Do you have areas that get very hot full sun and nothing seems to survive? These 22 heat-tolerant edible plants to grow in HOT full-sun locations will help you grow productive edible gardens. I’ve been growing food here in Perth, Australia for the last 10 years, and let me tell you, it was a big change and learning curve coming from the lush green of new Zealand.
Today, I’m sharing some plant ideas to plant in those super hot locations but keep reading to the end because it’s not just about what you plant but also when and how! Bonus tips on that, so you can turn your hot barren wasteland into productive edible gardens.
Click to WATCH 22 heat-tolerant edible plants
22 Heat-tolerant Edible Plants
1. Rosemary
Attracts bees 🐝 Has healing properties and is great for skin and hair care. Flavour enhancing culinary herb🌿 When I first moved here I wondered why so many houses had Rosemary hedges out the front – and it’s because it thrives on neglect and our poor sandy soils. Rosemary is a great heat-tolerant addition to your edible garden. Try making your own Rosemary Salt.
2. Strawberry Guava
Strawberry/cherry and lemon cherry guavas are really hardy, low-maintenance fruit trees, that produce bucketloads of fruit!
3. Mulberry
Another powerhouse perennial that survives on neglect – they grow super fast so you can use these as a nanny plant or a pioneer plant. If you have a barren hot area you could plant a Mulberry to get quick shade established and later on remove it or heavily prune if it gets too big. Mulberry also loses leaves in winter to let light in.
4. Lavender
Lavender is drought tolerant – a great pollinator plant with many medicinal (calming and sleep) and culinary uses. In my garden (which will be different with climates and varieties) Lavender flowers at the same time as my Feijoas so I have it planted in between them to attract pollinators and increase my Feijoa harvests.
5. Feijoa / Pineapple Guava
If you have been following me on Instagram or subscribed to my YouTube you will have guessed this plant would make the list 😂 Low maintenance, super hardy, and produced plenty of food! Feijoas do taste better when they get 50 chill hours a year so they aren’t optimally grown here in Perth but they do grow well and are drought-tolerant. They are evergreen and super bushy so can be grown as an edible hedge. They are known to have fire retardant qualities which is very handy for hot dry climates. If you are looking to purchase a Feijoa, choose a named variety (such as Duffy, White Goose, Mammoth plus more) as these will perform better and produce fruit faster than generic seedling plants.
6. Passionfruit
Passionfruit is an edible vine that can be used to cover a fence, structure or grown over an arbor to create shade. This can help cool your garden down and provide delicious fruit. Passionfruit flowers can also be used to make calming teas to aid in sleep and anxiety. NOTE: Avoid planting a grafted variety the grafts takeover and become invasive,hard to get rid of, and don’t produce good fruits.
7. Citrus
Citrus like full sun and once established can thrive in hot environments. Avoid planting new trees before or during the hot summer so that they have time to get their roots established before the added stress of summer.
8. Lemon Verbena
A fragrant lemony scent that is similar to lemongrass. Lemon Verbena is great in teas, baking, and all the things!
9. Pomegranate
A hardy fruiting tree that thrives in hot environments.
10. Loquat
Loquats are hardy fruit trees that thrive in hot conditions. Loquats can be a pest plant because they grow so easily and birds spread the seeds so check with your local area.
11. Lilly Pilly
Part of the Syzygium genus is a great dense evergreen hedging plant with bright pink fruits. The fruits are edible and can be made into jams, sauces, and even sparking wine!
12. NZ Spinach / Warrigal Greens
NZ Spinach unlike most spinach can be grown over summer. Although not technically spinach it can be used just as you would use spinach. NZ Spinach grows as a tick edible ground cover to protect the soil and provide nutritious greens.
13. Malabar Spinach
Malabar spinach grows as a climbing vine and can be used to grow up structures and provide shade in summer. With succulent-type leaves, the Malabar Spinach does well in hot conditions but does not like frosts.
14. Quince
Quince is a hardy fruiting tree that thrives in hot conditions. Quince is great for making preserves such as jams, jelly, and chutney.
15. Zinnia
Zinnia is an edible flower that thrives in hot dry conditions. Zinnia has vibrant flowers in a huge range of colours. The great thing about Zinnia is that it produces nectar so it attracts a diverse range of pollinators to the garden such as bees, hoverflies, butterflies, and small birds. Zinnia is susceptible to powdery mildew so great for dry summers.
16. Sunflower
I love growing Sunflowers because they attract a huge amount of pollinators to the garden and you can pretty much eat the whole plant! I use the petals fresh in a salad or press to use on baking as garnishes. The seeds can be used on top of salads, to make oil, or to make spreads and the leaves are also edible. Sunflower stems can even be made into flour! Sunflowers also help remove toxins from the soil so they are a fantastic addition to a hot full-sun garden.
17. Figs
Figs are hardy edible plants that can easily be grown from cuttings. Figs are great for hot locations and the fruit can be used for jams, relish, baking, and just enjoyed fresh!
18. Olive
Olives grow well in hot conditions and also in pots and containers. They are beautiful-looking plants with their slim silvery leaves. Olives can be used to make oils and delicious preserves. Olive leaves also have many medicinal qualities.
19. Grapes
Grapes are great for growing over structures to provide shade to your garden and help other plants grow. Grapes are deciduous so they lose their leaves in winter to let light in and have full leaf coverage in summer to protect from the harsh midday sun. Grape plants have so many uses from fresh delicious table grapes to jams, preserves, and wine! grape leaves also have many uses in the kitchen.
20. Hollyhock
Hollyhocks are an edible flowers that can grow up to 10 feet tall! They attract 100 of pollinators to the garden and their height acts as a flag inviting them in. The leaves are also edible and can be cooked to make wraps. Hollyhocks are an annual so they will need to be planted again each year but are so worth it! They can be susceptible to powdery mildew.
21. Thyme
Thyme is a hardy herb that thrives in hot conditions. Thyme is very versatile in the kitchen and pairs well with tomato dishes, on pizza, and roast veggies. Thyme also produces masses of tiny white flowers that attracts an array of beneficial insects and pollinators. Thyme creeps over the ground so it makes a great edible ground cover plant.
22. Macadamia Nut
Macadamia nut trees can take a long time to start producing (5-7 years) but are really hardy and nuts are great additions to a homestead to make flour and milk from.
8 Tips for Successfully growing heat-tolerant edible plants
Many of these heat-tolerant plants listed are perennials and the reason perennials are so good for hot environments is that they have established roots and have time to get used to their environment. Annuals such as lettuce and tomatoes are planted new and have shallow roots so are more vulnerable to overheating.
Below are some tips to help you get your plants established and thriving through hot periods.
Focus on good soil with plenty of organic matter
Mulch, much, mulch
Have water available nearby
Avoid planting in hot weather (always check the forecast)
Provide temporary protection such as shade cloth or umbrellas during hot periods.
Grow nanny plants or pioneer plants (quick-growing trees that provide dappled shade in summer eg: grapes, mulberry, and deciduous fruit trees)
Plant new trees in pots until after the summer heat has passed
Plant densely – allow other plants to protect and shade each other and the soil.
Easy steps on how to overwinter your chilli and capsicum plants to have mature plants and bigger harvests for next season. If you have grown chillies, peppers or capsicums over the summer months, you may be able to overwinter them to keep for the next season. Around this time of year, in Autumn, you will notice your chilli and capsicum plants start to die off, lose their leaves or stop producing full-sized fruit. Chilli or peppers are warm-loving plants and do not like the cooler days of autumn and winter. It is around this time that aphids and other bugs will arrive and attack your plants when they are in a vulnerable state. Rather than ripping them out and starting again next season, you can prepare to overwinter your plants.
What does “Overwintering” Mean?
“Overwintering” is a term used when you prepare your plants to keep them alive/ semi-dormant through winter, and then they will be able to be planted out during the warmer spring months. Some plants are classed as annuals because they die off in cool weather, and then you need to replant them in Spring and Summer. But if you overwinter them and keep them somewhere warm, you will be able to convert them into perennials and grow more food without spending any extra money next season.
Why do you Overwinter Chilli Plants?
There are some great benefits to overwintering your plants. They already have an established root system, and this means the plant will be able to start back up again when the conditions are right and will produce quicker and in more abundance than a new young plant. This means your second-year chilli or capsicum harvests will often be earlier and much more fruitful! Which is definitely something we want!
How to Overwinter Chilli Pepper plants?
There are a few ways to overwinter your chilli and capsicum, and most of it comes down to how cold your climate is. Here in Perth, we get very little frost so I leave my plants where they are over winter. If you live in a colder climate where you get dramatic drops in temperature and frosts, then you will want to pot up your chilli and bring them into a warm spot in your patio, greenhouse or inside. I grow mine in my pallet planters, which, in winter, I move so they receive sun nearly all day. They are also in a sheltered spot close to the house and fence, so they seem to do well overwintering in situ.
The two chilli plants I have in this planter have been here for 2 or 3 seasons and produced so many chillies this summer!
To prepare them for winter:
1. Prune Your Plants
I cut the plants back to around 50% or about 20 cm high. This can seem brutal, but it means the plant has fewer branches to feed and can concentrate its energy on staying alive. Make your cuts at “major intersections”. This is where multiple stems shoot out from one node.
2. Keep Them Frost Free
If you live in a colder climate that gets frosts, then carefully dig your plants out of the garden and plant them in a pot. Keep your potted chilli plant somewhere warm and sunny until the last frost has passed in Spring before planting them back out.
How to Prepare Overwintered Chilli Plants for Spring?
Once spring arrives and there are no more frosty days, plant the potted Chilli plants back into a warm, full sun location. Give the plants a good feed of organic seaweed fertiliser and they will shoot off lots of new growth. It won’t take long until they will have new growth and will start producing flowers and fruit.
If you have any questions on how to overwinter chilli pepper plants, leave me a comment below 🙂
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Composting is a great way to reduce waste, build soil and grow healthy thriving plants. Part of a naturally occurring cycle that feeds an ecosystem. Urban composting may mean smaller systems need to be used but they can still be very effective. I have a tumbler compost bin and now I have made a DIY worm tower to go in my Container Gardens. This tower is made from recycled PVC pipe we had left over and a recycled plant pot was used for the lid. The worms love it and so do my plants!
Urban Composting
You don’t need to have a large garden to start composting your veggie scraps at home. There are some great urban composting solutions including Tumbler Composts, Bokashi and Worm Farms. There is even an app called Share Waste that connects people to others that have composts in your local area. Whichever solution you choose it is a fantastic way to reduce your waste and stop it from going to landfill. Food scraps that end up in landfill do not break down in the correct environment so they produce methane emissions that contribute to our climate change crisis. The more scraps you can use up or put back into the earth the better!
How to Make a DIY Composting Worm Tower?
Using things you already have at home is a great way to recycle and get the most out of everything you use. Left over PVC pipes are great for turning into worm towers. The worms can go between the garden and the worm tower to feed and help break down the veggie scraps. This will in turn provide natural fertiliser for the plants to thrive. Creating a balanced and diverse ecosystem is so import for healthy gardens.
To make these I used a 6 inch PVC pipe and cut it down so that it was the height of my pallet plants.
We then drilled holes around the bottom half of the pipe approximately 10mm in diameter. Big enough for worms to fit through.
I then dug a hole in the centre of my pallet planter and buried the pipe with the holes at the bottom and covered the sides back up with soil. Try to bury as much of the pipe as you can as to reduce it’s exposure to the sun.
A lid is important to stop any flies, rats, mice or household pets from getting in and eating the scraps. It will also keep any smells away so your gardens don’t give off a bad odour. The lid we made from the bottom of a plastic garden pot we had spare. I tested out a few for size and chose on that fit tightly over the pipe. It needs to be secure so that the wind won’t blow it off or animals cant easily overturn it. If your pot has drainage holes in the bottom cover them up too.
Once the pipe and lid are secured in place you can start adding your veggie scraps. Use only scraps that will break down relatively quickly and do not place any meat or dairy scraps. You can also add a sprinkle of soil on top of the layers to reduce odours if it is a concern.
IMPORTANT
Make sure your recycled materials are food safe and haven’t been used previously with any chemicals.
Healthy soil grows healthy vegetables!
Holly 🌱
MY GARDENING ESSENTIALS // Fertiliser spray gun: https://bit.ly/366nL1t Retractable Hose: https://bit.ly/2TSC0Bo More gardening tools: https://bit.ly/32IQmbD
DISCLAIMER: Links included in this description might be affiliate links. If you purchase a product or service with the links that I provide I may receive a small commission. There is no additional charge to you! Thank you for supporting my page so I can continue to provide you with free content!
Are you growing Zucchini but the fruit seems to shrivel and die before being ready? If so, you may have a pollination issue. Hand-pollinating Zucchini is super easy to do once you know how. Today I will share 4 east steps with images so you can maximize your Zucchini harvests! This also works with Pumpkins, Melons, and Cucumbers.
Step 1: Identify a Male and Female Flower
Firstly, to hand pollinate Zucchini you need to know how to identify the male and female flowers. The best time to do this is early in the morning when the flowers are open.
Female Flower
The female zucchini flower has a small fruit at the base.The centre stigma of the female flower has multiple parts to form a circular shape.
Male Flower
The male flower has just a plain stem and flower with the centre stamen a single point covered in pollen.
Generally, the plant will produce a bunch of male flowers first which is nature’s way of attracting pollinators to the garden. Then it will alternate between male and female. I like to plant a few of the same variety as sometimes you can have female fruit but no male flowers open. Early mornings are best because the flowers will be open and then they will close up to capture the pollen.
You can either use a paintbrush to simply transfer the pollen from the male stamen to the female stigma but I find it easier to remove the male flower and use that to transfer the pollen.
Step 2: Pick a male flower
Pick the male flower and remove the petals.
Step 3: Dab pollen onto female Stigma
Then you are left with a pollen-covered stamen to transfer onto the female flowers.Transfer the pollen onto the female flowers to hand pollinate Zucchini.
This will make sure your zucchini are getting pollinated so you can enjoy the abundant crop!
This method can be used for other fruiting vegetables such as pumpkins, melons, cucumbers. I tend to use a small paintbrush for the melons and cucumbers though as the flowers are much smaller and delicate.
It is also important to try and attract wildlife to your garden for natural pollination, to find out what flowers to plant, click below.
Do you hand pollinate in your garden? Leave me a comment below.
Holly 🌱
MY GARDENING ESSENTIALS // Fertiliser spray gun: https://bit.ly/366nL1t Retractable Hose: https://bit.ly/2TSC0Bo More gardening tools: https://bit.ly/32IQmbD
DISCLAIMER: Links included in this description might be affiliate links. If you purchase a product or service with the links that I provide I may receive a small commission. There is no additional charge to you! Thank you for supporting my page so I can continue to provide you with free content!
I much prefer offering natural and sustainable solutions rather than a pointless list of negative things not to do. But this topic is something I am very passionate about and something new gardeners often get caught up in (including myself when I first started growing food many years ago). You will find my list of natural pest management remedies below 🙂
When you first start growing food you will get slugs and snails eating your new precious veggies and will want to INSTANTLY fix the situation. I see some newbie gardeners pour on huge amounts of snail bait to combat the hungry predators. This is POISON, not only will it kill the slugs and snails but is also deadly to cats and dogs. Now, if it can kill dogs, having it covering the soil and getting watered in and absorbed into the soil that your vegetable will feed on, especially those root vegetables, cannot be good for us.
If you’re reading this and thinking…I do this..you are not alone. It is something that has been a “norm” for way too long. But the first step you can take is safely throw out your poisonous slug bait. I would place it in something that animals can’t get into in case it crosses paths or they get into the bins. Even better, contact your local council to find the best way to safely dispose of it.
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There are plenty of ways to naturally combat pests and have safe and nontoxic vegetables for your family.
Eggshells – Save your eggshells and dry in the oven on low. Then crush into small pieces and place in a jar. Sprinkle this around the base of your vegetables and the slugs and snails do not like the surface so will stay away. It also adds some beneficial calcium to your soil.
Plant extras – Plant a few extra plants in different areas of your garden so that if one gets attacked you still have plenty 🙂
Encourage beneficial insects – Plant diversity and flowers to create habitats and attract beneficial insects. You could even make an insect hotel using lots of different sized sticks and logs for them to live 🐞🐝
Manually remove – Go out and check your garden and remove the pests by hand. I often do this when I am on the phone, its a great way to multitask.
Beer Traps – Cheaper the better, there is no need to use up any fancy craft beer. Place little containers around your vegetable patch and this will capture the slugs and snails before they get to your precious veggies 🍺
Coffee grounds – Often your workplace or local cafe will be throwing these out anyway. Sprinkle around the base. Only add a small amount as it will change the PH of the soil ☕️
Companion Plants – Often very fragrant plants will repel pests. These are plants such as: Marigolds and Rosemary 🌼🌿
Soapy Water – this is great for aphids. All my dishwashing liquid is non-toxic and greywater friendly so I just mix up some diluted in water and paint it on the new growth that is affected by aphids. This is the last resort though as it may harm beneficial insects too. Try and isolate the coverage.
Chilli spray – Mix up some chilli powder in some water and spray on your affected plants. I have read crushed garlic as well but that is bad for dogs so I would avoid.
Healthy Soil – growing healthy soil by composting and mulching helps keep your plants strong and healthy 💪 this means that if they do get bugs they can survive and thrive after an infestation.
Sacrificial plants – Usually one plant will just get attacked and I just leave it. It usually means the bugs will only eat that plant and the rest will be fine! Sorry for that one plant but it’s feeding nature…🌿
Chickens and ducks are also a great way to integrate natural pest management into your garden. Win-win 🐛🦆
MY GARDENING ESSENTIALS // Fertiliser spray gun: https://bit.ly/366nL1t Retractable Hose: https://bit.ly/2TSC0Bo More gardening tools: https://bit.ly/32IQmbD
DISCLAIMER: Links included in this description might be affiliate links. If you purchase a product or service with the links that I provide I may receive a small commission. There is no additional charge to you! Thank you for supporting my page so I can continue to provide you with free content!
