Halifax Seed

OK, so it’s the end of June and you’re feeling like it’s way too late to dig into gardening and get something truly meaningful done with your landscape, however big or small. Between work and play, those summers where May and June seem to fly by are all too real, but we have some good news! It’s never too late, and if you’re looking for a little quality time with your soil you have plenty of mid-summer options, flower and vegetable alike.

Flowers

• Alyssum Saxatile: a hardy spring blooming perennial with beautiful, fragrant golden-yellow flowers that can be planted in June and will flower the following year.
• Chinese Lantern: in a league all their own, Chinese Lanterns look eerily similar to ornamental paper lanterns. They’re bright orange, and have several lantern-shaped blossoms to a stem. Ideal for a fall or winter arrangement and visually exotic in just about any setting.
• Christmas Rose: we have these beauties listed in our store as a rose ‘for a gardener looking for a challenge.’ Beautiful and long lasting, the Christmas Rose is a perennial with creamy-white pearls and lovely golden anthers.
• Early Sunrise Coreopsis: when you’ve been specially bred to produce a vibrant, glowing display of semi-double golden-yellow blooms, you really knock it out of the park. These Early Sunrise Coreopsis have genetics on their side, and won’t disappoint!
• Delphiniums: to say these Delphiniums grow high would be an understatement. At a formidable 60 inches high, the beautiful array of colours they produce will be visible to most and are particularly attractive to bees. Plant in June or July for flowers the following year.

Vegetables

• Squash: summer squash planted in June will yield fresh vegetables in either July or August. The window is small here, so if squash is on your radar, this is one you should jump on, soon!
• Broccoli: capable of growing right into November, broccoli is a good go-to if you’re planting in June or July and want to add some green to your meals. 
• Beans: we talked about bean teepees in one of our latest Inspiration Garden posts, and now beans in general are in the spotlight. Pole and bush alike, you can plant beans now and enjoy a reliable harvest.
• Carrots: champions of the fall crop, carrots can be planted in July and will yield crops well into the fall and will sustain in your garden until needed and harvested.
• Kale: your friend in both July and August, Kale will yield harvestable plants all the way through fall and into the winter. Plant these hardy vegetables before mid-August and reap the rewards.

Of course, these are just a few options open to you if you’re looking to get started with your garden a little later than usual. Drop by our store in Halifax, and one of our staff will be happy to assist you in picking out the right plants for the mid-summer job. Happy gardening!