Drought Tolerant Gardens in SoCal

Drought tolerant and low water use gardens are our future. With less rainfall, more water restrictions and high temperatures we can no longer be in denial that our garden scapes must change.

However that doesn’t mean we can’t have beautiful, lush, low water gardens. We can get rid of our lawns and substitute non thirsty ground covers that satisfy our needs for a grassy spot for kids and dogs.

Our climate is very similar to Australia’s climate so you may be surprised to know there a very beautiful Australian Native plants that thrive in our low water environment. A few plants that you may or may not be familiar with:

• Grevilleas, bloom almost all year, low water, attractive especially to hummingbirds

• Anigozanthos, aka Kangaroo Paws

• Alyogyne huegelii, aka Blue Hibiscus

• Lomandra, a beautiful, breezy grass

• Myoporum parvifolium, outstanding groundcover for slopes

• Acacia, my personal favorite in this family is the A. cognata ‘Cousin Itt’

And many more. Also South African Natives thrive in our climate in addition to our own California Natives.

Grass substitutes are getting better and better. Some examples are Kurapia, Carex pansa, White Cover and Buffalo Grass to name a few.

So don’t despair, adjust. Rethink your garden and make small (or large) adjustments. You might be pleasantly surprised how great everything looks all year long. 🌻

Stay At Home Gardening

Our lives have changed drastically due to the Coronavirus. However there is more interest than ever in home gardening, especially growing your own vegetables. Yard-to-table is trendy. And you can get the kids involved. Thankfully landscaping and garden centers are considered “essential” businesses, with most of them offering curb side and delivery services.

So what should you be doing in your garden this month? Following are a few ideas:

Vegetables

• Harvesting your cool season veggies to make room for your summer veggies

• Canning whatever is abundant or sharing with your neighbors

• Start planting your tomatoes (wait another month for the larger, beefsteak tomatoes), put in your cherry, plum and mid size tomatoes. Most likely there won’t be Tomatomania this season so visit your local nurseries for your basic tomato and ask for special tomatoes to be ordered

• Peppers can go in now as well. Bell peppers and other non spicy peppers. The super hots (habanero, Carolina Reapers, etc.) do better in warmer weather

• Squeeze in the last few lettuce crops, along with planting other super greens like Swiss chard. You can probably get away with some curly kale and oak leaf lettuces in semi shade

ANNUALS/PERENNIALS

• Your cool season flowers should look amazing now. Start thinking about your warm season garden. As your pansies, snaps and violas start to poop out, look for petunias cosmos and marigolds for sun. Impatiens, coleus, New Guinea impatiens and begonias for shade and partial (morning) sun

BULBS/RHIZOMES

Now is a good time to consider your summer bulbs and rhizomes. Online bulb providers have some great options if your local nursery does not

Start your search for Dahlias, Hosta and Daylilies. They deliver direct to you! One of our favorites is Easy To Grow Bulbs located in Carlsbad, www.easytogrowbulbs.com

LIFESTYLE

If we have to be at home for our safety and the safety of others, why not surround yourselves with nature and fill your bellies with your home grown vegetables.

Coming soon….cocktail of the month, using seasonal ingredients from your garden. And what fertilizers to use on veggies and flowers.

Stay safe!!!!

Is It Too Early For Tomatoes?

If you’ve gone to your local nursery lately, you’d think, no, due to the tables full of tomato seedlings.

In Southern California tomato season does start earlier than most other areas in the country. Lucky us!  You can start some early varieties and cherry tomatoes in March. However, with the rains we’ve had this season you may want to wait until late March/early April to start your tomato seedlings.  

Tomatoes need a few things to successfully produce fruit: 

 🍅  Night time temperatures above 55 degrees

🍅  7 hours of sunlight

🍅  Organically amended soil (you can use chemicals, but why?) 

When these conditions are present, you can start your tomato planting.

A few tips: 

✏️ Amend your soil (if planting in the ground) with organic compost, down 12”

✏️ Plant your tomato seedlings deeply, generally you leave about 6“ of the plant above ground, the rest that is buried will produce roots with the additional benefits of taking up additional nutrients and water

✏️ Depending on the size of your plot plant tomatoes ideally 5’ - 6 ‘ apart, but for most of us we don’t have 40 acres and a mule, so at least 3’ apart is fine  

✏️ Fertilize lightly; earthworm castings, kelp, fish emulsion are great for getting your tomatoes off to a good start

✏️ Do not over water, plants in the ground need water about every 5 - 6 days; some professional growers withhold water for better fruit flavor; container plants every 3 days depending on the container material

✏️ Container growers? A minimum of a 5 gallon pot for cherry to mid size tomatoes. If you want to grow large beefsteak tomatoes, you’ll need a 7 - 15 gallon pot. Black plastic growers pots are fine. Use a potting or raised bed mix for your pots  

✏️ Finally don’t forget to stake your plant. Plant the seedlings with a bamboo stake, then once the plant is about 2’ tall place a cage around the plant. Don’t wait too long. Once the plants gets large and full it’s nearly impossible to place a cage around it.  

Every gardener has their own favorite tomato to grow and swear it’s the best tomato ever.  My experience is after a few years of growing them yourself, you’ll have your own favorites.  A few of our favs:

🏆 Juliet Grape (grape/cherry tomato) 

🏆 Sungold (cherry tomato) 

🏆 Early Girl (mid size red tomato) 

🏆 Roma (plum tomato) 

🏆 Cherokee Purple (heirloom large tomato) 

🏆 Big Beef (large red tomato) 

Heirloom tomatoes? What are they?  

Heirloom tomatoes are tomatoes whose seeds have been “passed down” through generations. Basically it is a non-hybrid, open pollinated tomato plant.  They can be very interesting, different colors, flavors, sizes  I try to always put at least one new heirloom in my garden just for giggles.

If your looking for unusual tomatoes and your local garden center does not have them here are a few resources:

📚 Tomatomania www.tomatomania.com Hosts various tomato sales of unusual plants in So Cal

📚  Wild Boar Farms www.wildboarfarms.com 

HAPPY PLANTING

Feel free to to contact us with any gardening questions via email at www.containedbliss.com