The months of August and the first part of September are a great time to do a planting of all your favorite vegetables that you have been enjoying for the past few months. Tomatoes, peppers, melons, pumpkins beans, cucumbers can all be transplanted now into your garden and enjoyed as the days start slowly shortening into the Fall season. I call this time of year Santa Barbara Spring because we typically get Spring-like weather at this time of year with even more consistent heat and dryness that all these vegetables really like. Last year, with the quirky weather we experienced late in the year, many people reported harvests well into December.
I do recommend that you select Early season varieties which tend to be smaller fruited types that do well as the days shorten and the evening cool down a bit. For tomatoes, that would be Early Girl, Jetsetter, Stupice and any number of Cherry varieties such as Sungold or Sweet 100. Zucchini squash is a great choice as it matures pretty fast. Baby Watermelon and Small fruited pumpkins, if transplanted before Labor Day, will typically yield a good late crop. Peppers tend to be pretty hardy and can withstand a little coolness at night as long as they get full sun during the day.
And remember that you can also start planting Broccoli, Lettuces, Peas Cabbages and other leafy greens especially as we move past labor day into early September! Healing Grounds Nursery has all the best late Summer varieties available for sale now! Catch me at the Farmers’ Markets on Saturday in downtown Santa Barbara or on Sunday in Goleta. Hope to see you soon and look out for my workshops offered seasonally year around at different venues throughout the South Coast. Happy and Fruitful gardening everyone!!!!