Perfect Planting, Pruning and Transplanting Weather

First camellia bloom

Mixed-color camellia bloom

Pinky-red camelia

White paperwhite and pink nerine

Blue-purple iochroma

Yellow chasmanthe blooms a month before the orange-red one

Double Delight rose blooming now following October pruning

Anyone know this rose's name?

Ballerina?

Anyone know this rose's name?

Mixed broccoli and bok choy and other greens, almost ready for transplanting. Note fruit tree netting staked every foot to keep digging critters away (they don't like to get their paws entangled in the netting, which they can't see very well in the middle of the night).

Potatoes that I missed when harvesting are now sprouting in my "Tower of Tires" (see video of Huell Howser's visit to my garden on Web Links menu item, at the top of the right column)

More potatoes that I missed harvesting sprouting in this year's cilantro bed.

Green peppers love this weather and set more fruit than during the summer.

Harvest bok choy by removing the outer leaves, leaving the several innermost tiny leaves to continue growing. Top plant is ready to harvest. The one at the right side was just harvested.

Mulberry blossoms

Mulberry fruit

Mulberry after pruning

Fig pruned of its right-hand branch and planted about 6" deep to its left.

Panache/Tiger Stripe cuttings planted about 6" deep and 1' apart.

Fragrant violets can be divided and replanted.

First crop of Satsuma mandarins.

Dancy tangerines.

Alyssum - white and purple.

Salvia - red

Salvia - coral

Sunflower.

Feverfew.

Bulbine starts its 11-month bloom.

Rosemary blooming.

First nasturtium bloom. Both blooms and foliage are peppery tasting.

First alstroemeria blooms.

Emu bush blooming.

Amaranth seeds. Don't know whether this is the edible kind.....

With daytime temperatures in the mid-70s, nighttime temperatures in the low-50’s, sunny but low-intensity sunlight, and soil that’s thoroughly moistened but well drained from those glorious rainstorms, this is the perfect environment for planting our new gardens for spring and summer.  Seeds, seedlings, perennial vegetables, deciduous bareroot fruit trees and roses, rooting cuttings and separating divisions are all methods that are ideal to start now because the mild weather will enable them to thrive.
 
Seeds
     So many greens and other cool-season crops include broccoli, bok choy, cabbage, cauliflower, chard, chives, cilantro/coriander, kale, leeks, leaf and heading lettuces, mustards, green and bulb onions, parsley, peas, radishes, and savoy spinaches.
     Flowers to sow include alyssum, bachelor's button (cornflower), calendulas, candytuft, celosia (cockscomb), coreopsis, dianthus, four-o-clocks, hollyhocks, larkspur, lunaria (honesty, money plant, silver dollar plant), pansies, California and Iceland and Shirley poppies, salvias, snapdragons, stocks, sweet peas, sweet William, and native wildflowers.
 
Seedlings
     I always purchase whatever seedlings are in the nurseries for a 6-week jump start of the same seeds I’ll sow.  Then I’m guaranteed something to eat as early as possible from planting the purchased seedlings (usually of pretty basic varieties), and then lots more from the plants I’ve seeded (of more specialized varieties).
 
Perennial Vegetables and Fruits
     The big three perennials to establish in their own beds are artichoke, asparagus, and rhubarb.  They’re all heavy feeders, so need lots of manure and compost every year at this time.
     Other perennials to get into the ground include grapes, berry vines, and strawberries.
     Pruning cane berries gets rid of dead canes that bore last summer and then died, and energizes new canes that’ll produce on second-year wood.
     Pruning grapes limits new growth to fruiting wood, and cuttings can be rooted for plants to giveaway.
 
Deciduous Bareroot Fruit Trees and Roses
     Like seeds, planting bareroot fruit trees and roses adapt more quickly and healthfully when planted now in cool weather, catching up to and surpassing already-leafed-out plants.  So, if you have the choice of the specific varieties you want, go for the bareroot ones. 
     Pruning existing fruit trees now before they blossom out keeps their spring growth within reaching harvest height and limits the amount of fruit that’ll set to what you can manage to use, stressing the tree less so it’ll remain healthy.
     Pruning roses gets rid of twiggy branches and redirects new growth outward for a healthier plant.
 
Rooting Cuttings
     Grapes and mini-roses that are grown on their own roots are good bets for rooting to create more plants for your own garden or for friends.
 
Separating Divisions
     Dividing crowded plant root systems are another excellent way to take advantage of multiplying strong plants.  These include agapanthus, amaryllis, asters, chrysanthemums, coreopsis, daylilies, dianthus, gaillardias, gazanias, rudbeckia, statice and violets.
 
More Detailed Monthly Garden Tips
     For more info on all these topics, see January and February tips.