Down and Dirty 1: What did you say about gardening in Southern California?

Down and Dirty Southern California Gardening
A weekly GardenZeus article series to help gardeners succeed in Southern California’s unique climates and growing conditions.
Post 1: What did you say about gardening in Southern California?

You mean I can grow a variety of vegetables outdoors all winter long almost everywhere in Southern California?

What was that? Summer is the most difficult time of year for gardening in Southern California’s inland valleys?

You call that that soil? It seems more like concrete. How am I supposed to grow tomatoes in concrete?

I’ve been gardening for years in Massachusetts and Michigan. My favorite cranberry and rhubarb varieties didn’t do at all well this year in Santa Monica, California. What do I need to change for successful gardening half a mile from the Pacific Ocean?

Periods of extended drought with no rain do what to the soil in my garden and yard?

And you say it’s already too late to plant many vegetables in Southern California inland areas by April or even March? Mid-April through August is the worst time of year to plant seeds or perennials in many Southern California areas?

We are definitely not gardening in Kansas anymore, my dear fellow gardeners (and Toto).

Welcome to the magical world of Southern California gardening, a place of amazing potential and unique possibilities such as:

– harvesting bushels of vegetables grown outdoors in January

– harvesting citrus, avocados, and other subtropical and tropical fruits, nuts, and berries year-round

– planting, landscaping, and enjoying fresh-cut flowers all winter (the best time of year for all of these in many warm-summer California areas)

– growing beautiful sub-tropical and tropical perennial ornamentals outdoors

– and enjoying 3 or more growing seasons annually for some vegetables, up to 5 or more growing seasons for baby and short-season vegetables

– but also – as you might have guessed – with a bushel or two of unique challenges during every month of the year.

Welcome to the GardenZeus article series, “Down and Dirty Southern California Gardening,” in which expert Darren Butler shares more than 20 years of experience about what works and what doesn’t with gardening in Southern California:
Post 2: Grow Your Gardening Brain Here in Sunny Southern California
All articles in this series: Down and Dirty Southern California Gardening

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