Do you know your Sunset Zone? Lots of us Californians are in USDA Zone 9, but so is much of England, so as you can see it covers a very wide range of growing conditions. Sunset zones are specific to very localized conditions.

For example, I know of someone twenty miles from here who is able to grow perennial tomatoes, but there is a 2000' drop in altitude, so although she can do it, I probably can't but maybe you can.

Eggplants and peppers ARE perennial here and might be for you, too, but given the time of year, you could put in a seasonal crop. Lots of us are growing the traditional winter crops, like broccoli, brussel sprouts, cabbages, collards, turnips, etc. But first you might want to find out why the roses died. That might influence your plant plans.

And if you are going to be watering next to your house, be sure to insert metal flashing down along the side of it, to prevent moisture seeping into the wood and bringing in termites.

In addition to what you put in the ground, you might also want to stagger some plantings of lettuce in shallow rubbermaid-type containers with holes drilled in the bottom. You will be able to get in several harvests before the large veggies are ready.

GW also has a california gardening forum, where you may be able to get very regionally specific information.

Have fun!

I looked us up and it seems I am in zone 8B. The roses died because the house had been vacant for two years(according to our neighbor). It was a bank repo. Is there a special reason for the lettus in the containers? Thanks for the tip on the California forum. I will read up over there as well!

Oh, good on the rose. You can fix the lack of water problem much easier than you can fix bad soil or pocket gophers!

You may still be looking at USDA growing zones. I don't see any Zone 8 south of Fresno on the Sunset Zone map linked below.

I have two reasons for suggesting that your grow your lettuce in containers. One is that it is a shallow-rooted well contained plant, so you can save that valuable 36 Sq. Ft. of in ground planting space for plants that need room to spread, both above and below ground. And the second is that if you are where there is ever a chance of a hard overnight freeze, it's easy to pick up a container of lettuce and put it in the house or the garage.

Here is a link that might be useful: California Sunset Zones

Right now I have tomatoes, various lettuces, chard, peppers, jalepenos, beets, green beans, turnips, dill and sugar snap peas growing. I planted these within the last month. Except for the jalepenos and some peppers which were planted in the early spring. I didn't take care of them back then but now they are starting to do well.

I also have some seed potatoes on the way. I'm going to try those in buckets.

This is my first year trying to do a year round garden. We do have a chance of frost towards the end of Jan. through a little of Feb. A few years ago we had a real bad frost in the 20's and it killed quite a bit of things but that is unusual.

Okay now I understand about the containers. For some reason I was thinking you planted the container in the ground and then the lettus in the container...haha. I went back outside and looked and I have more space than I thought. It is more like 5 x 12 :) I am excited but we need to get those roses out! There is irrigation to the area so that is good, just hadn't been on...Thank you both for the replies!

Ohh, I just looked at that other map. It is sort of hard to tell but I think I am probably zone 18 then...

I need to look up what I can plant. Maybe I should wait until spring? I think I know that frost that kingfarm speaks of. We actually got SNOW! It NEVER snows here. It only lasted half the day but killed all my flowers. I am really looking forward to growing tomatoes so I don't have to put up with those red balls they sell in the grocery store ;)

You are likely to be in zone 18 if you live on a hilltop or valley floor of the interior foothills, cut off from seabreezes, and moist ocean air, but if you are on a sheltered hillside, you may be in the more temperate zone 19.

If your garden spot is on a protected south side, prepare your beds, and go ahead and plant some frost tolerant crops (aka cole crops or brassicas) and take your chances. If you are willing to keep them cover them on the coldest nights you might still get a harvest.

Also, rosemary is evergreen here and looks great in adecorative landscape. I have many other thriving herbs may also turn out to be evergreen in zone 18, but I don't have enough experience in that department to say for sure yet.

The four season vegetable garden forum folks would love to have our winters! You can learn a lot from their forum about row covers and season extenders. Not that we need too much of them.

Unfortunately it is too late to be starting most tomatoes from seed but keep you eyes open for already started early varieties in various garden stores. Two that might be worth starting from seed right now are Red Robin and "Silvery Fir Tree." The first is a dwarf cherry tomato you can grow in six inch pat a windowsill or other bright indoor spot. The second is a patio container tomato that does well in cooler weather, and can be warmed with Christmas tree lights or protected under a large cardboard box on the coldest nights, but you will find that frost often seeks the low spots of our yards, and often bypasses higher container plants completely.

You might want to plan to start some Siberian or other cold=tolerant, ultra-early tomato from seed right after the first of the year, if you wanted to have some ready to go in the ground as soon as the overnight temperatures stay above freezing in the spring.

Anyway, whatever you do, have fun and don't stop planting, because the plants themselves will be your greatest teachers. It's much more satisfying to discover the zone-happy ones for ourselves, than to take someone else's word for it.

Since I live in Michigan I am not sure how cold it will get in your area but I think I would start with things that can accept some cold such as peas, lettuces, cabbage, broccoli, cauliflower, radishes, kohlrabi and such. You could also plant out maybe some somewhat tender plants but have a plan to cover them with plastic hoops if needed...things like beans come to mind.

Kim