What to Plant Right Now (and What to Start for Fall): Your June Garden Guide

Summer is in full swing, and your garden still has plenty of growing to do. June and early July are two of the most productive planting windows of the year — for both summer crops that still have time to produce and fall crops that need to get started now. Here's your complete planting guide.

Still Time to Plant — Right Now

Don't let the summer heat fool you into thinking the planting window is closed. These varieties thrive when direct sown in June and July:

Zucchini – Black Beauty

Get seeds in the ground by early July and you'll be harvesting tender squash well into September. Black Beauty is a prolific producer — plant it once and harvest continuously by picking fruits young at 6–8 inches.

Cucumber – Marketmore 76

A quick-producing heirloom that loves warm soil. Direct sow now for crisp cucumbers in about 65 days. Keep harvesting regularly to trigger more production — the plant won't slow down until frost.

Basil – Italian Large Leaf

Basil is at its absolute happiest in warm summer soil. Sow directly outside now and you'll have lush, fragrant leaves all season. Pinch flowers as they appear to keep the leaves coming.

Radish – Champion

The fastest reward in any garden: from seed to table in as little as 25 days. Succession sow a short row every two weeks through September and you'll never run out. Perfect for filling gaps between slower crops.

Nasturtium – Jewel Mix

Direct sow now for a riot of edible red, orange, and yellow blooms that keep coming until frost. Both flowers and leaves are edible — add them to salads for a peppery kick. They also attract aphids away from your vegetables, making them one of the best companion plants in the garden.

Swiss Chard – Rainbow Mix

Incredibly heat-tolerant and highly productive. Sow now and harvest colorful stems from midsummer through fall — chard is one of the few vegetables that truly bridges summer and autumn. Cut outer leaves and the plant keeps growing.

Borage (Pictured above)

Direct sow now for brilliant blue star-shaped flowers that bloom through September. Borage attracts pollinators, deters tomato hornworms, and the flowers are edible — a powerful and beautiful garden companion. Once established, it self-seeds freely.

Jack O' Lantern Pumpkin

This one has a hard deadline: plant by early July to have pumpkins ready by Halloween. Jack O' Lanterns need about 100 days to mature, so don't wait. Give them plenty of space — vines can spread 10 feet or more — and they'll reward you with classic orange pumpkins all autumn.

Start Now for Your Best Fall Garden

Some of the richest harvests of the year happen in September and October — sweeter greens, tender roots, and crisp salads. But those crops need to go in the ground in the next few weeks to be ready in time.

Kale – Dwarf Blue

Start now for a fall harvest. Here's the secret most gardeners don't know: kale sweetens dramatically after the first frost, as the plant converts starches to sugars to protect itself from cold. Fall kale is genuinely better than summer kale. Dwarf Blue is compact enough for any garden and produces heavily through frost and into winter.

Broccoli – Waltham 29

Start seeds indoors now and transplant in about six weeks for a classic fall crop. Waltham 29 is a cold-hardy heirloom that thrives in cool weather — the exact conditions of late September and October in the Pacific Northwest. Direct sow is also possible in the next few weeks.

Spinach – Bloomsdale

Spinach bolts quickly in summer heat, but if you wait until late July or early August to direct sow, it will germinate and grow in the cooling temperatures of late summer and produce through fall. Bloomsdale's deeply crinkled leaves are among the most flavorful of any spinach variety.

Lettuce – Mild Mesclun Mix

Succession sow a short row every two weeks starting now through late August. Each planting takes about 30–45 days to reach salad size in cooler conditions, giving you a continuous harvest of mixed greens through autumn. Cut the whole row at about 4 inches and it will regrow for a second cut.

Carrots – Chantenay Red Core

Sow now for sweet, fall-harvested roots. Chantenay's broad-shouldered, short profile handles heavier soils beautifully — ideal for Pacific Northwest garden beds. A bonus: carrots left in the ground through the first frosts actually become sweeter as cold converts their starches to sugar.

Sugar Snap Peas

In the Pacific Northwest, a late-July sowing gives you a sweet fall harvest in September and October, just as the weather cools back into pea-growing territory. Sugar Snap's thick, juicy pods are edible whole — no shelling required. Provide a trellis and they'll climb to 4–6 feet.

5 Things to Do in Your Summer Garden This Week

1. Water deeply, not frequently. Two long, slow waterings per week encourages roots to grow down rather than out, making plants far more drought-tolerant. Shallow daily watering keeps roots near the surface where they're vulnerable to heat stress.
2. Mulch now if you haven't already. A 2–3 inch layer of mulch around your plants retains moisture, keeps roots cool, and reduces your watering needs by up to half. It also suppresses weeds as a bonus.
3. Let some herbs flower. Resist the urge to deadhead everything. Allowing a few stems of dill and basil to bolt and flower draws beneficial insects — especially predatory wasps that control aphids and caterpillars — into the garden.
4. Harvest cucumbers and zucchini small. Picking cucumbers at 6–7 inches and zucchini at 6–8 inches triggers more production and keeps flavor at its peak. Overgrown fruits signal to the plant that it can slow down — don't let that happen.
5. Side-dress your heavy feeders. Tomatoes, cucumbers, and squash are working hard right now and benefit from a light application of compost or balanced fertilizer mid-season. Work it gently into the soil around the base of each plant.

Stock Up for the Season

All of the varieties mentioned in this guide are available at Seattle Seed Company. Every seed packet is non-GMO and selected for Pacific Northwest growing conditions. Whether you're filling gaps in the summer garden or getting a head start on your fall harvest, now is exactly the right time to plant.