Useful documents
What to plant when
Gardening challenges
Useful Documents
The following documents can serve as resources on your gardening journey.
- Organic Gardening 101 [pdf 142KB]
- Soil Preparation for a Vegetable Garden [pdf 16KB]
- Spring Garden Planting Guide [pdf 620KB]
- Staying Water Wise Micro Irrigation [pdf 119KB]
- Tomato Tips from Brad Finn [pdf 887KB]
- Onion Planting Guide [pdf 106KB]
What to Plant When
Even though our climate in the Santa Clarita Valley is favorable all year round, it is always best to plant crops in season. Vegetables will produce better when you stick to traditional growing patterns. Cool season planting should begin in October or November, when daytime temperatures range between 60-80 degrees Fahrenheit (the cooler the better). Use row covers on frosty nights. Heat-loving warm season crops should be planted approximately the second week of April; be mindful of the weather forecast and let nature be your guide rather than a fixed date.
Cool Season Vegetables
Early Fall and Winter
Brussels Sprouts
Cabbage
Carrot
Cauliflower
Collards
Garlic
Kale
Kohlrabi
Lettuce
Mustard greens
Onion
Peas
Potato
Radish
Rutabaga
Spinach
Swiss Chard
Turnip
Warm Season Vegetables
Early Spring and Summer
Beans, Bush
Beans, Lima
Beans, Pole
Cantaloupe
Corn
Cucumber
Eggplant
Greens
Herbs
Okra
Peppers
Pumpkin
Squash, Summer
Squash, Winter
Sweet Potato
Tomatillo
Tomato
Watermelon
Gardening Challenges
No matter how attentive we may be with our garden, challenges will always present themselves. This gives us an opportunity to learn and discover. Whether too much or too little water, too much or too little organic matter (the latter more likely than the former), too much or too little sun or, in fact, too much or too little of anything. As gardeners we are always searching for that “just right” which puts us and our garden in balance with nature.
We are fortunate that there is such an abundance of information on the internet. One search provides countless articles and videos to choose from. For a reliable starting point, we suggest exploring the University of California Agriculture and Natural Resources (UC ANR) Master Gardener (MG) resources. Master Gardeners are volunteers trained by the UC, organized by county with specific information for each region, such as our Mediterranean climate in hardiness zone 9b and related microclimates, based on current science and research.
You will find links to the UC ANR Los Angeles Master Gardeners on our Gardening Websites page under UC ANR MG and IPM Programs. The LAMG home page has a contact email where you can send questions, as well a phone number to leave detailed messages. We include other links as well, such as LAMG Garden Tips for Los Angeles County and Informational Articles. UC ANR also manages a statewide integrated pest management program. Found a bug? The UC IPM page will help you identify if it is friend or not!
If you visit our YouTube page, linked from the bottom of all our website pages, you will find playlists with a selection of useful videos from around the web as well as UC ANR MG videos for our climate area in California.
We wish you successful gardening!