I'm in Chowchilla (about 50 miles south of you.) Most of what I grow is drought tolerant, and I'm currently growing a lot of natives of California, Chile, Australia, S. Africa and the Mediterranean.

I grow veggies year round as well.

Awesome! What kind of Native Plants do you grow? I am always looking for new plants to get started in my garden ....

I also grow lots of plants all year long. I'm absolutely amazed at how many plants I can grow from seed all through the Fall and Winter.

I would also like to add more Drought Tolerant plants ... I grow everything from Seeds or Roots.

I need to add more Cool-Weather Herbs to my garden as well. So far I have these Herbs growing throughout the Fall and Winter: Oregano, Thyme, Cilantro, Mint, and Henbit. Also have lots of Stinging Nettle.

I've been trying to establish Dandelion, but have not had any luck. Calendulas are spreading like wildfire, which is good. I plan on drying lots of Calendulas for Tea and Herbal Medicine .....

-- Wild Gardener Jim
> Climate Zone #8/14
> Hardiness Zones #8-9a

Well, I grow a lot of plants that I harvest seed from during hikes in the foothills and such. Some off the top of my head are several mimulus (mimulus guttatus, mimulus cardinalis, mumulus aurantiaca), Epilobium canum latifolium and epilobium canum, Penstemon heterophyllus, penstemon pinifolius, delphinium hansenii ewanianum, lots of lupines, lathyrus nevadensis, Eschscholzia caespitosa & Californica, clarkia amoena, calochortus albus & several others... the list is pretty extensive haha. A select few have have extremely limited distribution ranges. Carpenteria californica is found ONLY in the foothills in Eastern Fresno County, and delphinium hansenii ssp. ewanianum is restricted only to the valley floor and the foothills in eastern Madera County. I love being able to grow these plants that are so unique and so restricted to my local environment.

And as far as edibles go, I currently have sugar snap peas, leeks, green onions, daikon radish, turnips, kohlrabi, swiss chard, several types of lettuce and cabbage & bok choi. All grown from seed in the fall. I'm also starting lots of heirloom tomatoes from seed, as well as several varieties of peppers, eggplant, melons, corn, jicama and others for planting in a couple of months when the weather warms a bit more.

I would like to try growing Jicama. Do you grow it from seed? When is the best time to plant Jicama?

I grow them from seed. Message me and I can give you a link to where I buy them from. They're easy to grow from seed, and if you start them now, you'd be harvesting the large tap roots in the fall.