Winter and Fall Planting in Southern California

The end of the growing season means the start of the next one. We keep telling ourselves that we should let the beds 'rest.' We should do a cover crop. Only the moment we see a bit of bare earth we have to plant stuff.  So here it goes.

I am trying to convert the tiny bit of grass we still have near the pool into a wild flower meadow. I planted tons of seeds. I mean TONS. Well, really a few tiny bags, but you know what I mean.

And this is all that grew. I don't know what it is. Yet.


I planted a few purple fingerling potatoes and those adorable little leaves came out.

By the way, Whole Foods was selling 3 bags, one pound each of multi color organic potatoes. I put them into a dark cabinet next to a few onions and they all urgently germinated. I think that buying seed potatoes, a few scrawny sad looking wrinkled things for $6.99 is the con of the century when a single organic potato out of the cuppboard can be sliced and planted ten times over.

But I digress. Here is our first little purple potato leaves. Awww ....


This is them a few weeks later. No longer purple.



November is the perfect time to plant lettuce mixes. If you plant seeds too early then the top soil dries off too fast for the seedlings to survive, but in the cool months they do very well.

I plant it into a small patch not far from the kitchen (in the same bed where I plant my herbs). In a month or less, I'll clip them straight into my plate.  I mulch a lot so they hardly need any washing.



Once upon a time, I planted innocent strawberry plants in a well-defined raised bed. Now the strawberries have taken over and replanted themselves with no regard for the beds. I'll have to do something about it no doubt or they'll creep into MY bed soon.

Vegetable Garden: Lessons and Revelations

Although we still don't know if the plan works and if we'll end up with a harvest of any kind, my husband and I found ourselves constantly in the garden. The backyard was a lawn; it was mostly used as a latrine for the dog.  The kids were too old to play outside. Essentially the backyard was unused and a drain on resources. We used too much water and paid a disgruntled gardener to mow.  Once a week, I would come in with a bag and shovel and pick up dog poop before he could mow.  So yes, it was not fun.

Now it is FUN with capital letters.

Experimenting with mulch. I'm using oak leaves from the backyard.

First tomato ever! First of MANY

First strawberries. They will eventually cover the entire beds.

Every morning, the first thing we do is go around the yard and admire our new children. They are cute! My husband is always puttering in it, thinning carrots or adding support for peas or tomatoes. We start noticing birds and bees. Were they there before but we did not know because we hardly went outside? Or are they attracted to the garden now?