year-round
Year-Round Flowers in Your Garden
Evergreen Library, 2635 Aborn Road, San Jose, 95121
Did you know that by careful planning and plant selection, you can have beautiful flowers in your garden all year long? Find out from Master Gardeners!
Year Around Food for Your Family
by Nancy Garrison
Former Urban Horticulture and Master Gardener Program Coordinator
How much food can be produced in a typical 6,000 sq. ft. yard versus a full blown serious urban farm?
After thinking about your family's food preferences, consider the primary factors below to determine what to grow.
Factors Affecting Choosing What to Grow
Minimum effort for maximum production -- easy to grow: apples, figs, kiwi, pears, squash
- Nutritionally superior: Broccoli, chard, collard greens, kale, edamame
- Space efficient: Broccoli, tomatoes, peppers
- Well adapted to this area: Apples, apricots, feijoas, figs, pears, paw paws, peaches, just to name a few
- High value: Avocados, asian pears, white nectarines
- High yielding: Asian pears, apples, broccoli
- Hard-to-find items: Feijoas, fresh figs, passionfruit, strawberry guavas
- Hard-to-find varieties that are especially flavorful or hard to find vine-ripened: Apricots, lettuces, peaches, pluots
- Items hard to find consistently fresh: Sprouts, lettuce, figs, fresh herbs
If I was only going to grow a limited number of vegetables, based on the criteria above, it would be:
- Broccoli
- Chard
- Collards
- Edamame (fresh shelled soybeans)
- Kale
- Lettuce- can't buy this kind of homeo-grown freshness
- Garden herbs like chives, basil, arugula, mints, lemon verbena and cilantro
- Tomatoes
Six broccoli plants will yield 4-6 lbs. per week for 6 months. Two plantings will provide year around production and only require a 4 foot by 6 foot planting area.
