My mom grew vegetables, and I remember walking around her garden, looking at the eggplant, tomatoes, onions, chili peppers, and spinach growing. I loved helping harvest them. Now I grow my own. In a mild coastal climate you can grow vegetables all year: cool-season crops through fall and winter, and warm-season crops like tomatoes, peppers, and cucumbers in summer (UC Master Gardeners (opens in a new tab)). I write down every crop: the variety, when it went in, and how it did. Next year's plan comes from that, not from a seed packet written for somewhere hotter.
My garden is in coastal California: dry summers, mild winters, and cool air off the ocean and the bay (UC Master Gardeners (opens in a new tab)). Summer days are often in the 60s and low 70s, with fog, and UC puts gardens like this in its coolest zone for tomatoes (UC ANR (opens in a new tab)).
That's why my tomatoes ripen late. They need nights above about 55°F to set fruit (UC Master Gardeners (opens in a new tab)), and in a cool summer like this one, fruit didn't set until July. Cucumbers want warmth too (UMN Extension (opens in a new tab)); this summer topped out around the mid 80s, and mine still gave a great yield.
Mild winters work the other way. Peppers are tender perennials that come back where it doesn't freeze (UF/IFAS Extension (opens in a new tab)), so my Thai chili and Italian sweet pepper return every spring. Cool-season crops like broccoli grow through winter, which is also when rats found mine. Mild winters can shortchange fruit trees that need winter chill (UC Master Gardeners (opens in a new tab)), and my plum has struggled since a heat wave in February 2026.
Seed packets and online guides are often written for hotter summers or colder winters, so their planting dates and days to maturity can be off here. Even nearby gardens differ, from cool coastal fog to hot inland sun, which is why the local planting calendars come in hot, sunny, and foggy versions (UC Master Gardeners (opens in a new tab)).
I grow many different vegetables and fruit, not just one or two, and I surround the planters with pollinator-friendly natives and flowering plants. Two permaculture principles describe why that works.
Flowers and vegetables grow together. I plant pollinator-friendly natives and flowering plants around the planters, like the cigar plant, monkey flower and magenta salvia in my videos, and they bring bees and hummingbirds into the garden.
Permaculture avoids monocultures. I grow many kinds of vegetables and several varieties of some, like two kinds each of cucumbers and tomatoes this year and three kinds of peppers, so one bad season for one crop doesn't mean an empty garden.
Principle names come from David Holmgren's twelve permaculture design principles (opens in a new tab).
For a bigger version of the same idea, visit Hidden Villa (opens in a new tab) in Los Altos Hills. Its organic farm keeps a pollinator garden, and the sunflowers below are from there.
Worked, mixed, or failed, and why.
Harvested Basil, Summer 2026. Harvested Sept 2026
Harvested Bitter Melon, Fall 2024. Harvested November 2024
Mixed Broccoli. Full-grown head not harvested on time; went to flower (year not recorded)
Failed Broccoli, Winter 2025. Eaten by rats, along with the cauliflower
Mixed Broccoli, Summer 2026. First broccoli harvest in July, after washing off aphids, spraying neem oil, and snipping the infected parts. The aphids came back and it went to flower, so I'm not expecting another harvest. I'm leaving it until the end of fall to watch it
Worked Japanese long and pickling, Summer 2026. Probably these two types. Both gave a great yield. The Japanese long plant died suddenly after its last harvest in October; the pickling one still has more cucumbers coming
Growing Italian Sweet Pepper, Summer 2026. Dries off and comes back each year, starting in spring
Harvested Red and yellow, Winter 2022. Harvested February 2022
Harvested Shishito Pepper, Fall 2024. Harvested November 2024
Harvested Shishito Pepper, Summer 2026. Harvested Sept 2026
Growing Butternut, Summer 2026. First time growing butternut squash; planted in early August, so I'm learning as I go
Growing Thai Chili Pepper, Summer 2026. Huge numbers of green chilies, so I give them away; left on the plant longer, they turn red. I cut it back and it comes back every year
Great yield. Amateur planter, grown with marigolds. Green fruit late July; harvested September 2021.
Harvested October 2023 with basil and parsley.
Harvested November 2024.
Grew tall early on, so I topped them and removed suckers in July, and donated the cuttings to the Arboretum. Fruit set in early to mid July and started ripening in early August, later than usual because of the cooler summer. Black Krim is incredibly tasty and great in a caprese salad, but it doesn't produce as much as the Beefsteak.
Beefsteak: About 80 days from transplant to first ripe fruit, on tall, indeterminate vines with fruit up to 2 pounds (Burpee (opens in a new tab)). UC notes that beefsteak types are usually late to ripen (UC ANR (opens in a new tab)).
Black Krim: About 69 to 80 days from transplant, on tall, indeterminate vines (Pinetree (opens in a new tab), Johnny's (opens in a new tab)). A Russian heirloom whose skin gets darker with more heat and sun. UC Master Gardeners suggest it for warmer inland gardens, not the foggy coast (UC Master Gardeners of San Luis Obispo (opens in a new tab)).
I had a good apple tree in our yard. That's when Max learned to love apples. He started playing with the dropped ones like they were balls, bit into one one day, and loved it. After that he'd go get himself an apple whenever he wanted a snack.
Apricot harvests from June 2025 and June 2026.
This basket was one of the last plum harvests of 2025. A heat wave in February 2026 stressed the tree, and it isn't doing well this year.
Tomatoes need warm nights to set fruit: below about 55°F, pollination fails (UC Master Gardeners (opens in a new tab)). On the foggy coast, summer days are often in the 60s and low 70s (UC Master Gardeners of San Mateo & SF (opens in a new tab)), and large beefsteak types are usually late to ripen (UC ANR (opens in a new tab)). Mine grow tall and flower, but fruit doesn't set until it warms up. This year it set in early to mid July and started ripening in early August, later than usual because of the cooler summer. Waiting for warm nights to plant, and choosing short-season coastal varieties like Stupice, Sun Gold, or San Francisco Sunrise, helps.
This is my first time growing it, so I looked it up. Butternut needs a long, warm season: about 105 days from seed, or about 91 from transplants (Johnny's (opens in a new tab)). UC Master Gardeners in Santa Clara County plant winter squash in May or June, once days are consistently above 75°F, and harvest from September to November (UC Master Gardeners (opens in a new tab)). I planted mine in early August, so it's a late start. The first flowers are male and often drop; the female ones have a tiny squash at the base, and cold, cloudy weather can cut pollination (UMN Extension (opens in a new tab)). It's ready when the rind is hard and the stem turns corky. Pick it before a hard freeze, leave a few inches of stem, and let it cure in a warm, dry spot for a week or two.
While the head is still tight. I left a full-grown one too long and it went to flower.
Rats got both of mine in 2025. They're the reason I lost that whole winter crop.
Wash them off with water, spray neem oil, and snip off the infested parts. That cleared mine long enough for my first broccoli harvest in July 2026. Later the aphids came back and the plant went to flower, so I'm not expecting a second harvest.
For the pollinators. Cigar plant, monkey flower and magenta salvia bring them in, and my tomatoes produce well.
