Southern California Coastal & Inland Valleys
Many vegetables and herbs can be planted outdoors now. Sow beets, caraway, carrots, celery, Swiss chard, chervil, chives, cilantro, collards, dill, endive, fennel, garlic, kale, kohlrabi, leeks, lettuces, mustards, green onions, bulb onion sets, flat-leafed parsley, peas, white potatoes, radishes, shallots, spinaches, and turnips. Indoors, start eggplant, pepper, and tomato seedlings for transplanting in 1-2 months.
Many flowers can be started from seed and transplanted now. Sow ageratums, alyssum, asters, baby's breath, bachelor's buttons, calendulas, campanulas, candytuft, carnations, clarkias, columbines, coralbells, coreopsis, cosmos, African and Shasta daisies, delphiniums, dianthus, forget-me-nots, foxgloves, hollyhocks, impatiens, larkspur, linaria, lobelia, lunaria, lupines, marigolds, morning glories, nasturtiums, nemesia, pansies, petunias, phlox, California and Shirley poppies, salvia, scabiosa, snapdragons, stocks, strawflowers, sweet peas, sweet William, verbena, violas, and wildflowers.
If brown rot affected your peach fruits last year, be sure to spray now to begin to control it. Make another application of dormant spray when three-fourths of the flower petals have fallen off. This will kill any lingering fungus and lessen the severity of this year\'s disease infestation.
Plant Summer Bulbs
Now is a good time to plant late spring- and summer- flowering bulbs such as achimenes, agapanthus, amaryllis, tuberous begonias, caladiums, calla lilies, canna lilies, colchicums, dahlias, gladiolus, ranunculus, tigridias, and tuberoses. For continuous bloom, plant a selection every 2 weeks through March.
Force Branches Indoors
Cut a few branches of almond, cherry, crabapple, deutzia, forsythia, honeysuckle, peach, pear, plum, pussywillow, quince, redbud, spiraea, weigela, and other spring-blooming deciduous shrubs and trees for forcing indoors. Crush the ends of the stems and place them in warm (70-80F) water in a cool, humid area with moderate light for a week before moving them indoors to bloom.