What to Plant in July for Fast Results This Summer – Plus Beautiful Blooms and Harvests for Months to Come

July offers gardeners ideal conditions for planting many ornamental and edible plants. The summer days are warm and long, making it a very productive time for sowing, as seeds will germinate and grow quickly. Whether you aspire to grow flowers, vegetables, herbs, or all three, we look at what to plant in July.

The truth is, there is a fantastic range of plants to sow that can provide blooms or crops for a very long period of time. From fast annuals for late summer to perennials for spring blooms. And speedy crops for quick harvests to hardier winter crops for food during the colder months. The one task you’ll need to remember this month is to water any sowings deeply after planting to stop the soil drying out.

To fill your garden with plants, why not take advantage of the great conditions in July? This guide to what to plant in July covers vegetables, flowers, bulbs, and herbs to boost your backyard ideas. You’ll get beautiful displays, bountiful harvests, and a colorful, packed garden to enjoy for many months, or even years.

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Plant Fast-Growing Annuals for Summer Color

You may look out across your garden and see flowers in full bloom, but it is not too late to add to this year’s display.

A great selection of fast-growing annual flowers, including zinnias, marigolds, cosmos, viola, and nasturtium, can be sown this month into beds or containers and give you a beautiful display in the weeks and months to come.

These plants can be sown directly into their growing position, or started indoors and transplanted.

If you opt for the latter, biodegradable pots offer an ideal solution, as you’ll avoid disturbing the roots when you transplant the seedlings. You can get biodegradable fiber pots at Burpee.

Plant Perennials For Future Displays

July offers a chance to plan for the future and start growing perennials that can bring color and texture to flower beds for years to come.

Starting perennials from seed is a cost-effective way to bolster and boost your future displays, and you can admire the blooms each year with the satisfaction that you have grown that plant from scratch.

You can sow seeds of delphinium, columbine, coneflower, foxgloves, and lupins in July. These are best sown into trays or pots filled with a quality seed compost, like this organic seed starter at Amazon. The plants can be potted up after they germinate and planted out either in fall or the following spring.

Plant Biennials

July is also the window for planting biennials that will bloom in 12 months. These plants will develop foliage this season, and burst into flower next year – often coming to the fore in the gap between the spring bulbs and the summer perennials.

Biennials are very useful yet often underrated plants, usually overshadowed by their annual or perennial counterparts. But they do offer a valuable role to gardeners looking for color and texture throughout the seasons.

Biennials you can sow this month include sweet williams, foxgloves, honesty, and wallflower.

Plant Fast-Maturing Vegetables

In July, the warm soils and air provide an ideal environment for sowing fast-growing vegetables directly into the ground with a view to enjoying harvests in summer and early fall.

Summer lettuces, turnips, radishes, beets, and fast-maturing varieties of carrots top the list of speedy crops to sow.

Keep the soil consistently moist for great germination and healthy growth, and thin seedlings as they develop to give the veggies room to grow.

Also, regularly weed around plants with a garden hoe to eliminate any unwanted competition for water and nutrients. Depending on the crop, you’ll be able to start harvesting in as little as 30-40 days.

Plant Winter Crops

As well as short-term harvests, you can think longer term by sowing and planting vegetables in July that will reward you with harvests throughout the colder months.

While temperatures may be warm, a good number of hardy vegetables can be planted this month to pick well into fall and winter, and potentially even in spring.

Brassicas like kale, cabbage, and cauliflower, as well as Swiss chard, leeks, and corn salad, will get going in summer, and their growth slows come fall.

But the crops continue to develop and will be ready for picking in late fall or winter, or they can be left to overwinter in the vegetable garden for spring harvests.

Plant Fall-Flowering Bulbs

When you mention bulbs, most people will first think of spring bulbs, then potentially summer bulbs.

Unfortunately, fall-flowering bulbs are often overlooked. Don’t let that be the case, as July is an ideal time to plant them while they are dormant, and they will burst into glorious flower come fall.

Colchicums, also known as autumn crocus, are my favorite, offering delicate pink or purple flowers before any foliage (which appears in spring). Also, cyclamen, oxalis, and nerine can all be planted this month to bring color to the garden later in the year.

The planting rules for fall-flowering bulbs are the same as any others – plant them in well-draining soil and at a depth two to three times their height.

Plant Speedy Herbs

It is not too late to plant herbs for picking this season to use in the kitchen. Whether in a herb garden, herb planter, or on a windowsill, there is still time for homegrown pickings, all thanks to some of the fastest-growing herb plants.

The likes of cilantro, dill, basil, chives, and parsley all germinate speedily and can go from sowing to picking in 60 days or under.

All of those mentioned can be sown directly into the soil this month. Sow the seeds thinly in rows spaced about 12 inches apart, cover them with a thin layer of soil, and keep the soil consistently moist.

Direct sowing is best, as some of those mentioned, particularly dill and cilantro, have taproots and dislike being transplanted.

When discussing what to plant in July, we need to touch on shrubs and trees. While container-grown plants can theoretically be planted in July, it is not a recommended time for planting shrubs or trees.

The hot temperatures and dry conditions not only put the plants at risk of stress but places extra responsibility and workload on the shoulders of gardeners to keep the soil moist in summer. It is better to wait until conditions are cooler to add these larger plants to your garden.

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