Your guide to summer gardening and embracing the botanical chaos of June – September

Summer gardening is a high-stakes game of botanical roulette—one day you’re drowning in zucchini, the next you’re frantically hosing down wilted peppers during a surprise heatwave. Our new 2025 Summer Garden Planning Calendar Kit guide breaks down exactly what to do when, with month-specific tasks tailored to your growing zone.

June transitions your garden from spring promise to summer performance. Zones 4-6 gardeners should be planting heat-lovers like tomatoes and peppers, while zones 7-8 continue with warm-season crops and begin monitoring for pests. Those lucky zone 9-10 gardeners need to focus on heat-tolerant varieties and establish deep watering routines for fruit trees before summer’s furnace fully ignites.

July brings peak tomato madness! While northern gardeners (zones 4-6) continue harvesting early crops and establishing watering routines, mid-zone gardeners should be pruning tomatoes and starting fall seeds indoors. Southern gardeners face the challenge of keeping plants alive through blistering heat—shade cloth becomes your best friend, along with vigilant disease monitoring.

August’s bounty signals the season’s pivot point. It’s time for all zones to consider fall planting, though what you plant varies dramatically by region. Northern gardeners can direct-sow fall crops like spinach and radishes, while southern growers should prepare beds for cool-season planting but wait for temperatures to moderate. Everyone should save seeds from open-pollinated varieties—future-you will thank present-you next spring!

By September, summer’s winding down. This transition month focuses on garlic planting, establishing cover crops in empty beds, and dividing perennials like rhubarb and asparagus. Root crop harvesting begins for northern zones, while southern gardeners can finally enjoy planting conditions that don’t require sunrise-only gardening sessions to avoid heatstroke.

Whether you’re a dedicated zone-tracker or more of a “plant-and-pray” gardener, our monthly calendar pages and associated gardening advice ensure you’ll maximize your summer garden potential without losing your mind (or all your tomatoes to hornworms).

Plus, you’ll get a whole collection of recipes to go with your summer harvests!

So grab your most ridiculous sun hat and prepare to embrace the glorious, exhausting, rewarding chaos that is summer gardening. Your plants are ready for their close-up—are you?