What this guide covers
The guide covers four Northern California sub-regions, with frost-free growing seasons ranging from 156 days in the Sierra Foothills to 297 days in the warmest Bay Area microclimates. The region’s Mediterranean climate (dry summers with all rainfall concentrated from October through April) separates NorCal gardening from regions in the same zones elsewhere in the country. Two gardens in the same USDA zone (one in Sacramento, one in Atlanta) face completely different moisture, soil, and light conditions despite identical frost data.
The book contains 22,200 words across these sections:
Month-by-month planting calendars
Four sub-regional schedules (Bay Area, Sacramento Valley, Wine Country, Sierra Foothills) that account for microclimate variation within the same zone. Coastal fog-belt timing differs from inland valley timing by 2–6 weeks for warm-season crops.
20+ vegetable profiles
Variety recommendations selected for Mediterranean-climate performance: heat-tolerant greens for Central Valley summers, and fog-adapted warm-season crops for coastal gardens. Each profile includes irrigation requirements calibrated to NorCal’s rainless summer months.
Regional growing strategies
- Mediterranean growing rhythm: the dry-summer/wet-winter cycle as a planning framework with transition timing by sub-region
- Water-smart irrigation engineering: drip system design and mulch-layer depth specifications
- Fog-belt warm-season techniques: heat-unit accumulation data for coastal microclimates and variety selection to compensate for reduced solar input
- Fire season garden preparation: defensible space interaction with garden placement, smoke-exposure impact data, and post-fire soil recovery
- Organic and sustainable approaches: cover-crop calendars, compost tea schedules, and no-spray pest management specific to NorCal’s pest profile
Who this guide is for
Gardeners in the Bay Area, Sacramento Valley, Wine Country or Sierra Foothills who need irrigation, timing, and variety guidance built around Mediterranean-climate conditions rather than the rainfall-based assumptions of national planting charts.
The guide includes variety recommendations for NorCal Mediterranean-climate conditions. Available in paperback and Kindle on Amazon. Not sure which zone you garden in? Enter your ZIP code on the Gardening by Zone home page to look it up.