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It may be a little early (i.e., hot) for most people to get enthusiastic about working in the garden, but it is indeed time to start planting a number of vegetables for the fall. Besides some cool-season vegetables, there is also time to plant a last round of a few fast-maturing warm-season vegetables, so that they’ll produce before the first freeze.

Among warm-season vegetables, cucumbers, yellow squash, zucchini, and bush snap beans can be planted until mid-September. Pole snap beans take a little longer to produce than bush beans do, and it’s recommended that they be planted by the end of August.

While white (“Irish”) potatoes are considered a cool-season crop rather than a warm-season one, they can also be planted between now and mid-September.

Mid-August through mid- to late-October is a time when many of our cool-season vegetables can be planted. These include lettuce, cabbage, kohlrabi, broccoli, Brussels sprouts, greens (collard, kale, mustard, turnip), beets, carrots and shallots.

There are a few things that it’s still too early to plant. Wait until mid-September to start planting lettuce and green (“English”), sugar snap, and snow peas. To grow bulb onions, wait till the mid-December to January period to plant transplants. Garlic cloves can be planted from September to November.

Let me know if you have questions.

Dr. Mary Helen Ferguson is an Associate Extension Agent with the LSU AgCenter, with horticulture responsibilities in Washington and Tangipahoa Parishes. Contact Mary Helen at mhferguson@agcenter.lsu.edu, 985-839-7855 (Franklinton) or 985-277-1850 (Hammond).