Gardening 101: Summer crops

NORTH TEXAS (CBSDFW.COM) - If you are new to North Texas and like to grow your own food, I have some good news. Here in North Texas, we have THREE distinct growing seasons for crops.

Now, here is the bad news. We have THREE distinct growing seasons for crops.

So yes, we can grow food almost year around in North Texas. But, yes, you are going to be working all year to get it: rotating out your beds, growing indoors from seed and being at the mercy of three separate growing seasons in our crazy, extreme weather.

Here is a rather complete list of what you can grow in the Spring season, February through early June.

Here is what you can grow in the Fall season, August through December.

But what about summer?

Summer is inevitable here. While we can have a mild winter, good rains in any season, and miss the hailstorms, your garden is going to have to get through some very hot days. The core of the heat arrives in July and August, but it can arrive in June (like this year) and go on and on into early October (the latest 100 degree day record in DFW is Oct. 3rd).

There are some crops that actually do well in the summer. Some. Probably one crop that is one of the most common to north Texas gardens are peppers. They thrive in the heat if you keep them watered and protected somewhat (compost, mulch and drip irrigation). I shade my growing beds (and most of my garden and pool honestly) from late afternoon heat to keep stress off my plants on those painfully hot days (105 degrees or higher).

One of the great things about peppers: an almost unbelievable selection. Mild, sweet, hot and do-not-eat-this hot. I grow a mix every summer and make a pepper relish that I jar up. I then use that relish in my tuna salad.

Another favorite in the Ray Garden: Okra. Again, there are many variates to choose from. This story shows a newer variety on the scene, purple okra. I have grown this variety; it is a lovely plant to look at. Okra flowers and produces fruit from that flower all summer long, it grows higher and higher in the garden as it goes along. I've had okra plants get over 10 feet. Taking them out at the end of the growing season was like removing a tree. Make sure to pick your okra when about 3"-4" long (when young) before they get woody. I cut my okra into small medallions and pan fry in olive oil.

There is another edible plant that thrives across the summer, Malabar Spinach. First off, this is not spinach but a vine native to India. You can stir fry the leaves or spread the smallest ones over a salad raw. That have the same stuff in them like okra that make them a little slimy to the tongue, so I prefer to sautéed the leaves into my stir-fry. It is true, it tastes like spinach.

Asparagus beans or yard-long beans are great choices for the summer. Cowpeas, black-eyed peas and purple hull peas also do well in summer as do watermelons and cantaloupes (you have to plant those in early summer). Summer and winter squash can also be a successful summer crop here in North Texas.

Summer food grown in the summer heat. Enough to justify some sweat and summer toil.