Brand New Garden in Venice, CA. What would you grow?

14 years ago

Hello GardenWeb,

I have been waiting years for this day~ my wife and I finally have a yard AND a little 10'x10' patch to make a garden.

I think we are in Sunset climate zone 22 (we're in venice, ca. north of venice blvd. and south of Pico, 6 blocks to the beach- if I'm mistaken, PLEASE let me know. ) and we're interested in veggies, flowers, and anything else that sounds interesting- maybe something that can only grow here or would grow well here. (realize the size we have is a bit limited.)

In the summer, the garden gets great light and in the winter our jacaranda tree covers all of it...

Happy New Year and thanks for any suggestions or ideas!

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Comments (3)

lavender_lass
14 years ago
I'd suggest using vertical elements to grow more in your space. 10' x 10' is not very big, and you'll probably need a path a few feet wide in the middle in order to reach everything. This means, you'll have two beds 4' x 10'. I'd try to include whatever you love the most that tastes good fresh. I love tomatoes and you could probably fit two or three in one of the beds. Bambino eggplants are cute, if you like them, and can be used as an edger. Add some basil and maybe some marigolds and that should fill in most of one bed. I also like to put stock in with my tomatoes, if that will do well in your climate. (We have hot summers, but they're fairly short.)

The other bed could be cucumbers and beans growing vertically with maybe some bush zucchini or melons. My favorite combination of pole beans is the purple pole bean with Emerite. The first has dark purple flowers and the other has lavender flowers. (The purple beans turn dark green when you cook them.) I like lots of herbs and flowers in my garden, so I grow alyssum everywhere, with zinnias, calendula, nasturtiums, etc.

In the winter (if it's like our spring) I would grow peas, broccoli, cabbage, lettuce, spinach, radishes, carrots, etc. Being able to grow all year will help make up for the smaller space. Here, everything grows at the same time, so you need more room and it's all over in about five months (LOL)

Oh, don't forget to tuck in some leeks, green onions, chives, and/or garlic if you have room. I also like dill, sage, mints, bee balm, etc. but some of these things might do better in containers (mints can be invasive). That's a great way to get more produce in a limited space :)
bejay9_10
14 years ago
I usually refer folks in So. Cal., to a site called Digitalseed. Then click the "Vegetable" planting section. It will bring up a table of veggies that can be planted on specific So. Cal. months.

I'm a 23-24, but I'll bet you could also use this table. My present garden has 9 cedar boxes - about 3-4 ft. wide x 6-8 feet long - in different places around my yard. I try to plant the warm veggies where they will receive optimum sun in summer - beans, tomatoes, peppers. Then plant the winter veggies - broccoli, spinach, lettuce, etc., where they will get the best winter sun -

Being able to garden all year - can produce quite a lot of fresh veggies - enough for our family of 3, and the surplus is either frozen or canned, or composted and fed to chickens.

Welcome to the Forums. You'll enjoy visiting here, with lots of nice folks so willing to be helpful.

Bejay
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cabrita
14 years ago
Teddyg:

I have been gardening in zones 21 and 23 for the last 3-4 years. Close enough to your zone, mine is a little cooler.

The one unique crop I can think of takes a lot of space: artichokes.

What I have in the ground right now (but you still have time to plant some): 3 types of peas, fava beans, red scarlet runner beans, artichokes, collards, kale, brussel sprouts, cauliflowers, radicchio, chinese cabbage, pak choi, many types of lettuces, mustards, radishes, beets, potatoes, carrots, onions, garlic, shallots, scallions, chives, arugula, chards. I also have lots of citrus trees and lots of herbs. Cilantro is really taking off now.

Of the crops mentioned above (all cool weather crops), brussels sprouts and cauliflowers are the only two i would discourage someone from planting now near my zone, they simply take way too long and the heat/bugs will get here before they have time to mature. All the others should do fine if you plant now.

I overwinter most of my peppers and eggplants, and even some tomatoes. The ones I start new i put on the ground around march/april.

Good luck with your new garden!

Brand New Garden in Venice, CA. What would you grow?

Comments (3)

lavender_lass

bejay9_10

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