It’s still a great time to plant almost everything in your San Diego garden. November is also a good time to add or renew mulch before the winter rains start.
Plant Cool Season Annuals
Avoid warm-season plants like petunias and zinnias. Instead look for cool-season annuals like African daisies, calendula, dianthus, Iceland poppies, pansies, snapdragons, stock, primroses and violas. Choose plants that haven’t bloomed yet or are still in bud. They’ll bloom longer in your garden.
You can also grow poppies, flax, forget-me-nots, godetia, larkspur, linaria and sweet peas from seed. Most of these plants including flax, forget-me-nots, godetia, larkspur, linaria, linum, Shirley poppies and sweet peas prefer to be seeded directly into your garden.
Fertilize annuals often. Make sure you feed them right after you plant them and again several times during the season.
Mulch Your San Diego Garden
Weed and mulch beds. The mulch will help keep your plants’ roots cool and hold moisture in the soil. Organic mulch will also add nutrients to your soil as it decomposes. Plus, mulch discourages weeds.
Make sure your mulch layer is at least three inches thick. Keep it off trunks, stems and crowns of trees and shrubs. Piling mulch against trunks of plants can cause rot and disease. For more information about different types of mulch, see the University of California fact sheet.
Start Strawberries
You can start strawberries now. Choose varieties that work in San Diego gardens like Sequoia, Seascape, Chandler, Albion and Quinault. You should be able to find bare-root options in local nurseries.
Plant strawberries 12 inches apart where they get 6-8 hours of sun. Give them a slow-release fertilizer since they are heavy feeders. They prefer good drainage, and it’s best to water them from below with drip irrigation. Planting them in pots, near the edge of raised beds, or somewhere the berries don’t sit on wet soil will help keep them away from pests.
San Diego Gardens Tips Source
A lot of information for San Diego Gardens comes from the Master Gardener Association of San Diego County. They are a great resource for all of your gardening needs including planting, pests, vegetables, and water use. They even have a free hotline where you can get your home gardening and pest control problems answered.