Weekly ToDo for Area Gardeners

A weekly todo reference for those who garden in Silicon Valley. (Click on plant name for specifics…). Weekly garden todo list

Full throttle growing...
Full throttle growing...

June sees summer growing going on at full tilt. Warm season plants are in the ground, the sun is shining bright, and the garden is humming right along. (That humming sound can actually be the pollinators going about their business...). Onion tops are flopping over, a sure sign of being ready to pull.

Week 23

Plant in the ground

Plant In The Ground

  • Arugula
  • Beans
  • Beets
  • Borage
  • Collards
  • Corn
  • Cosmos
  • Dill
  • Melons
  • Nasturtiums
  • New Zealand Spinach
  • Radishes
  • Rutabagas
  • Salsify
  • Soybeans
  • Squash (summer)
  • Squash (winter)
  • Turnips
  • Watermelon
  • Zucchini

Plant in flats

Plant In Flats

  • Arugula
  • Basil
  • Beets
  • Brussels Sprouts
  • Chard
  • Collards
  • Cucumbers
  • Radicchio
  • Rutabagas
  • Squash (summer)

Transplant to the ground

Transplant From Flats To Ground

  • Arugula
  • Beans
  • Beets
  • Chard
  • Collards
  • Cucumbers
  • Eggplant
  • Lettuce
  • Marigolds
  • Melons
  • Mustard
  • New Zealand Spinach
  • Peppers
  • Pumpkins
  • Rutabagas
  • Squash (summer)
  • Squash (winter)
  • Summer Savory
  • Tomatoes
  • Zinnias

Tasks to do this week

Garden Tasks

  • Stake, cage or trellis indeterminate tomatoes, large pepper plants, pole beans.
  • Feed tomatoes and peppers with a high potash feed or side dress with an organic compost.
  • Build new compost piles using garden refuse.
  • Make use of preservation techniques (canning, drying, freezing) for stone fruit harvest.
  • Plant a variety of herbs and flowers to attract beneficial insects.

Information presented on our weekly todo pages is for Santa Clara County. A majority of Silicon Valley communities fall within USDA Hardiness Zone 9b, the exceptions (for Santa Clara county) being those who have a zip code of 94041, 94043, or 94089; the folks at these zip codes have been assigned a Hardiness Zone of 10a. Even so, remember that we live in the land of the microclimate: growers in Palo Alto have different concerns and face different challenges than those who grow in South San Jose.

As a result of life in our ideal Mediterranean climate, local growers enjoy the possibility of making use of multiple plantings in a single growing season for many of the veggies we know and love. Those wishing to take advantage of this need to pay close attention to the grow information of the varieties being put in; a second planting of a particular crop normally involves plants with a shorter growing period.

Info presented here has been distilled from a number of sources, the most notable being Seed Savers Exchange, Life Lab Garden Classroom, and Ecology Action of the Midpeninsula, and Master Gardeners of Santa Clara County.