Veggies That Can Handle Hot Climates

Which Crops Can Take the Heat?

So if you live in Dallas, DFW, or a similar hot climate, you're probably wondering right about now why you thought trying to maintain a vegetable garden here in the summer was a good idea! But really, there are a number of crops that can not only make it through these unbearable rain-free heat waves, but actually thrive.

While your spring planted tomatoes are most likely starting to go into heat-delay (meaning the fruit they've already set is going to be what you get at this point), other plants like peppers, okra, and cucumbers often won't start fruiting until temperatures warm up. Now is the time to direct seed a second round of crops like squash, zucchini, bush beans, black-eyed peas, and you can plant a second round of transplants of tomatoes, eggplant, okra, and peppers right now. There are even a couple of greens that will make it through the summer here and continue producing long after your regular salad greens bit the dust. Swiss chard and sorrel are probably the two best.

Cucumbers are happy and vigorous even in the heat. These cucumbers were seeded in late March.

What to do with all those cucumbers? Well, cucumber sandwiches every day of course, not to mention you must stock your fridge with a continuous supply of cucumber water. Here I used some of the lemon cucumbers I'm growing...yum...

Peppers and Okra are in full gear...the hotter the better...

And while we can't manage summer crops of most salad greens here, we can hang on to some Swiss chard and even a bit of sorrel. Thanks to the giant beet-like tap roots on Swiss chard, it's able to make it through the tough summer heat. Now it's not going to look its absolute best come July and August, but keep it watered and it will continue producing for you. If you're not crazy about spinach or other large greens, give Swiss chard a try. It has a milder, sweeter flavor and the stems are also edible. Julie's resurrected sorrel, still going strong. Showing a bit of heat stress, but hanging in there nonetheless...