california poppies and what to plant in the veggie garden?

10 years ago

I'm in the Northern CA Bay area and I want to plant california poppies from seed. What do i need to know about where to plant, when, how long they last... or any other tips.

Also, with our warm weather, what are people starting in their veggie beds right now (either seeds or bought seedlings)?

Thanks!

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Comments (3)

paleogardener
10 years ago
California poppies germinate prodigiously & require thinning. They fill in quickly then peter out in the hottest part of summer, sometimes they put out an autumn flush & bloom. Let some go to seed & you won't have to plant them again.
In my garden so far seed sown tomatoes, cucumbers & sunflowers have germinated along with lots of flowers. Keeping fingers crossed for honeydew & watermelon. If nighttime temps stay where they are or trend higher there is no reason not to sow or plant at will.

This post was edited by paleogardener on Wed, Mar 12, 14 at 0:29
rustico_2009
10 years ago
I put down plastic mulch and row covers on valentines day and have tomatoes up to my knees, and will pick the first summer squash this week. Pepper transplants just sat there and so did basil , watermelon transplants lost vigor and I pulled them an put in more tomato plants. I potted the rest of the peppers up because I don't want to lose them. They are going to be big when they finally go in.

Leeks at various stages and short day onions and intermediate day onions are going...mint is good to go.

I am going to put in bush beans and italian purple pote beans today. It's a little bit of a gamble, but oh well, It seems worth it. There is one 38 cell flat of lemon cucumbers, marketmore cucumbers and butternut squash each that will go in in about a week. A variety of summer squashes too, in a cold frame in 4" pots.

I can still do cabbage and broccoli and have lots of those to go in. ..not sure if I want to bother with direct seeding root crops ....any thing not transplanted is always so vulnerable to pests and requires lots of defensive strategies since I live in a wild land area.

I have a table garden with lettuces , mustard, kale and arugala...and am going to try to keep those kinds of greens going at least until tomatoes are ready .

One last thing starting is a sweet potato for slips. Probably end up doing more, or buying some ...this will be a first!
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It sounds like you have Oxalis pes-capri as the "clover" in your yard. This is a pretty large growing vigorous bulb, that will keep resprouting from the roots, and generally will outcompete California poppy if you try these from seed this time of year. The life cycle of the Oxalis usually starts with the fall rains, and starts dying back to the ground in late spring/early summer. If the Oxalis is in dense stands, it will smother out almost any other plant from seed that is also winter growing. I'd suggest you start the poppies from seed in areas that are clear of this weed. You'll find that the Oxalis is rather difficult to eliminate completely, unless you plant densely growing plants that are taller than it, and are perennial so that they can get large enough to outcompete the Oxalis when it starts growing again in late October/November.
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Terri, that was a good article. I wish the article had included a picture of the poppies, though. I got some seed marked "Gray-Seeded Poppy" in a bunch of seeds mailed to me as bonus in a seed trade. I have seen posts by people who say it is illegal to grow them so I'm glad to see in the article you provided the link to about "intent". I am one of those gray-haired grandmothers. Here is a picture of the poppies that grew from the seed I was sent: I thought the flowers were quite attractive. The center of the flower reminds me of a little spaceship. When the flower is done, it leaves a pod that looks to me like a little salt shaker on a stem. When the seeds have matured enough, the pod dries and shrinks back from a little scalloped "hat" to reveal holes. If you turn the pod upside down and give it a little shake, the seeds will come out like salt out of a salt shaker. They are, indeed, gray. Like the article said, I would think you could plant poppy seed from your spice rack. In the case of something like marijuana, you can get in trouble for having either the plant or the seed. So since we can buy poppy seed in any store, and I've never heard of anyone raiding somebody's spice rack, I find it a little odd that anybody's raiding someone's flower garden. Again, I suppose it would make a difference if you had an entire FIELD of them, as the article said. --Ilene
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Central_Cali369
10 years ago
California poppies will last for years if you allow them to go dormant in the summer (like they do in the wild.) If you're in a cool marine climate, you may have poppies blooming all year long, but inland, they will become scraggly when it heats up in summer. I normally cut them back and allow them to go dormant. Mine are in a native garden with no summer irrigation so I allow the entire area to go dormant. With the late fall rains, the poppies return with new foliage and a second flowering in the fall.

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california poppies and what to plant in the veggie garden?

Comments (3)

paleogardener

rustico_2009

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