NOW IS THE TIME! : Today Is the Beginning of the Year’s Best Planting Season
Sometime in September the sun slipped low enough on the horizon to signal plants that fall had arrived. Standing in the shade, staring at a thermometer that read 102 degrees Fahrenheit, you might have needed convincing, but the seasonal gears really did change-- a phenomenon that plants, more closely tuned-in to their environment than humans, have no trouble recognizing.
For plants that do their growing during warm weather, it’s time to pack it in. Bermuda grass lawns slow down, and deciduous trees loosen their grip and shed a few leaves.
But many plants perk up as the weather cools down. Bluegrass lawns breathe a sigh of relief and begin to grow again. Weeds that have lain dormant in the dust of summer start to sprout.
For the gardener as well, autumn is a time to come alive, for this is the beginning of what is perhaps the best planting season of the year, the warm fall days that linger into December.
It is often said that there are no seasons in Southern California--that spring slides into summer and summer into fall, and that in the middle of January, only a calendar knows what month it is. There is no distinct break, no killing frost that stings like a slap in the face, no layer of snow to seal in winter. Seasonal changes are subtle.
We gardeners, distracted by hot spells and surly Santa Ana winds, often overlook the coming of fall. We base our activities on the suspicion that summer will never end when we should instead be preparing for spring, because fall is the time to plant spring flowers and vegetables and a good deal more.
There are two avenues that you can follow. Both are rewarding, but the more enticing involves the planting of flowers and vegetables that bloom or bear in the spring and do most of their growing during the cool fall and winter months. Included are those annuals, bulbs, perennials and vegetables that must be planted in autumn.
Then there are those that can be planted in the fall, and they include just about everything else--trees, shrubs, ground covers, even lawns.
Putting in these more-permanent plants in the fall gives them a sure start. They can be planted at other times of the year as well, but there is no reason to wait. In fact, there are good reasons to try to plant them now rather than later. Although fall-planted trees, shrubs and the like make little above-ground growth until spring, the roots--released from the confines of a container to the freedom of the soil--are growing in earth that is still warm from a summer’s baking.
In gardening jargon, they are becoming established, and in a comfortable and unhurried fashion, since the stress of summer is still a long way off. When spring arrives, they will be ready to begin growing above ground. And they’ll enjoy much more growth than if they’d been planted in spring, since they’ll have the full support of a strapping root system. All a gardener needs is patience (and if there’s any attribute that gardening helps develop in a person, it’s patience).
Less patience is required on the other path, the road to spring flowers, and it’s not a bad idea to set off down that road at a brisk pace. The sooner these flowering plants get into the ground, the sooner they will bloom.
Spring-blooming flowers and bulbs--and the cool-season vegetables, too--do all of their growing during cool weather, and as summer approaches, they hurry to set seed and disappear. You can put off some of this planting until December or even February, but every delay will shorten their stay in your garden. Planted while the soil is still warm, they will grow rapidly, and some may even bloom or produce by Christmas.
The selection is great, and the best advice is to simply visit a nursery and see what’s available. By now, all of summer’s flowers have been replaced by those that bloom in the spring, so you can hardly go wrong.
You’ll find one-season annuals and more-or-less-permanent perennials that can be planted now, but if you want a flowery garden, don’t be concerned about the distinction between the two. Plant by height and color, and then see what continues into summer and what doesn’t, filling any vacancies with summer flowers as those of spring fade.
Think of favorite flowers that you saw last spring; they were probably planted in the fall. When seeing them again in bloom next spring jogs your memory, it will be too late to plant.
To plant a spring-flowering garden, thoroughly prepare the soil by mixing in fertilizer and organic amendments (ask your nurseryman for a good “soil amendment”) so the ground won’t get soggy after winter rains.
Immediately after planting, set up a sprinkler (watering by hand doesn’t do the trick) and soak the flower bed for at least 30 minutes. Soils tend to dry out and become water-repellent during the summer, so make sure that the earth has been moistened to a depth of at least six inches. At first, water frequently to get the plants off to a sure start, and always be on the lookout for those drying-out Santa Ana winds that can hurt your plants.
On the West Coast, bulbs require a little rethinking. The most traditional of these, tulips, shouldn’t be planted in the fall but during early winter--December at the earliest; you can even wait until the first few weeks of January. Why so late? Because first you need to provide them with an artificial winter. These Dutch bulbs need a chilling in the refrigerator or they’ll bloom poorly. By all means, buy them now while the selection is good, but put them into the vegetable compartment of your refrigerator for at least six weeks. Then, plant them in the garden when the weather gets wintery, burying them a little deeper than usually recommended--the very tips of the bulbs should be covered by six inches of earth. Therefore, the planting holes must be 8 to 10 inches deep. That advice also applies to Dutch hyacinths.
Daffodils don’t need to be refrigerated, but they should be planted late, after the soil has cooled; November, December or early January will be fine. In the meantime, keep the bulbs in a cool, dark place so they don’t begin to grow. Daffodils and tulips seem to do best with a smattering of shade, of the type, perhaps, that’s found under a tree that will be leafless--or nearly so--until mid-spring.
Ranunculus and the various South African bulbs, such as freesias and ixias, are more-sure-fire endeavors. They should be planted immediately. They’re accustomed to warm soil, mild winters and spring days that can be as hot as those of summer. They should be planted shallower--the general rule is twice as deep as the bulbs are tall--and they should be located in full sunlight. Water thoroughly after planting, then moderately until growth appears.
Finally, there are the many vegetables to be planted in the fall. They can be harvested through winter and spring, right up to tomato-planting time. The sooner the better applies here as well. Try artichokes, broccoli, bok choy, cabbage, carrots, cauliflower, celery, chicory, endives, kale, kohlrabi, lettuce, mache , onions, all kinds of peas (including snow peas), radishes, rugula, spinach, strawberries, Swiss chard and turnips.
