Twelve inches is the minimum, but 18 to 24 inches gives roots room to grow and holds moisture longer through dry Santa Cruz summers.

Basil deters pests, marigolds suppress nematodes, and carrots fill in without competing. Here are the best tomato companions for California gardens.

Leggy tomato seedlings are stretching for light. Move grow lights closer, add a fan for stem strength, and bury stems deep when you transplant.

Lettuce, snap peas, zucchini, cherry tomatoes, and basil are the best starter crops for Santa Cruz. Forgiving, productive, and well-suited to our climate.

Mid-February is the sweet spot for starting tomato seeds indoors on the California coast. Start too early and seedlings outgrow their pots before soil is warm.

Microclimates are small zones with different conditions in your yard. Map sun, shade, frost, and wind to place plants where they will thrive.

Compost is a soil amendment you mix in. Mulch is a surface layer that retains moisture and suppresses weeds. Use both for the healthiest garden beds.

Bird netting is the best defense for fruit trees. Squirrels need metal baffles and access branch pruning. Net trees 2 weeks before fruit ripens.

Succession planting means sowing the same crop every 2-3 weeks for ongoing harvests. It works especially well in Santa Cruz's long growing season.

Cilantro bolts fast in warm weather. Sow new seeds every 2-3 weeks for continuous harvest, and choose slow-bolt varieties like Calypso.

Peach leaf curl is prevented, not cured. Apply copper fungicide once during dormancy before buds swell in late winter. Timing depends on your microclimate.

Hold off on tomatoes until late February. Start cool-season crops like broccoli and kale indoors in January for a head start.

Plants like rosemary and lavender contain mosquito-repelling oils, but crushing the leaves is necessary. Eliminating standing water is the real solution.

Yellow blueberry leaves with green veins signal iron chlorosis from high soil pH. Lower pH with sulfur and acidic mulch to restore healthy growth.

Blackberries thrive in 15-to-20-gallon pots with good drainage. Container growing keeps them from spreading and works even in coastal California.

Even two or three raised beds benefit from crop rotation. Moving plant families each season reduces disease and pest buildup in your soil.

Prune stone fruit in late January and pome fruit in February while fully dormant. Apricots are the exception: prune after summer harvest.

Santa Cruz winters are ideal for leafy greens. Lettuce, kale, and chard thrive in cool weather and taste sweeter after frost.

Coastal Santa Cruz rarely freezes, but inland valleys see regular frost. Use frost cloth (not plastic) and know your microclimate.

Compost is the best amendment for clay soil. Work it in when the soil is dry, add more each fall, and never mix in sand without enough organic matter.