Planting late in Los angles

[Mike3456]

I will be moving to Los angles in mid June. Is there any chance of a summer veg garden. Also any tips growing in L.A. I'm from a cold climate

[imafan26]

'I know LA has had problems with drought, so I would look up veggies that are drought tolerant and consider using drip irrigation, watering jars, Ethiopian style keyhole gardens ( it uses gray water), sips and wicking beds to conserve water. Since LA can get up into the 100's in summer, consider planting early and late and going to the beach instead in the hottest months.

https://www.csmonitor.com/USA/2018/0220 ... California
https://www.treehugger.com/lawn-garden/ ... ought.html
https://www.texascooppower.com/texas-st ... -gardening

[Gary350]

I use to have relatives in LA we use to visit them but I think they have all died. Cousin Goldie might still live there. I remember they use to plant their garden in winter Nov 1st weather is in the 70s most of the time. We use to visit Thanksgiving & Christmas weather was always sunny, nice, 70 degrees every time we were there. That was 50 yrs ago I assume weather has not changed much. When I lived in Phoenix my best garden was planted Nov 1st, first frost was about February 15 and last frost was about February 28 then 90 degree weather April 30. I don't know what soil is like in CA but AZ has 8ph soil & 8ph water vegetables grow good except BER problems you need to add Lime it is not sold in AZ so I used cement $2 a bag.

[rainbowgardener]

If you mean Los Angeles proper (not somewhere in the Los Angeles area, which could mean a bunch of different things), it does NOT get in the hundreds. Los Angeles is a coastal city, with temperatures moderated by the ocean. Average high temperature in July, Aug, Sept is 83 degrees.

So yes you can plant a summer garden. But you have plenty of time. Get settled in, do a lot of soil prep and plant a garden when you are ready. LA is year around gardening. Average high in Dec, Jan, Feb is 68 degrees F, with average lows of 50 degrees. Temperatures in the coastal basin rarely drop below 45 °F, although light frost does occasionally form during cooler nights, at least in areas removed from the direct influence of the coastal air (approximately 5 miles inland from the beach). The main seasonal differences are wet and dry. Rainy season is more or less November to May. In the summer it does NOT rain (ever!). So you will have to plan a way to keep your vegetables watered. Be sure to mulch heavily to help keep the water in the soil.

[imafan26]

It is true the average temperatures are lower, but there are days in the 90's and low 100's. They tend to be few sometimes lasting a day or a week and are averaged out. For most of the time the weather is milder.

The coastal beaches do have more stable temperatures but as you move further inland and away from coastal influences temperature can vary much more, so it is true as Rainbow said where you are matters.

https://www.wrh.noaa.gov/lox/archive/pn ... ummary.pdf
https://www.wrh.noaa.gov/lox/archive/LAClimate_text.pdf

[rainbowgardener]

We lived in Los Angeles when I was very young. Much of my childhood was spent in Anaheim, about 26 miles southeast of LA (it tells you something about SoCal traffic that Google maps calls that over an hour of drive time) and about 16 miles due east of Long Beach. Even that far inland temps were still pretty mild: in Anaheim, the summers are short, warm, arid, and clear and the winters are long, cool, and partly cloudy. Over the course of the year, the temperature typically varies from 46°F to 85°F and is rarely below 39°F or above 94°F. https://weatherspark.com/y/1828/Average ... Year-Round

We would have maybe a week of days over 100 in August and September. But note that this is historical data (even my childhood there now counts as history ) and global warming has been changing things. So Calif has been having heat waves. Last year even San Francisco had some days over 100 degrees and that is unheard of. No one there even has air conditioning, because they NEVER get temps like that.

[jal_ut]

Los Angeles

[imafan26]

I visited San Francisco years ago in the 80's. I remember on the radio how they said it was a beautiful 67 degrees. I was freezing! I also missed seeing the sky. In a city full of skyscrapers you only get to see the sky in strips. The streets are mostly straight though. A week after I came home they had a heat wave of 104 degrees. So even if it is a coastal city, it was still able to get that hot. I don't know if heat waves have that kind of extremes. We don't have a lot of extremes because the humidity is so high, it just feels much hotter than it is.