25 Best Heat-Tolerant Vegetables To Grow In The Summer

If you live in a particularly hot climate, but you'd love to have a vegetable garden in your yard, there are a number of heat-tolerant vegetables you can grow successfully. In fact, there are over two dozen that you can look through and pick your favorites.

Below you will find a list of the 25 best heat-resistant vegetables. Several will be highlighted after that.

• Malabar Spinach
• Basil
• Potatoes
• Sweet Potatoes
• Sweetcorn
• Onions
• Dry Beans
• Beets
• Carrots
• Beans
• Leeks
• Pumpkins
• Winter Squash
• Tomatillo
• Zucchini
• Scallions
• Cucumbers
• Tomatoes
• Husk Cherry or Ground Cherry
• Eggplant
• Hot Peppers
• Sweet Peppers
• Okra

Sweet Peppers

Bell peppers are included here as well as elongated Italian sweet peppers, Shishidos, and round Hungarian peppers. To keep your summer kitchen colorful and interesting, grow a rainbow of shapes and colors.

Sweet peppers should be put in your garden after the frost has passed, approximately 16 to 24 inches apart. Before you plan on transplanting them, sow the plants as seedlings roughly 8 weeks prior. When germinating the seeds, provide sufficient heat.

For faster germination, keep the heat between 80 and 90°F. As nighttime temperatures drop, you'll notice fewer peppers growing. Before a hard frost, harvest all your peppers.

Tomatoes

Growing up, almost everyone had that neighbor who always seemed to have an abundance of tomatoes. They would take them to work, offer them to the neighbors, send them home with friends and relatives… You name it. Now you can be that person – which is okay because so many people absolutely love fresh, homegrown tomatoes. The tomatoes you buy at the store simply can't compare. In hot weather, your tomatoes will thrive – but not too hot. Best case scenario: Plant your tomatoes where, rather than an excess of hot afternoon sun, they get good morning sun exposure.

Tomato seedlings can be grown in containers or in the garden. Many, however, prefer to start their tomato seedlings in potting soil indoors before transplanting them to their garden. This gives them the best chance to have heartier plants.

Cucumbers

In hot weather, cucumbers thrive. On colder days, they either won't grow or grow slowly. Frost is a cucumber’s bitter enemy. Wait until the frost season has passed before you set out your transplants or plant your seeds.

Your cucumbers will really take off once humidity sets in and temperatures warm. They need sufficient fertilizer and lots of water for healthy crop production. Harvest your cucumbers frequently and give them plenty of water. You will experience bitter cucumbers if you let them mature too long. One friendly companion plant choice is that of peppers, just in case you'd like to grow both.

Scallions

Scallions can be eaten with a little bit of salt as a snack or cut up as an ingredient for salads and other dishes. To give them the best chance, plant them as transplants. This is particularly applicable if your garden has a lot of weeds. Scallions are slow to grow and germinate.

They can stay in the garden for a long time, even after they mature. They may even withstand a few fall frosts. On the other hand, scallions love the heat. They require very little to no maintenance and have few pests. Make sure they're sufficiently watered and weed-free. When your scallions are roughly as thick as a pencil, it's time to harvest them.

Ready to Grow Some Heat-Tolerant Vegetables?

Are you ready to plant your vegetables? Maybe in addition to vegetables, you’d like to set another portion of your yard aside for a beautiful flower garden. If you need seeds or gardening tools, Freedom Farms has you covered. Whether you need pots in which to start your seedlings, brackets for hanging plants, pruning shears, or what have you, before you shop anywhere else, see what we carry.

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