Regional Gardening Reports :: National Gardening Association

Southern California Coastal & Inland Valleys

February, 2010
Regional Report

Veggies to Sow

Sow beets, caraway, celery, carrots, chard, chervil, chives, collards, cilantro (coriander), dill, endive, fennel, garlic, kale, kohlrabi, leeks, lettuces, mustard, green onions, bulb onion sets, flat-leafed parsley, peas, white potatoes, radishes, shallots, spinach, and turnips. Indoors, start eggplants, peppers, and tomatoes as a promise to yourself that warm times are truly coming.

Carrot Choices

When choosing carrot varieties, consider the heaviness of your soil--sow short stubby carrots in heavy clay soils and longer tapered ones in looser sandy soil. Tips of the tap roots will grow four to six inches further down than the edible portion.

Last Bareroot Plantings

Hurry to plant bareroot fruit and nut trees, berries, grapes, and vines so they'll benefit from slowly-warming air and soil temperatures for good establishment before they put out blossoms and fruit.

Posies to Sow

Sow ageratum, alyssum, asters, baby-blue-eyes, baby's breath, bachelor's buttons (cornflower), calendulas, campanulas (Canterbury bells), candytuft, carnations, clarkias (Godetia), coreopsis, columbines, coralbells, cosmos, African daisies (Gazania), Shasta daisies, delphiniums, dianthus, forget- me-nots, foxgloves, hollyhocks, impatiens, larkspur, linaria, lobelia, lunaria (honesty, money plant, silver dollar plant), lupines, marigolds, morning glories, nasturtiums, nemesia, pansies, petunias, phlox, California and Shirley poppies, salvia, scabiosa (pincushion flower), snapdragons, stocks, strawflowers (Helichrysum), sweet peas, sweet William, verbena, violas, and wildflowers.

Slow-Release Feeding

Feed groundcovers, shrubs, roses, perennials and trees with slow-release food (compost, bone meal, cottonseed meal, blood meal, or well-rotted manure) to provide plants with consistent and gradual nutrition throughout the season.