Sweet potatoes are in the morning glory family and must be grown from slips. They have no botanical relationship to the more common potatoes that we bake, roast, or make into French fries. In all four seasons, you can grow carrots, radishes, parsnips, beets, leeks, and onions from seeds you can grow conventional potatoes from potato pieces, as long as each is showing a couple of eyes you can grow garlic bulbs planted from single cloves. Most root crops can be planted in Southern California throughout the year and now is as good a time as any to start them. Finally, okra, a member of the hibiscus family, is a fast grower highly suitable for container growing.ģ.

Pole beans are also fast growers that lend themselves to growing in pots as long as a trellis is in place to accommodate their vertical growth. Although chili peppers are hot to the palate, they are sensitive to extremely hot weather, especially when growing on patios or adjacent to stucco walls where reflected heat can burn them and so they need to have shade cloth overhead in extremely hot weather. Fast-growing vegetables are the best candidates and at the top of this list are members of the nightshade family – tomato, potato, eggplant, and peppers, whether sweet bell peppers or chili peppers, from relatively mild jalapenos, to hotter serranos, to still hotter cayenne peppers, to scorching habaneros. You may be wondering about growing vegetables in containers and which types are most suited to this option. You can find bins and trays for growing red wigglers through a multitude of Internet vendors when you search “make your own worm castings.” YouTube videos also instruct how – for a minimal investment – you can construct your own apparatus for growing worms and harvesting their castings.Ģ. Keep your worms fed with vegetable and fruit peels, coffee grounds, egg shells, tea bags, and shredded newspapers. You can purchase worm castings (a euphemism for worm poop) by the bag or bring red wigglers into your life for a constant supply of their excretions.

The reason for this is that worm castings contain an enzyme known as chitinase that breaks down chitin, the major constituent in the exoskeleton of many insects, including whiteflies, aphids, and leaf miners, as well as spider mites. Worm castings are recommended for control of insect pests on plants.

Annaul poppy seedlings