Orange County May Planting Guide

April 20
3 MIN READ
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Let’s Grow in Southern California

Spring is officially here which means it’s time to plant the summer garden! Evening temperatures are warm enough to move all your seedlings into the garden.

With your young warm season plants in the ground, start planning for succession sowing and stocking up on worm castings to make compost tea and feed your soil. Tomatoes, squash, and peppers can be hungry feeders. Check out our suggested flower companion planting guide this month to bring happy pollinators to your garden. Heirloom Potager will be refreshing gardens for residential clients and starting a new commercial design project. Check out the Orange County CA zone 10b May planting guide.

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Planning a Spring Garden with Warm Season Plants

Orange County, CA May Planting List
Orange County, CA May Herb Planting List
Orange County, CA May Flower Planting List

Here are a some great options for your May planting list:

Berries, Beans, Beets, Corn, Cucumber, Eggplant, Leeks, Melons, Onions (short- and medium-day), Peppers, Potatoes, Pumpkins, Radish, Scallions, Malabar Spinach, Summer Squash, Swiss Chard, Sweet Potatoes, Tomatillos, Tomatoes, Watermelon, Winter Squash

Herbs*: Arugula, Basil (start seeds), Chives, Dill, Fennel, Ginger, Lavender, Mint, Nasturtium, Oregano, Parsley, Rosemary, Sage, Seasoning Celery, Summer Savory, Sweet Marjoram, Tarragon, Thyme, Turmeric

*Transplant Seedlings

Unique Heirloom Varieties to Plant this Season

Gold Nugget Squash | Small Orange Round Squash | Seeds from sandiegoseedco.com

Gold Nugget Squash

from San Diego Seed Company

Turkish Orange Eggplant

from Mary’s Heirloom Seeds

Rosso di Lucca Dry Beans: Pile of pink and cranberry beans with purple flecks | from groworganic.com

Rosso di Lucca Dry Shelling Bean

from Peaceful Valley

Botanical Interests Lemon Cucumber

Lemon Cucumber

from Botanical Interests

Practice Companion Planting for Your Fall Garden

Crackerjack Marigold Mix: yellow and orange pompom like flowers shown upclose | from sandiegoseedco.com

Crackerjack Marigold Mix

from San Diego Seed Company

Flashback Calendula

from Renee’s Garden

Sungold Sunflowers

from Mary’s Heirloom Seeds

True Hyssop from botanicalinterests.com

True Hyssop

from Botanical Interests

Here are a some great companion plants for your May planting list:

Alyssum, Asters, Bachelor Buttons, Borage, Calendula, Cosmos, Echinacea, Hyssop, Marigolds, Nasturtium, Poppies, Salvia, Scabiosas, Stock, Strawflowers, Sunflowers, Zinnias

Companion planting is a very old-world, organic gardening method rooted in creating a diverse ecosystem of fruits, vegetables, herbs, and flowers grown int he same space. As a result of inter-planting, you’ll create a more habitable environment for plants, improve soil health, and reduce the resources needed to grow sustainable amounts of produce.

Consider inter-planting some herbs with your fruits and vegetables this year to attract more pollinators and help keep pesky bugs at bay.

With a long and tenured history, the practice of companion planning was primarily practiced by home gardeners who weren’t driven solely by efficient outputs. However, as the impact of climate change grows and concerns over the use of pesticides for health increase, more and more gardeners (both home and commercial) are starting to implement the practice of companion planting.

Other Planting Guide Resources

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