Start planting now for second season of garden produce

Wonderful weather. Amazing. Unbelievable for August - especially during the California State Fair.
Those are pretty common observances these days. But what they omit is that it's also grand weather for getting back into the garden, catching up on some of those tasks we by-passed during July's two weeks of triple digits.
It's a perfect time to think about a second season of gardening that can supply delicious fresh vegetables during fall and winter.
As my friend Renee Shepherd points out in her Renee's Garden newsletter, with our mild winters, late summer is an ideal time to plant seeds for a second gardening season that can be even more productive than your major early spring plantings.
"Mild winters" means areas that may get frost or temperatures that dip down to the mid-20s, but no hard frost or sustained very cold temperatures - no below-zero readings, that is.
For a delicious and very nutritious cornucopia of fall meals, consider the cool season aromatic herbs of dill, garlic, chives, chervil, cilantro, arugula and parsley; hearty greens such as chard or kale, baby bok choy and other Oriental greens; carrots, beets, leeks, peas, green onions, spinach, radishes, fennel and all the brassica family members.
These late-planted crops have less competition from weeds and pests, and grow beautifully with less garden work. This means great harvests in time for Thanksgiv-ing.
Many crops will hold perfectly through the low-light winter months without bolting to seed or becoming bitter tasting as they would in the heat of summer.
And while it may seem odd to be starting new seeds when many of your summer produce such as tomatoes, squash and corn are still doing well, it's well worth the effort.
For reliable harvests in cooler weather, seedlings must have good initial growth and well-established root systems.
The goal is to have fully grown, ready-to-pick plants that basically store themselves in the garden through the fall, so that you can pick them as you need them over a long sustained harvest season.
You can start seeds in containers. (In our area of rocky soils, deep containers can be permanent homes for root crops such as carrots - no more split ends!) You can also seed most crops in a garden area that gets dappled sun or light shade, wherever they can germinate comfortably out of the hot sun but still have plenty of light after the seedlings are well established.
Transplant the started seedlings into well-prepared moist soil in the evening so that they will have the advantage of cooler nighttime temperatures to settle in and minimize shock.
If daytime temperatures are still in the high 80s, shelter the newly transplanted seedlings with row covers or shade cloths for a few days so they can adjust to the heat and sun. Once they have acclimatized, don't forget to supply adequate moisture to the young plants, and fertilize regularly in the early growing stages.
Many flowers can be seeded for late season gardens as well as vegetables and herbs. These include alyssum, calendula, carnations, clarkia, columbine, cornflower, delphinium, feverfew, forget-me-not, foxglove, hollyhocks, larkspur, pansies, poppies, snapdragon, stock, sweet peas and Sweet William.
You can contact Renee's Garden at customerservice@reneesgarden.com for seeds, information and recipes.
Helen Bale can be reached at htbale@infostations.com.