You live in a hot climate area and want to grow something that is resistant and won’t die in the summer? You can always count on these 15 crops to withstand the heat and produce through the summers, no matter how hot it gets.
Hear Resistant Vegetables
Corn
Corn will actually grow more enthusiastically when it’s hot outside. However, you will need to provide the growing plants with lots of moisture, as they require generous hydration and consistently moist soil to cope with the heat and produce the tall plants, and eventually, those sweet, juicy kernels.
Mizuna
Mizuna is an Asian leafy green with a flavor similar to baby chard, a bit sweet and vegetal. It’s delicious when grown as baby leaves and picked after no more than a month. In Asian cuisine, mizuna is often pickled before serving or added to soup and stir-fried dishes. It works well for continuous harvest when succession planting is used, even in the heat of summer.
Armenian Cucumbers
Most cucumber varieties wilt in significantly hot summer weather. However, Armenian cucumbers keep producing fruit and flowers all throughout the summer. Their melon-like flavor is the reason why so many people love them. These are typically eaten with salads or made into pickles. Harvest Armenian cucumbers when they are 18 inches long.
Arugola
Arugula is a peppery-tasting green that works well in salads, sandwiches, soups, and wraps. It’s also commonly used in salad green mixes. To grow a continuous harvest, start direct sowing arugula in the springtime and continue every two or three weeks until the middle of August.
Hot Peppers
Hot peppers are from the warm countries in Central and South America, so they thrive in areas where plants that don’t love the summer sun tend to struggle. Any kind of spicy pepper can be counted on to provide bushels worth of hot peppers to season your food with even when the heat is at its highest.
Malanga
Malanga is a root vegetable, and is the most popularly grown variety of cocoyam. Above ground, the plant resembles elephant ears, with leaves that grow to an average of two and a half feet tall to two feet wide. The overall plant can stretch to heights over five feet tall. The leaves and grayish brown to black lateral tubers, also called cormels, are both edible.
Make sure to harvest your malanga before frost arrives in your region, as frost and freezing temperatures will damage the plants. You must wash and peel the tubers before cooking. If the tuber is extremely hard, it may even need to be cooked before it can be peeled. You can prepare malanga much like you would a potato, by frying, baking, mashing, or roasting.
Mustard Greens
Mustard greens are a staple of Southern cuisine, which means these plants are primed to perform well during hot weather. They also pair well with other heat-resistant veggies like Southern peas, okra, and sweet potatoes. Recommended Varieties: Green Wave, Golden Frill
Okra
A great choice for a heat resistant vegetable is any heirloom variety of okra with a long history of cultivation is a smart choice in warm weather because their deep root systems give them wider access to hydration when it’s hot and dry. But as okra is native to Ethiopia, the plants naturally prefer warm nights when the soil stays around 80 degrees Fahrenheit (26.7 degrees Celsius).
Harvest the pods while they’re still young for a tender texture, and choose spineless varieties to plant to avoid tough, fibrous pods. If sliminess, when prepared, is a concern, try crisp pickled okra, or roast the okra whole or sliced.
Southern Peas (Field Peas & Black Eyed Peas)
The best style of beans to turn to when it’s particularly warm in your region is a Southern standard. The category of Southern peas includes both field peas and black-eyed peas, and as related plants their care needs are similar. These peas do their best under the warmth of the summer sun, and you’ll be able to bring in plenty of peas to cook with no matter how high the temperature climbs.
Stringless varieties are the most tender and easiest to cook with. You can harvest in two batches by clipping some early to use as green beans, then waiting for the pods to mature for a second harvest to the shell.
Sweet Potatoes
Sweet potatoes grow underground where they are somewhat protected from the heat, and the green leaves at the surface love warm weather as long as they get a consistent supply of ample hydration. There’s a reason gardeners in the southern part of the U.S. have counted on this crop to get them through sweltering summers.
Sweet potatoes are originally a tropical plant and are native to the warm weather of Africa. Make sure to bring your harvest in before temperatures dip below 55 degrees Fahrenheit (12.8 degrees Celsius). Recommended varieties: Georgia Jet, Vardaman, Wakenda
Tomatillos
Tomatillos are a staple in Mexican cooking, where they take over for tomatoes as the main ingredient used in salsas and sauces. Tomatillos are native to such warm regions that they flourish in hot weather, and they produce tons of tasty little tomatillos.
Tomatoes
Any type of tomato that’s developed to be grown in the Deep South is a good bet for hot areas or times of drought. You can really count on varieties grown by universities or extension departments to be reliably healthy and produce well.
Recommended Varieties: Arkansas Traveler, Brandywine, Equinox, Heatwave II (cherry), Jasper (cherry), Neptune, Ozark Pink VF, San Marzano, Solar Fire, Sun Leaper, Sungold (cherry), Sunmaster, Tropic VPN
Zucchini
All kinds of squash plants are heat resistant, and zucchini is no exception. You can count on zucchini plants to produce a hefty harvest even when the temperatures climb. If your area struggles with problems with squash vine borers, protect your plants while they’re young by starting them off inside, and wait to move them into the outdoor garden until June or July.
You can also use row covers to defend your plants until they flower and need pollination. Drawing the soil up around the stems of growing plants will help keep squash vine borers away, too.
Broccoli (Sun King hybrid)
Although in general broccoli is not a crop to count on in hot regions outside of the most temperate times of the year. However, the Sun King hybrid variety is an heat resistant exception. This variety is also known for producing high yields of crops with exceptionally large heads.
New Zealand Spinach
New Zealand spinach is another leafy green that thrives in hot weather, and this plant is almost invincible against pests and disease. The greens taste very similar to standard spinach when cooked and can also be used raw in salads. Plant lots of extra seeds, as it is normal for New Zealand spinach to have a low germination rate. Soaking the seeds immediately before planting can help alleviate this somewhat, though. Once they’re established, however, plants will thrive when the weather is warm even during times of drought.
Source: www.gardeningchannel.com
