What's Growing in Our Small Yard Right Now

August in zone 10A is the month everything looks tired but keeps producing anyway. It felt like the right time to start this diary, because if you follow along from here you'll see the garden reset for fall, and that's the most interesting season we have.

A little context first. I've been growing vegetables for over nine years, across three very different climates, and this yard in Orange County is the smallest and hottest of them. There's a single 6x4 in-ground bed with heavy clay soil, a lot of containers on cement, a few fruit trees that have been here for years, and a lot of things tucked into whatever corner gets sun. No raised beds yet. Layout won't allow it right now, so I'm maxing out what the space can do. Everything is grown as naturally as I can manage, and nothing goes to waste. Composting is a daily ritual, and there's still never enough of it.

Here's what's in the ground and pots this month.

Fruit Trees: Peach (small, but the fruit is very good), Loquat, Sweet Lemon, Avocado, a Thai Wax Apple that just started flowering, and my Chinese Toon Trees, which I grow for the young tips and eat more than anything else in the yard. In pots, the newer citrus: an Improved Meyer Lemon, an Owari Satsuma Mandarin, and a Bearss Lime, all staying in nursery pots until their roots fill them. Also baby Ice Cream Bananas getting ready to be planted and a very small mangosteen I'm not sure will make it. Oh, and it is not a tree, but they're fruit, I have a tasty and beautiful Passion Fruit vine.

(Proud new owner of an Improved Meyer Lemon)

Vegetables: end-of-season Tomatoes all over the yard, most of them volunteers that come back every year on their own. Cucumbers, Snow Peas, Japanese Eggplant, Sweet Potato Leaves, White Cornstalks, Potatoes, Carrots, Red Onions, Chives, Spring Onions, Leeks, and Purslane. Bitter Gourds just went in this week, two on a netted trellis and one in a grow bag. And peppers: a Serrano and a Jalapeño that are a few years old and stay in the ground over winter, plus Habaneros planted everywhere, because these organic chilis are impossible to find at the store and I love spicy food.

(Started the Habaneros from seeds. They taste amazing!)

Herbs: Italian Basil, Purple Basil, Thai Basil, Tulsi, Sage, Thyme, Oregano, Mugwort, new Bay Laurels in pots, and Ashwagandha seedlings.

(I love getting to harvest herbs from my own garden)

Flowers: Lavender, Roses, French Marigolds coming up everywhere, Morning Glory, and a scattering of small things. Most of it is either for pollinators or for tea.

(So excited my Morning Glory are starting to climb~)

That's the state of things. But there's still a list. Saffron Corms go in next month, Daikon after that, and I'm certainly going to be growing lots of Leafy Greens too.

If you grow in a small space, a hot climate, or on a real budget, this diary is for you. I'll be here every week or so with what's working, what isn't, and what I'd do differently. Welcome.