Best plants for San Diego: How does your vegetable garden grow?

I love the spring vegetable garden. It starts out with so much hope. So much planning. So much anticipation. And then something happens along the way, all my other responsibilities! But this year I’m going to stay on top of it! The tomatoes have all been started from seed this year. They are late getting planted, but they are all in now. I planted half San Marzano and half Romas, which are both good paste and canning tomatoes. For some reason I rarely start tomatoes from seed. Probably some idea that it’s harder than other crops to start. But it really isn’t.

The Sequoia strawberries are really coming along, the onions and chives are coming up everywhere, the chard is getting munched on by Earwigs again, so everything is going according to plan! But it’s definitely time to get educated on when to pick an artichoke.

Sequoia strawberry

The artichoke is a newcomer to my garden story. This past year our next door neighbors shared one of their artichoke plants with us. Being a gracious neighbor, I accepted with delight and we planted it right away and now there are four artichokes on the way!

Artichokes in the Garden

The asparagus was planted by crowns last year. There were a few small spears to eat this year, but the crop should be bigger next year. I picked up some Hale cantaloupe, scalloped squash and some Chinese eggplant to go in next. All favorites plants of the gopher. It’s funny how he will pop up in and out of the tomatoes and strawberries, do no damage but head straight for the peas and squash plants!

When looking for plants you will be able to fill your garden needs by shopping at your local San Diego nurseries. You can also shop at Kniffing’s Nursery in El Cajon to find many of your plants and amendments for your summer garden!