Here we are, at our first major Fall holiday, Halloween, and the weather continues to be perfect for sowing and transplanting.  With mid-80s during the day and mid-to-high-50s at night, seeds will germinate well and baby plants will establish healthy root systems as long as we keep the soil moist.  Another benefit of climate change, I guess, having this great weather this late in the calendar year.
 
Remove Struggling Summer Plants
        However, trying to keep summer-bearing plants carrying on is another matter entirely.  It’s not so much the warm days that keep the plants green, but rather the cooler evenings that determine that the plants start shutting down for the cooler weather. 
     Consequently, I give up on the tomatoes and squash and cucumbers that still have clumps of green foliage and even a fruit or two.  Instead of attempting to keep them alive in the hopes that the fruits will ripen up, I pull them and prepare the soil for its next crop. 
       When I first started gardening, I was intrigued with the idea that I could trim back the dead foliage, feed and water the plants, and get them to continue fruiting.  But then, after all this additional effort and nurturing, with a couple of months’ passage of time, the resulting fruit were at best blandly flavored, certainly no better than what I could purchase at the grocery store (and they weren’t available at farmers’ markets since they were off-season).  I determined that I would no longer “waste” my garden space trying to hang on to old plants that were beyond their season, to say nothing of beyond their peak.  Instead, I would revitalize the soil and sow or plant veggies that thrived in chilly weather and bore fully-flavored fruits.  In other words, grow what grows best when it grows best.
 
Still Harvesting
       Chard and Lacinato kale, both of which made it through the summer heat, again put out tender leaves, although they’re growing more slowly.
 
Seeds to Sow and Seedlings to Plant Now
     Sow or transplant fava beans, beets, broccoli, Brussels sprouts, cabbage, chard, coriander (cilantro), garlic, kale, kohlrabi, leeks, lettuce (especially romaine types and small-heading Bibb and buttercrunch 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.
 
Planting Garlic, Shallots, and Bulb Onions
         Garlic and shallots and bulb onions planted now will develop a strong root system over the winter, and leaf production can begin early in the spring, resulting in a large head next summer. The sooner you plant them now in rich, well-drained soil, the larger they'll be at harvest.
        Planting in the spring, even with rich soil, they will develop only into medium or small sizes; garlic may not separate into individual cloves.
      For the largest resulting sizes, plant individual cloves or bulbs four to six inches apart in a raised planting bed that is well-drained and compost-enriched, and keep the soil moist through next June.
 
Transplanting Strawberries
     Renovate strawberry beds away from where solanum-family plants -- potatoes, tomatoes, eggplants, and peppers -- have grown within the last three years. Incorporate rock fertilizers, compost, and cottonseed meal. Water well. Let all these amendments mature for two to four weeks.  Then, transplant strawberries one foot apart so the crown is just above the soil level. Strong roots will develop over the winter, and spring warmth will encourage fast growth and large berries.
 

​     Today was heaven in my garden.  After a month of no dirt under my fingernails, I made up for all that vacant time on several scores during the low-80-temperatures – removing dead plants, rescooping and watering tomato berms of plants that still have ripening tomatoes, and scattering and shallowly incorporating fertilizers into the long stretches in beds that’ll be seeded with overwintering edibles.  What a glorious afternoon, feeling exquisitely alive again in the garden!
 
Few Tomatoes
     I’ve never had so few tomatoes to harvest over summer – of my 18 plants I barely got ­­­74 fruits, and those were medium to small in size as well as Sungold’s tiny size.  One bed of 8 plants was primarily of volunteers that had sprouted in my compost pile.  The other bed held the 10 favorite varieties that I’ve successfully grown for years.  Both beds were fertilized and watered well. 
 
Volunteers
     The volunteers developed less foliage but resulted in more tomatoes; of course I don’t know what they were since they were volunteers so could have been crosses among last year’s fruits that made it into the compost pile.   About half of these plants have died, but I’m waiting on letting the fruits that’ve already set to ripen in our continuing mid-80-degree daytime heat.
 
Purchased Past Favorites
     The purchased plants that I’ve grown for years as my favorites grew more foliage but didn’t produce as many fruits as the volunteer plants.  This made me think that I’d somehow overloaded them with nitrogen, even though I fertilized them the same as the volunteers, both initially when transplanting and when the blossoming first started.   About one-third of these plants died early on during that first heat spell, but the remaining plants are very top-heavy (the vines are supported inside the cages up to six feet, then overflow down the outside for another four feet.  On this still-strong foliage, they’ve put out a good number of blossoms, so we’ll see how many of them actually set fruit and develop during this daytime warmth.  But, I’m hoping this out of curiosity since once the evening temperatures get lower than 60 degrees, the plants pretty much shut down the cooler it gets at nighttime, even with the “high” daytime temperatures. 
 
Sowing and Transplanting Overwintering Edibles
     Sowing seeds is a great way to get lots of plants to transplant around your garden or share with friends.  And you get to choose varieties with specific qualities that you like or want to try. 
     This is especially fun with packets that seemingly contain a billion seeds – like many lettuces – because you can count on reseeding them every three or four weeks if earlier ones haven’t germinated or you want many more plants. 
     I love scattering the seeds along the six-inch-or-so front edge of  my large veggie beds so they’re easy to keep sprinkled with water for good germination and then transplanted in small bunches into 6-packs or 4” containers for developing further prior to sharing with friends.

   Onion chives on the left; garlic chives on the right.

         Different cucumber types require different                                          harvesting methods.

Different types of lettuces offer year-round salads and months of harvesting from the same plants.

Cantaloupe on the left is in a pantyhose to foil pests; it'll loosen from its stem when it's ripe.  Watermelon on the right is ripe when its bottom spot turns yellow and it sounds hollow with a palm or knuckle thump.

Peppers - sweet on the left and hot on the right - offer a range of heat and flavors.

Summer squashes are harvested when they're young; winter squashes are harvested at the end of the season when they've developed their hard cuticle skins for long storage.

So many kinds of tomatoes, but the reason we're gardening in the first place!

     While each of us has our flavor preferences, perhaps initiated during our childhoods and further modified as we grew older and began tasting our way through farmers markets and our own and friends’ gardens.  A perfect example is tomatoes.  Tomato flavor is a combination of sweet and acid, with the perfect balance very much an individual preference.  Gardeners love to share their favorites, and over the years I’ve found some friends’ enthusiastic recommendations to be bland or too sweet or too acid to my taste.  I’ve always attributed this to distinctions in garden soil and water and growing techniques and microclimates – similar to differing results of exactly the same brownie recipe.
         Here are some clues that I’ve developed to the optimum time to harvest produce throughout the year.
   When you’re first growing something, I recommend harvesting at many stages as the vegetable or fruit matures so you can determine when YOU like it best. After all, you’ve devoted time and labor and resources to growing your own, so you should be the determiner of which is the best time to harvest the fruits of your labors!
 
Artichokes
These immature flowerbuds should be fully rounded, with the bract scales barely extending outward. Cut the stem about one inch underneath the globe.  First globes will emerge from the center stalk and be the largest.  Each successively smaller globe will emerge from the nodes of the secondary and then tertiary branches. The last ones may be too small to harvest, so let them develop into their purple blooms to enjoy them as ornamentals in the garden.
 
Asparagus
Whether grown in your garden starting with seed or transplants, wait to harvest the first shoots until they’re the size of your little finger – and then, pick only a couple from each plant those first several years.  Shoots should be about 8” long, about 1/2” wide, and not have any of the flower buds at the tips beginning to open.  You want to let additional shoots continue their development to make the root stronger and more productive since they can live up to about 15 years.  In succeeding years, cut only shoots that are about half an inch wide, and be careful to cut just below the soil surface so you don’t damage the root.
 
Basil
Repeatedly pluck young foliage leaves, including stems but leaving the bottom couple of nodes and still-vibrant mature leaves to continue photosynthesis until new young sprouts emerge.  Remove individual leaves from the stems, and save stems for the compost pile.  Use leaves fresh or dried or frozen in ice cubes or crushed with olive oil.  Of the many varieties, you’ll determine which you prefer to use culinarily or ornamentally.
 
Beans
For fresh use, pick pods when seeds are barely visible.  For dry use, wait until the seeds are fully developed in the pod, and the pod is crispy dry.
 
Beets
Pull globes when they’re between 1-2” wide, and use the tender young foliage raw or cooked.  Harvest foliage greens anytime.  However, if greens are harvested too frequently before the globe is harvested, there’ll be less energy for the globe to develop fully, so use some plants for repeated foliage harvest, and leave others to develop fully into globes, using their foliage only when harvesting the entire plant.
 
Bok Choy, Tatsoi
Pick outer leaves, leaving several innermost ones to continue developing for months' long harvest.  Even once the plant flowers and elongates its stem to bolt and set seed, the flesh is sweet and tender.

Boysenberry
In clusters of 3 berries, the center berry matures first.  When berries turn from reddish-purple to dark purple, and from glossy to matte, they’re almost fully ripe.  Gently tickle them from underneath the cluster -- if they’re ripe they’ll fall into the palm of your hand.  If you have to tug them, they’re not quite ripe. 
 
Broccoli
Cut broccoli when it’s deep green with small, tightly packed buds. When cutting main-head types, more smaller bite-size headlets will develop at side nodes for months of continuous harvest.  “Sprouting” varieties developno main head but instead many small bite-size shoots for extensive long harvests.  Yellow blossoms appearing on the elongated stems are also edible when stems are cut short (the longer stems become too woody to eat).  Flowers that are allowed to barely mature into inch-long green seed pods can be harvested and tossed into a salad for a raw bite of spiciness.   
 
Cabbage
Allow these single-harvest plants to get as large as possible before cutting them when they’re still firm.  However, even if the cabbage head splits and the bloom stalk bursts through the top, the cabbage is still fully tender and sweet. 
 
Carrots
Different varieties mature into different shapes both in length and width as well as at different rates over a couple of months’ time.  When a thick mat of foliage stems has developed, gently brush away the soil from the tops of the carrots that are about 1/2 inch wide and pull up a couple to see whether they’ve developed enough, taste a couple to see whether more are ripe enoough.  After harvesting the ones you want, water the bed to resettle the remaining carrots so they continue to grow.  If carrots taste “turpentiney”, they haven’t been watered sufficiently to dilute that natural flavor component. 
 
Cauliflower
Cut this one-time harvest at its base when the curds are still tight.  Once curds start to open up - "ricing" since they look like grains of rice - or when the color of a normally white variety turns creamy yellow - the flesh is still tender and succulent.

Celery
Pull (don’t cut) outer stalks, tearing them from the base of the plant.  Cutting will leave raw edges that will decay and perhaps spread to the plant.  Keep plants well watered so foliage remains turgid.
 
Chard
Snap off (don’t cut) outer stalks, leaving several inner stalks to further develop for continuous harvest.  If the outermost foliage is too mature, toss it into the compost pile.
 
Chives
Cut stems an inch above the soil, and water the bed to encourage additional stems to sprout.  Onion chives have round hollow stems, pink flowers, smell like onions, and are delicate to grow.  Garlic chives have flat solid stems, white flowers, smell like garlic, and are very drought tolerant to grow.
 
Cilantro
Cut stems an inch above the soil, and water to encourage additional stems to sprout.  Best grown in cool weather since they bolt (go to seed) during warm weather.
 
Cucumber
Five types have different maturity determinants.  “Armenian” are 18-24” long, ribbed, light green, seedless, and don’t need to be peeled. “Salad” type are 7-9” long, dark green, and picked full but not round.  “Dill” for canning are 4” long and almost fully round.  “Gherkin” are 2-3 inches long and concave.  “Lemon” are 2” round and chartreuse to yellow.  If cukes are curled instead of straight, they’ve not been watered sufficiently and may taste bitter. 
 
Garlic
Like with beets, both foliage and globe can be harvested, but it’s best to utilize separate plants for each distinct use – some for foliage but other plants for fully-developed globes.  Harvest greens by snipping the foliage an inch above the globe; this will gradually deplete the globe of its energy.  To harvest the mature globe, stop watering and let the foliage die back naturally in May and June, then pull the globe and let it dry on a rack out of the sun or braided with others until the foliage is crispy dry.  This aging promotes the formation of the protective papery sheaths around each of the cloves for longer storage.
 
Kale
Like chard, snap off the outer leaf stems, and toss too-mature foliage into the compost pile.  New shoots will develop for months more continuous harvest.  Of all of the varieties, I’ve found the Dinosaur or Lacinato Kale (Brassica oleracea var. palmifolia) to be the most resistant to bolting (going to seed) through the hot summer.
 
Kohlrabi
Leaves and globe are both edible, however its best to peel the globe for its tender sweet interior.  For its most succulent, pull the plant when the globe is about 2 inches wide.  If allowed to grow larger, flesh becomes tough, woody, and bitter, especially during summer weather.  Best to grow during cool weather.
 
Lettuce
Pull up plants of tight-head varieties when they’ve attained their mature size.  For leaf-head varieties, pull the outer leaves and let the four innermost leaves to continue developing for months more continuous harvest.
 
Melons
Different types have distinct clues to harvest them at their best.  Cantaloupes have tan netting, a sweet aroma, and easily slip away from their stems.  Honeydews are creamy yellow rather than green, a waxy rind, and give a bit at the blossom end.  Casabas are bright, buttery yellow, the whole fruit will feel heavy, and give slightly at their base end.  Watermelons sound hollow when slapped with the palm of your hand or knocked with your knuckles and the white spot where they rested on the ground has turned yellow.
 
Onions
Green onions are harvested fresh at whatever size you’d like.  Mature dried globe onions, like garlic, are allowed to dry out in May and June and then gathered to dry or be braided and stored out of direct sun to enable the papery outer sheath to develop for longer storage.  If necks are thick, use these first as they won’t keep long.
 
Parsley
As with cilantro, cut stems an inch above the soil, and water to encourage additional stems to sprout.
 
Peas
Both edible-pod and non-edible-pod types can be harvested fresh or allowed to mature completely until crispy dry.  Harvest flat edible-pod types – snow peas like Oregon Sugar Pod - when the peas in the thin bright green pod are barely visible.  Harvest filled edible-pod types – snap peas like Super Snap - when the peas rounded but not too firm in the outer bright green pod. Harvest non-edible-pod types – shelling peas like Green Arrow - when peas round and full in their shiny bright green pod. Peas that are harvested too late will taste starchy.  All these types can be allowed to mature completely until they’re crispy dry to be saved and used later as dried peas.
 
Pepper
Whether “sweet” or “hot”, pick when they’re to your taste preference.  Green peppers are less mature, and colored peppers are more mature and flavorful.  Keep well watered so their fleshy walls are thick and flavorful. 
 
Potato
Let foliage dry and die back naturally – this indicates that the potatoes under the plant are beginning to mature and form their protective skins for longer storage.  Stop watering.  A month or so later, carefully lift soil to reveal harvestable potatoes.  The earlier your harvest, the more water will be retained by the potatoes, so cook them in thin slices instead of baking (they’ll turn into a “rock”).  Keep them stored in the soil with no irrigation, digging a few at a time as you use them.  
 
Pumpkin
Wait until the rinds are completely hard and can’t be punctured by a fingernail.  This is their protection so they can be stored for a long time without spoiling.
 
Radish
Shapes range from round to elongated and are harvestable at any stage after they’re about 1 inch in width.  They bolt (go to seed) quickly with warm weather.  Like with broccoli, flowers that are allowed to barely mature into inch-long green seed pods can be harvested and tossed into a salad for a raw bite of spiciness.   
 
Spinach
Like lettuce, pick individual outer leaves, allowing several interior leaves to continue growing for continuous harvest. 
 
Squash
Summer squash like yellow crookneck, scallopini, and zucchini are harvested when they’re only a couple of inches thick or long to retain their full flavor.  Pick them on the small side since they’re notorious for doubling or tripling in size over a weekend.  Winter squash, like pumpkins, are harvested when the rinds are completely hard and can’t be punctured by a fingernail since this affords them long storage.  Harvest squash blossoms early in the morning and prepare immediately before they droop.  
 
Tomato
Tomatoes ripen from the bottom up and from the inside out.  Ripe and flavorful tomatoes will be fully-colored and give slightly when pressed gently in the palm of your hand.  Ideally, you’ll get a good three or four weeks’ harvest from the first to the last fruits of “determinate” varieties, and all summer long through cool fall weather for “indeterminate” tomatoes.  Once harvested, it’s critical to not refrigerate tomatoes unless they’ve been cut, since the chill will damage their cell structure, resulting in a mushy texture and diminished fragrance and flavor.  Choosing to harvest colored tomatoes when they’re still fully green or “breakers” that are barely turning color is a great way to salvage end-of-the-season fruits for fried green tomato sandwiches -- but just setting them on the kitchen counter, they’ll never attain their full potential flavor.
 
 
 

     Hot weather has finally arrived, and plants as well as people are suffering.  Neither of us had a chance to acclimate, so we’re all feeling the brunt of the heat.  While mid-80 degree temperatures may feel slightly warm but still comfortable to people, vegetables like tomatoes and peppers and eggplants (they’re in the same family) can’t complete the pollination process then.  And, in the low-90s, beans stop producing blossoms altogether. 
 
How do I know that my plants are having a hard time during the heatspell? 

• Plant growth slows because chemical activity slows during high air and soil temperatures.
• Foliage may droop and look dull instead of glossy, especially early in the morning which indicates that they haven’t recuperated overnight. 
• Leaves may roll and cup to reduce the amount of evaporation and direct sunlight.
• Leaf edges may dry
• Foliage may be sunscalded on the side of the fruit most exposed to the sun, looking like dead and discolored blotches.
• Plants stop flowering.
• Plants drop buds and flowers, especially after an extended period of high temperatures, and on peppers, squash and cucumbers. Production will resume after the heat wave is over.

 
Watering in the early evening

• Water deeply as soon as possible to keep plant entire root zones thoroughly hydrated.
• Sprinkle foliage after the sun no longer is directly shining on the plants, both on the undersides as well as on the tops of the foliage.  Evening is when the stomates on the undersides of the leaves open up, allowing more absorption of moisture.  Even though air temperatures are still high, evening breezes will help dry the water on the foliage so that diseases don’t become a problem since you’re doing this only the once to recuperate the plant.  

    
Shading
Protecting plants from the intense heat in the late afternoon can be accomplished several ways.

• Shade cloth or cheesecloth covering the tops of the plants, or on the south and west sides will lessen the effect of the direct sun.  The material must be porous, however, to enable sufficient air circulation for the merest breeze to help move the hot air.  Old window screens or nursery trays allow air to pass through them.
• Fencing or other sturdy item with sheeting can be placed to the south and west sides of the plant to block the direct sun during that late-afternoon period.  Keep it away from touching the plant, however, so that it doesn’t block any breezes. 

 
Mulch

• Add more mulch on top of soil surfaces that have been well watered.  You want to insulate moist soil so roots can be further cooled and protected.  Mulch reduces temperature changes and evaporation.

 
If the heat spell continues

• Keep the soil moist but not wet throughout the entire root zone so that both moisture and air will always be sufficiently available when the plant roots need them.
• Keep shading devices installed.
• Don’t plant or transplant.  These activities are stressful enough for plants, without the additional heat stress issues.
• Don’t apply any chemicals for plant disease and insect issues, even soap or neem oil, when air temperatures are above 80 degrees.
• Do get rid of weeds, many of which do well during temperature extremes  and certainly do compete with garden plants for water and nutrients.

 
After the heat spell retreats

• Don’t prune or fertilize, as these activities stress the plant even more.
• Instead, allow plants to rebalance themselves in relief from the intense heat for several weeks.
• After a month or so, when you see that new growth has emerged and perhaps blossoming has resumed (once the air temperature is again consistently below about 85 degrees), then you can gently trim dead foliage without fear that you’ll stress the plant even more.
• Resume planting and transplanting.

 
For garden tasks, see August.
 
For other major-topic blogs for this time of year, see Homepage.

     Not that I want to plunge into the real scorching heat of summer that we have usually had to deal with in past years!
     Every gardening year is different in small and big ways, and this year’s winter and spring have indeed been enormously different here in my Pasadena garden, with winter’s 41 inches of rain and spring’s neverending overcast and cool temperatures that hardly ever rose above 75 degrees.  The rain fell conveniently sporadically so the soil was able to absorb all of the goodness.  The coolness enabled multiple sowings of cool-season veggies and posies but also fostered way too many exuberant weeds. 
 
Harvesting Breadseed Poppy Seeds
     My breadseed poppy plants have fully dried to the super-crisp stage appropriate for saving the seeds. 
     I held a bucket next to the pods and with my hand pruners pulled each stalk over the bucket to clip the pods so they fell into the bucket.  Only a few clipped pods flew out into the forest of dry stems; these I’m sure will come up as next year’s volunteer sprouts.
     Next step was to crush the pods into as small pieces as possible to assure that all the teeny black seeds were released from the interior walled sections of the pods. 
     Then I poured the entire contents into a fine-grid colander over another bin so the seeds would fall through the holes into the underneath bin but the pod shards would stay in the colander.  I repeatedly scooped and turned the shards in the colander with my hand until no more black seeds fell out.
     I ended up with 1 full cup of breadseed poppy seeds, and about a quart of shards. 
     I’ll save the seeds to sow next fall just before an expected rain. 
     I’ll use the shards to sprinkle over just-seeded veggie or flower beds to help anchor the seeds as I gently water them in.
 
Other Posy Activities
     My nasturtium “ocean” is finally beginning to shrivel and dry, forming a thick mulch around all of the fruit trees. 
     The bearded iris and Ferraria crispa that had bloomed so vigorously along the ramp up to the garden were thoroughly trimmed or pulled; their rhizomes and corms remaining to gather strength and mellow until next fall’s growth.
     Drumstick alliums (Allium sphaerocephalum) are beginning to bloom.  They’d so multiplied from my purchase of a dozen bulbs several years ago that last year I’d dug up the clumps and planted the single bulbs along my long driveway. Now their two-foot-tall stems are topped with their purple heads, a quite striking scene along the driveway.
     Statice (Limonium perezii) continues to seed itself down the driveway as well, with its long-lasting grand blue clusters and foliage offering attractive color and texture throughout the year.
 
Edibles
     Lots of green tomatoes promise yummy salads to come.
     Sadly, the cool weather has resulted in tart boysenberries, even though the yield was tremendous due to all the rain.
     Figs are loaded with both early breba figs (on last year’s wood) and later main crop (on this year’s wood).  We’ll see how many actually ripen enough for me to enjoy, as opposed to their getting eaten by the local squirrels and who knows what other critters.  If the cooler weather continues, I’ll be able to surround some groupings of figs with bird netting that’ll hopefully foil the critters.  Sometimes the green-when-ripe figs are allowed to ripen more fully than the purple-brown-when-ripe ones – perhaps due to a color coding clue for the critters?
     One peach tree already has been scalped of its still-green fruits, left on the ground nearby, barely munched.
     It’s finally happened – I’m sick of artichokes.  Luckily, I have only one remaining plant that still has a dozen smaller buds on it as they gradually mature.  Maybe I’ll just leave them to turn into their black-light-purple blossoms to enjoy visually instead of culinarily.
 
For garden tasks, see July.
 
For other major-topic blogs for this time of year, see Homepage.

Brugmansia in 3 colors.

Left = Artichokes ready to be harvested. Right = beautiful blossom.  Center = seed head ready to harvest.  Seeds are at the base of the "hair".

​     While every gardening year is strange contrasted to previous years – with always something weird along with the general sameness from year to year – this year’s peculiarity so far has been two-fold:  40+ inches of rain here in Pasadena, and what seems to be neverending May Gray and June Gloom. 
     During the half-dozen years of severe drought, with the average rain merely a single-digit percentage of our “regular” dozen inches, I’d gotten used to a May week of 100+ temperatures and therefore not planting a second group of tomatoes because they just didn’t survive the intensity of the rest of the summer. 
     This year, with the continuing mild temperatures in the 70s during the days and high 50s at night, I’ve made several resowings of cool-season vegetables like chard and parsley and cilantro and kohlrabi and carrots along with the summer-lovers of squash and cucumbers.  But I have yet to water the entire garden beyond spot-filling fruit tree berms, veggie beds, and of course the tomatoes. 
     The mildness has also enabled us to thoroughly enjoy the bloomers long beyond their regular tenure.  My nasturtium ocean is still looking lush and floriferous, alstroemerias are blooming out all over, and other perennials like gaura and brunfelsia are filling out and coloring up, as are roses and statice.  Even the nasturtiums that we pulled from the pathways and placed as mulch along the fruit tree rows is still perky.
  Many of the earlier-Spring bloomers are concentrating on maturing their seed pods.  As foliage takes its time enabling the roots to reabsorb its energy for next year’s seed strength, we gardeners must appreciate the dying-back browns to the absolutely crispy-crunchy maturity stage when we can finally harvest them. This means having a lot of dead stuff around, sometimes up to 6 or 8 weeks depending on the particular plant. 
  And this year, with the continuing mild temperatures and not much bright sun, it may take longer for the seed pods to achieve their full mature dryness.  The clue to the necessary absolute crispyness is whether the stem of the seedpod literally shatters as you bend it.  If it wiggles every so slightly, it’s not dry enough – so let it sit for another week at least! 
     I find it helpful to tie a paper bag around the seedhead to catch the seed as it falls.  Also, holding a bucket under the seedhead as you harvest it, especially with breadseed poppies, will help you  catch more of the seed from the “saltshaker” pods.
    
For garden tasks, see June.
 
For other major-topic blogs for this time of year, see Homepage.
 

 ​     All that winter rain – totaling some 41.45 inches here in Pasadena – has certainly enabled the garden to explode in bounty and brilliance.  The veggies I sowed and transplanted last Fall turned into exquisite tastiness all winter and early spring, and the flowers so far this spring have never been so plentifully exuberant. 
     The “nasturtium ocean” had to have pathways chopped into it, which provided the first great amounts of compostable greenery to combine with the dried vines of the end of the edible pea harvest. 
     The remaining nasturtiums have so completely covered the garden that no soil is showing; it’s just all color billowing amongst the alstroemerias and salvias and plectranthus and roses and fruit trees.
      Bearded iris are finishing up, and spuria iris are unfurling, including new ones I’d planted last spring.
      Fig trees are heavily set with early-ripening fruit on last-year's wood and new green shoots for late-ripening fruit – assuming I cover them with netting early enough to foil the birds and squirrels. 
       The boysenberries – really, just one plant that I’ve enabled to root many of its vine tips – have never been so lushly set with fruit.  I’ve just watered its extensive root system to help enlargen the berries as they ripen.  
    The breadseed poppies took over the bed I’d intended for overwintering chard and beets and spinach and lettuce.  The poppies are blooming freely now, and it’ll be a good six to eight weeks before the seed pods are thoroughly crispy dry to be harvested.  So I’ve had to find another bed to resow the chard and beets, which this early start will do well through the heat of summer. 
        The chard plants that I’d transplanted last Fall are flushly developing their foliage, but also beginning to bolt (go to seed) with the increasing heat, so we’ll see how long I can continue harvesting before the stalks dry up or the plants resprout new growth at their bases.  I’ll also reseed some chard and purchase some small plants to transplant in case the heat will prevent the seeds from germinating.
       The three plantings of ten kinds of carrots last fall are now gradually maturing to harvestable size.  By looking at the base of the greens, I can guess which ones might be large enough to pull, and then I flood the bed to resettle the smaller ones that I may have dislodged when I pulled the bigger ones. 
      The first flush of huge artichokes from established plants that bore fruit last year – the ones that sell for $4 each early in the season at the grocery market – is done, and we’re working on the second and third sets that are progressively smaller.  But all of them still have no real “choke” since they’ve been so well watered from all those rains over such a long period of cool weather.  We’ll see whether the several plants that I’d sown seeds of last Fall and transplanted early in December will produce fruit or just continue developing their foliage before fruiting next year.
     The tomatoes that I’d purchased and planted in mid-March at Tomatomania and other nurseries earlier in the season are all about two feet tall, so I’m letting them set their blossoms now that the plants have had a good two months to establish their root systems deeply.  And I’ve given each plant two handfuls of Dr. Earth fertilizer and watered it in well to provide the nutrition to develop lots of blossoms, set fruit, and then ripen the fruit.
    When I was planting the peas last Fall, I also allowed the many volunteer tomato plants that were sprouting to remain in place, so we’ll have a whole bed of “wonder what that one is” to enjoy along with the named varieties.  That’s fun but also frustrating since we won’t be able to identify any that are really wonderful!
 
For garden tasks, see May.
 
For other major-topic blogs for this time of year, see Homepage.

​

​     Despite superlatives, and every “super” bloom having its own especially exquisite locations, this is indeed the best wildflower season I’ve experienced around the Carizzo Plain National Monument valley and Highway 58. We’ve previously traveled several variations of these and other roads in 2017 and 2019, including Goleta, Ventura, Antelope Valley Poppy Preserve, and the Joshua Tree National Monument.  This time, we repeated our south-to-north route on Carizzo’s Soda Lake Road. 

Carizzo Plain National Monument and Highway 58
     From I-5 just north of the split with Highway 99, we took Highway 166 westward.  At Maricopa, Highway 166 turns south and joins Highway 33.  We turned right onto Soda Lake Road and proceeded northwestward.  Once we saw the official Carrizo Plain National Monument sign, we knew we were set for the afternoon.  While the road starts out well-paved, about half of it is washboard-y but very accessible by our “regular” car if driven slowly, which isn’t difficult because we were stopping what seemed like every five minutes to take more pictures.
     Most of the color is on the north side of the road.  Toward the top end of the road is a turnout with port-a-potties.  Further along is the information station which closes at 5pm and has no other facilities.
     Upon reaching the west end of the road at about dusk, we turned left onto Highway 58, the Blue Star Memorial Highway, and stayed overnight in Santa Margarita.  In the morning, we picked up a handy flyer, “Visit Santa Margarita,” which included a map highlighting local areas known for their wildflowers.  We returned eastward on Highway 58, marveling at the extensive flowering  seemingly at every turn, and the glory culminated at the junction of Shell Creek Road.
     Further along Highway 58, we passed the Soda Lake Road exit to Carizzo and continued eastward.  The multicolored-flower hills to our north are the ones most spectacularly included in online postings.      When we came to the junction of 7 Mile Road, we turned into the canyon following Highway 58, feeling swallowed up amongst the wildflower-covered hillsides rising sharply above us on both sides of the road.
     Once on the north side of the canyon, Highway 58 descends slowly and ultimately ends in Buttonwillow and the I-5 Freeway.

Antelope Valley California Poppy Reserve
     We approached from the west on Highway 138.
Just west of Neenach is a fenced plot of private land on the south side of the highway that we can always count on to be full of poppies.  This year is no exception, although there're lots of other yellow flowers packed alongside the poppies.
     Continuing eastward, we saw a sign for the Poppy Reserve so turned south onto 170th Street West.  Only a couple of patches of poppies were along this road, with the brown hills of the Reserve to the east.  170th Street West deadends at West Avenue F-8, so we followed the Reserve sign to the east, where it becomes Lancaster Road and passes the Reserve entrance.  We didn't enter the Reserve because there were no poppies around at all - even remains of dead plants - and we'd been there years ago when they were plentiful.

      Despite the disappointment of no poppies at the Reserve, it was a glorious trip in Carizzo and along Highway 58, and we knew we'd come home to our own gloriously blooming California poppies!
    This week's heat may spur the wildflowers to bloom more vigorously, so do try to make the trip within a couple of weeks!

For garden tasks, see May.

For other major-topic blogs for this time of year, see Homepage.

     Munching on the first edible-pod peas from my garden is a wonderfully poetic way to commemorate this first day of spring!  What great timing!  We’ve been enjoying lettuce and bok choy and tatsoi and chard and kale greens for a month, but these are the first peas. 
​     If you haven’t begun to enjoy cool-season veggie harvests, you can celebrate this official transition to spring by sowing your peas and transplanting the six-pack or 4” veggie plants you purchase from your local vendor or start yourself from seed! 
    Even with our continuing wintery weather including some threat of frost and snow with the current storm this week, our longer daytime days bode for increasingly warm days in the garden.  
 
Weird Weather
     In past years, March was our transition time in the garden, suitable for planting both ways -- the last of the cool-season lovers (to give them time to mature and provide harvests before the too-hot summer heat made them go to seed and become inedible), and also the first of the warm-season lovers (in case the weather did indeed warm up quickly enough to warm the soil and enable plants to get an early start on harvests).    
     However, this year is definitely different, starting with this still-winter chill and so very much rain and even snow in our local mountains.  I used to feel that we’d had our winter if I could see one day of a minimal dusting of snow on our mountains.  This year, there’re still a few stripes of white up there, weeks after. 
     So it appears that our transition time may be April, this time around.  While we can put in more tomato plants now, we should wait a month or so before planting other summer-weather delights like cucumbers, eggplants, melons, peppers and squash.  Tomatoes can thrive in the still-cold soil, but the others just sit there and pout, admonishing you that you stuck them into the refrigerator.  Worse, they take way longer to recuperate, establish themselves, and begin to grow again once the soil does warm up a bit.  So, it’s just not worth trying to push them ahead in your garden – just wait a month to purchase and plant them, and they’ll truly thrive immediately. 
     Remember too that the small plants you purchase – at any time of year – have been coddled and fed when grown in the greenhouse with lots of warmth and nitrogen to get them looking healthy so you purchase them.  Consequently, they’re very tender and susceptible to pests like aphids that love the bright green succulence, especially when shocked by your planting them out into the colder-than-the-greenhouse garden. 
 
Propagating More Plants
     More plants that you can easily propagate from cuttings now include dianthus, dusty miller, euryops, felicia, fuchsias, geraniums, iceplant, lavenders, marguerites, mums, saxifrages, sedums, and succulents.  For step-by-step instructions and photos, see my  2-16-23 blog, Propagating Succulent Cuttings, or my 10-29-16 blog, Propagating Begonias From Cuttings.

Get Those Weeds Out Before They Set Seed
     All this rain and cool weather has enabled weeds to germinate and flourish.  It’s critical to get them out of the garden before they send up their seed stalks.  This kind of recycling you really don’t want!    
 
For more garden task possibilities, see March and April.
 
For discussion of major topics, see the list by season on Homepage.

     Compared with the last five or so years, I’m late in getting my first tomatoes planted into the garden.  But that was then, and this is now.  That was warm temperatures and no rain.  Now is water-soaked soil and temperatures barely in the 60s during the days but still in the 40s at night. 
     But, perusing the veggie seedlings at my favorite nursery, I spotted a dozen varieties of great-looking 4” tomatoes, and took home several of my always-plant types – Sungold and Sweet 100 cherries and Celebrity.  This year I’m also trying Big Beef, lauded for years at various community gardens but I was always more interested in the various heirloom varieties. 
     I always depend on these more common varieties that appear early at nurseries and big-box stores to plant first, then fill in with less-common varieties that I’ll get later when I help out at the Tapia Brothers Tomatomania location (This year, I’ll be there on Sunday, March 26, from about 11am to 3pm and give a presentation on transplanting tomato tips at some point during that time period.  For more information on Tomatomania and its many locations, see https://tomatomania.com/).
 
Back to the Cool Season Veggies
     We’re enjoying our third cauliflower from the ones I’d planted in Fall.  First one was Cheddar, a too-brilliantly-to-be-believed colored namesake that tasted deliciously mild (but thankfully not like the cheese).  Next was a mathematically-perfectly-swirled Romanesco in brilliant chartreuse.  Now we’re finishing Violet, also brilliant in color but mild in flavor. 
     We never got around to cooking them, they were so deliciously sweet eaten raw.   We have four more to go from that batch we’d planted then, and I’ve planted more seedlings as we pick each one. 
     The baby bok choy that I’d planted at the same time as the cauliflower has begun to bolt – lengthening its central stem and setting flower – but continues to be sweetly flavored, especially the stem, just like the cauliflower.
     I’d transplanted the red-leafed tatsoi a month ago, and we’ve already been enjoying its individual leaves.  Like lettuce, I harvest the outer ones and leave only four of the small interior ones to continue developing for later harvest. 
     I get a gallon-ziplock-bag size harvest of lettuce every week.  Mixed with the leaves of the bok choy and beet and chard and kale, this becomes my go-to greens mix for salad, stir-fry, omelette, quiche, stew, soup, and whatever else seems something tasty to prepare.
     So I make a point of seeding and transplanting more of each, and I’m relishing having such long-lasting cool moist soil and air temperatures that these plants so thrive in. 
     Because of this, I much prefer the longevity of edible gardening from Fall through Winter and Spring to the beginning of Summer.  Much more food over a much longer period of time - some 8 months!  But, of course, the heat of summer brings the glorious tomatoes and squash and cucumbers and other yummies. 
     Seeds I’ve just ordered from Park Seed include Champion of England Heirloom Pea, Green Arrow pea, Lincoln Pea, Purple Tavor artichoke, Butterhead Blend lettuce, Aspabroc Hybrid broccoli (supposed to be long-stemmed like asparagus with smaller broccoli-like heads), DePurple cauliflower, Romanesco broccoli.  As soon as they arrive, I’ll seed them directly into the garden in the hopes that they germinate, develop, and bear while the weather is still coolish. 
     This kind of playtime in the garden discovering new treasures and getting to eat it all is what I truly love!
     However, when transplanting your seedlings into the garden, now that the soil is thoroughly drenched and draining slowly, be sure to very gently lift the soil and ease it back around the root ball that you’ve massaged to loosen root strands, and then water the plant in minimally but sufficiently so the entire root system is thoroughly “melted” in good contact with the soil.
      My pea plants are putting out some blooms, but no pods have formed yet. 
   The several varieties of carrots I’d sown are developing nicely, but none is large enough to taste-test yet. 
  Same thing with the Watermelon radishes, with lots of foliage but unexpectedly long and skinny.  Maybe they haven’t formed their globes yet because of all the rain and chill.
     The established artichokes are looking beautifully huge and lush from all the rain.  I loved finding almost a dozen seedlings among the chard-and-breadseed-poppy bed that I’ve transplanted to other locations that’ll probably develop over the summer and then bear their globes next spring. I’m hoping that these are the perennial types, that die back to the ground each year but resprout again. 
     Even if they turn out to be annuals – dying back completely and not resprouting – if they taste great, I’ll be happy.  That was the problem with several of the heirloom varieties I’d purchased over the years in the past – they didn’t taste great after all the battling with the extremely thorny leaves.  That kind of "heirloom-iness" I don't want to deal with!
 
For more monthly tips for this time of year, see March
 
For more blog topics listed by season, go to Homepage