Reply #26: Garden in the spring.

[JDPriestly]

If you own your land, measure the temperature at various times of year. Test the soil and start building it with compost now. You could plant peas and beans each winter. That builds up your soil Also, when the time comes, you can build raised beds.

I'm in LA. I do a lot of gardening in big pots.

I don't try to do anything beyond tomatoes and summer squash in say August and September. Next year I hope to plant my seedlings mostly inside in say November.

I have peas, lettuce and tomatoes coming up. I've had lots of parsley, arugula, a few radishes (in pots mind you). I don't have much space. I protect my plants from animals and also too much heat or cold by covering them to protect them against the elements.

It's hard to deal with heat. My area in LA is considered to be a region 10.

I'm writing this just to let you know that you can grow some vegetables in Southern California, but you have to learn how. I don't get the results that people get in Oregon or Michigan. My plants and yields are relatively small. But just-picked, homegrown tomatoes are worth any amount of trouble. There isn't anything better.

We have avocado trees. You could maybe plant citrus out in Palm Springs. I don't know that area well enough to say.