List of Summer Vegetables for a Summer Garden

A huge variety of vegetables, flowers and plants thrive in the hot summer months, which begins about halfway through June and lasts until nearly the end of September. Careful planning, proper plant layout and a little luck with the weather could have you harvesting several different vegetables from your summer garden.

Orange peppers, green peppers, cayenne peppers, banana peppers, jalepeno peppers and sweet bell peppers, as well as many others, are harvested during the hot summer months. Peppers are relatively easy to grow as long as they are watered regularly, although over-watering could stifle the plant's production.

Cucumbers begins to yield their fruit from midsummer on. Cucumbers grow better with the more sun they receive. The Harvest to Table website suggests watering the cucumber vine heavily once flowers begin to bloom to receive a larger crop. The ideal time to harvest cucumber is when they exhibit a firm, dark green skin.

Zucchini are an early summer treat. Harvest zucchini when they've reached about the same size as a mature cucumber, and look for a thin green or yellow skin. Foodfit.com recommends wilting slices in a very small amount of water with salt, pepper and olive oil for 6 to 8 minutes and accompanying them with fresh basil.

Tomatoes come in a myriad of sizes and flavors, from small, sweet cherry tomatoes to the meaty heft of the beefsteak strain. The Texas A&M Aggie Horticulture website suggests yields will be increased by harvesting the fruit at first blush or pink instead of leaving them on the plant to ripen fully, as fully ripened fruit attracts birds. Storing tomatoes in the fridge halts the ripening process.

The edamame or vegetable soybean has traditionally been a food used in Asian cuisines, but is quickly gaining a foothold in American summer gardens. The University of Illinois National Soybean Research Laboratory recommends planting edamame in full sun after the soil reaches 65 degrees in holes about 1 inch deep and 2 to 3 inches apart. According to the University of Kentucky, this translates to a late May or early June planting with a mid-August harvest. Pick edamame when the pods are bright green and the seeds fill the pods.

String beans are a vegetable with one of the fastest harvest times, and Washington State University claims it is the second most-grown home garden vegetable in America, trailing only tomatoes in popularity. The reason string beans are harvested so quickly is because they are picked prior to maturity, when the pods are firm and crisp but the seeds inside are still small and tender. String beans can be planted throughout the summer to generate a continuous supply and can be eaten raw or cooked.