After April, the amount of vegetable plants that will thrive in Bermuda tapers off – hot summers mean these plants don’t have all they need to survive, and makes planting them after April difficult. If you’re thinking of starting a vegetable patch, there’s no better time than right now!
Corn
What’s more classically summer than sitting down to a barbecue on a balmy night and eating sun-sweet Bermuda corn? Corn takes about eighty days to grow and ripen for harvest, so if you plant now, you’ll have the perfect summer crop.
Simply plant seeds about one and a half inches deep and a foot apart. Corn loves the searing Bermuda temperatures, but make sure your corn plants have enough water to survive.
Pumpkin
A good companion planted next to corn, which improves its growth, pumpkin is a wonderful addition to summer recipes. Pumpkin flowers are also very attractive to bees and butterflies, so if you want to support pollinators in your garden it’s a great choice.
Space is the biggest concern when wishing to plant pumpkin – make sure you have enough room for the sprawling vines. Sow seeds one inch deep and they should germinate within a week. Pumpkins need lots of water and nutrients, so make sure you have quality soil. In addition, the crop is quite tender, so and disturbance of the shallow roots should be avoided. In about 100 days, your pumpkins will be ready to eat!
Squash
Another butterfly and bee friendly plant, squash is a summer essential. This quicker-growing plant is ready to eat within 50 days and is one of the easier vegetables to plant and maintain. One plant per person in your family will be plenty of squash, so keep that in mind!
Plant seeds one inch deep and about twenty inches apart in beds. Bush varieties will take up less space than vine varieties if this is a concern in your garden. Keep in mind that watering deeply will ensure your squash crop roots deeply, making it sturdier and healthier. Squash can grow to huge sizes, but is best when harvested young and tender.
Sweet Potato
Also a companion to corn, sweet potato is becoming more and more incorporated into contemporary recipes. The orange starch is sometimes said to be healthier for you than regular potatoes, and provides a summery and delicious batch of homemade fries.
Planted in the spring, sweet potatoes take about ninety days to be ready to harvest. They are eager to grow in any soil conditions, but are helped by compost. They are planted by slips, the growths from mature sweet potatoes, and need plenty of loosely packed soil for the roots (the part you will harvest) to grow out well.
Watermelon
Summer simply wouldn’t be complete without these bright pink fruits to munch on after a hot day at the beach. Melons do well planted next to the other vegetables on this list, and will round out your vegetable patch nicely.
Watermelons are easy to grow but need a lot of room for their vines to spread and for fruits to ripen. Seeds should be planted about one inch deep. You’ll know your watermelon is ripe when the spot it sits on the ground turns a brilliant yellow, and the fruit loses its glossy appearance.
