About two years ago I purchased my first house, luckily with a backyard(Hard to find in my area of LA). Enjoyed gardening as a kid so I quickly went to work turning the backyard into a garden. The people who owned the house before had let ivy take over the entire backyard. So i quickly pulled that out and I planted a bunch of fruit trees and built some raised beds. From there I have just been experimenting with what tomatoes grow well here. I look forward to soaking up as much information from everyone here and trying to apply it in my small urban garden.

Well [mention]DavidO[/mention] , i think you have found the right place Super friendly people here and many with a lot of experience across lots of areas (not just gardening). Hope you enjoy and a big welcome for the UK.

Welcome from the South Bay. You should be able to grow things year round here. Unless you have a rodent problem like I do now. Building a huge cage this year!

We definitely have rodents, a few months ago I tried one of the open compost bins and a few days later found entire family nesting there. Was not happy about that. I have been lucky so far in that I have not had them eat any of my tomatoes at least

got the same [mention]DavidO[/mention] , one dug into the compost bin recently as we have winter here and pushed lots of really good composted material out overnight. His days are numbered, but living near a railway we are always going to be faced with this. The saying is, if you have a rat, then you have rats. If you have rats then you have an infestation so keeping a close eye on it. Even my whippets cant catch him...

the neighbours cat has an eye on him, but then the cat also has an eye on my whippets...

I have had good success with the compost bins off the ground that are completely sealed, just sucks that they are so small and expensive. Since then I havent seen any rodents but I am sure they are around.

We also have a few outdoor cats that patrol the area, so hopefully they are keeping them in check.

Welcome from PA! Dealt with a mega rat situation in our barn after we moved into the new property and got chickens. Didn’t realize the rats had breached the corn feed bins until many generations had been produced. Spent a fortune in D Con but eventually solved the problem.
All compost bins are far back in the property away from the house and gardens! Something has chewed through the air windows on the bins but doesn’t seem to be a big problem.
Not a nice problem. Enjoy your time here. Lots of good information available.

Welcome from the Pacific Northwest!

Hi David. Welcome to the Junction.
I am just a little East of you in the Inland Empire.

Welcome DavidO!

Wonderful to have you join the group! Its great to hear more about what is happening in the gardens across the country and the world. Can't grow much here in Pennsylvania right now, but i can garden vicariously through gardeners such as yourself

haahah yeah I am totally spoiled when it comes to gardening, last week it hit 90 here, i was actually afraid my lettuce might bolt!

Welcome [mention]DavidO[/mention] ! Nice to see another Angeleno, I'm out on the West Side. Looking forward to sharing stories about which tomatoes grow best out here.

Hi from Texas.

Hello and Welcome DavidO. It looks like you already have made some friends and have much to talk about. We are glad to have you here.

Welcome to the forum!

Welcome to the Junction from Down Under

Welcome to the Junction!

Thanks all for the warm welcome!

Hello [mention]DavidO[/mention] and welcome! I'm also from the L.A. area - San Gabriel Valley. Looks like a lot of us here.

Where I am (zone 10a/b), it's hot and dry in the summer, so my season is shorter. Westside is cooler but can be overcast depending on the marine layer (aka June gloom). It's amazing the different growing conditions just around L.A. County.

I do believe we can grow almost any tomato variety here (except maybe Brandywine).

Bobby