I know, it was 97F yesterday! We harvested over a pound of okra and several eggplants. I'd say, wait until the fruit is ready to be picked and prune afterwards. When the plant is done for the season, the leaves look really bad, brown and drying. Some branches look brown, so I prune those, even if there are fruit on other branches. I also selectively prune the lower branches so the long skinny eggplants do not end up hanging on the ground, but I do this with the new young plants in the spring. Then as far as winter pruning, most of the leaves and branches once they start turning brown and not producing anymore. I'd say a pretty drastic pruning but it should be pretty obvious (it is hard to explain but it was obvious to me the first time). I would also say we are not ready for winter pruning yet ;-)

All good info so far. I would also add that it wouldnt hurt to prune out some of those really thin branches and shoots. On young plants like that, I like to remove the really thin branches/shoots and leave only the the thicker ones. It makes watering easier, opens up the plant for air circulation and sun, lessons the chance of getting water on the leafs if watering during the day. If you do prune them be sure to sterilize your clippers with a bleach rag between every cut. The plants will respond very well to a good hair cut! For potting mix I use 70% pine bark mulch(not nuggets), 20% peat moss, 10% perilite and about 3 table spoons of sulfer(Im using 15 gallon pots). That with some good organic fert has worked very well so far for me. Last but not least, lots of rain water! You will run into problems using municiple tap water sooner rather than later. If you must use tap water you can either acidify it (I use sulfuric acid when I have to use tap water) or use Epsom Salts to counteract high ph tap water. Ive never used Epsom Salt but have read that it will work. Good luck.

There's a difference between summer loving vegetables and winter vegetables, and most of what you planted is better used once it warms up again, even if your part of southern California doesn't get much frost. I'd suggest you get yourself a copy of the Sunset Western Garden Book Encyclopaedia which is the "bible" for garden information in California. They will have plenty of information on planting seasons and species to plant when, and you can also determine exactly which Sunset zone you're in, as the USDA zone 9b is rather vague for people to really address your particular climate. (Or it would help to know what town you're in). For all those warm season plants, at least up north here in another USDA zone 9b/10a climate, none of those are really good planted much before mid March to mid April. The season down south is a bit earlier, but it depends on where you are. There are plenty of winter vegetables and flowers you can still plant now for enjoyment, and root crops, lettuces, broccoli, cabbage, cauliflower, artichokes, strawberries, carrots, onions, chives, etc are all good now. Flowers this time of year are usually more along the lines of pansies, violas, primroses, cyclamen, Iceland poppies, Cerinthe major, etc. If you'd really like to see some more interesting choices, go to the web site www.annniesannuals.com and look at her suggestions for winter blooming plants. There are literally tons of things for southern California.

thank you for the responses. Yes I am planning on planting Cape Honeysuckle, fountaingrass, Ceanothus: Concha, Skylark, Lantana, some Agaves and Salvia Leucantha. The nursery said it wasn't too late to plant but I had read waiting until fall was best but I was more concerned for the clay soil what was best because many have stated online that its best to plant in clay before it becomes bone dry from the July/August heat.