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Archive for the ‘Time of Year’ Category

June, Summer Solstice, the Magic Happens! March and April plantings are paying off handsomely now as we have warmer and the longest days of the year!  Harvests are coming in, tomatoes on their way!  Pick beans when your plants are dry to prevent spreading rust and mildew. Plant more rounds of your heat lovers – [...]

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May is more of April, plus Cantaloupes! Now you can plant all you did in March, if you did.  Santa Barbara night temps were so cool many of us waited.  And you can do more of the April heat lovers if you did them! Smart gardeners plant when the time is right, not just because [...]

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Give your plants a chance! Not too much N (Nitrogen)  It imbalances your plants, just like too much sugar for us.  You get lots of leaf, no fruit, growth is too fast and ‘soft,’ inviting to pests and diseases. Watering practices make a difference.  Overhead watering is not good for most plants, but especially not for [...]

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This is your last chance to plant more rounds of winter veggies you love the most, and the littles that grow year round.  Peas are especially heat sensitive, but we Coastie pea lovers can get one more round!  At this time be sure they are mildew resistant varieties!  But it’s really time to think in [...]

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Harvest, Replant, Maintenance, Spring Preps, SEEDS!  Keep harvesting!  Plant consideringly.  That means, summer planting starts in March.  January, February are generally cold, so slow growth though day length is getting longer.  Keep in mind what space you want available in March for the March starts.  If you are a winter plant lover gardener, one way [...]

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Happy Winter Solstice/Yule, Dec 21st! I like this saying I found at the Old Farmers Almanac:  Old Frost, the Silversmith has come:  His crisping touch is on the weeds.  – Charles Dawson Shanly And, bless him, his touch will soon be on our veggies!  Some will love it; kales are said to taste better after [...]

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Onions:  Are sensitive to temperature and day length, are photothermoperiodic!  Whew!  They start bulbing only after enough daylight for a certain number of days.  To avoid bolting, in SoCal we need to plant seeds of short day onions in fall, or intermediate varieties in late winter.  Most sets are long-day types and won’t work.  Plant [...]

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Herbs and Your Winter Veggies Lavender, Marguestau at http://lestroisamies.wordpress.com/ Herbs – Pretty, aromatic, to repel pests! The flavors that makes veggie dishes come alive! Now’s the time for them to get a good start, with fall and winter rains coming. Divide the ones you already have growing now as your plants slow down. Rosemary and [...]

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Most of them are Cut and Come Again types! Harvest your big greens – kale and collards, and lettuces, leaf by leaf rather than cutting your plant down. Many lettuces will ‘come back’ even if you cut them off an inch or two above ground. Leave the stalk in the ground, see what happens! Rather [...]

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The Next Three Months…. August is keeping your soil water absorbent, sidedressing, harvesting, plant a last round of summer favorites, start cool-season seedlings, time to preserve your abundance for winter eating, to take stock and make notes for next year’s summer planting! September is exciting because it is the first month to plant fall veggies!  Do [...]

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