Gardening In LA
  • Home
  • About
  • Services
    • Garden Coaching
    • Speaking
    • Photography
    • Writing >
      • List of Articles
  • Blog
  • News
  • Monthly Tips
    • January
    • February
    • March
    • April
    • May
    • June
    • July
    • August
    • September
    • October
    • November
    • December
  • Events
    • Submit Your Garden Events
    • Botanical Gardens' and Other Organizations' Garden Events
  • Jobs
  • Web Links
  • Newsletter

Cool-Season Sowing and Transplanting During Hot Weather

9/19/2016

2 Comments

 
PictureThese $4 trays keep seedlings corralled for easy watering and moving, including enabling reabsorption of water that initially ran through potting mix.
     Ah, September’s flip-flopping weather!  Two weeks of mildness got me into a mindset of cool weather coming.  Then, this week of heat – yesterday’s venture into town registered 103 degrees! 
     I’d just purchased a batch of tiny lettuce, spinach, chard, kale, cilantro, parsley, and artichoke seedlings from my favorite provider, San Gabriel Nursery, a couple of days ago.  But by about noon yesterday, they were all drooping, so I had to move them into afternoon shade and water them again.
     I’ve found plastic storage trays to be ideal for grouping six-packs and 4” pots, keeping them watered and easily moved in bulk between locations as needed.  They’re about $4 from Target.
     After another two weeks of acclimation to my garden and their new home, I’ll transplant them.    
     In the meantime, I’ll prepare the soil in the bed where they’ll mature.  I’ll pile on about an inch of manure, another inch of compost, some coffee grounds, and a scattering of Dr. Earth fertilizer with about even numbers of N-P-K.  Then, using a hand trowel, I’ll turn it all in with the top inch of original soil in the bed.  I don’t want to dig deeper so I don’t disturb the understory soil that’s become full of microorganisms that’ll help the new transplants connect with their established supporting networks. 
     This is done two to three weeks before I’ll sow seeds or transplant seedlings there so the heat-up of the new mix can be accomplished and cooled down back to regular temperature before adding the new plants.  If you don’t wait, chances are the new roots will be burned, and seeds sown may not germinate.
 
Why Sow Seeds and Transplant Seedlings Now?
     Seeds sown now for winter and spring blooms and crops – especially edible peas and flowering sweet peas – and transplanting perennials like artichokes, asparagus, rhubarb, strawberries, and California natives – will encourage strong root and foliar development that will survive most frosts, thrive, and bear food and flowers sooner.  Especially during our continuing drought, best establishment practices will assure long productive plant life!
     Sow or transplant two or three times the amount you would in spring, as these overwintering crops will grow very slowly.  For salad greens like lettuce and spinach and bok choy, you’ll harvest only a couple of leaves a week from each plant, so you’ll need many more plants to result in frequent salads.
     Thanksgiving is my area’s average first frost date, although it’s been several years since my garden has had any frost at all. 
     Plants that have developed deep root systems and mature leaves are more tolerant to the cold.  When these plants are three or four inches in size before the first hard frost, they're mature enough to be harvested throughout the fall, winter, and early spring. 
     These will bolt at the first real warmth of early spring, though, so they can't be counted on to provide a crop after that.   But, by then, you'll have made the first spring plantings, so the gap between harvests won't be too long.
     When sowing cover crops for the fall and winter, consider edible ones.  Kale and rocket (roquette, arugula) are full-flavored leafy vegetables that withstand freezing.  Both germinate in cool weather and are welcome fresh greens for stir-fry and soups all winter long.  In the spring, they can be easily turned under as "green manure" when preparing the soil for the main spring and summer crops.

2 Comments
Cara in Pasadena
9/19/2016 01:10:41 pm

Perfect timing for your great blog, Yvonne! May I ask you if you have a source for organic manure? I've heard scary things about using our local horse manure in regards to the frequent use of antibiotics for stabled horses. Many thanks for your expertise!

Reply
Yvonne Savio link
9/19/2016 01:40:24 pm

Hi, Cara --

Yes, that's my great intent about the value of my blog - the immediacy of what I'm chatting about. The garden literally tells me what to ponder out loud!

Sorry, I don't keep track of resources like manure and compost since their availability and quality change so frequently. Perhaps rely on the advice from your favorite nursery.

Reply



Leave a Reply.

    Archives

    June 2025
    April 2025
    February 2025
    January 2025
    December 2024
    November 2024
    October 2024
    September 2024
    August 2024
    July 2024
    June 2024
    May 2024
    April 2024
    March 2024
    February 2024
    January 2024
    December 2023
    November 2023
    October 2023
    September 2023
    August 2023
    July 2023
    June 2023
    May 2023
    April 2023
    March 2023
    February 2023
    January 2023
    December 2022
    November 2022
    October 2022
    September 2022
    August 2022
    July 2022
    June 2022
    May 2022
    April 2022
    March 2022
    February 2022
    January 2022
    December 2021
    November 2021
    October 2021
    September 2021
    August 2021
    July 2021
    June 2021
    May 2021
    April 2021
    March 2021
    February 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015

    Categories

    All

    RSS Feed

© 2015 Yvonne Savio. All Rights Reserved.                                                                                                                                                         Web Design by StudioMAH.