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

Should I Pull Still-Bearing Veggies or Shift to Winter-Lovers?

10/21/2019

0 Comments

 
Picture
Beet seedlings and seeds at the bottom end, then tatsoi, chard, and lacinata kale seedlings. The bed is covered with fruit-tree netting and staked every 3 feet to keep out skunks and other diggers (they don't like to get their claws caught in the netting; it works well to also keep cats out). The seedlings will mature and be eaten first, when the seeds germinate they'll be transplanted to elsewhere in the garden. Asparagus ferns are allowed to develop until they die back of their own accord - all that energy goes back into the roots for later harvests.
Picture
Lacilata kale was munched when left in its 6-pack overnight. As long as the nodes and perhaps one leaf still remain, the plant is worth transplanting - and protected with netting from further marauding munchers.
Picture
Texas Everbearing Fig fruits are large, very sweet and fully-flavored. Great timing, a month later than other figs -- we'll see whether this is just because this is its first year bearing.
Picture
California fuchsia's gray-green foliage is nicely set off by its red-orange blooms.
Picture
Tips of boysenberry vines are anchored in the soil to sprout roots that I can transplant in the early spring.
Picture
Oro Gold grapefruits. The burned edges of the leaves are from sunburn during those too-hot days when I should have watered beforehand to keep the foliage fully hydrated to better withstand damage.
Picture
Spider lily. Years ago, I purchased one bulb that I felt was too expensive, but last year I transplanted 10 of it offshoots. Ultimately, it was an economical purchase - at least that's my excuse for repeating the process!
Picture
Amarcrinum from a friend is a brighter pink that my original ones.
Picture
Rose hips make wonderfully bright holiday decorations.
Picture
Eucomis that blooms well here, although it's only 1 foot tall.
     Are you still debating whether to pull those still-bearing tomato plants? This continuing warm daytime weather is keeping lots of plants actively green and growing, still looking attractive and bearing fruit and flowers – although not as plentifully – in the garden.  The debate is always whether to pull up those still-performing plants in favor of shifting to cool-weather edibles and ornamentals.  You have a couple of options, depending on your garden space and eating and viewing preferences.
 
Keeping plants bearing through the winter
     If your garden doesn’t get frost, potentially you can have some of those tomatoes and perhaps squash and cucumbers and beans bearing fruits through till spring and beyond. 
     Although the amount you’ll get will be pretty sparse, and the flavor will be hardly better than what you’d purchase in the market, just the idea of continuing to have your own home-grown summer produce continuing through winter is comforting to any gardener but especially beginning gardeners – a real feeling of success in overcoming the seasons!
     If this is your goal, leave the plants in place, trim off any dead growth, trim down tomatoes to the new shoots, and continue feeding and watering so the plants will continue bearing flowers and fruit.
 
Moving on to winter-season plants
     If your garden has more space or you’d prefer moving on completely to growing and enjoying edible plants that truly thrive in cool weather -- like broccoli, cabbage, cauliflower, lettuce, leeks, onions, radishes, spinach, turnips – and ornamentals – like calendula, chrysanthemum, coreopsis, hollyhocks, larkspur, poppies, snapdragons, sweet peas and wildflowers – then see my October and November monthly tips columns --  http://www.gardeninginla.net/monthly-tips.html -- for the many choices you have, and visit your local nursery for the beauties that are available. 
     If you’ll make this shift, pull the worn-out plants, amend the soil with compost and manure (and coffee grounds if you have them), and plant new seedlings and seeds. 
 
     I much prefer to grow plants in their preferred seasons when they're thriving, instead of trying to nurture along plants that won't do as well because they’re struggling to survive in an uninviting environment. 
     But, it's always fun, if you have the garden space, to "play" with some plants that you're interested in just seeing what will happen. This is how you learn about the microclimates in your own garden, and what you can do when to extend the seasons.  
     For example, when I first began gardening, I grew corn and melons and winter squash just to see how they grew and produced, but didn't bother after that since I could buy much-better-tasting ones at farmers' markets and didn't have to "waste" my own garden space growing some things that didn't really do well.  Then, I'd had the experience of knowing something about those crops, and I could concentrate on growing the ones that we enjoyed most and produced the most for the amount of effort I devoted in my garden.
 
Plant Bulbs
     This is definitely the time to plant all those winter- and spring- and summer-blooming bulbs you can get your hands on. 
     Bulbs guarantee attractive foliage and blooms in the garden, always a delight whenever they decide to appear, and many continuing to multiply through the years.  
     They’re perfect for beginning gardeners since they come with their own food supply for at least that first year, and after their first watering-in will withstand neglect and drought and still bloom their hearts out.
     Even the ones that are more expensive than you want to spend will thrive and reproduce mightily through the years -- even so much that you'll be spreading them around your own garden and sharing them with all of your gardening friends!  
0 Comments



Leave a Reply.

    Archives

    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.