What Vegetable Plants to Plant in South Africa in Summer
The peak of the growing season, summer, is when the vegetable garden really shines. While some vegetables, like spinach, broccoli, and cauliflower, prefer to grow in the cooler months, others, like tomatoes, cucumbers, and peppers, require hotter weather to thrive
, summer is when the vegetable garden really comes into its own. Prior to it being too late to plant long-maturing summer crops like peppers and tomatoes, you must move quickly if you want to make the most of the bounty of the summer.
What to plant in the summer
Green beans
Green beans have to be one of the easiest vegetables to cultivate. They can be sown at any time from the end of September to the beginning of October, and subsequent sowings can continue until about the end of December or the beginning of January, depending on the date of your first frost. In regions with light frost, sowing begins in August and continues until January, February, or even March. Only in hot, frost-free regions can sowing begin in the winter, around February, and continue all the way through the summer, in August or September.
The majority of dwarf bean cultivars mature for picking in 50 to 60 days, while runner beans typically mature in 10 to 14 days longer. The dwarf varieties begin to bear before the runners do, but the runners continue to bear for a longer period of time. Plant dwarf beans every 3 to 4 weeks and runner beans every 6 to 8 weeks.
Beetroot
In South Africa, beetroot can be grown almost all year long, with spring to autumn being the best times to sow in frosty areas. Beetroot is an intermediate to warm season crop. Although beetroot is semi-hardy to frost, winter sowings in colder climates will grow slower and produce lower yields. Only the fall and winter months are used to sow beetroot in warm, subtropical areas.
As with all root crops, beets prefer the sun and require thorough soil preparation, including the breaking up of any large dirt clumps and the removal of any large stones. Depending on the cultivar, it must grow swiftly and be ready to harvest 8 to 10 weeks after sowing.
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Carrots
Even though it’s well known that carrots grow better in milder climates, innovative hybrids now make it possible to produce them almost all year round.
They can be sown from January to November in warmer climates with just rare light frost, but only from February to September in hot, subtropical environments. To grow strong, high-quality roots, carrots require a lot of phosphorous and a lot of sunlight. On lighter-textured soils, where leaching is more common, about half of the potash is frequently added in side-dressings of fertilisers during the growth period.
Egg plant
Warm-season crops, eggplants can be sown from the very early spring all the way through late summer and autumn in the subtropical areas of the country. When planting eggplants, make sure your beds are well-prepared because they need full sun and to grow quickly for the greatest results.
These among other crops like maize, lettuce, okra, spring onions are all suitable for planting on the summer in South Africa
