Hello Gardeners - - - 

Although I've been gardening most of my life, I had an oppty to take a 3-Saturday class at the Huntington Gardens Agricultural Ranch on Organic Edible Gardening with my friend and gardener Jenny. I've lived in this area of the country for 3 and a half years and I am still learning about the micro-climates within our Mediterranean climate zone.

Don't feel bad about not getting your spring planting done. Mother Nature is telling us that we need to wait. In fact, there are multiple micro-climates within our Mediterranean climate zone. And in our micro-climate the best time to plant warm season veggies is May (April to June) and the best time to plant cool season veggies is November (October into November). 

For those of you who planted tomatoes, cukes, peppers and squash, you might be seeing some disasters. It's not you !!! It's our unusual weather pattern this spring. These veggies, in particular, along with corn, LOVE the HOT weather.

For the cooler temps we have been seeing, you can always plant radishes, chard, beets and carrots. I didn't realize that these "typical" cool season veggies do quite well in our Mediterranean zone all year long!

Today I plan to leave a bag of Bumper Crop by each of your plots (assuming Mt. Fuji has sufficient quantities on hand). This is a wonderful soil amendment that you can mix into the top 4 to 6 inches of your soil. If you already planted seeds, just sprinkle some on top of your soil. If you have small veggie plants in the ground, then use a hand spade to rough up the soil around and in-between the plants and mix in the amendment. 

Happy Gardening and I hope to you at our Community Garden !!!