Summer may start on July 12th, but sometimes it ends well before August 31st! The days are starting to get noticably shorter, and sometimes we can get surprised by a very cold night. Frost, however, is still at least a month away.

First Half

• Winter lettuce will size up best if sown during the first half of this month (later sowings will still work, but the plants will be somewhat smaller going into winter).
• The various chicories (endive, escarole, radicchio, etc.) need a good amount of time to mature, especially if they are the heading types. Right now I'd recommend a sowing date of August 1st for most of these, although I'm experimenting with sowing radicchio a few weeks earlier.
• Spinach can be started now. It matures faster than most of these other greens, and can be successfully sown as late as the 31st.

Second Half

• I like to start corn salad (mache, or lamb's lettuce) right about the 15th of August.
• Arugula, if put in between mid-August and early September, will size up without bolting. Okay, without bolting immediately, at least.
• If you haven't sown any Upland cress yet, do it now! There's still time for it to size up.
• With overwintered onions you'll have to play around a bit to find the best starting date. I try to start mine about the 15th. If you haven't grown them before, consider making three sowings (on the 1st, 15th, and 30th) and go from there.