Growing Vegetables in Southern California - It is one of things we can do best...

Southern California's coastal region has a unique Mediterranean climate found in only 5 areas of the world. Our (mostly) frost-free climate allows for up to 5 crops a year in an intensely worked garden. Asparagus to Zapotes - all have their season.

Our soils are young and rich, and although disturbed in tract developments, still retain their mineral resources, and with attention, can all be turned into productive garden soils.

Our climate

California's climate and geography gives Californians just about every climate zone found anywhere in the country, from beach sand to snow-bound rocky peaks. Ventura county can be divided into two major climates - coastal plains where  summer temperatures seldom rise above the high 80s and frosts are rare, and inland valleys where summer temperatures easily reach 100 and winters have hard frosts. These very different climates demand different plants in your garden if you want any success.

The coastal regions produce major crops of cool weather produce - strawberries, broccoli, cauliflower, etc. This is a major industry in the county, and is favored by mild temperatures, coastal fogs during the summer, and moderate temperatures all year long. Hillside regions in this zone are 'banana belts' - areas that have enough slope for cold air to drain away. Frosts are rare, occurring about once every 15 to 20 years.

Home gardeners can experience the same productivity and range of crops that commercial growers produce, and do it in their own back yards. Some fruits, like stone fruits, may have a hard time getting the required winter chill hours needed to set fruit, although many low-chill varieties may be suitable.

Your yard is a unique micro-climate that is affected by heat-retaining walls, patios and driveways, shade trees, exposure to sun and wind, elevation, slope and many other factors. Selecting the right spot for each plant can expand the number of varieties you can grow successfully.

The inland valleys are subject to desert influences from the Mojave desert, and feature very summer temperatures and cold, often freezing, winters. While not generally considered agricultural, these valleys do allow use of fruit trees with high chill requirements. The extreme temperature range limits many cool weather crops that will bolt rapidly as the heat comes on, and cold winter temperatures rule out most sub-tropicals. This short hot summer does offer the ability to get crops in and producing early and to plant fall and winter crops after the heat has passed.

Where you live is an important consideration when planning your garden and orchard. The Sunset Garden Book has a climate zone map with 24 different zones, and lists plants with their climate zones.

The USDA has its own climate zone designations for the entire U.S., and it contains just 10 zones. SUch broad zones fail to take many micro-climes into consideration. Because of the micro-clime I live in, a 'thermal incline' that gets a mild frost every 15 years, I cannot produce a decent peach or apple, but I do grow bananas and other subtropical, frost-tender trees. A quarter mile down the hill, bananas will freeze.

Micro-climates are also influenced by nearby house walls, exposure to sun and wind, whether you live on a hill or valley bottom, and many other factors.

Our soils

Ventura County has a very wide range of soil types, from pure granite, to Thousand Oak's famed 'gumbo' clay, to rich alluvial loams, to beach sand, and we have combinations and gradiations to give us almost every possibility in between.

Because of the cut-and-fill that most houses sit on, the soil may be completely different in your yard than it is just across the street. Because of our low rain fall, all undisturbed soils tend to be high in minerals and slightly alkaline.

Most of the disturbed, and many of the native, soils lack organic matter, making soil amendments and mulches an important part of garden preparation. If you amend your garden soil (that is, mix organic materials into it), it should be 'nitrolized' or have nitrogen-rich fertilizer added to the amendment before addition. The added nitrogen will feed the micro-organisms as they digest the organic material. If amendments are not high in nitrogen, the soil organisms will drawn nitrogen from the soil, lowering the amount available for your plants. Once the amendment has decomposed, the nitrogen will be made available again, but you are left nitrogen-poor until that occurs. Mulching (adding organic material to the TOP of the soil) will not deplete in-soil nitrogen levels.
 

"Right Plant, Right Place"

One of the big mistakes gardeners make all over the country is trying to grow exotic plants not native to the existing conditions. Heirloom vegetables are delicious, but they were valuable because they are suited to a particular climate, which might be far different from your own. Please spend some time selecting your plants, both for your home landscape and your gardens, with you own climate in mind.

The easiest way to have access to exactly the varieties you want is to start them from seeds. This is an easy process, as the video below shows.

Here's a video showing how to plant seeds into seed trays, This is very handy for getting a jump on the weather, and I like it for starting plants under a layer of mulch.

For recommended varieties, please visit our 'Recommended Vegetable Varieties' page.

For information on when to plant your garden, please visit the 'When to Plant Veggies' page.

If your plants are not doing very well, check out the 'Plant Symptoms and Causes' page.

The Home Orchard Part 1 with Chuck Ingles, UC Cooperative Extension Farm Advisor, introduces a class of UC Master Gardeners to the basics of fruit trees in the home setting. Topics include basic fruit tree terminology, planting, more...

The Home Orchard Part 2 with Chuck Ingles, UC Cooperative Extension Farm Advisor, introduces a class of UC Master Gardeners to the basics of fruit trees in the home setting. Topics include pruning, fruit thinning, budding and grafting

The first of two lectures on weed identification techniques and some methods of control. Here, Tom Lanini, UC Cooperative Extension Weed Ecologist, makes his presentation to UC Master Gardener students about various weed control methods. Topics include cultivation, the use of animals like geese and sheep, irrigation, mulch, and organic herbicides. Presented as part of the UC Master Gardener Lecture Series.

The second of two lectures on weed identification techniques and some methods of control. Here, Joseph M. DiTomaso, UC Cooperative Extension Non-Crop Weed Ecologist, addresses UC Master Gardener students about weed identification and various weed control methods. Topics include yellow star thistle, mowing, burning, and the use of chemicals. Presented as part of the UC Master Gardener Lecture Series

Salad Leaves for All Seasons with Charles Dowding Charles shows you how to grow salads successfully all the year round, in large and small spaces, from window box to allotment. Charles is a commercial salad green grower in the UK