What to Plant in July in Zone 8

The Leanest Table of the Year

This is the thinnest month on the whole calendar, with the table down to single digits, and it lands earlier and harder here than the mid-summer lull most gardens further north describe. Daytime highs routinely sit in the mid-90s through this stretch, well past the 85-degree, 70-degree-night combination that stalls tomato fruit set across whatever is still standing from spring.

Lettuce and the other spring greens have no place on this table for the same reason heat pushes them straight to flower instead of leaf; their fall counterparts won't reopen for another month.

Check soil moisture with a finger test rather than a schedule this month. Push down 2 inches, and if it's dry at that depth, water deeply rather than adding a light daily sprinkle that never reaches root zone.

Two Roots Start Underground

Potato and salsify both get their fall start this month, and both are chosen on purpose for what they don't have to do above ground. Their real growth happens below the surface, insulated from the worst of the heat, while the tops only need to survive long enough to establish before conditions ease.

Water established beds to a depth of at least 8 inches once a week rather than lightly every day; a quick surface sprinkle evaporates before it reaches root depth once soil temperatures climb this high.

Any tomato plant that has stopped setting fruit in this heat is not necessarily done for the year. Once nights ease back under 70 come September, the same plant often resumes setting fruit without needing to be replaced.

Mulch potato and salsify beds heavily, 3 inches or more, the moment they're planted. Both crops need consistently cool, moist soil to form usable roots, and bare, unmulched soil at this time of year gets hot enough at the surface that a bare hand can't rest on it more than a couple seconds, hot enough to cook a shallow root before it ever forms.