Fall’s Thriving Garden

Transplanted broccoli raab and bokchoy. The 5-gallon buckets are buried up to their rims,. The hose fills them so water exits bottom holes directly into the foot-deep root zone. Alternatively, add a shovelful of manure or compost to the bin so the water becomes "manure tea" or "compost tea", feeding the root zones every time the bin is filled.

Transplanted Romanesco brocoflower, celery, lettuce, and spinach

Cilantro 2 ways: one six-pack cell every 2 feet, plus seeds scattered along the entire bed. Nursery trays allow filtered light to keep soil moist to help seeds germinate.

Artichokes resprout from planting several years ago. Note that several new clumps develop at the outer edges of the gap which was the original planting.

Amaranth seeds are beige. Young leaves are edible greens.

Feijoas are welcome November fruit. As a kid, I loved to shake the tree so the ripe ones would fall; then I rolled the fruit in my hand to soften it, and finally bit off the blossom end to suck out the sweet flesh. Definitely fun finger food!

Still-blossoming sunflowers that reseed themselves every year. This is 15 years so far!

Peruvian Daffodill, Spider Lily, Hymenocallis festalis, blossoms

First nasturtium bloom.

Ongoing color of California fuchsia, Epilobium canum.

Chocolate-scented flower, Berlandiera lyrata, on green foliage. Yellow-variegated foliage is lavender.

Stock that's almost permanently in color.

Fortnight Lily seedpod

Allow asparagus fern to die back naturally so the roots can reabsorb all the energy produced through the summer.

Green pepper continues to bloom and set fruit through the winter unless it frosts.

Always-in-bloom salvia.

Pilea peperomioides in "bloom"

Odontonema strictum "Firespike" blooms now, but with that name you'd think it should bloom for the 4th of July!

First paperwhite.

     We’re having wonderful weather, albeit without our very-much-needed rain, and plants are thriving in the garden.  Now that they’re relieved of the brunt of the summer heat, they’re enjoying the mild temperatures and moister mornings and evenings.  With warm days sandwiched between chilly evenings and mornings, we need to get our transitioning from the worn-out summer crops to thriving overwintering ones.
      You may even be still relishing those still-hanging-on tomatoes that should ripen by Thanksgiving or even the end-of-the-year holidays.
     Remember to let the garden sit for a couple of weeks following incorporating the amendments like compost, manure and coffee grounds so the soil can heat up and then cool down sufficiently to not burn roots of new transplants. 
    I’ve finished transplanting most veggies and flowers that I purchased at nurseries, and will now start sowing seeds of even more varieties for greater diversity in the garden.
      When you’re spacing transplants, be sure to crowd transplants as close as you’ll estimate that each mature plant – or whatever size you’ll harvest it -- will barely touch the next plant’s foliage.  This way, you’ll get the most effective use of the soil surface and nutrition underneath since plants will grow so much more slowly during cool weather than they did during warm weather.
       Vegetables and herbs to sow or transplant include fava beans, beets, broccoli, Brussels sprouts, cabbage, chard, coriander (cilantro), garlic, kale, kohlrabi, leeks, lettuce (especially romaine types and small-heading bibb and butter¬crunch types, which thrive with only minimal damage from light frosts), mustards, green and bulb onions, parsley (the flat-leaf type is hardier than the curly one), peas, radishes, shallots and spinaches, especially the curly-leafed savoy types.  While these plants won't grow much till early spring, they'll have well established root systems ready for the great growth spurt with the first warmth in Spring.
     Flowers to sow or transplant include alyssum, Japanese anemone, baby's breath, bachelor's button  (cornflower), bleeding heart, calendula, campanula (canterbury bell, bellflower), candytuft,   columbine, coral bell, coreopsis, cyclamen, gazania, English and Shasta daisies, delphinium, dianthus (carnation, pinks, sweet William), forget-me-not, foxglove, gaillardia, hollyhock, larkspur, linaria, lunaria (honesty, money plant, silver dollar plant), lupine, penstemon, phlox, California and Iceland and Shirley poppies, primroses, rudbeckias (coneflower,  gloriosa daisy, black-eyed-susan), snapdragon, stock, sweet peas, violas (Johnny-jump-up,  pansy, violet), and regionally adapted wild¬flowers. 
     Plant azaleas, camellias, forsythias, dogwoods, and oriental magnolias so they'll settle in nicely.  Renew acid mulches under azaleas and camellias. 
     Scatter regionally adapted wildflowers where you can let their seedpods mature and scatter for future volunteers.  Besides California poppies, include baby blue eyes, chia, clarka, gillia and phacelia.
  Plant California native plants like ceanothus, grevillea, mimulus, sage, but disturb the rootball as little as possible.  Fill the planting hole with water and let it drain away before filling it with just the soil dug from the hole and then watering again once the plant is in place to settle it.
  Divide cool season native grasses like carex, calamagrostis, festuca, juncus, leymus, melica, muhlenbergia and stipa.  Also divide clumping perennials like heuchera, native iris and potentilla.  Water well until new growth appears. 
   Shear back Cleveland sage, coyote mint and galvezia by about one-third, and matilija poppy to the ground.