A Guide to the Best of Southern California : GARDENS : Year-Round Seeds

LOVERS OF HOME-GROWN vegetables who failed to get around to gardening last summer need not throw in the trowel; after all, our Southern California climate is perfect for year-round growing. A number of vegetables flourish in the cooler weather and shorter days that are upon us. And the Abundant Life Seed Foundation can help the cause, with seeds capable of producing a simple vegetable patch or a state-of-the-art garden--by virtue of the firm’s mail-order catalogue or its retail outlets in the area.

Among the many vegetables that flourish this time of the year are lettuces such as Winter Marvel, All Year Round and Brune d’Hiver (Brown Winter); red orach and green orach, mountain spinaches; Oriental greens such as bok choy and Japanese mizuna ; and others including scallions, carrots, parsley and basil. Equally perfect for fall and winter planting are Swiss chard, collards, corn salad (a European green resembling a midget lettuce), cress and kale. All of the seeds are fungicide-free and open-pollinated (non-hybrid), and many are grown organically. Abundant Life Foundation seeds also include herbs, small grains, trees, shrubs, flowers and edible seeds.

The Foundation offers a large selection of books and cassettes on natural farming and operates the World Seed Fund, a program that provides free seeds to gardeners and farmers in developing nations.

For a catalogue, send $1 to Abundant Life Seed Foundation, P.O. Box 772, Port Townsend, Wash., 98368; (206) 385-5660. Seeds are sold locally at Armstrong’s Building Materials, 11321 Pico Blvd., Los Angeles, (213) 477-8023; and at Co-opportunity, 1530 Broadway, Santa Monica, (213) 451-8902.