I plant peas in November. They will stunt if a Santa Ana occurs though. I plant lettuce whenever it looks like rain.

I would guess now is best..soils are warm..nights are cooler. To get them off to a start as days get shorter...then they amp it up as days get longer in February.

I direct sowed seeds for my winter garden yesterday after pulling the last of my tomato, squash, and cucumber plants and amending the soil. I've waited longer in the past, trying to milk out the Indian summer, but if you plant too late, I find that you don't get enough vegetative growth before the days are short and cold. This year I planted spinach, arugula, collards, mesclun and spicy lettuce mixes, mustard greens, kohlrabi, turnips, radishes, rutabaga, and potatoes.

Hi, Norm. Glad to see another San Diego gardener.

My tomatoes are still going strong and ripening well in this week's crazy heat -- over 90° yesterday in the shade. Other tomatoes overwintered last year, and these look to be on track to do the same.

I planted my "winter" pea seeds a couple weeks ago, and they are drooping now -- doubt they will survive. Arugula and cilantro sowed at the same time both look good so far. Everything is getting supplemental water in this second summer.

Hey oscarmatic! Nice to see another SD gardener here. I am just east of the coast in UC, I get sunshine galore but temps are generally much cooler at our place than say, down in North Park or city heights. Somewhat odd weather, but this year everything that got sun did amazing, tomatoes did wonderfully, as did peppers. Heard it was a rough year for beans in SD, and it was not good for me this year.

Would love to hear more about your experience overwintering tomatoes! I have a few cherry tomatoes going that are super strong and seem like they might do just fine overwintering. I was going to plant my peas at the 1st of November and my other winter stuff too. Water bill has been heavy lately! Hoping for another wet winter to get the old rain barrels filled up.

I have had tomatoes overwinter only to see them die as spring approached. My garden is home to a 3 year old eggplant and I recently planted broccoli, peas, kale, onions, cauliflower and chard. I'm a little north of you in OC.

Thanks for starting this thread! I am curious as well since this will be my first winter garden in our house. I am currently waiting on the tomato plants to die off so I can till and setup stones to make a garden path. I’ll probably get a later “winter” start since I want to redesign things. My cherry tomato is still going strong at about 6 ft and the heirloom is still putting out plenty of tomatoes as well.

Bacon,you might be closer to z11 then 9a. Unless you are in a deep canyon.

Stan: perhaps. I found it originally on this site http://planthardiness.ars.usda.gov/PHZMWeb/

i enter in my zip code and it actually says 9b. I’ll update it.

According to the sunset zone I am in a pocket area of zone 22 in eastern San Diego. It’s also 103 where i live right now so I am glad to get in the cold office. :)

hard to think of winter crops in this blistering heat

This heat..... wow. I think I may get another watermelon off the vine before it turns "cold." Hope everyone stayed cool and safe today. Stayed inside except to water briefly, to make sure i didn't lose my chard and leafy greens that have been hanging on since winter. 105 at our house at 10am. way too hot