FALL HOME UPDATE : OUTDOORS : Fall Is Planting Time for Vegetables, Bulbs

As Midwesterners seal tomatoes and green beans into canning jars, San Diegans are sowing carrots, peas and lettuce.

“The whole trick of gardening here is to cooperate with the seasons,” said Pat Welsh, North County gardening expert and author of “Southern California Gardening: A Month-by-Month Guide.”

Cooperating with the seasons means that North County residents can maintain year-round gardens, if they know what to plant when. For fall plantings, Welsh recommends vegetables like beets, chard, fava beans, kale, kohlrabi, peas, radishes, rutabagas, spinach and turnips. Celery and the cole crops (cabbage, broccoli, cauliflower, Brussels sprouts and collards) should come from seedlings, if planted in October, she said. Strawberries and onions should be planted in November.

Fall is also a good time to plant wildflowers, for those who want color in their gardens. The nurseries carry seeds and starter plants for wildflowers, such as California poppies, scarlet flax and larkspur. Many will bloom before the December holidays, and provide color for several months. Some wildflowers are classified as annuals, lasting one season; others as perennials, lasting several seasons.

“The seeds of certain wildflowers will naturalize in an area and by the next year, you will have twice as many,” said Bill Leech, assistant manager for Nurseryland Garden Center in Oceanside.

Fall is a good time to put in starter perennial plants, such as cyclamen, delphinium, foxglove, snapdragon and sweet William, Welsh said. Perennials are more drought-tolerant than annuals, since they have a larger root system. It is also the season to divide plants that grow in clumps, such as iris or day lilies.

“In Southern California, most gardening is not a do or die deal,” said Muggs Agonia, owner of Highway 78 Garden Center in San Marcos. “But in the next few months, if you don’t get your bulbs in, you missed the season.”

As the weather starts to cool, nurseries and garden centers receive their bulb stock. Now is the time to plant spring-flowering bulbs like daffodils, crocuses, hyacinths and tulips.

North County climates are perfect for planting South African bulbs, such as sparaxis, ixi and watsonia, as well as bulbs from other parts of the world. Bulb catalogues are good sources for the exotic varieties, but local nurseries usually have the best deals on the more common plants, according to Welsh.

“Many mail-order bulbs of common varieties are just as expensive and much smaller than those you can find at the best nurseries,” she said.

Some bulbs, such as tulips, need to be refrigerated for up to six weeks before planting, for best results. “Bulbs come with specific pre-treatment instructions that need to be done before planting,” Agonia said. “By planting bulbs now, you could have (blooms) before Christmas.”

Along with vegetable and flower planting, the fall season is also the best time to de-thatch cool-season lawns, such as ryegrass and bluegrass, uproot crabgrass and fertilize established trees, shrubs and ground covers. “As the weather cools, the fertilizer becomes less active,” Agonia said. “So prior to the rainy season, you should get your last fertilizing for the year in.”

Fall is prime time for planting most trees, shrubs and ground covers--almost everything that will be a permanent landscape addition. “Other than tender tropicals, plants that freeze easily, everything else should be planted in the fall,” Welsh said.

Fruit trees, all citrus varieties such as lemons, limes, oranges and grapefruits as well as avocados, while sold year-round, do best when planted in the fall, according to Leech. The stone fruits--apples, peaches, pears and nectarines, or pitted fruits--should be planted in December, January or February, for best results, he added.

Flowering trees that do well in inland North County are purple plums and crepe myrtles, which come in a variety of colors, including red, purple, pink and white, Agonia said. He recommends coral trees, with big, red-orange flowers, for coastal planting.

Although fall is the best time to put in trees, shrubs, ground covers and the like, landscapers and nurserymen are still advising the use of “waterwise” plants.

“In a dry state such as Southern California, you have to use water as a precious resource and always think of ways to save water,” said Jim Perna, salesperson at SB Nickerson Nursery in Fallbrook and president of the North County chapter of the California Nurserymen’s Assn. “Turf is the highest user of water there is.”

He recommends planting grass in small areas and using alternate ground covers in remaining open spaces. Although polymers have been used for 10 years, the continuing drought spurred the public’s awareness of the water-storing granules that can be put in the soil to reduce watering by as much as 75%.

“Mulch is also very important since it keeps water in the roots (of plants), allowing you to water much less,” Perna said.

To conserve water, Welsh recommends planting gardens in zones, grouping plants that need the most and least water together, and putting plants in hanging baskets with a drip watering system.