Early Aug 1 garden Report for So Cal

I thought I would get an early start since it is the weekend and people might have more time to read and plant. Oddly enough, here in Southern California August is the month with the lightest planting schedule. It is more about harvesting, canning and freezing if you do that and perhaps going to the beach, park, mountains or relatives in other parts of the country.

For those of us who must plant - here are the best bets:

Beans, Bush

Beans, Pole

Beets

Carrots

Celery

Lima Beans

Squash, summer

Here are
examples of what can be planted in each square foot:

16 carrots or radishes, onion (or 9)


9 onions, beets,
peas, garlic, spinach. bush beans, pole beans
4 lettuce, chard, marigolds, or kohlrabi, strawberries,
1 tomato, pepper(try 2 next time), eggplant, broccoli, cabbage, or corn,
cabbage, celery, potato
1 squash, or melon per 2 sq.ft. (or 3ft space – zucchini)


2 cucumbers


or---


1 per square
foot: plants that are thinned or planted 12 inches apart.


4 per square
foot: plants that are thinned or planted 6 inches apart.


9 per square
foot: plants that are thinned or planted 4 inches apart.


16 per
square foot: plants that are thinned or planted 3 inches apart.

Thanks Chopper!

I just put in some beet, radish and lettuce seeds. I also planted a few shishito pepper transplants that a friend gave me. Hope it's not too late for them. Also, plan to put in kale and bok Choi next weekend.

Seeds went right into MM in my SFG. Wish me luck!

Let me know how the lettuce does. That is the one thing I would be wary of because of the heat. September always seems hotter than August to me so this is like the beginning of the real heat. So I would be interested to know how they manage. And things that bolt in the heat. like lettuce, bolt fast. But you never know - it could be at the low end of normal too.

So needless to say, I will be very interested to see how it goes. I hope well.

I generally plant my lettuce and bok choi in mid-September. Please let me know how yours grow!

In my 'when to plant' list I show lettuce as being good to plant from Sept thru March. Last year I planted quite a bit and it did very well. Unfortunately I planted way more than I could eat so I learned a valuable lesson - although what I had did well. We had a wonderful cool. wet season this year, too, that we cannot always count on.

As far as fall/winter/spring garden space I would rather have more cabbage, brocolli and peas anyway, but was pretty dang proud of my first decent lettuce crop.

Thanks for the advice, Chopper and Donna. Maybe I'll wait a few weeks on the Bok Choi. Not sure I have the patience . Maybe I'll plant one square this weekend as planned and wait a couple of weeks to plant the second square that I had planned.

Regarding the lettuce, I think I made not one, but two newbie mistakes! So, obviously, I may have planted too early. But we'll see, I'm still hopeful. Also, I bought a "Mesclun" seed pack. I don't think that sort of seed pack makes sense for SFG. It says to thin to 6", so I planted 4 spots in each of two squares. In each spot, I gave it a pinch of 2-3 seeds. The issue is that this type of seed pack isn't just one variety. It's a blend. So, each spot got a couple of different type of seeds. I dunno, maybe that's okay, it just seemed odd.

Anyway, three of those eight lettuce spots have sprouted already! It has only been five days!

Also (and I'm rambling a little here) I haven't given up my "rows" yet. I have a SFG next to my rows garden. I had plenty of shishito pepper transplants and didn't want them to dominate my SFG, so I planted two in my MM in the SFG, and two in the dirt in my rows garden. Five days later, the ones planted in MM looks healthier, stronger, and even taller! Amazing!

SoCalET wrote: Also, I bought a "Mesclun" seed pack. I don't think that sort of seed pack makes sense for SFG. It says to thin to 6", so I planted 4 spots in each of two squares. In each spot, I gave it a pinch of 2-3 seeds. The issue is that this type of seed pack isn't just one variety. It's a blend. So, each spot got a couple of different type of seeds. I dunno, maybe that's okay, it just seemed odd.

I bought a mixed seed packet too and it made planting and thinning a little weird, but it worked out OK. It is funny b/c I was used to putting just one or two seeds per hole and with a mix how do you choose? So I over-seeded a bit also.

8/10/11 update: I'll have to remember to take photos. In the meantime, my update on the stuff I planted at the start of the month:

Radish: sprouting all over the place. I dropped 2-3 seeds in each spot, and pretty much every single on sprouted, so I'll have to thin.

Beets: sprouting well, similar story to radish, but slightly lower sprout rate.

Mesclun lettuce mix: sprouting in six of eight spots. One is a mystery, and the other looks like a neighborhood critter was hungry for some seeds. So, I consider this a 6/7 success ratio since the other was taken well before its time.

Still haven't put in my bok choi. The shishito peppers are hanging in okay, not great.

Overall, I'm pretty pleased so far!