The Dallas County Master Gardeners encourage people to keep planting even if it’s late into July. 

Master Gardener Megan Will says there is a misconception that when the month of July is about to end that there is nothing that can be planted to be ready for the fall season. Will explains that it’s not too late to plant green beans, squash, cucumber, lettuce, cabbage and beets. She tells Raccoon Valley Radio that gardeners have until the middle of August to plant a majority of their fall crop. 

“The kind of rule of thumb here in the Des Moines area is general first frost is October 1st. So you just kind of count back. How many days from when you put that product in the soil from what the product package says? So if it says it’s 45 days from seed to harvest and if it doesn’t like frost, you gotta do it 45 days before the last frost.”

Will says people need to be flexible with that rule because sometimes Iowa doesn’t have its first frost until mid November.