My garden today: Thai Green Lettuce - grown from Seeds of Change seeds. Also onions from starters from Sunset Nursery, and some arugula just sprouting in the foreground.
Joe, I am looking for advice about winter gardening. I want to know what to plant now, if there is anything i can plant, or is it too late. If you can give me some advice that would be great, if not can you refer me to some one?
My response is below. Note that this is pretty climate-specific – It should apply to pretty much anywhere in the Los Angeles Basin… where we have this great semi-arid mediteranean climate that’s splendid for growing just about anything any time. Depending on where you live and grow, this may or may not be applicable. I highly recommend asking someone who lives around for advice on what works for your area. You might go to a local garden/nursery store or a farmer’s market and ask people who are selling starter plants.
Around here, there’s a lot you can plant now. And these cool-season recommendations are applicable from around mid-October through early-March (around then it’s time to get your summer crops in.) I don’t know about any books or websites specifically… but they’re probably out there. Experiment and see what works for you – sometimes you can get away with unusual stuff.
The really broad general rule for winter crops is that stuff that you eat the leaves (like chard) is easier to grow in winter… stuff you eat the mature fruit (like eggplant) is more difficult to grow in winter. The stuff you eat the flowers (like broccoli) or the roots (like carrots) work pretty well too.
The following crops work really well to plant in Southern California winter:
- perennials – trees, bushes, berries – including artichokes, many native plants, many spices (oregano, thyme…)
- most greens: lettuce, mizuna, kale, chard, arrugula, mustard
- most root crops: carrots, radishes, beets
- most brassica family: broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage
- others liking cool weather: peas
(Note: if we have a super-cold snap a “freeze” then many of these plants – especially the greens – will die. Most years in most places in the L.A. Basin we don’t have a freeze.)
The following crops don’t work too well in Southern California winter:
- Warm-loving plants: basil, cucumber, tomato & family (eggplant, peppers)
- Long-season-growing annual plants: watermelon, squash
My garden today - Broccoli from starters from Sunset Nursery. Planted I think in October or early November. The main heads have already been harvested and these are secondary heads ready for harvest for salad for tonight's potluck dinner.
LA Eco-Village Gardeners' Weblog 
January 24, 2010 at 10:56 pm
Joe, your advice was great. I planted more lettuce, carrots, cauliflower, spinach and broccoli. Lets see how it goes?
November 20, 2010 at 6:30 pm
hey thanks for sharing this is wonderful!!!
we are part of a program Food Not Lawns and take action in inspiring residents of City Heights to start an edible garden in their homes. power to the cause!
ivette
February 14, 2011 at 8:56 pm
My broccoli has been in the garden for over a year and I only get tiny heads or large spread out flowers. I live in the Lake Elsinore area.I don’t know what to do. I have trimmed some of the plants trying to experiment but to no avail. Any help would be appreciated.
February 14, 2011 at 10:21 pm
Some kinds of broccoli have that character – small buds – it’s called Broccoli Raab – http://italianfood.about.com/od/aboutingredients/a/aa030805.htm check the seeds and see if that’s what you have.
Another possible issue could be nitrogen in your soil. If you’re really low nitrogen, then the brassica family has a hard time maturing (happens to my cauliflower more often than broccoli.) Maybe try adding a lot of compost – or some amendment like fish emulsion. (or grow stuff that doesn’t need so much nitrogen – I had an area where broccoli was stunted – and I gave up and grew carrots and greens there – and they’re doing really well.)
Also brassica family (broccoli, cauliflowe, brussell sprouts) don’t like to grow in the same spot year after year. If you can, rotate yours to a spot in your garden where you haven’t grown this family recently, and they should do better.
Good luck. Let me know how it goes.