Wildomar Seed Co. · Starting the garden · Wildomar, California
I’m learning how to garden from scratch in Southern California, one seed, one season and one mistake at a time. I’m testing varieties in my own garden, documenting what happens, and learning about the plants, people and horticultural traditions that have shaped this place.
This is where it starts
Wildomar Seed Co. started with a simple question: what actually grows well here? Not in a greenhouse somewhere else. Not in a catalog description. Here.
So I’m starting with a garden, a bunch of seeds, and a willingness to see what happens. Some things will thrive. Some things will struggle. Some things will die spectacularly. I’ll document all of it.
The experiment
Every season I test varieties and growing methods under the conditions they actually have to live in. I keep track of what works, what doesn’t, and what I’d do differently next time.
Wildomar Tested
A seed doesn’t earn that label because a catalog says it’s good. It earns it by growing here. Varieties that repeatedly prove themselves can earn a place in the collection.
The Garden
A public notebook. From the first seed tray through transplanting, heat, pests, harvests, failures and everything in between. It’s a real garden, not a polished gardening show.
The garden journal will grow as the garden does. The first entry is coming soon.
What We’re Testing
As the trials grow, each variety will eventually have a page of its own. For now, the honest verdict is: too early to tell.
| Variety | Started | Method | Status |
|---|
Trials haven’t started yet. First on the list: De 18 Jours radish, Easter Basket Mix radish, Black Seeded Simpson lettuce, Sugar Bon snap pea, Slo-Bolt cilantro and Jelly Beans Mix California poppy. Each one appears here with its real start date once it’s in the ground.
Watching: germination · plant vigor · heat tolerance · disease and pest resistance · productivity · flavor · overall performance.
Learn
A long-term library, written as a student, not an authority.
Beginner-friendly, practical.
What grows here naturally.
Techniques and experiments.
Pollinators, soil, water, insects.
How agriculture changed the region.
Foodways and local traditions.
Carefully researched, with respect.
Local
Before we planted the garden, plants were already here. I’m researching native plants, ecosystems, agricultural history, Indigenous horticultural practices and foodways connected to this region. Not as an authority. As someone trying to understand where he’s putting his garden.
Local · Wildomar planting calendar
Pick a month to see what to sow in gardens below 2,000 feet in our valley. Fall and winter look like a strong growing season here, and I’m testing that this year.
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Average high / low
Planting timing adapted from the UC Master Gardener Program of Riverside County monthly tips and NOAA-based sowing windows for Wildomar. Temperatures: NOAA 1991–2020 normals.
Growing somewhere else?
Our trial notes carry over best to other hot, dry places. If your garden is cooler, wetter, or has a shorter season, we’ll be plain about what we know and what we don’t. For your local timing, the best advice usually comes from your state’s extension service: university gardening experts who study your soil and weather.
Here’s where we’d start, by region.
Closest match to our climate
Arizona, southern Nevada, New Mexico low desert
Hot, dry summers and a strong fall-through-spring season, a lot like ours. Our trial notes should translate well here.
Coast, Central Valley, Northern California
Timing shifts a lot between the coast and inland valleys, sometimes within one county.
Texas, Louisiana, Oklahoma
Long, hot summers with two main planting windows, spring and fall.
Florida, Georgia, the Carolinas
Heat plus humidity, so plant spacing and disease resistance matter as much as heat tolerance.
Colorado, Utah, Idaho, Montana, Wyoming
Short seasons, cool nights, and late frosts. Cool-season crops and quick-maturing varieties do best.
Oregon, Washington
Cool, wet springs and mild summers. Warm-season crops usually go in later than the calendar suggests.
Minnesota to Ohio, down to Missouri
Cold winters and warm, humid summers. Soil temperature, not the date, is the best cue for planting.
New England, New York, Pennsylvania, and south to Virginia
A shorter season with cold winters. Starting seeds indoors in late winter buys you weeks.
Not sure a variety will work where you are? Email us your zip code and what you want to grow. If we don’t know, we’ll say so.
Seeds
Eventually, the garden becomes the seed company. Right now, we’re testing. The goal isn’t hundreds of varieties. It’s a small collection of seeds with a story behind them and growing experience to back them up.
Currently testing, not yet Wildomar Tested
The shop opens when the first varieties have earned it. Each listing will show what we tested, where and how we grew it, what happened, and what we learned. Join the garden to hear first.
About
I’m not a lifelong farmer. I’m not a master gardener. I’m a regular guy who decided to figure out how to grow things.
So instead of pretending I already know, I’m building a garden and documenting the process. I’m testing seeds, trying different growing methods, making mistakes, and learning about native plants and the people who have been working with this land for generations.
When I find varieties that genuinely perform here, I want to save those seeds and share them with other people trying to grow in the same kind of place.
Come along for the season. Get the garden journal, experiments, things I’m learning, and occasional stories about the plants and place around us. No constant sales pitches. Just the garden.
