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In this episode, we walk through exactly what's happening in a Houston garden right now — the heat stress, the pest pressure — and what's actually worth doing about it versus what to let go of for the season.

Key Takeaways

• Blossom drop and afternoon wilting in extreme heat are normal — not a sign you're doing something wrong.
• Water deeply and early (before 9am); mulch 2–3 inches deep, kept off the stems.
• Pest prevention is a system built in spring — airflow, healthy soil, plant diversity, and established beneficial insect habitat.
• Vandhana's pest method: identify before treating, invite beneficial insects, use physical control first — spraying is a last resort.
• Squash vine borer is often unwinnable once a vine wilts; the real opportunity is catching the early signs at the base of the stem.

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If you've ever told yourself you're gardening with your kids purely for their benefit — it's educational, it's screen-free, it gets them outside — you're not wrong. But you might be leaving out the bigger part of the story.

Here in Houston, where the growing season stretches long and the heat asks a lot of every gardener, it's easy to frame family gardening as something you're doing for your children. A teaching tool. A summer activity. A box to check.

After years of gardening alongside my own kids, Vandhana of Vibrant Rainbow Gardens has come to a different conclusion: the garden was never just for them.

✦ RESOURCES & LINKS ✦

• Free Checklist — 15 Kids Gardening Activities: vibrantrainbowgardens.com/15_kids_gardening_activities
• GrowSona Quiz: vibrantrainbowgardens.com/quiz
• Follow along on Instagram: @VibrantRainbowGardens

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If you have been wondering whether it is too late to plant anything in Texas — this episode is your answer. June is not the month to stop gardening. It is the month to choose the right plants.

In this episode, Vandhana walks you through exactly what to plant right now across every Texas region — Houston and the Gulf Coast, Austin and Central Texas, Dallas and North Texas, and El Paso and West Texas. Plus: the truth about June pest and disease pressure, why cutting back your spring tomatoes is a strategy (not a failure), and why southern peas might be the most underrated summer crop in Texas.

In This Episode

• Why June is actually a month of abundance in a Houston garden — and what the chaos looks like alongside it
• The "summer swap" — clearing spring crops to make room for what belongs in this season
• Why summer tomatoes and summer broccoli are not for Texas summers
• The full Houston and Gulf Coast June plant list: vegetables, herbs, and flowers
• The southern peas story — heat-tolerant, productive, and nitrogen-fixing
• Regional breakdowns for Austin, Dallas, and El Paso
• The June beginner formula: 1-2 vegetables, 1-2 herbs, 1-2 flowers — all chosen for the heat
• What Vandhana is personally planting right now, including the giant sunflowers

June Plant List — Houston & Gulf Coast (Zone 9B)

Vegetables

• Sweet potato slips — direct plant
• Hot peppers — transplants
• Eggplant — transplants
• Asian cucumbers — transplants
• Summer squash — transplants
• Long beans — seeds
• Southern peas / cowpeas — seeds — purple hull, black-eyed, crowder
• Okra — seeds
• Melons — seeds or transplants
• Summer gourds — seeds or transplants
• Roselle / Hibiscus sabdariffa — seeds or transplants

Herbs

• Basil — seeds or transplants
• Rosemary — transplants
• Cuban oregano — transplants
• Lemon grass — plant or division

Flowers

• Sunflowers — seeds — including giant varieties
• Marigold — seeds or transplants
• Zinnia — seeds or transplants
• Native flowers — seeds
• Echinacea — seeds or transplants
• Coreopsis — seeds or transplants
• Asian veggies — seeds or transplants — Malabar spinach, bitter melon, luffa