If you live in the Earth’s Northern Hemisphere, the middle of June marks an important time in the garden. June 20th marks the summer solstice, the day of the year when we experience the most daylight and the sun reaches its highest position in the sky. 

The solstice is associated with abundance, growth, fertility, and celebration. It’s a time when food is plentiful and harvests are joyful. People come together to share in the bounty of their gardens and celebrate the peak growth of valuable crops. 

It’s an excellent time for planting warm-season crops that thrive during long days and hot temperatures. While many cool-weather-loving crops would languish this time of year, there are plenty of heat lovers that are prime for planting this time of year. With as much warm weather ahead as behind, the garden and the weather are prime for planting.

Summer Squash ‘Early Prolific Straightneck’

This heirloom variety is often harvested earlier than others.

This heirloom summer squash variety is popular for its excellent productivity and early harvest. You can have tender, tasty squash about two months after you sow these seeds, and you can sow the seeds directly in the garden. If you’re looking for a reliable producer, this is a great choice. 

The fruits are pale yellow with smooth, glossy skin when harvested young. To eat them at their peak, harvest when they are six to eight inches long. If you harvest regularly, this plant will produce for a long season. This is a perfect Summer Solstice crop!

Okra ‘Clemson Spineless 80’’

Clemson Spineless okra thrives in hot weather.

Okra has excellent heat tolerance, and in fact, it prefers hot, dry weather, making it ideal for planting on the Summer Solstice. It’s the crop that performs best in the middle of summer, where I live in North Florida. ‘Clemson Spineless’ is a popular variety known for its smooth, nearly spineless pods. 

Their spinelessness makes the bright green pods easier to harvest. It’s best to harvest when they are between three and five inches long. It will take 55-60 days for the plants to begin producing, and in the meantime, you’ll get beautiful flowers from this plant. It’s related to the hibiscus and has similar blooms. 

Cucumber ‘Quick Snack’

This small cucumber is perfect as a container plant.

‘Quick Snack’ is a compact, early-maturing cucumber variety perfect for containers and small-space gardens. The fruits are crisp, seedless, and miniature-sized with excellent flavor. They are ideal for fresh eating right off the vine.

Even if you have a short season ahead, you should get plenty of cucumbers from these plants if you plant on the Summer Solstice. They mature in about 38-45 days. Harvest when the fruits are three to four inches long. They are sweet and mild with no bitter taste. They have thin, tender skin and are nearly seedless. 

Corn ‘Buttergold’

This corn variety takes up to 70 days to mature.

‘Butter Gold’ is a popular variety of sweet corn that produces consistently sweet, tender ears. It’s an early producer, taking 63-70 days to mature. The kernels are buttery yellow, tender, and have excellent flavor. They are sugary sweet!

These plants grow quickly to a height of about five or six feet. The ears are best for eating fresh, but they also freeze well if you store them in the freezer soon after harvesting. This old-fashioned classic is a perfect crop to plant on the Summer Solstice. 

Bush Beans ‘Gold Rush’

Plant a second crop of bush beans around the solstice.

The Summer Solstice is a good time to plant a second crop of bush beans, or a first one if you’re just getting started. ‘Gold Rush’ is a popular yellow variety known for crisp, flavorful, attractive pods. You’ve probably seen these beauties at the farmer’s market; it’s a popular variety. 

Pick your pods when they are young, at about five inches long. If you pick them young, they will be smooth and free from tough fibers. They begin to mature about 50 days after planting. Water these consistently, but be careful of powdery mildew. 

Cherry Tomato ‘Sweetie’

This cherry tomato typically matures after 65 days.

Full-sized tomatoes take a bit longer to mature, so in cooler climates, it might be late to plant these. However, cherry tomatoes are quick and tasty and only take about 65 days to mature. ‘Sweetie’ is a popular heirloom variety with an exceptionally high sugar content. Its name says it all; this is one of the sweetest tomatoes you can grow.

Plant your ‘Sweetie’ seeds on the Summer Solstice for a late-August harvest. It’s a great variety for back-to-school time, as these sweet, juicy cherry tomatoes are the perfect size for popping into lunchboxes. They are best enjoyed fresh, but also good for sauce making. That’s a good way to store them.

Jalapeno Pepper ‘Megatron’

This hybrid performs well and resists diseases.

‘Megatron’ is an excellent name for this high-performing hybrid jalapeno. It’s a big, bold, disease-resistant cultivar with classic flavor and thick, uniform walls. If you want a superior jalapeno, this one has all the best qualities and a Scoville rating in a standard range of 2.500-6,000, which is a nice amount of heat without being painful. 

The ‘Megatron’ flavor is spicy and smoky with a grassy foundation. Upright plants are about two feet tall and mature in 65-70 days, giving you sufficient time for a good harvest if planted on the Summer Solstice in most climates. You can eat them fresh, pickle them, stuff them, or use them for making salsa. There are many ways you can preserve these to save them for the off-season. 

Eggplant ‘Long Purple’

Long Purple eggplants take up to 80 days to mature.

If you have a short season, it may be a bit late for eggplant, but for those farther south, the Summer Solstice is a great time. ‘Long Purple’ is an early maturing variety, and you can expect to see mature fruits starting at about 70-80 days after planting. 

This variety is a classic Italian heirloom known for its long, slender, mild, and sweet fruits. They are tender, especially when harvested at a young age. They have glossy purple skin, and if you harvest them early, there is no bitterness like larger varieties. The plants are compact and bushy, and heat-tolerant with sufficient watering. 

Swiss Chard ‘Ruby Red’

This edible crop has pretty colorful stems.

Swiss chard is a vegetable that I would consider an edimental. It’s delicious, nutritious, and strikingly beautiful. It’s pretty enough to create an edible border in the garden. ‘Ruby Red’ is a bold cultivar with crimson stems and veins running through deep green, savoyed leaves. 

Chard grows quickly and is one of the few leafy greens that can take the heat. Mature heads will be ready to harvest about two months after planting. If you plant on the Summer Solstice, you should have tasty chard before the summer ends. You can also harvest tender baby greens early; this is a cut-and-come-again kind of vegetable. 

Collard Greens ‘Top Bunch 2.0’

Plant during the Summer Solstice for collards in August.

Collard greens are another great leafy green for summer growing. Collards are tough and sturdy, and ‘Top Bunch 2.0’ is an improved hybrid variety with early maturity and beautiful, high-quality leaves. The heads are uniform and more compact than the average cultivar. 

‘Top Bunch 2.0’ will be ready to harvest in August if you plant on the Summer Solstice. Though the leaves are sweeter in cold weather, summer isn’t a bad time to grow collards. This variety is bolt-resistant and resistant to stress and leaf yellowing. 

Radish ‘French Breakfast’

French Breakfast radishes tolerate heat well.

Radishes are typically a cool-season vegetable, but some are more heat-tolerant than others. ‘French Breakfast’ is a classic heirloom variety that grows quickly and tolerates warmer weather. Planting these on the Summer Solstice is fine in cool climate areas. In Zones 8-11, I might hold off until the end of July for a fall crop. 

‘French Breakfast’ radishes are beautiful, elongated vegetables with a crisp and tender texture. They are delicious if you harvest them young. They mature in as few as 20 days, so succession planting is a good idea if you want more than one harvest. These are distinctive with rose-red, cylindrical bodies and rounded, white tips.