Mid-Season Garden Update: What’s Thriving (and What’s Not) in Paso Robles
What I’ve Learned Halfway Through My Paso Robles Vegetable Garden Season
Back on May 27, I shared the start of our growing season here in USDA Zone 9A—better known as Paso Robles, California. One of the biggest advantages of gardening here is our nearly year-round growing season. While we do experience a few freezing nights during the winter, we’re often harvesting tomatoes well into December if Mother Nature cooperates.
Several months later, it’s a good time to look at what’s working, what isn’t, and what I’ve learned along the way.
Starting Too Many Seedlings
This year I started 256 seedlings, and while it sounded like a great idea at the time, I made one big mistake—I started them too early.
By transplant time, many of the roots had become hopelessly tangled inside the grow trays. Unfortunately, the inexpensive 72-cell Ferry-Morse seed starting kits simply weren’t built for long-term use. The thin plastic made removing healthy seedlings nearly impossible without damaging the roots.
Lesson learned: next season I’ll spend a little more on higher-quality six-cell trays like those sold by Epic Gardening. Better containers should produce healthier transplants and allow me to plant far more of the seedlings I start.
Sometimes spending a little more upfront saves a lot of frustration later.
Herbs Continue to Pay for Themselves
One of the biggest successes this season has been our herb garden.
Our arugula and Swiss chard produced more than we could eat before eventually bolting in the summer heat. Cilantro also reached the end of its life cycle once temperatures climbed.
The real superstar has been basil.
Five basil plants have produced more leaves than we’ve been able to use, and I haven’t purchased a single bunch from the grocery store all season. The same goes for parsley, thyme, rosemary, sage, dill, and cilantro earlier in the year.
Instead of spending $1–3 every time I need fresh herbs, I simply walk outside with a pair of scissors and harvest exactly what I need.
It’s one of those small conveniences that makes gardening incredibly rewarding.
Tomato Season Has Finally Arrived
The tomatoes are finally beginning to produce.
This morning I harvested our first three San Marzano tomatoes, while the cherry tomatoes have been producing steadily for about a month.
The Cherokee Purple plants currently have around eight tomatoes developing, with several just beginning to show their beautiful color.
Watching those first tomatoes ripen never gets old.
Peppers Love the Heat
As expected, the peppers are thriving in the Paso Robles summer heat.
Our first bell pepper and poblano unfortunately developed sunscald, but the banana peppers and jalapeños have been producing nicely and appear healthy.
Sometimes the first fruits are sacrificed while the plants figure things out.
Zucchini and Cucumbers Need More Attention
Normally zucchini is one of our easiest crops, but this year one plant struggled because I simply wasn’t watering it enough.
Fortunately, it has bounced back and now has several small zucchini developing along with plenty of blossoms.
The cucumbers have been more puzzling.
We planted both Armenian and Lemon cucumbers. So far we’ve harvested only two Armenian cucumbers despite both plants looking healthy. The vines continue to grow well, but production has been slower than expected.
Hopefully they’re just getting started.
Growing Hops Has Been an Exercise in Patience
Perhaps the biggest disappointment this season has been the hop yard.
I planted three hop varieties:
- Cascade
- Chinook
- Nugget
The Cascade has been fantastic.
Four bines initially emerged before one died off, leaving three healthy climbers. While hop growers typically train only one bine during the first year, I’m simply letting the healthiest plants survive and establish themselves.
Unfortunately, both the Chinook and Nugget failed completely.
I replaced them with three additional Cascade rhizomes, but none have emerged yet. Whether it’s inconsistent rhizome quality, soil conditions, or simply bad luck, it’s been frustrating trying to establish hops.
Fortunately, growing hops is a long-term investment, so there’s still plenty of time for things to improve.
Fruit Trees Showing Promise
Our peach trees produced roughly three pounds of peaches this year.
While I’m happy with that first harvest, I know they can do much better.
Next season they’ll receive:
- Better pruning
- More fertilizer
- More consistent watering
I’m hopeful those changes will produce larger, sweeter peaches.
The lemon tree also looks promising. We harvested several lemons earlier this year, and it’s now loaded with developing fruit that should ripen over the coming months.
Planting a Few Quick Wins
I also wanted a few fast-growing crops to fill some empty space.
Recently I planted:
- Baby Arugula
- French Breakfast Radishes
- Farmer’s Market Blend mixed greens
The arugula has already begun sprouting, while the radishes and mixed greens shouldn’t be far behind.
I also picked up some pea shoot seeds, although I still need to build an indoor grow station before getting those started.
Looking Ahead to Next Season
Overall, I’m very pleased with how the garden is progressing.
There’s still quite a bit of unused space, largely because I simply couldn’t transplant all 256 seedlings that I started this spring. Looking back, starting fewer plants—or timing them better—would have made much better use of the available garden beds.
Even so, every tomato, pepper, herb, and zucchini we harvest is one less item to buy at the grocery store.
Gardening isn’t just about saving money. It’s about walking outside, harvesting dinner a few minutes before cooking, learning from every success and failure, and already planning how next year’s garden will be even better.
