Spring is coming to San Diego gardens! Next to fall, this is the best time for planting. It’s also a good time to sow herb, annual and vegetable seeds, and to fertilize your awakening plants.
Plant and Sow This Month
Azaleas and camellias are in flower and dormant now. This is the time to plant them. Make sure you add organic material and a soil acidifier to the soil where you are planting them. My azaleas do best in large pots.
In the vegetable garden, you can still plant cool-season vegetables that will mature before the weather gets hot. Some of your options are beets, carrots, chard, green onions, lettuce, peas and potatoes. Once the danger of frost is past and the soil starts to warm, you can also start planting warm-season vegetables like snap beans, cantaloupes, corn, cucumbers, peppers, squash and tomatoes.
You’ll now find nurseries stocked with blooming annuals and perennials. This is a great time to plant them and add color to your garden. Some annuals to add now are coleus, cosmos, verbena, marigolds, petunias, vinca and celosia. Lavenders, kangaroo paws, sages, pincushion flowers (Scabiosa), asters, penstemons, heliotropes, artemisia and African daisies are good perennial options to introduce to your yard.
Fertilize Your San Diego Garden
Many of the plants and trees that are showing new growth now will benefit from fertilizer. This includes fruit trees. If you didn’t fertilize them in February, you can make the first of three feedings now and apply the next two feedings in six-week increments.
New and established plants also need fertilizing now. Succulents that are showing new growth need a diluted fertilizer. But wait to feed azaleas and camellias until they are done blooming. If native plants and other drought-tolerant plants are starting to go dormant, you should wait to feed those also.
Control Pests
Spring’s warmer weather and the new growth on plants invites pests to your garden. Check trees, roses and other plants for aphids, spider mites and whiteflies. Use a strong spray or insecticidal soap to remove them. Sticky, yellow cards will also work for whiteflies. You can find these at nurseries. Hand pick, trap or bait snails and slugs.
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.
Thank you for the great information.
How can we control ants? I think that is a huge key to a successful garden.
You’re welcome! I agree. Ants are a big problem here. We use borate bait traps to help control ants. These can selectively kill ants without contaminating your yard with pesticide. For more information about the traps, go to my August 2024 post at https://pamfraser.com/2024/07/30/san-diego-gardens-august-2024/. In that post there’s also a link to the University of California Pest Management Program that has detailed information on managing ants. We have already started setting out traps now to keep ant populations controlled. You can also use sticky barriers to help keep ants off of trees. Go to my post from April 2024 for more information about that, https://pamfraser.com/2024/03/29/san-diego-gardens-april-2024/. I hope this is helpful!