Dan Gill: Cool season gardening is a Louisiana favorite | Home/Garden

Despite the intense heat of mid to late summer, there are delicious, heat tolerant vegetables you can plant now to keep your garden productive. This month we also turn an eye toward the fall garden. Seeds of a variety of vegetables may be planted this month in small pots or cell packs to produce transplants for planting into the garden in August. Many of the vegetables we planted back in spring (March/April) have just about finished production now. Age, insect and disease problems and high temperatures take their toll. If your beans have bombed, your cucumbers have crashed and your tomatoes have tumbled, pull them out to make room for vegetables that thrive in the heat. As you remove vegetables that have finished their productive season, a selection of vegetables that thrive in midsummer heat may be planted in the garden now. Many of these vegetables are near and dear to Southerners and form an important part of our regional cuisine (including Southern peas, okra, cucuzza, watermelon and hot peppers). Before you plant your next crops careful bed preparation is important. For your own comfort, the relatively cooler early morning is the best time to accomplish this. First, do a thorough job of removing any weeds that may have grown up in the beds. Physically pulling or digging them out is generally effective for all but the really tough weeds. For weeds such as Bermudagrass, torpedograss and nutsedge or coco grass, best control is obtained by spraying them with the systemic herbicide glyphosate to kill them prior to planting the next crop. Read the label directions carefully for waiting periods between application and planting. Once the weeds have been controlled, turn the soil to a depth of about 8 inches and then incorporate a few inches of organic matter (such as compost) and a sprinkling of a general purpose fertilizer. Here are some great choices for heat tolerant vegetables to plant now.