Ten Warm Season Vegetables for Beginners 

Warm-season vegetables include favorites such as tomatoes, peppers, squash, cucumbers, beans, melons, and more. Some crops, such as corn, require a lot of room to grow. Others can be grown in pots on the porch. Here are ten warm-season vegetables that are beginner-friendly. 

Tomatoes 

Tomatoes are the most popular vegetable grown in the United States. Technically a fruit, common law, and at least one court case make it permissible to call them vegetables. Tomatoes are generally started indoors from seed and transplanted outside when the soil warms up to about 60 degrees. When the temperatures rise above 90 degrees at night, the tomato will still bloom but the fruit will not set, so no more tomatoes until the fall. Although tomatoes are perennials, we treat them as annuals and replace them each year. 

Peppers 

Peppers are another plant that needs to be started indoors and then transplanted when the soil temperature reaches 70 degrees. It is advisable to grow hot peppers together and separated them from sweet peppers. I know of at least one case of hot banana peppers that were grown too close to jalapenos. My sister still won’t eat banana peppers. 

Cucumbers 

Cucumbers are planted about the same time as tomatoes. There are two kinds of cucumbers, eating, and pickling. Pickling cucumbers have thicker skins, so they stay crisp in the jar. Cucumbers should be at one end of the garden and the melons and squash at the other, or they cross-pollinate. The resulting squash and melons taste terrible. 

Green Beans 

Green beans come in bush and vine. Vine green beans need to be supported by a fence or trellis. Bush varieties stand on their own. Both produce a lot of beans, so expect to can and/or freeze some. Harvest when the beans are about the diameter of a small pencil for snap peas. 

Black-eyed Peas 

A traditional Southern delicacy, black-eyed peas, or California peas as they are sometimes called, are also good for the soil as they work with soil microbes to fix nitrogen into the soil. They benefit from being mixed with an inoculant you can usually get where you buy your seeds. It contains the necessary soil microbes.  

Summer Squash 

Summer squash includes yellow crook necked squash and zucchini squash. These plants are prolific, so don’t plant more than one or two per person or you will have more than you can give away. The squash blossoms are picked and fried in batter in some areas. Use the male flowers to do this, as the female flowers produce the fruit. The females have a small squash at their base so you can tell the difference. 

Winter Squash 

Winter squash includes acorn, pan, and butternut squash. They have thicker skins than summer squash and will keep longer if cured properly and kept in a cool, dry place. They are also prolific, so don’t plant too many. 

Eggplant 

Black Beauty Eggplant is the classic version, but Japanese eggplants are fun, too. They are long and slender instead of egg-shaped. They need to be started inside and planted when the soil warms up, just like tomatoes and peppers. 

Okra 

Okra is from Africa and was brought over by slaves. It loves heat, so bears all summer long. Cut the okra when it is about two or three inches long. It will grow much longer, but it gets tough and fibrous when it gets long. Fire ants like okra, so be careful when harvesting it. 

Tomatillos 

Tomatillos are a relative of tomatoes. They come covered in paper-like skin. Tomatillos make wonderful green Verdi sauce when mixed with tomatoes and peppers. They should be started inside and transplanted along with your peppers. 

If you do not want to start seeds inside, you can buy tomato, pepper, eggplant, and tomatillo transplants from any nursery. They will stock the common varieties that grow well in your area. If you want heirloom plants or a wider selection, you can buy the seeds and start them yourself.