Growing food in the Mojave feels a bit just like hacking the seasons and figuring out how to break the rules of certain plants. Most say plant in spring, but I'm learning that that really means "plant in December and then expect it to die off in June" or "plant in late August and expect it to die off if February gets too cold". In reality, we have a really long growing season: longer than some of the higher altitude locations nearby, and the better we can make our soil it seems the easier it is to grow... almost anything.

Though, this year we're planting a lot of annuals in addition to our existing perennials (which mostly consist of various edible cacti and mesquite tree varieties), and I'd love to hear your favorite (preferably Southwest or at least North American natives) perennial recommendations! I hope to be able to afford to source some more seeds and tubers for some perennial food crops this year, even if they take some time to establish, I want our diet to begin to shift more in the direction of food that makes more sense where we live and rely less on Eurasian-derived common annual vegetables.

#Permaculture #PerennialGarden #Gardening #Zone9a #Perennial #RegenerativeAgriculture #RanchoDeLaLibertad

Last harvest of the Sonoma County season - Hachiya persimmons. An amazing year.
Best use: pick as late in the winter as possible, slice 6 mm thick via a mandoline, and dehydrate (11 hours, 135 degrees F (57 C). Then eaten like candy. Extra slices can be frozen in ziploc bags.

#zone9a #hachiya #persimmon #orchard #sonomacounty

The harvest for a very late summer season is officially over. in contrast to a horrid tomato and eggplant year, our peppers excelled in production. Currently making pepper relish, hot sauce, and pickled jalapenos to last through the winter.

#zone9a #sonomacounty #peppers #vegetablegarden

Well, this is new for October.

The wild strawberries have had a second round for weeks already.

#allotment #ClimateDiary #zone9a

So much sowing done today! All the cucumbers, squashes, pumpkins and melons. No more room on the windowsill. This spring is so cold that the tomatoes have not yet started their annual hardening off migration.

#AllotmentChat #GrowYourFood #zone9a