Don't get discouraged if you kill a few... or more than a few. And try and find out how to pick the right candidates for seedlings or pre-sprouted plants before buying them to help you in being successful! I made that mistake on an impulse buy of my fuyu persimmon tree which had a several small branches on a bare root tree! When it struggled through most of the year only to finally give up the ghost it was quite sad for me, but I replaced "Percy" the next time and thought to Google first and learned that a bare root tree should be more root than branch so it doesn't have to work so hard to support itself and establish at the same time. This may also apply to some other plants as well since the above ground part is only half the story and the roots are the heart of the matter. I learned I should have chosen one with a nice set of roots (open the bag if you have to, I did) and no branches at all, just trunk. That one leafed out almost immediately (the other never did) and is thriving in a big pot I put it in until I figure out where it will live permanently, since it will be better to only move it once. This way its portable for a while. AND Seeds: sometimes its more efficient to germinate in a napkin in a bag first and plant when you know that they are viable. It seems to germinate faster by a magnitude for me this way, and also saves me the axiety of peering at the ground and wondering if it is weeds or my seeds that are coming up if I direct sow. It also helps, if you do direct sow, to mark the spot with some flag to help clear any confusion too. If you have pets, get a small fence/border to discourage them. (Roundup isn't all that will kill peppers...a dog does a decent job of that too. My pooch seems to have a vendetta against them and my artichokes for some reason. I came home one day to a massacre! It wasn't pretty...) =) Last: some plants will thrive much better if you don't let them get out of hand and unruly- don't be afraid to prune - my tomatoes and grapes are very forgiving even if I get overzealous. Also petunias seem to appreciate a nip and tuck too, or they turn to a sticky mush. Trial and lots and lots of error is probably the only way to go though. If you don't kill anything, you aren't REALLY gardening. =)

Hi, and welcome. There are some bay area GWers that visit the CA forums that can give you more specific local information. I'm in the southern part of the state. Generally a mature garden has had the plant material in the ground for a long enough amount of time (often measured in multiple decades) for the plants to be well established and near their maximum expected size, or at the latter years of their lifespan. Life spans vary greatly. The species matters--some trees are old and ready to die at 20, others remain strong for hundreds of years, for example. The nuance of speech, and more information about what is in the garden and how old it might be, would help to determine the true meaning of what they were saying. By referring to your garden as mature, they could be admiring the stately specimens that were planted long ago, and hoping like crazy you don't tear the beautiful, historic plantings out. A nicely designed mature garden can be a valuable asset. Or they could be really commenting on how those plants are so large and overgrown for the location in which they were planted, that the roots are lifting the walk and the branches are crowding the eaves, the mature trees are shading out the sun-loving shrubs underneath, and that they should be pruned or removed. Or they could be thinking the plants are at the end of their life span, getting diseased and are in danger of falling over in a storm. Growingwise, a mature planting will have an established root system and proven it's ability to take the growing conditions where it is located. New plantings require a more careful eye to how they are coping with the growing conditions while they are getting established. Younger plants are at a stage of their life when they have a quicker growth rate and thus require more pruning and training to help them mature into fine, mature plants. If a mature garden has been neglected for a long time, there may be some catch-up maintenance needed. But, generally speaking, a mature garden grows at a much slower rate and does not need as much time to maintain with pruning, weeding, etc. Too much fertilizer can be far worse than none. The nutritional needs of plants depends upon a lot of factors, including the plant species and your soil. Your plants may not need any fertilizing at all. Is there something about the color of the leaves of your plants that indicates there may be a deficiency? If so, it is better to get a soil analysis, or determine the specific deficiency that might need correcting, rather than just indiscriminately fertilizing. In fact, I have had some plants begin to show evidence of new deficiencies with a discoloration of their leaves only after fertilizing with an all-purpose fertilizer, because it threw the balance of soil nutrients out of whack. Finding a knowledgeable gardener is the tricky thing. In my area, the landscape maintenance field is awash with "gardeners" that don't know proper gardening techniques; topping, improper shrub pruning/hedging, and a lack of knowledge concerning fertilizing and pest and disease control is the norm. And sadly, most homeowners don't know the harm the maintenance crew is doing, because they see the same "look" all over town. Photographs of how they maintain their current maintenance contracts could be very telling. Some photographs of your garden would also help the forum give you better information about your particular garden.

Phoebe3141, I think that planting garlic this far south requires pre-chilling because the ground does not get cold enough. Why not try the experiment I did? Plant half of each variety now and put half of each variety in the refrigerator untill the first week of December. I think "6 or 9 per square foot" is way too close. A square foot should handle 4 plants (planting 6"x6".)The Creoles will do fine on 6" centers, but larger plants like Siberian or Metechi would do better at 8" distance. I'm trying a few cloves in containers this season. My container is 18"x24" and is 15" deep. I'm only planting 6 cloves(6"x8"apart) in this container to see how they do. I have some garlic bulbils I may try in containers also. Stay in touch. I'd like to know how the garlic does for you in the Tampa area. Michael

I was talking about the garden web there are a lot of others so watch for announcements for them here as well.