Zone 9 - What to Plant in December

Zone 9 - What to Plant in December

Now is when the main planting is happening in zone 9. The hot and humid days of summer are behind us and we can start growing the garden. With a last frost date in early February you should start growing your tomatoes, peppers and other plants indoors so they are ready to transplant in February.

The Caspian Pink Tomato is a beautiful tomato variety that originally comes from Russia and was brought to America shortly after the cold war ended. This tomato has a sweet and rich flavor that is often compared to the Brandywine. The early maturing medium sized pink beefsteak tomato averages 10-12 ounces in size. The Caspian Pink plant has regular leaves.

Cascadia Pea is a major garden staple for its heavy yields of great tasting and crispy pea pods. Enjoy bucketloads of large, crisp pods with small, sugary peas! The 3' tall vines should be supported on a trellis or fence. Cascadia's multiple disease resistances allow for spring and late season plantings.

Be careful... once you try the Black Cherry Tomato, you won't be able to stop! This black tomato variety is really the only true black cherry tomato there is. This tomato plant will produce huge yields in clusters of 1 inch, round, deep purple, almost black tomatoes. The Black Cherry is an irresistibly delicious treat with sweet, rich, complex and full tomato flavors that will just burst in your mouth!

The Fancy Nantes carrot gets its name for its very smooth skin and fancy cylindrical shape. These carrots can grow up to 8" long with a very sweet and crisp flesh. For smaller, "fancier" look and great flavor try harvesting at 45-50 days when 4" long! They can store for months and also do great being left in the ground over winter.

Gypsy is a hybrid broccoli that produces well in warmer growing zones. An excellent variety for greenhouse production. Gypsy has a strong root system and intermediate downy mildew resistance. Gypsy yields excellent, smooth, dome-shaped heads with medium-small beads.

'Yellow Wonder' is a very productive variety. It is a clumping type (few to no runners) that is day neutral which means that flowering is not dependent on day length. The fruit is a pale yellow at full ripe and soft. This variety is sweeter than the red alpine strawberry varieties. There is a strong wild aroma as well.

Musk has been found to have the highest quality flavor and aroma compared to any other strawberries. This wild strawberry is native to Europe. They are nick named bubble berries in Europe because their flavor is a mix of tastes that remind people of fruit bubble gum.

The Lady Godiva is such an attractive pumpkin to add to any garden! The naked-seeded pumpkin seeds are hull-less making them perfect for roasting. The seeds also yield a very delicious and savory oil. These pretty compact pumpkins are yellow-orange with bright green stripes. Certified Organic. Learn more about our organic seeds.

The Hooligan is a small bicolored Jack Be Little hybrid with orange and white mottled colors. This pumpkin variety only weighs a 1/4 of a pound! Hooligan's vines provide excellent cover for high yields of fruit.

The Merlot Pepper produces huge yields of big peppers on tall healthy plants! This hybrid pepper is a tall plant that is highly resistant to tobacco mosaic virus (TMV) and bacterial leaf spot (BST). This variety produces huge pepper yields on lush foliage that offers good protection for the newly formed bells. The Merlot begins off green, turns white, and finally begins to turn merlot purple when mature.

The Red Oxheart Tomato, also known as the Hungarian Heart, is an excellent flavored unique, "ox heart" shaped tomato variety. This tomato variety has vigorous vines that produce plenty of beautiful, red, tomatoes that weigh anywhere from 8 ounces at their smallest all the way to 2 pounds! These tomatoes have such a sweet and juicy flavor that will make you want to grow them for years!

The Musquee de Provence Pumpkin is a big, flat and heavily ribbed beautiful variety that ripens from green to a deep brown. This 20 pound beauty has a tender, deep orange flesh that has a wonderful flavor when roasted or cooked into soups and stews. This pumpkin has a long storage, making it perfect for taking to the farmer's market.

The Golden Cal Wonder is a colorful golden bell pepper that is tasty and sweet. This pepper variety is great for home and market gardens. The productive plants produce early and are good for northern climates. The Golden Cal Wonder is the perfect pepper for fresh eating raw as a snack!

The Harvest King will produce a consistent 25-35 lb. pumpkin. This larger variety has excellent yield and quality. Almost 100% of the pumpkin yields are marketable.

The Patio Pride Pea is the perfect variety for a container or small garden and it looks stunning among other ornamental combinations. This pea plant produces uniform, sugary sweet pods that are tender when harvested early. This variety is perfect for succession planting, as it yields a consistent harvest over many weeks. You can grow Patio Pride with other cool-season flowers for a gorgeous display right on your patio! Certified Organic. Learn more about our organic seeds.

The Red Zebra is not only a beautifully striped hybrid tomato, but it also has a very juicy and flavorful taste as well! This variety was first grown in 2013 by Jeff Dawson and is a cross between Tom Wagner's 'Green Zebra' tomato and an unknown parent.

'Reine des Vallees' is grown in Europe by home gardeners and commercial fruit growers. Its name in French means "Queen of the Valleys". Its name in Italian is Regina delle Valli. Whatever the name, this cultivar is THE standard in Europe for alpine strawberries. The major fruit exporting growers in Europe grow this variety exclusively. Reine des Vallees is a clumping type (produces few to no runners) and is day neutral which means that flowering is not dependent on day length. It is very productive and produces scarlet red fruit with the distinctive wild strawberry flavor and aroma that is expected from fraises des bois.

The Costoluto Genovese Tomato is an old Italian preserving tomato with an odd shape and a stellar flavor that is both intense and acidic! This variety's heavily lobed and often convoluted shape is indicative of early nineteenth century tomato varieties, making it an oddity and rarity in today's vegetable garden. Because of the Costoluto Genovese's odd shape, this tomato is best for making sauces and pastes because the skin is removed.