What grows best in Colma?

[ColmaSean]

Hello everyone,
I'm a first time gardener who was just offered a large backyard area to use as a garden. What I'm wondering is what will grow well in my area? I live in Colma which is just south of San Francisco and this site gets a fair amount of fog, and the temps stay pretty medium throughout the year. It never gets too hot, or extremely cold.

Any help or pointers to information sources on the web would be appreciated! Thank you

Sean

[cynthia_h]

(I happen to know that Colma is in San Mateo County, California....)

It's not only a matter of what will grow in Colma, but what will grow in *your* location in Colma.

What kind of exposure do you have available: north-facing? east? south? west? How much sun will the plants receive on a regular basis?

How nutritious is the soil? Is compost available? Do you plan to make it available (i.e., make it yourself)?

I recommend the Sunset Western Garden Book to new gardeners, experienced gardeners, and gardeners who have moved to or within the western states and provinces. I have never been without a copy of Sunset since I first took up gardening in California when I moved here from Atlanta after college.

For a map (somewhat simplified) of your Sunset climate zone, and an abbreviated (vs. the book) description of the zone, take a look at

http://www.sunset.com/garden/climate-zo ... 000036421/

which shows Sunset zones for the entire United States. (Eastern U.S./Canada gardeners, take note! Most of southern Canada is shown in the corresponding U.S. map, but I haven't been able to get a search to work...yet)

Which veggies will grow for you is highly dependent on how much sun you can give them. Fruiting vegetables (e.g., tomatoes, peppers, eggplant) require the most sun; leafing vegetables much less.

Cynthia H.
Sunset Zone 17, USDA Zone 9