and peas. I swore I wouldn't plant anymore butterbeans because they are so hard to shell, but I bought seed for them this year. I will plant them in the beds where I have tomatoes now. Tomatoes just won't produce during high summer heat here and I have not had much luck with them coming back and producing in the fall either.

With regard to late season squash, in our area most people don't plant pumpkins or winter squash until late June or the first week of July. They are ready by Halloween that way. I have had no problem getting them to come up in the heat and they sure do grow fast in that hot soil.

It goes without saying that EVERYTHING must be supplied with mulch and plenty of water.

Thanks Donna. Actually I'm not trying to keep a steady supply of beans through the summer season. What I want to do is have a steady supply in the fall and, as such, I think I'd better be planting them in July or August. I don't expect to get any beans until it starts cooling off.

So my requirement about doing great in the heat is growing, not producing. And the question was just whether beans planted in the worst of the summer, and watered and mulched properly, can even be expected to survive.

If not some yard-long, I was just going to do something like Kentucky Wonder. But I'm after snap beans.

Dan, I highly reccomend the Kentucky Wonder for flavor. Can't answer your heat question, as hot as it gets here, you have us beat. We might have the edge on humidity, though :) but your plan sounds like the best strategy to try.

Great summary, Donna. Dan, don't limit yourself on varieties if you're planting in July or August for fall. Kentucky Wonders are a "beany" Southern type and one of my mother-in-law's favorites, but there are others to consider. Fortex can be used as a delicate filet when small or as a Blue Lake type when larger (but with better flavor). There are several good European pole varieties, too - including flattish beans on the way to the Romano types. Trionfo Violetto might work out well for you. If direct-seeding, watch that soil moisture doesn't get too low or high. Fortex may be worth starting indoors and transplanting (the seeds are dark and on the pricey side).

I've had good luck with the varieties Brio, Black Valentine and Coco Rose de Prague in fall. All bush varieties, with the latter two planted a little later. If really cold weather toughens the beans at the end of the season or in case of light frost, you can use the last two as fresh shellies. Brio is a white-seeded heat-tolerant bush bean along the lines of Festina. I think Romanette would also do quite well in fall. It's halfway between a Blue Lake and Romano type (bush).

I have not tried any legume yet that I had trouble getting to germinate and grow in our heat. It's setting fruit in the heat that is the problem. So, if you are wanting fall beans planted in deep summer, I think you will be fine assuming that you offer them good growing conditions.

carolyn offers lots of good recommendations. I certainly do second the rec for Fortex. It is excellent in flavor and productivity. Another that I rarely see mentioned on the forums is Louisiana Purple Pod Pole. It is a favorite in this area, I would assume because it does so well in our heat with minimal problems. Very tasty bean too.

Thanks, everyone for excellent advice. I go forth now with some confidence. I had never tried seeding anything here in July or August, and was wondering if it was a totally crazy thing to do. I resign myself to the fact that I'll be doing especially frequent watering.

I will take seriously the advice about Fortex as a good alternative to KW. Planting Fortex indoors and transplanting outside probably won't work here though, as hitting seedlings with 100F+ temps when they've been growing lazily indoors with a/c is probably not good.

One advantage with beans for hot weather sowing is that they get planted deep, so the soil they're growing in doesn't have to dry out.

If your soil is at all heavy, Dan, consider making holes in the soil with a dibble and filling the holes part way with potting soil, into which you will plant your beans, then cover with potting soil. Helps them pop out of the ground without messing up their first true leaves. Makes it convenient to inoculate them, too.

I start late beans and other seeds indoors in deep "root trainers" and move them into the 100 degree heat (with a little afternoon shade) as soon as they germinate. Have to keep them watered thereafter.

The Louisiana Purple Pod pole sounds good. Most of the time I plant bush beans, even though the harvest (especially on the most heat-tolerant varieties) is concentrated. I have lots of space for succession planting, though, and pole beans give out in our summer heat (pretty much no common bean I know of sets edible beans when temps are above about 104 for a few days). For fall, Espada is another white-seeded bush bean with some heat tolerance (probably not as much as Brio or Festina) which bears over a longer season. Some of the specialty bush beans also bear over a longer season.