What to plant this week in Los Angeles, CA
Los Angeles gardeners, your frost-free 10b climate means you are well into peak summer production with no risk of a killing freeze anytime soon. This week marks the perfect time to harvest your maturing melons and squash while sowing quick-turn Daikon radishes for a late-season crunch.
The next 7 days
Los Angeles, CAGrowing in Los Angeles right now
- Focus irrigation on deep, infrequent watering rather than daily sprinkling to combat our dry summers and prevent root rot in sandy coastal soils.
- Mulch heavily around summer squash and beans to suppress dust bowl-style weeds that thrive in LA's intense heat and to retain precious moisture.
- Take advantage of the mild nights to keep cool-season crops like Daikon going until your first autumn frost, which typically doesn't arrive until late November.
Sow this week
1 crops- Daikon Radish
Transplant this week
Nothing is due to go out this week.
Harvest soon
42 crops- Acorn Squash
- Basil
- Borage
- Bush Bean
- Butternut Squash
- Cantaloupe
- Celosia (Cockscomb)
- Cleome (Spider Flower)
- Cosmos
- Cowpea (Black-Eyed Pea)
- Cucumber
- Delicata Squash
- Fennel
- Flour Corn
- French Marigold
- Garden Verbena
- Gomphrena (Globe Amaranth)
- Gourd (Ornamental/Bottle)
- Honeydew Melon
- Lima Bean
- Loofah (Luffa)
- Malabar Spinach
- Morning Glory
- Nasturtium
- Okra
- Pole Bean
- Pumpkin
- Purslane
- Roselle (Cranberry Hibiscus)
- Scarlet Runner Bean
- Shiso (Japanese Basil)
- Spaghetti Squash
- Summer Savory
- Sunflower
- Sweet Corn
- Thai Basil
- Vinca (Madagascar Periwinkle)
- Watermelon
- Winter Squash
- Yellow Summer Squash
- Zinnia
- Zucchini
Seasonal tips
- Succession sow bush beans or pole beans now to maintain a steady supply of fresh pods throughout the summer.
- Mulch around newly planted okra and melons to retain moisture and keep roots cool in the heat.
- Thin out dense seedlings of sweet corn and zucchini to ensure proper air circulation and maximum yield.
Pest & disease watch
- Monitor for aphids on the new growth of Zinnias and Cosmos, as our warm temperatures often allow these colonies to explode quickly.
- Check under leaves of Okra and Malabar Spinach for spider mites, a common issue in LA's dry, dusty conditions that can cause stippling damage.
- Watch for fruit fly eggs in your open containers of Acorn Squash and Watermelon; apply row covers immediately after pollination if you see small puncture marks.
Watering this week
Water deeply at the base of plants early in the morning to reduce evaporation and prevent leaf burn during the heat.
Harvest cucumbers daily when they are young and crisp to encourage the plant to produce more fruit.
Los Angeles gardening questions
3Can I still plant cold weather crops like kale or lettuce now?
No, the current heat is too intense for direct sowing these cool-season favorites in LA right now. Wait until September when temperatures drop to get a proper fall harvest of those greens.
My Zucchini and Summer Squash are flowering but not producing fruit; what should I do?
This usually happens when there aren't enough male and female flowers pollinating each other due to heat stress or lack of bees. Hand-pollinate by transferring pollen from a male flower to the center of a female bloom using a small brush.
When is the best time to sow Daikon Radish in Los Angeles?
You can sow them now for an early fall harvest, but the ideal window in our zone 10b climate is actually late summer through early autumn. Planting too early in the intense summer heat might cause bolting before they fully mature.
Other cities in zone 10b
4See the full zone 10b guide → · Plan your Los Angeles garden in SproutGuide →