All of my herbs are still going strong, as are all of my perennial flowers (which I think is pretty much everything, I didn’t plant any annuals). I have cut down most of my hot season edibles, like the pepperoncinis, Grand Mariconi, and bell peppers. While we still have occasional days of 80/90 degree weather, the generally cooler weather has seemed to the plants to stop putting out new flowers. No flowers, no peppers. So I pulled them to make room for lettuces and other greens. But in Southern California there is no season where you shut your garden down completely.
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I just took cuttings and brought my tropical plants indoors for the winter; that was yesterday. Today it has been snowing for about an hour already with no signs of stopping soon. *whew*
Our climate is so variable we can plant most times of year. Good survey idea!
Clearly, you have a lot of CA readers. The friggin winter monsoons in NorCal make it hard sometimes, but my garden goes strong all year round.
I plant all year long; the only problem we have in Austin (TX) is availability of plants in Jan/Feb, but once March hits, we’re good to go!
This is my first year gardening. I live in western Montana and we had an unseasonably early cold snap a couple of weeks ago that killed everything off. I am still gardening, though…. planting bulbs for spring.
Kimberly–Yes, a big chunk of LOTB readers live in CA, but I also have a lot of readers in Oregon, Washington, Texas, Florida, Illinois, New York, and Australia. Not sure what it is about those areas? Maybe lots of people living in apartments and condos?
Jenny–What do you end up growing in those months? Seeds?
The joys of living in Southern Australia, can always grow things on the balcony.
My northern CA deck is pretty dormant in January and February. I might have color through late November (and still get some tulips or other bulbs in). And then in March, I can put out seedlings if it’s warm enough.
(And, as for New York, one of my best balcony gardens ever was off my east-facing Manhattan apartment. There, I stopped growing anything in October.)
Carrie–There are benefits to living somewhere with a serious winter. Lots of bulbs need that kind of cold. For example, tulips will only grow in Southern California if you trick them into thinking they had a winter by leaving them in a fridge all winter long.
I live on the South Coast of England which is fairly temperate, and I’m just about to put in the winter veggies! W00t!
I wish I can garden all year long. We had our first frost last night and it is cold! Brrr….
I like your polls and surveys! I don’t so much stop gardening as switch locations. My back garden on the north side of my house is delightfully breezy and shady in the summer, but cold and damp in winter. So I go hang out on my sunny, south-facing front porch! Dec-Jan are pretty indoors-y in general.