What To Do During This Exquisite Though Chilly Weather

Gloriously colored persimmon tree.

Planting rooted cutting of Violette di Bordeaux made last spring.

Planting Yellow Long Neck fig from gallon-size can.

Tremendous growth from one chard plant planted last spring.

Several sowing of pea seeds will gradually catch up with each other and bear fruit later this winter.

Kohlrabi seeds germinating and growing at different rates for harvesting one by one.

Carrots can take up to 3 weeks to finally germinate, so it's important to sprinkle every day or so to keep the top surface soil moist since the "weak" seeds can't easily break through dry topsoil.

Severe pruning of roses.

Geranium has been blooming since I planted it 2 months ago.

Bladderpod is beginning yet another almost-year-round bloom-and-pod cycle.

Amaranth Prostrate Globe - Gomphrena decumbens - is full of tiny blooms.

Firespike - Odontonema cuspidatum - makes its own firecrackers now.

    The weather keeps being beautiful though chilly at night.  With deciduous trees and plants becoming even more seasonally colorful, like my persimmon, and the few summer edibles like my tomatoes still sort of struggling while I wait for the tiny fruits to ripen enough to pick, the edibles and ornamentals that love the chill are perking up vigorously.  And the in-the-70s daytime temperatures make puttering in the garden so enjoyable.  So what to concentrate on?  Here’re some that I’ve been doing.
 
Planting Fig Trees
     Planting my two Violette de Bordeaux fig trees that I’d started from cuttings last spring.  I know their energies are shutting down now for the winter, but I figured it was better to get them into their permanent home now so they could get barely established now and then be raring to grow with the early spring warmth.
 
Continuing to Harvest Chard
    I’ve been so very impressed with chard’s tender leafy production literally year ‘round that I can’t bear to pull up the plants that have made it this far into the winter, although I always reseed more now to assure new strong plants in the spring.
 
Continuing Sowing Cool-Season Veggies
     Leafy greens like bok choy, lettuce, spinach, and all the mesclun mixes provide such a tremendous variety of greens and reds and whites for raw and cooked culinary uses, and for such a long time through the cold weather before they bolt (go to seed and turn bitter) with the late spring warmth.
  Peas reseeded every several weeks provide a continuing supply of fresh pods all through the winter and into the late spring.  Wando is one variety that can be depended on through the cold and as the last planting when it’s already too warm for other varieties.
 
Continuing Transplanting Perennial Edibles
     Transplant globe artichokes, Jerusalem artichokes, asparagus, broccoli, cabbages, cauliflower, horseradish, and rhubarb; also cane berries, grapes, and strawberries.
 
Pruning Roses
    For several years, I’d trimmed my roses back to about 3 feet tall since one year I’d forgotten completely and the resulting foliage and bloom was tremendous.  After many years’ development of lots of scrawny branchlets, this year I decided to do the severe cut, down to about 15 inches.  We’ll see how spring bloom proceeds!
 
Planting Posies
   Sow seeds of African daisy (gazania), ageratum, alyssum, baby-blue-eyes, baby's breath (gypsophila), bachelor's buttons (cornflower), calendulas, candytuft, delphinium, forget-me-nots, hollyhocks, impatiens, larkspur, lobelia, lunaria (honesty, money plant, silver dollar plant), lupines, nasturtiums, pansies, sweet peas, California and Iceland and Shirley poppies, verbena, and wildflowers.
     Transplant seedlings of astilbes, azaleas, bleeding hearts, calendulas, camellias, canterbury bells (campanula, bellflower), cinerarias, columbines (aquilegia), cyclamen, delphiniums, dianthus, forget-me-nots, foxgloves, gaillardias, hollyhocks, lilies-of-the-valley, ornamental cabbage and kale, pansies, peonies, Iceland and Oriental poppies, primroses, snapdragons, stocks, sweet Williams, violas, and violets.​ 
 
     Now, it’d be wonderful to have some rain, but gently falling so the soil can absorb it slowly!
 
     Until then, water overwintering outdoor plants. Irrigation should be reduced, not stopped, as plant photosynthesis slows down and cold weather dries plants out. Plants that are stressed from lack of irrigation are more susceptible to frost damage.   Water less frequently but just as deeply to assure that the full root systems are hydrated.