Southern California gardening in May
With the arrival of May and summer weather, Southern California is likely to get some pretty warm days. The weather has kept all the forecasters covering their tracks, and summer weather may be unusual, they say, as were the temperatures in fall and winter, as well as the lack of rain.
But whatever the weather, gardeners will go on doing their thing: planting vegetables and flowers, replacing worn-out or frozen shrubs, pruning back excessive growth, fertilizing, and all the other good things that need to be done.
Many of the fall, winter, and early spring flowers we planted 鈥� pansies, violas, stocks, snapdragons, calendulas, and others will be looking a little worn out now, and we need to think about replacing them and planting summer flowers and vegetables.
Veggies from seeds and plants
You can now sow seed outdoors of the : asparagus; beets; beans, both pole and bush; lima beans, carrots; sweet 听corn; popcorn; cucumbers; all melons; eggplant; leaf lettuce; romaine; kale;kohlrabi; peanuts; mustard greens; okra; and onion sets; leeks; peppers; potato tubers; pumpkins; radishes; rhubarb; spinach; Swiss chard; all squash; turnips; rutabagas; and tomatoes.
You鈥檒l probably be happier with tomato plants this late in the spring, so think about buying already started plants rather than growing them from seed. You can also think about buying plants of some other vegetables: sweet potato, hot and sweet听 peppers, lettuce, eggplant, melons, and cucumbers.
The benefit of starting with plants now instead of seed at this time is that you鈥檒l have edible produce much sooner. The downside is that you have little choice in varieties.
Don't forget the flowers
Most of the summer flower varieties can be started from seed now. The quick-growing ones will do best, and include zinnia, dwarf and tall marigolds, gaillardia, cosmos, nasturtium, alyssum, portulaca, melampodium, and sunflower.
I would use started plants for amaranthus, fibrous or wax begonia, bells of Ireland, celosia, coleus, delphinium, dianthus, carnation, ageratum, lobelia, gazania, foxglove, geranium, hollyhock, gerbera, impatiens, petunia, larkspur, scabiosa, all the coneflowers, salvia, statice, verbena, and annual vinca.
Do keep in mind that we didn鈥檛 get a lot of winter rain, so well and keep the garden well watered.
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听Gerald Burke is a freelance horticultural writer. He spent 35 years in the seed business, 30 of them with Burpee, and is a member of the Garden Writers Association.He is one of more than a dozen garden experts from different areas of the country who blog here at Diggin' It. To read more of what he has written, click here.
