A week ago, my friend decided she wanted to try gardening and showed me her plan for next spring. It was a beautiful list, and everything was immaculately planned to the last detail – it was clear she had done her research. Yet, I gave her news that completely wrecked her plans but allowed her to make new ones: she didn’t have to wait until next spring.

It’s a complete myth that you can only plant in spring. Sure, you can’t start your garden in the dead of winter with snow up to your knees, but there is nothing stopping you from getting to work in the summer. I hit my friend with the truth, and she didn’t believe me for a second. Only when I showed her the photos of my “summer plants” did she accept that she could start her garden that very day.

Soon, she was swarming me with queries on my summer gardening. “What plants should I get?” “Where should I put them?” “What happens when winter comes around?” It felt awesome to help, but before I knew it the secret of my summer garden was no longer a secret. I would have to undergo the brutal interrogation for what felt like a hundred times more. Determined not to make it one hundred and one, here are the plants you should get as well as tips and tricks for gardening in the heat.

Mint

Mint is a great plant to start your summer garden out with, especially if you are a beginner. This is because it’s considered an invasive plant, and will grow in any allotted space you give it. It’s pretty hard to kill a mint plant. Yet, to make sure you don’t, leave it in partial or full sunlight. It survives best outdoors, but it can also be grown indoors. Make sure the soil is moist, but not soaked and loose.

When winter comes around, you have a couple of options. You can leave it outside to face the weather. The top of the plant will freeze and die off, but the roots will survive and grow back once winter is over. If you want mint throughout the snowy days, you can bring it inside. Just remember, the size of your pot will determine how large you mint plant grows.

Why would you want mint in the first place? Firstly, its amazing smell repels practically all nasty bugs. Spiders, ants, mosquitoes... you name it, they hate it! I have a mint plant in my room and outside, and there are never any bugs within proximity of the plant. Only if you grow your mint plant into more of a bush will it flower, and then you’ll get your occasional bee. Another reason you might want a mint plant other than for its flowers, dazzling aroma, and as a natural bug repellent is that you can use it in summer recipes! My favorite place to add it is in my homemade lemonade. It completely changes the drink and makes it taste fresher and lighter, as if I had a pitcher of the sweetest parts of summer.

Cucumber

Nothing compares to fresh cucumber you’ve grown yourself. While it does require a lot of work, the baskets of this refreshing fruit you’ll have at the end of the season makes it all worth it. To reap the amazing rewards, however, you need a set space outdoors to grow it. You will need to make sure you have loose and fertile soil. If you do not, buying a bit of fertilizer will do the trick.

Even if your soil is ideal, you will need to take your shovel out and dig around in your garden patch to dislodge clumps, as well as remove weeds and rocks. Another requirement is having something for the cucumber vines to grow up, as they need a bit of support to grow vertically and reach their maximum height. A fence or a couple of poles will suffice. If you really want to go above and beyond, a wooden trellis works great and is quaint and charming for your backyard.

For all the times I’ve planted cucumber, the work I had to put in never got to me. Sure, the heat searing my back as I pulled out yet another weed definitely had me contemplating whether it was all worth it for some fruits I could buy in an air-conditioned supermarket. But all feelings of contempt vanished once I looked at the bigger picture. After all, it took only a bit of my day to set everything up, and I got some peaceful time for myself. I could dream off and have a moment of calm, while still being quite active.

And once everything was planted, I could just watch. Watch as the first shoots emerge from the soil. Take a peek at the vines creeping up the aged fence. Jump up and down when the first brilliantly yellow flowers blossomed. And then soon enough, I would have a wooden basket in hand and would be picking the fruits of my labor (literally) before the chipmunks and squirrels got to them. The beauty of gardening in itself is not just the end product, but the path you take to get there. Planting cucumbers is always a beautiful experience – a time when I learn to cherish the simple.

If you do decide to plant cucumbers, I would recommend starting no later than mid-July. Cucumbers take an average of 60 days to grow until picking, and you don’t want to be hit with an early frost and have them all damaged. Besides, you want to have your fresh cucumber on those blisteringly hot days to drop in your water or lemonade. Or for the sandwiches you craft for the spontaneous summer picnics in the park. Or just to munch on and cherish the simplicity of having grown something yourself.

Basil

Basil is a great plant for procrastinators, which may or may not include myself. This plant is super simple to grow, and only takes several days to germinate, harvest-ready in 3 to 4 weeks. So if you’re trying to start that garden in August, basil is definitely for you.

Up here in the tristate area, basil can be grown in the full sun or partial shade. Like mint, basil won’t survive the cold and the leaves will freeze off and die. However, it will grow back once the cold thaws, meaning you only have to plant basil once. For the coming years, you can just try and guess when you’ll see the first shoot!

Basil can be grown indoors and for all those who are not a fan of bugs making their home indoors, not too worry! The scent of basil bugs flies, mosquitoes, and more! I personally keep my basil right next to the spots where I have my mint plants. I know that whenever I’m near them, I can remain in peace without the disturbance of any unwelcome pests.

If you end up planting basil, you could try to propagate it and keep some indoors for the winter, but that is only if you can keep it in a nice and warm spot throughout the entire year. Being very sensitive to the cold, the winter months will make it tough for the plant to survive even inside. I would recommend that as the weather starts cooling down, completely pick all the leaves off your basil plant and have them dry. Pack them in a container, and use the dried herb for all those delicious pasta, pizzas and more.

But while you have fresh basil, whether in your pot indoors throughout all the seasons or during the warm months, take advantage of it! Make delicious salads and cold soups. Sprinkle over fresh mozzarella. Even better, while you’re out tending your garden, keep some basil leaves and mint leaves in the pockets of your clothes. When you finally retire for the indoors, you won’t detect a single itching bite.

Rosemary

Lastly, my favorite herb, rosemary. It has an enchanting aroma and stunning flowers that can be a bright white, a vivid blue, or even a purple hue. Best of all, it’s an extremely forgiving plant, and therefore, great for beginners.

Originating from the Mediterranean, rosemary is no stranger to heat. It’s the ideal “summer plant.” Keeping that in mind, its soil should be well-drained and it should be planted in an area with lots of sun. If your keeping it indoors, keep it near a window-sill as it doesn’t thrive well without lots of sunlight. Rosemary, while liking drier roots, is peculiar in the sense that it likes humid environments. This is such as the woody plant likes to absorb water through its leaves as well as its roots. So if you do plant rosemary and you notice it’s looking a bit drab, take out a spray bottle and douse it every so often to make it more comfortable in its environment.

Unlike mint and basil, rosemary won’t grow back after a harsh winter. That’s why I would recommend taking the plant inside during the winter. It can handle a bit of cold, so I would put it near a sink’s window. That way, it will get the humidity and light it craves. And again, no worries about mosquitoes or flies with the merry help of this herb.

If you are growing this plant outside, make sure to keep it separate from other plants. Not only does it have vastly different needs, but plants like mint will keep it from growing as their roots leave no room for the rosemary to expand. When I first started growing rosemary, I put it in the same pot as my mint plant. It was a terrible mistake. My invasive mint plant gave no room to my rosemary, and I could barely harvest anything!

But after research (as well as some trial and error), I learned why my rosemary wasn’t growing well. It became apparent that rosemary isn’t a difficult plant, and that it’s not that difficult to get an abundant harvest out of it, even if you only grow it in the summertime. You can cut off stalks and harvest the leaves to dry. They’re a perfect addition to spice up chicken or potatoes. They also do wonders when baking bread. The smell as you take it out, freshly baked, is delightful.