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Growing Ranunculus in the Pajaro Valley
If you garden down in the Pajaro Valley around Watsonville, you have some of the best flower ground in the county under your feet. Commercial cut-flower fields thrive on these rich valley soils, and ranunculus is right at home here with a little attention to drainage and frost po
Growing Zucchini in the Pajaro Valley
If you garden in Watsonville, Corralitos, or anywhere in the south county where the fog burns off early, you have the county's warmest microclimate and its richest soil. Zucchini is wildly productive here. The trick is keeping up with it and managing real summer pest pressure.
Growing Potatoes in the Pajaro Valley
If you garden in Watsonville, Corralitos, or the south-county flats and benches of the Pajaro Valley, potatoes are an easy win in your deep, rich ground. This is the warmest, earliest pocket in the county on some of the best farm soil in California, and a root crop that wants loo
Growing Persimmons in the Pajaro Valley
The Pajaro Valley around Watsonville is the county's warmest microclimate, and that makes it fine persimmon country. This is fertile, sun-soaked farmland that grows commercial fruit for a living, and a backyard persimmon slots right in. The heat ripens the fruit sweet and full-co
Growing Southern Highbush Blueberries in the Pajaro Valley
Watsonville and Corralitos grow blueberries commercially by the acre, so the home garden version absolutely works here. The Pajaro Valley just runs warmer and richer than blueberries prefer, so your job is managing heat, moisture, and pH.
Growing Heritage Apples in the Pajaro Valley
There is no better place in California to grow a heritage apple than the Pajaro Valley. A century ago, the orchards around Watsonville were among the most important apple-growing ground on the planet, and the valley still carries that legacy in its soil, its climate, and its tree
Growing Sugar Snap Peas in the Pajaro Valley
In Watsonville, Corralitos, and the south county ag land, the warmest microclimate in the county, sugar snap peas are best treated as a true winter crop. Sow in fall, harvest through winter and early spring, and finish before the heat.
Growing Everbearing Strawberries in the Pajaro Valley
You are gardening in one of the strawberry capitals of the world. The Watsonville and Pajaro Valley flats grow more berries than almost anywhere on earth, and your backyard can ride the same rich soil and warm-but-mild climate.
Growing Feijoa (Pineapple Guava) in the Pajaro Valley
If you garden in the Pajaro Valley around Watsonville, the feijoa, or pineapple guava, is an easygoing fruit that fits the warm valley well. It handles the heat, the soil, and the rare valley-floor frost without complaint, making it one of the simpler fruits to add here.
Growing Bush Beans in the Pajaro Valley
If you garden in Watsonville, Corralitos, or the south-county flats and benches of the Pajaro Valley, you are in the county's warmest, earliest microclimate, and bush beans love it. Blue Lake snap beans will be among the first and most productive crops in your summer garden, on the county's famously
Growing Jalapenos in the Pajaro Valley
If you garden in Watsonville, Corralitos, or south county, you have the best jalapeno climate in Santa Cruz County. The fog burns off early, the days run genuinely hot, and the rich valley soil grows big, productive pepper plants.
Growing Brussels Sprouts in the Pajaro Valley
If you garden in the Pajaro Valley around Watsonville, you have deep, fertile farm soil and a valley that draws cooling air off Monterey Bay, the same coastal influence that makes this corner of California the commercial home of Brussels sprouts. For this crop, that is a genuinel
Growing Broccoli in the Pajaro Valley
If you garden in Watsonville, Corralitos, or the south-county flats and benches of the Pajaro Valley, broccoli is a natural fit for your deep, rich ground. This is brassica country in the working farms all around you, and a home gardener can grow excellent heads here by leaning i
Growing Bell Peppers in the Pajaro Valley
If you garden in the Pajaro Valley, the warm farm country around Watsonville and the lower Pajaro River flats, bell peppers are one of your easiest wins. This is the county's warmest microclimate, and peppers ripen red here as reliably as anywhere in the region.
Growing Beefsteak Tomatoes in the Pajaro Valley
If you garden in the Pajaro Valley, the warm farm country around Watsonville and the lower Pajaro River flats, you have one of the county's most productive tomato climates. A big beefsteak slicer does genuinely well here.
Growing Avocados in the Pajaro Valley
If you garden in the Pajaro Valley around Watsonville, you have warm summers and good soil on your side for an avocado, but you also have the valley floor's hidden risk: cold air that pools on still winter nights. Site the tree well and this is genuinely good avocado ground.
Growing Artichokes in the Pajaro Valley
If you garden in the Pajaro Valley around Watsonville, you are growing on some of the richest farm soil in California, in a valley that opens to the same Monterey Bay marine air that makes this region the artichoke capital of the country. For artichokes, that is a genuinely good