Can you start a garden in the summer?

If you've ever visited a farmers market in the earlier months, you'll find that most of the yield is lettuces and mustard greens. Things start to get a little more colorful in the spring when carrots, onions and beans come out to play, but summer is the time when the widest range of fresh fruits and vegetables are available. Corn, cucumbers, eggplant and tomatoes are all summer veggies and in the fruit department, you get mangoes, melons and most of the berries.

If you live in a cooler climate, you may even have some success in the warm months with cool-weather crops, like greens and broccoli. The only catch is you may want to skip the seeds this year and get some plants that have already been started. Most seeds need to be planted earlier to be ready to harvest at their peak time. If you're really set on growing from seed, look for crops that are hearty enough to be sowed right into the soil and still have enough growing time to harvest when the time is right.

Don't delay any further, though. A few more weeks, and you'll need to start thinking about your fall crops! Go on outside and start playing in the dirt.