createSummer garden in Southern CA
Submitted by Andrew on 10 August 2007 - 10:36pm.
It’s late summer and I live in Southern California. I am finally ready to plant my garden but am concerned that it is too late? Can I still plant a garden or should I wait until next year?
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..but this is exactly why we all live here …right? So we can garden 24/7/365.
So here is the scoop. At this point a well tended Southern CA garden is in full swing, heaving with fruit and vegetables and the herbs are now primed for picking and drying, especially tarragon, that dies back even here!
You can:
Plant more tomatoes, cool season tomatoes that will thrive in the cooler temps and provide produce up until the first frosts of mid January. A good heirloom is Stupice or a hybrid such as Glacier. Also do NOT remove your old indeterminate tomatoes..they might look ragged after the summer but if given a little TLC (read: some fertilizer) they will start up again in late Sept and produce fruit albeit lower amounts, right up until the first frost. Peppers, beans, and eggplant can still go in and you will get a late harvest. If you live in a cooler micro climate you can plant lettuces..just tuck them under something taller so they get some shade from high noon sun. you can always put in herbs of all types..basil can go in every 4 weeks so you have a long fresh supply. Can you have too much basil..nah!! Remember you can make your pesto (without the cheese..does not freeze well), freeze them in little saran wrapped pieces and enjoy really good pesto in the middle of winter. Later in November it’s time to put in your garlic and sweetpeas..every kitchen garden must have sweetpeas. Also, all sorts of brassicas, beets, chard, carrots, peas, arugula, broccoli, parsnips (oh my favourite..)cauliflower and onions can go into the garden at that time.
Hope this helps.
Lyonsy