User avatar
Intriguedbybonsai
Senior Member
Posts: 262
Joined: Sun Jun 28, 2009 9:03 pm
Location: Escondido, CA (USDA Zone 9-10)

How late is too late to grow veggies in Southern California?

I do container gardening because well, I live in an apartment, and it's all I can do. (I've heard of community gardens, but I'm still a bit sketchy about joining one.) Since temperatures rarely drop below 40 out here, there really isn't too much danger of cold weather harming plants.

Getting back to my original topic, how late is too late for my area? I tried some cucumbers, squash, and sweet potatoes back in spring, but over the summer the sun really scorches the leaves causing them to get crispy. Since the heat is becoming less intense, would now be a good time to restart those veggies?

User avatar
ReptileAddiction
Greener Thumb
Posts: 866
Joined: Sun Jun 17, 2012 12:52 am
Location: Southern California

You could try it. I live in San Marcos and it does get down below 40 here sometimes even into the 30's. I am planting lettuce and cool weather crops. I think it will be hard to get any of those things to grow in containers.

User avatar
rainbowgardener
Super Green Thumb
Posts: 25279
Joined: Sun Feb 15, 2009 6:04 pm
Location: TN/GA 7b

Here's some general guidelines when to plant what, zone 9-10:

https://www.thevegetablegarden.info/resources/planting-schedules/zones-9-10-planting-schedule

It is too late for you to be planting summer stuff, but it looks like you could plant any of the cool weather crops.

User avatar
Intriguedbybonsai
Senior Member
Posts: 262
Joined: Sun Jun 28, 2009 9:03 pm
Location: Escondido, CA (USDA Zone 9-10)

ReptileAddiction wrote:You could try it. I live in San Marcos and it does get down below 40 here sometimes even into the 30's. I am planting lettuce and cool weather crops. I think it will be hard to get any of those things to grow in containers.
I used to live in San Marcos. I'm actually about 5 minutes away from there now. Now that you mention it I think I remember it did get into the mid 30s last winter. I had to bring my mango tree indoors. Container gardening is a challenge, but I like to experiment with what does work.

@Rainbowgardener

Thanks for that website. I'll add it to my favorites.

User avatar
PunkRotten
Greener Thumb
Posts: 1989
Joined: Sat Apr 16, 2011 8:48 pm
Location: Monterey, CA.

You can't grow any warm weather crops but plenty of cool weather. Cilantro, parsley, beets, lettuce, onions, leeks, carrots, beans, kale, collards, peas, radishes etc could be planted now.

Tonio
Green Thumb
Posts: 357
Joined: Tue Jan 03, 2012 10:07 am
Location: San Diego, CA !! Z10/SS24

+broccoli, califlower, any greens, garlic- maybe next month

User avatar
ReptileAddiction
Greener Thumb
Posts: 866
Joined: Sun Jun 17, 2012 12:52 am
Location: Southern California

PunkRotten wrote:You can't grow any warm weather crops but plenty of cool weather. Cilantro, parsley, beets, lettuce, onions, leeks, carrots, beans, kale, collards, peas, radishes etc could be planted now.
I disagree. If you give them protection especially since he is in Esco he can grow tomatos now. If you want more help with that just ask.

User avatar
PunkRotten
Greener Thumb
Posts: 1989
Joined: Sat Apr 16, 2011 8:48 pm
Location: Monterey, CA.

You can start peppers and tomatoes now, but they will got dormant before he gets any fruit. Way too late in the season to be starting warm weather stuff. They will grow and survive just won't perform well.

User avatar
ReptileAddiction
Greener Thumb
Posts: 866
Joined: Sun Jun 17, 2012 12:52 am
Location: Southern California

Again, I highly disagree. If you lived in a cooler place like LA (I don't know where you are located) you would not be able to. If you give them some protection such as bubble wrap and mulch and stuff it is possible to harvest tomaos all year long. They will get no where near as big as summer tomatos and don't taste quite as good but you can. Another problem is you don't get many tomatos but it can be done. I do recommend doing cool weather crops but it is possible to grow tomatos outdoors all year long here.

User avatar
PunkRotten
Greener Thumb
Posts: 1989
Joined: Sat Apr 16, 2011 8:48 pm
Location: Monterey, CA.

From what I gather from these posts it is cooler where you guys are at then where I am at. I am closer to LA, never drops below 40F here. I had a plant last year that was planted in September, got about 2 foot, put out a few tomatoes, then by mid November was dormant. Then when Late January/early February came along it started to show signs of growing again but barely. I started San Fransisco Fog Tomato late August indoors and planned to put it out mid September this year. Got the plant in the ground 1st week of October and it is growing pretty slow.

It is really more like an experiment cause this variety is supposed to be adapted to cool/foggy weather. So I figure if I am gonna try a tomato with cooler weather and shorter days this might be one that can adapt to it. We'll see though I am hoping for a few tomatoes before it slows down.

I am also not so sure heat can be retained in a container as it can with something in the ground.

User avatar
PunkRotten
Greener Thumb
Posts: 1989
Joined: Sat Apr 16, 2011 8:48 pm
Location: Monterey, CA.

Here is the "San Francisco Fog" tomato I am growing. It is growing pretty good but smaller than it should be. It is putting out some flowers too. I will probably get to try a few tomatoes and then this plant will go to sleep til about late January or early February. Then I should get some early tomatoes before I take it out and replace it with my Spring tomatoes. I started the seeds early September and transplanted it out first week of October and it is about 2 feet tall. So it is growing really slow from the less sunshine and cooler weather.


[img]https://i25.photobucket.com/albums/c86/punkrotten/942_3466.jpg[/img]

[img]https://i25.photobucket.com/albums/c86/punkrotten/942_3467.jpg[/img]

User avatar
applestar
Mod
Posts: 30504
Joined: Thu May 01, 2008 7:21 pm
Location: Zone 6, NJ (3/M)4/E ~ 10/M(11/B)

Nice! The plant looks very healthy too.

Too bad about those leaf miners ruining some good leaves, but it looks like only early stage of infestation.
Are they bad even at this time of the year where you are?

User avatar
PunkRotten
Greener Thumb
Posts: 1989
Joined: Sat Apr 16, 2011 8:48 pm
Location: Monterey, CA.

I am not so sure. They attack a lot of my plants things like tomatoes, peppers, melons, squash, cukes, beans, kale, my citrus trees and a few others. I see it all the time. They heavily attacked the squash and my citrus trees. All the upper tender growth they attack but leave the mature leaves alone. After reading about citrus leafminers they say it is better to leave the damaged leaves because it will help introduce their natural predator. All the other stuff they attack is never really bad. I guess it doesn't get cold enough for them and they remain active. I mostly have big problems with cabbage worms this time of year but luckily I have not seen much of them.



Return to “Vegetable Gardening Forum”