California Veg Garden Resource

I was on the web looking for planting times for various veggies and found this page. Thought it might be useful to other Californians.

http://groups.ucanr.org/cagardenweb/Vegetables/

Includes links to PDF's on specific vegetables. Enjoy,

-- Lisa

So far I've just made a quick look but there's a chart for frost dates. The challenge of CA is there is so much variance from one place to the next. Still doesn't have my community but I can triangulate a little.

Chart reinforces how amazing it si the difference in the valley and the coast even when going due West.

I lived in the Sacramento area for years, my grandma always planted her garden Memorial Weekend. I started doing that and was late for some plants. I always following the zone recommendations without much success.

Now I plant an keep an eye out. I have had my SFG planted for a month now, eating lettuce from the garden, enjoying some herbs and watching the onions grow like weeds due to all the rain we have recently (after I planted) enjoyed.

I lost one cucumber plant, I guess it got too cold. Everything else seems to be enjoying the Mels Mix and the weather.

Hope to connect with other SFGers in the area.

Hi Marisa,

Where did you get your vermiculite and how much? I've been looking for vermiculite sources in the Sac/SF Bay area. The cheapest I've found in the Sac area (mainly near Roseville) is about $35/4cf. I've got a couple of bags to start already, as well as buying Mel's Mix from Lowes. I'm still holding out on finding something in the neighborhood of $20/ 4cf so I can just buy a bunch of bags to hold as I expand. Lowes has 3.5cf for $24, but I think it's smaller than what we need for SFG). Thanks!

Vincent

Sportsman et al: Do you guys use the Western Garden Guide by Sunset? They have a planting chart for veggies by Sunset zones - not USDA. I put one together for my zone and keep that for reference. From my profile you can see my zone. Very useful.

If you do not have it I could send you a copy of the breakdown by zone. Might take a week - would have to scan it at Office max and out of money til the 15th. Too many runs to HD.

Microclimates matter.

Gee the Lowes near us doesn't have vermiculite except in the mini bags. I purchased from Navlets Nursery -- $29 for 3.5 SF except that they give me a 10% discount because my kids are in a 4-H gardening club and then for every $250 you spend they give you a $25 gift certificate. Since I purchase a lot there, I figure I get about 20% off so my vermiculite is about $23 for 3.5 SF.

I wonder if other stores would give discounts to gardening clubs? Seems like we should start a national SFG club and for a small fee issue membership cards so we can all get Nursery discounts! The fee would have to cover costs of printing/mailing and time but might be worth it for the SFG folks to consider? I convinced the 4-H gardening group to become a "club" just so I could get discounts. It has been great!

If you or your spouse are a veteran, take proof of military service with you and save 10%. They do not advertise this, the customer needs to ask if there is a veteran discount.

Got it at Lowe's in Rancho Cordova, on Zinfandel. This is the only location that is this helpful giving discounts for torn bags.

I get really confused with the zones...probably because my house is in the rolling foothills, north east of Sacramento. I'm not as north as Roseville, nor as east as Folsom, just in Orangevale at the edge of Citrus Heights/Fair Oaks and Roseville. I think the rolling hills change things a bit. Once, years ago I sorta had my zone working well when I lived on the southern side of Sacramento...flat land. Now I'm just zoned out with the zones....any thoughts would be appreciated.

My son is in Orangevale - not far from Hazel and Elm. He is the one who got me started. I pegged him for a Sunset Zone 9 and in the Western Garden Guide the veggie planting times are listed for zone 8-9 together. I have them highlighted in my book so I can easily access them as he is more of a novice gardner than I am (though I fully expect he will harvest more as he is a better engineer).

If you want to know anything about planting dates - I got it highlighted! LOL.

I've been using the calendar from http://sacramentogardening.com/edible_gardening.html. It's for the Sacramento area, but I wonder if there are more like this for other areas too.

Thank you for the link to the garden resource. I see it answered my question about how to hand pollinate zucchini. I will try the suggestions in the pdf info.(check my latest update post - San Leandro Garden)It looks like I have a lot of male flowers but not as many female. I have several female that have not opened yet. Do the female flowers only bloom for 1 day as do the males?