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| Photo Credit: Robert Smaus |
| I planted my Los Angeles front yard one late October and didn’t have to water it again until May – and just look at how it’s still thriving several years later! |
Attention all Californians: Fall is the best time for planting! It’s almost as easy as falling down: Put your plants in the ground, watch it rain, watch your plants grow, watch your plants explode into spring bloom. Voilà! Compare that with planting in spring or summer, when you plant and water, water, water…and worry if your babies will survive those long, hot days and high, drying sun.
But in fall, the sun is low in the sky and days are short – even if they’re still occasionally hot (which you can count on in California). And if you do need to irrigate, you don’t have to worry if the water will evaporate before reaching your plants – it’ll soak into the ground wonderfully, even lasting a long time because the sun won’t dry out the earth (or your plants) so much. Sometimes watering isn’t even necessary. It’s rare, but once in a while the winter rains are perfectly spaced so the ground never completely dries out. This actually happened in my Los Angeles garden the year I replanted my front yard with natives, vegetables, herbs and some drought-tough trees and shrubs. I planted the garden in late October and watered it once. We didn’t water again until May. Of course, that was blind luck – but even in normal years, every drenching storm means you don’t need to water for a few days – or even weeks – which is a big difference from having to water every day in the growing season.
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