I read an intriguing garden column (many years ago) in the Redding, CA newspaper that suggested one way to get tomatoes to ripen outdoors in Autumn. It said: "A rule of thumb is, in the fall, take off all leaves and stems and all fruit that will not have time to develop before frost. You'll end up with skeletal vines and bare fruit, which is exactly what you want, since now all the plant's energy will go into ripening that fruit."That might work in the mild climate areas of southern California or south Florida, but here in Northern California (and Redding is in far Northern California), you're asking for a quicker end to tomato season if you do that. November temperatures will typically dip down into the 40's here; in late November, nighttime lows in the 30's are quite likely here. When nighttime temperatures are in the 40's and below, fruit development slows to a crawl and causes other problematic issues.  Even here in the milder USDA Zone 9 Sacramento region, harvesting red tomatoes in mid-November is an iffy proposition, at best. The typical Sacramento gardener Thanksgiving trick: harvest the remaining tomatoes the day before. Immediately cut off the damaged, ugly portions. Serve the miniscule, pretty remains to Thursday's dinner guests, chopped and mixed into a salad. "Why yes, we can harvest tomatoes on Thanksgiving!" Please don't ask to see the whole tomatoes, though. You might lose your appetite.

As the fall weather finally begins to turn cooler, gardeners are faced with this annual dilemma: will those green tomatoes in the garden ripen before temperatures start plummeting into the low 30’s? Depending upon where you are located, that question might start occurring to you in September, in the colder regions of the U.S. In many areas of California and other USDA Zone 9 climates, and perhaps parts of Zone 8, fresh garden tomatoes remain edible until late October or early November. They may not be pretty...but they are still a heckuva lot tastier than any tomato you'll find in a grocery store. By mid-November, remaining tomatoes are subject to harsher, colder, wetter weather leading to more outbreaks of blight diseases, insect infestations and bird pecking.

Are you tempted to harvest those green tomatoes, now, hoping they'll ripen up indoors? Here are a few tips.From the horticulture department at Texas A and M:

How do you tell when a green tomato, harvested early to prevent freeze damage, will ever turn red and ripen? This can simply be done with a sharp kitchen knife. Harvest a tomato typical of the majority of green tomatoes on your plants. Look at size but pay particular attention to fruit color. Slice through the center of the tomato. Closely examine the seed within the fruit. If the seeds are covered with a clear gel which cause them to move away from the knife, then that fruit will eventually turn red and ripen. If the seeds are cut by the knife then those fruit will never properly ripen. Compare the color and size of the tested fruit when harvesting tomatoes on your plants. Most similar fruit will eventually ripen and turn red.From Colorado State University:Cooler September temperatures help fruit to ripen because the red tomato pigments, lycopene and carotene, are not produced above 85 degrees F; nor is lycopene below 50 degrees F.As late September approaches, gardeners often try to extend the life of their plants by covering with cloth or plastic. Covering plants works well for nearly red tomatoes, but not as well for mature green ones. Though foliage may sometimes be saved, research shows that chilling injury on green fruit occurs at temperatures of 50 degrees and decay losses rise markedly on fruit exposed to 40 degrees F. Red ones well on their way to ripening tolerate colder temperatures.Before frost hits and plants go down, pick and bring fruit indoors to ripen. Clip fruit with a very short stem piece left on but one that’s not long enough to punch holes in other tomatoes. Stems ripped out of fruit will open them to decay. 

Eliminate (immature) green fruit, as research shows it’s more likely to spoil than ripen and never develops the flavor consumers want anyway. Mature green fruit will develop good flavor. Mature green tomatoes are well sized and have turned light green to white. If cut open, seeds are encased in gel and no empty cavity space is present.

In addition to mature green, sort and store fruit by these groups as they will ripen at similar speeds. Fruit may be "turning" with a tinge of pink color showing, "pink" with 30 to 60 percent color showing, "light red" with 60 to 90 percent color present, and others "fully red" but not soft.

Store mature green tomatoes at 55 to 70 degrees F. Once fruit is fully ripe, it can be stored at 45 to 50 degrees F with a relative humidity of 90 – 95%. 

Recommended refrigerator operating temperatures of 40 degrees are certainly too cool to ripen mature green tomatoes and are colder than desired for ripe ones. Ripening enzymes are destroyed by cold temperatures whether in the garden or in a refrigerator. Ripen tomatoes in well-ventilated, open cardboard boxes at room temperature checking them every few days to eliminate those that may have spoiled. Mature green tomatoes will ripen in 14 days at 70 degrees F and 28 days at 55 degrees F. 

The tomato heads at UC Davis recommend storing a small amount of green tomatoes in a carton box on fiber trays or paper layers.

One way to add some air circulation to the bottom, especially in warm conditions: store the tomatoes in a fruit box that contains a perforated plastic liner.Hobby farmer Linsey Knerl offers these ideas for saving green tomatoes:

Get a rope. By pulling up your plants (root and all, if possible) and hanging them right-side up in a garage or basement, you can prolong their time on the vine for a few more weeks. Just string up some clothesline or heavy rope across one wall, and clip the tops of the plant to the rope with clothespins or binder clips. Try to avoid too much sunlight, or your tomatoes will spoil or ripen unevenly. A temperature of 60-72 degrees is ideal. Go the paper route. My grandma used this trick to ripen up green ones over a period of a week or two. Pick only the green tomatoes without cracks, holes, or blight, wrap them individually in newspaper, and place them in a single layer in the bottom of a wooden crate or basket.

Save the plant, or take cuttings.

Depending on your latitude, this may require some alternative sources of bright light. For everyone, propagating a tomato cutting or saving the plant can benefit from adding bottom heat by using a propagation mat. Cuttings or plants should be placed in a room or greenhouse where the temperature stays above 50 degrees, ideally between 60 and 70 degrees.

Saving an entire tomato plant takes some forethought. Planting them originally in a container can ease the process. Using a container that lessens the chances of that plant getting overgrown with encircling roots is ideal. Click on the Smart Pots info page about how Smart Pots fabric containers “air-prune” plant roots to keep them from choking your plant. Yes, that is a blatant plug for one of my sponsors…but it works!

When you’re ready to move the plant indoors or to a greenhouse in a sunny location, think about the obstacles that lie ahead (other than lugging a plant indoors). Dig around the soil, looking for ant colonies or insect/tomato worm eggs/pupae. If you find them, I would advise against saving that plant. You may have an ongoing battle with ants, aphids, whiteflies and tomato worms. Indoors! Don’t worry about trying to save any existing tomatoes on the plant. You won’t. That’s a lot of stress on a plant. The existing fruit and flowers will probably fall off or not ripen very quickly. Before your move the tomato plant, cut back the entire plant so that it’s only about 12 inches tall. Thoroughly clean off the remaining leaves and stems with a good blast of water. You may want to invest in a package of yellow sticky traps to monitor for whitefly infestations, especially.

If you are still keen about growing a tomato plant indoors in the winter, read this post from the Farmer Fred Rant blog page that goes into the best varieties to grow indoors during the winter. Oh, and one other thing: the taste of winter-grown tomatoes is just one notch above supermarket quality. It’s nowhere near that delicious, juicy, aromatic tomato that grows in your garden in the summer.

Now that I have discouraged you from lugging insect-laden plants into your home, how about…

How to take tomato cuttings:

1. Using four-inch pots, fill with a dampened, commercial potting soil, preferably a seed starting mix. Your backyard soil is too iffy, because of possible pathogens and poor drainage.

2. Using your finger, a dibble or a round pencil, make a hole in the dampened soil, a few inches deep.

3. Take 5-7 inch-long cuttings from the tips of the tomato plants. Make the cut just below a side branch. Take off any flowers or juvenile fruit as well as the bottom leaves. That cutting only needs the two top leaves.

4. Drop the cuttings into the hole in the soil and gently press the soil around the cuttings, burying at least two of the side branch cuts.

5. For these new cuttings, direct sun should be avoided until you see new growth. Again, bottom heat and a room where the temperatures are at least 50 degrees. Temperatures between 60-70 degrees can speed up the process.

6. Don’t let the soil dry out, but make sure there is a place for the water to drain out from the container. A ribbed, plastic plant tray below the pots is ideal.

7. When you see new growth (in a week or two), you can slowly increase the light. After a couple of weeks, 12 to 14 hours of direct light will help.

8. Transplant into the garden when soil temperatures are above 50 degrees. Using a hot cap or Walls of Water initially after transplanting can help them adapt to their new outdoor home in early spring.

===============And you can always cook green tomatoes, such as with this recipe for Fried Green Tomatoes from allrecipes.com :        4 large green tomatoes        2 eggs        1/2 cup milk        1 cup all-purpose flour        1/2 cup cornmeal        1/2 cup bread crumbs        2 teaspoons coarse kosher salt        1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper        1 quart vegetable oil for frying           1.    Slice tomatoes 1/2 inch thick. Discard the ends.    2.    Whisk eggs and milk together in a medium-size bowl. Scoop flour onto a plate. Mix cornmeal, bread crumbs and salt and pepper on another plate. Dip tomatoes into flour to coat. Then dip the tomatoes into milk and egg mixture. Dredge in breadcrumbs to completely coat.    3.    In a large skillet, pour vegetable oil (enough so that there is 1/2 inch of oil in the pan) and heat over a medium heat. Place tomatoes into the frying pan in batches of 4 or 5, depending on the size of your skillet. Do not crowd the tomatoes, they should not touch each other. When the tomatoes are browned, flip and fry them on the other side. Drain them on paper towels.FOR A HEALTHIER ALTERNATIVE...(and you knew this was coming) try this vegan green tomato recipe from the Fat Free Vegan Kitchen Blog:Oven-Fried Green TomatoesIngredients1/2 cup water1 1/2 teaspoon ground flax seed1/2 cup cornmeal1/4 cup quinoa flour (or other flour)1 teaspoon cornstarch (or other starch)1/2 teaspoon black pepper freshly ground1/2 teaspoon salt4 large green tomatoesInstructionsPreheat oven to 425. Spray a baking sheet lightly with canola oil or non-stick spray or line with parchment paper.Combine the water and ground flax seeds in a blender and blend at high speed for 30 seconds. Pour into a wide, shallow bowl and allow to sit for a few minutes to thicken slightly.In another wide bowl or plate, combine remaining ingredients (except tomatoes). Cut tomatoes into slices about 1/4 to 1/2-inch thick. Submerge a tomato slice in the flax-water, allow excess to drip off, and place slice into cornmeal mixture. Press lightly to make sure that bottom of slice is covered with cornmeal and turn to coat other side. Place on prepared baking sheet.When all tomato slices are coated, bake for 15 minutes, or until bottoms are golden brown. Turn and bake another 15 minutes to brown other side. Remove from oven and serve immediately.Preparation time: 25 minute(s) | Cooking time: 30 minute(s)Number of servings (yield): 6Nutrition (per serving): 94 calories, 12 calories from fat, 1.4g total fat, 0mg cholesterol, 214.6mg sodium, 287.3mg potassium, 18.7g carbohydrates, 2.8g fiber, 5.1g sugar, 3.2g protein.

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Publication of the “Beyond the Garden Basics” newsletter will be taking a break for awhile. Thanks for reading…and listening.

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Thank you for also listening to the Garden Basics with Farmer Fred podcast! It’s available wherever you get your podcasts. Please share it with your garden friends.

Fred Hoffman is also a University of California Cooperative Extension Master Gardener in Sacramento County. And he likes to ride his bike(s).

Mid-October is usually the time here in Northern California to harvest two of my favorite backyard crops: popcorn and persimmons. But what if the roof rats beat you to the harvest? Today - roof rat control tips!

Today’s Newsletter Podcast features Ann Ralph, author of the book, “Grow a Little Fruit Tree”.

Fruit Tree Pruning, Step by Step

Last Friday’s Garden Basics with Farmer Fred podcast, Episode 351 - “Honey I Shrunk the Fruit Trees” also dealt with the benefits of keeping the height of fruit trees to no taller than you can reach to the top of the tree to pick fruit. Because, who wants to fall off a ladder?

UC Cooperative Extension Communications Specialist - and Consulting Arborist - Kevin Marini walked us through the steps of keeping your fruit trees healthy, and at a reasonable height (listen to the episode for his tree reduction tips).

Among our topics:

• Maintaining the height of fruit trees at a manageable level allows for easier fruit harvesting and reduces the risk of broken branches.

• Thinning fruit trees is necessary to remove crowded fruit and allow the tree to breathe, resulting in bigger and juicier fruit.

• Bringing down the height of a fruit tree can be done gradually over a few years to avoid stressing the tree.

• Using the right pruning cuts, such as reduction cuts and thinning cuts, helps maintain the structure of the tree and promotes better fruit production.

• Cutting newly planted fruit trees at the knees stimulates the growth of lower branches and makes fruit more accessible.

• Rootstock selection is important for controlling the height and spread of fruit trees.

• Thinning cuts are essential for improving air circulation within the tree and ensuring fruit production in lower areas of the branches. Pruning suckers and water sprouts is essential to maintain the structure of fruit trees.

• Removing branches that grow towards the center of the tree helps prevent overcrowding and disease.

• Cutting dead, dying, and diseased branches is important to maintain the overall health of the tree.

• Proper pruning cuts, including the three-cut method for larger branches, help prevent damage and decay.

• Using sharp pruning tools and cleaning them regularly improves the efficiency and effectiveness of pruning.

You can listen to our complete conversation here.

And one more pruning term, according to the U. Of Florida: Reduction Cut

A reduction cut (also referred to as a drop-crotch cut) shortens a branch by removing a stem back to a lateral branch that is large enough to resist extensive disfunction and decay behind the cut. This is generally interpreted as cutting back to a lateral branch that is at least one-third the diameter of the cut stem. Sprouts commonly follow a reduction cut. In most cases these should not be removed because they help the retained portion of the branch retard decay. When the branch that remains is less than about one-third the diameter of the cut stem, the cut is considered a heading cut. Heading cuts are not considered appropriate in most instances in the landscape. Heading cuts are sometimes necessary when attempting to restore trees following storm damage.

Kevin Marini’s Steps for Pruning Your Fruit Trees For Better Health

From the Ep. 351 podcast transcript:

Farmer Fred

Kevin, you mentioned there are some steps, like four or five steps, when it comes to reducing the height of a fruit tree?

Kevin Marini  35:28

Yeah, well, let's start with  one that maybe doesn't reduce the height, but it's the easiest step. And everyone could do this any time of year. And they don't even have to be very careful about where they make the cut. And that is the suckers.

Because fruit trees are grafted on to a root stock, you get suckers that grow up from the ground from the root stock. Believe it or not, this can be a big problem. Because if you let those suckers continue to grow, they can eventually convince you that they're part of your fruit tree until you actually see this weird looking fruit on them. And you realize, Wait, what's that all about? Prune out those suckers. Step number one, go out to your fruit tree anytime during the year. If they're shooting from the ground, obviously, from the root stock below the graft union, cut them out, do not let them take over your tree. So that's easy. Step number one.

Farmer Fred  36:21

Yeah,  let's define that. First. For people who are trying to find the bud union, if a tree was planted properly, that's going to be like a little lump or a little bump that should be just a few inches above the surface of the soil. And so anything that is emanating from below that point, can be removed completely and safely.

Kevin Marini  36:39

Yes, I'm actually glad you drilled down on that a little bit, because one thing that I have encountered quite a bit is that people bury the graft union. So they buy their fruit tree in a container. And the graft union is above the soil line when they bring it home. But when they pop it out of the container and put it into the ground, many times they'd bury it too deep. And if that graft union is subsurface, if it's underneath the ground, it can absolutely quickly rot. And then you can lose your fruit tree in a nice stiff wind down the road. That's super important, The graft has to be above ground. It has to be daylighted. You really have to take care of that, right? Ideally, you don't want it facing west, where the afternoon sun is hammering it, you kind of want it facing the other way. It's not a deal breaker, if you didn't do that. Don't worry, folks. But having that graft union up above ground and then controlling any sucker growth from below that coming from the ground, from the rootstock, or just beneath the graft on the stem, is important.

Farmer Fred  37:44

Yep, there are other suckers -  I don't know if this is unique to citrus or not - they're called water sprouts, that can just spring up almost anywhere in the tree. But the thing with them is they're growing straight up. And they're easy to spot and easy to remove.

Kevin Marini  37:59

So that is I would say your step number two. So you start with your suckers down below, get rid of all those, get them out of the way. Some of them can be quite thorny, and vicious as well, especially on citrus. And so then you're looking for these other type of suckers called water sprouts. They generally occur as vigorous vertical shoots on lateral branches. So branches that are going out relatively in a horizontal fashion, they will have these sprouts that vertically shoot up to the sky. On certain plums and cherries, sometimes these water sprouts can be seven, eight feet in length. I mean, they can completely destroy this beautiful structure that you're trying to work on with this fruit tree. Identifying those water sprouts and getting them out of there is super important. You know, some people will use water sprouts to rejuvenate fruit trees. That would be getting really technical here. We're not going to go into that, but I just want to point out that they could have a use in certain circumstances. But overwhelmingly in our backyard orchard, you see a waterspout, it should be taken out.

So, let's talk about number three. Okay, so you've got your suckers, got your waterspouts right. So now you're going to start actually looking for some problem children. Okay, what are the problem children? Well, those shoots that are going into the middle of the tree that you spoke about earlier, are probably I call them problem children. By themselves. They're just little shoots the branches and you might not think anything of them. But for me, trying to maintain a certain structure to the fruit tree, those can really muck it up very quickly. They really  become cumbersome to deal with, if you really let them grow in there, you really have to get in there and find their origin and cut them out and yank them out. And it can be a little troubling. So I say, stay on top of this, those branches that are crossing, rubbing, and then going from branches into the middle of the fruit tree, get those out of there. They are pretty easy to identify and remove. Now, of course, there's also I mentioned the crossing, rubbing, those aren't necessarily only branches that are going towards the middle of the fruit tree, those are branches that are just growing too close together. And if they're touching already, with a fruit load, it's even going to be worse. And they can create wounds, which then of course lead to potential disease. So you don't want that.

And then of course, the next step is those dead, dying, diseased branches. If you know a branch is dead, cut it out of there, don't let it be a host for  other bacteria or fungi that could reinfect the live tissue somewhere on the planet from the tree. If it's dying, if you see something dying back, sometimes the best thing  to do is to prune that puppy out quickly, potentially stopping the infection in its tracks. Right? Those four or five quick tips, if everyone just did those, the fruit trees would be in good shape. For the most part, you still would probably have to do what we talked about in the beginning, which is reduction cuts, and a mix of dormant and summer pruning to keep that height down. But those easy steps - like walk out to the tree - and take out suckers, water sprouts, branches going towards the center, dead, dying, diseased, crossing, rubbing. Five. So there it is, you do those five things, you are doing way more than most people do.

A Few Q&A’s about fruit tree pruning:

• How far back should I prune my deciduous fruit trees?

The latest trend for backyard orchardists: keep your fruit trees no taller than you can reach. All the fruit above your extended arms, after all, is for the birds. For fruit trees five years old and less, this is fairly easy to do. For older, taller established fruit trees, remove one-third of the total tree height each year until the desired height (under ten feet) is achieved.

• How much of a branch should I cut?

Never cut back a healthy branch of any tree by more than one-third its entire length. Don't make a "flush cut" (removing a branch right next to the stem). Leave the nub or "branch collar" that protrudes out less than an inch from the stem. That area contains the chemicals necessary for the tree wound to heal.

If in doubt what to cut, especially when the branches are out of easy reach, don't hesitate to call in a tree pruning professional.

• How Do I Prune a Thick Branch?

Don't try to get rid of any branch thicker than an inch with just a single pass of the saw; you could end up with a fallen branch that may have removed more than you had anticipated, such as a strip of the main stem. When tackling the big branches, use the three-cut method with a pruning saw:

•Cut number one: make a cut halfway through the underside of the branch to be removed, about one foot out from the collar where the branch attaches to the main stem.

•Cut number two: Saw through the top of the branch, about two inches farther out from cut number one. The branch should give way about half way through this cut, with the undercut portion preventing any damage to the tree along the stem.

•Cut number three is the clean up cut, sawing through the remaining stub of the branch you want to remove. Make this cut close to the collar (the enlarged portion encircling the branch that attaches to the main stem) but do not make the cut flush with the stem; damage to the vascular system (a tree's pipeline for nutrients) may result.

How to Sharpen Hand Pruners

Thanks for reading Beyond Basics: The Garden Basics with Farmer Fred Newsletter! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work.

Thank you for also listening to the Garden Basics with Farmer Fred podcast! It’s available wherever you get your podcasts. Please share it with your garden friends.

Fred Hoffman is also a University of California Cooperative Extension Master Gardener in Sacramento County. And he likes to ride his bike(s).

In this past week’s two episodes of the “Garden Basics with Farmer Fred” podcast, we covered several timely topics in Episodes 188 and 189 including:

Episode 188:

• Tips for Controlling Bermudagrass (Note: the word is “control”, not “eradicate”). Bermudagrass is forever.

• How plants communicate to get nutrition and ward off pests. (Steve Zien of Living Resources Co. spends a lot of time with his ear to the ground. Maybe he’s fallen and can’t get back up? Anyway, he says plant roots sweat a lot.)

• The (Alleged) Benefits of Compost Tea. Not that I doubt the enthusiasm of Steve Zien - also known as Sacramento’s Organic Advocate - for advocating the use of compost tea for improving soil biology, but next week in this space we will talk with a researcher from the University of Virginia Cooperative Extension who has studied the pros and cons of compost tea. It may come down to the quality of the water that you use to brew the compost tea.

• Thin your vegetable seedlings! Thin your flower seedlings! THIN THE FRUIT ON YOUR DECIDUOUS FRUIT TREES! (lessons learned the hard way)

Episode 189:

• Stop Tomato Blossom End Rot Before It Starts (Tips to reduce the incidence of this disorder in your tomato and pepper plants. Yes, peppers get blossom end rot, too.)

• Grow Your Soil via the “Clip and Flip” and “Chop and Drop” mulching methods. The author of the book, Grow Your Soil, Diane Miessler, also refers in our chat to bermudagrass, calling it “the spawn of Satan”, so she’s OK in my book.

So why, then, is the above podcast about pepper flowers? Because in many parts of the country this time of year, nurseries and garden centers have tomato and pepper plants, side by side. They wouldn’t be stocking peppers on their shelves unless it was the right time to plant them, right? right? Let’s put it this way: those pepper flowers are more susceptible to dropping off during typical late April-early May nighttime low temperatures. Don’t worry, you’ll get peppers. Eventually.

We had to cut short last week’s display of Master Rosarian Charlotte Owendyk’s list of the Ten Most Fragrant Roses to grow (the Internet was running low on zeroes and ones). Here, then, is the balance of those shows for the nose, excerpted from the June 2021 Rose Reflections Newsletter of the Sacramento Rose Society and Sierra Foothills Rose Society.

By the way, those two societies are having their spring rose show and sale, Saturday, April 30, 1-4:30 pm, at the Shepherd Garden and Art Center, 3330 McKinley Blvd. in Sacramento’s McKinley Park. Free admission, free parking. If you’re in the area, drop in and smell the roses. Sacramento Rose Society President Debbie Arrington wants to remind you, “after seeing the show, check out the McKinley Park Memorial Rose Garden, too.”

DOUBLE DELIGHT & MR LINCOLN ARE FRAGRANCE WINNERS

Two roses stand out as the most loved fragrant rose. Query rose growers and you will find Mister Lincoln and Double Delight mentioned most often. Also, these roses are frequent winners of the “most fragrant rose” award at rose shows. However, both roses are problematic in relation to disease resistance.

Hybridized in 1965, Mister Lincoln, a dark red hybrid tea, has an old fashioned, damask scent. Mr. Lincoln's blossoms are held on stiff, upright stems and will turn bluish as they age. The bushes can be expected to grow 4-5 feet tall and about 2 feet across. The lower couple of feet of the canes are usually leafless. It is susceptible to blackspot.

Double Delight, hybridized in 1977, has flowers that are a rich, creamy white to pale pink center with deep, ruby edging. They have a bushy habit, growing to about 4-5 feet with a 2-3 foot spread. It has a sweet, spicy scent. It is also susceptible to mildew.

Beverly – Perfectly formed high centered blooms with an intense fruity fragrance that has notes of citrus, peach, pear, and plum that mingle with base notes of patchouli and fresh myrtle that makes want to keep you nose in those beautiful blooms. Foliage is dark green with excellent disease resistance. The blooms open flat. This rose was the winner of the “Best Hybrid Tea” and “Most Fragrant Rose” awards at the 2013 Biltmore International Rose Trials.

Falling in Love – lovely warm pink with white accents and reverse exhibition blooms with strong rose and fruit fragrance. This rose is a good bloomer and fairly quick repeat. The rose produces big, beautiful and nicely fragrant blooms that are long lasting cut flowers. Falling in Love is upright, has big stiff canes and is fairly angular with great looking foliage. However, watch out for those thorns -- Falling in Love is one of the thorniest roses currently on the market. It's a beautiful rose and great looking bush with outstanding foliage.

Golden Celebration One of the largest-flowered English Roses, bears rich yellow blooms in the form of giant cups. They have a strong Tea fragrance, developing wonderfully combined notes of Sauternes wine and strawberry. It forms a large rounded shrub, with ample foliage – the flowers held beautifully poised on long, arching branches. A few blooms will fill a room with fragrance. Very few thorns. One of my top favs.

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Thanks for Subscribing and Spreading the Word About the Garden Basics with Farmer Fred newsletter, I appreciate your support. 

And thank you for listening to the Garden Basics with Farmer Fred podcast! It’s available wherever you get your podcasts. Please share it with your garden friends.

Fred Hoffman is also a University of California Cooperative Extension Master Gardener in Sacramento County.

As we learned in Episode 186 in the Garden Basics with Farmer Fred podcast, the most fragrant roses make the best meal. Really. Well, maybe not a meal, more like an appetizer. Master Rosarian Debbie Arrington of the Sacramento Rose Society explained that rose petals are actually quite delicious, either served raw in a salad, used as a garnish, or steeped into a tea. Listen to her tips for choosing the right blooms for your rose tasting experience in Episode 186 of the Garden Basics podcast. One of her tips: fragrant roses tend to be the most tasty. Her most important tip: “Don’t eat rose flowers that have been sprayed with pesticides.” Listen to her suggestions for fast food floribundas in the current podcast (186).

So, what are the most fragrant roses to choose for your dining experience? In this newsletter podcast, above, another Master Rosarian, Charlotte Owendyk of the Sierra Foothills Rose Society, offered her Top 10 roses that are a show for noses. And below, is part of Charlotte’s article for the Sacramento/Sierra Foothills Rose Society’s newsletter about fragrant roses. Clear your nose, let’s go!

Fragrant Roses…A Few That I Grow

by Charlotte Owendyk (excerpted from the June 2021 Rose Reflections Newsletter)

Watch someone walk by roses displayed at a rose show. First, there'll be an exclamation over color or beauty, but, inevitably, the head will lean in towards the rose in order to sniff its scent and rise with either a smile or expression of disappointment.

Yep, we all want fragrance in our roses. This usually is especially important if you only have space for a few roses in your garden.

The aroma of roses is due to more than 300+ volatile chemical compounds. In addition, there are times when roses are more fragrant than other times. The best time to smell your roses is in the morning when the tem- perature is about 65 - 70 degrees (F). As the day gets warmer, the fragrance oils evaporate. Another factor in fragrance perception is the fact that no two noses are the same!

When the hybrid tea rose became the rage earlier last century, breed- ers aimed for large, high-centered hybrid tea blooms as well as new and different colors. Cut-flower rose cultivars for florists were selected for long vase life,flower shape, and color. In both cases, fragrance was incidental.

However, the old garden roses (OGRs) continued to sell because they were great garden plants and many of them have outstanding fragrance. In many cases, it was the fragrance that sold the rose. And many of these OGRs, unlike hybrid teas which bloom all season long, only bloom once a season.

In 1985 a paradigm shift occurred; David Austin, a farmer in England, succeeded in breeding fragrant OGRs with repeat blooming roses to produce a whole new generation of fragrant repeat bloomers. Currently, David Austin Roses is a major hybridizer of repeat blooming roses that have fragrance and luscious bloom form. A typical example is Golden Celebration. Many members have a soft spot for these roses.

Hybridizers in the last 10-20 years have been working to incorporate disease resistance into roses. (It takes a minimum of 10 years for a rose to come to market.) Many of recent roses introduced are disease resistant to most fungal diseases.

Fragrance took a backseat to disease resistance. Now, breeders are more focused on including fragrance in roses.

MORE RECENT FRAGRANT ROSES

Firefighter – a dusky red velvet hybrid tea that is disease-resistant, with intense old rose fragrance. It is named in honor of the firefighters who lost their lives on 9/11/01. It is very productive, generating long straight stems which are almost thornless, and fragrant until it falls apart. Is an excellent cut flower. This rose grows tall.

Francis Meilland This rose has amazing sweet strong fruit and citrus rose perfumed blooms on long stems. Also winner of many awards in America and internationally. It is also tested and proven highly resistant to blackspot in a variety of climates. The bush is covered with dark green glossy foliage. Francis Meilland stood out to me because it’s a heat lover, grows long cut-worthy stems, has massive blush to white blooms, some of the most fragrant blooms. Its form is actually more of an old fashioned type rose and not your average hybrid tea.

Julia Child ‐ Just before our wonderful American icon left us, she selected this exceptional rose to bear her name. Julia loved the even butter gold color & the licorice candy fragrance. To top it off it has a perfectly rounded habit, super glossy leaves & great disease resistance. Consistent, hardy & floriferous in all climates. Very disease resistant. The blooms do fade a bit.

Memorial Day Lovely orchid pink hybrid tea rose with enormous old-fashioned full 5-6" flowers (petals 50+) saturated with super-strong classic old rose fragrance. Long, almost thornless stems are lushly adorned with clean green leaves on a continual blooming plant. Just one flower perfumes an entire room. All-American Award winner. This is my #2 favorite rose.

Pope John Paul II–Beautiful clear white blooms with approximately 45 petals de-light the nose with a strong citrus fragrance. Dark green glossy foliage is diseaseresistant. The bushy plants tops at 4 feet. DO NOT prune hard. Just de-twig and kind of shape the bush. Next season you will be surprised at the results. This is my #3 favorite rose.

Secret – My favorite rose! Produces lots of lovely creamy blooms with pink on the edges of the blooms when the petals reflex shows a touch of gold which provide aglow to the fragrant strong spicy scented blooms. Secret repeats blooms quickly and has glossy bright green foliage that is very disease resistant. Great cut flower.

Princess Alexandra of Kent - The unusually large, bright pink flowers are full-petaled and deeply cupped. In spite of their size, they are never clumsy, being held nicely poised on a well-rounded shrub. There is a strong and delicious fresh Tea fragrance, which changes to lemon, eventually taking on hints of blackcurrants. The blooms handle our heat well.

We will highlight more of Charlotte’s favorite fragrant roses in next week’s newsletter.

Thank you for listening to the Garden Basics with Farmer Fred podcast! It’s available at gardenbasics.net or wherever you get your podcasts. Please share it with your garden friends.

Fred Hoffman is also a University of California Cooperative Extension Master Gardener in Sacramento County.

Some of the highlights of this week’s two podcasts on Garden Basics with Farmer Fred, Episodes 184 and 185, are featured in today’s “Beyond Basics” newsletter podcast. One of the highlights of Episode 184 was Raffaele DiLallo, author of “Houseplant Warrior”, venturing into his other horticultural passion in his yard in Cleveland, Ohio: getting tropical plants to survive and thrive…outdoors…in an area of the country where snow blowers are more in demand than a chipper/shredder.

From Episode 185, Emily Murphy, author of “Grow Now”, talks about how to customize your garden mulching to match the needs of your particular plants. And to give you a hint about the thrust of her book, she casually tossed out the German word, “hegelkultur” in our podcast conversation…which is a raised bed building technique long utilized by those who practice permaculture. Not that there’s anything wrong with that.

And, Master Gardener Pam Bone gives us lots of good reasons to NOT plant a fruit tree in the middle of the lawn. But she offers some tips on the precautions to take to do it successfully.

Finding accurate, reputable information (and that’s the key) online is difficult on how to grow trees, especially fruit trees, in a lawn situation. However, the University of Wisconsin-Madison offers tips for commercial orchardists in the Midwest on the benefits and drawbacks of growing grass in the vicinity of fruit trees, in their publication: “Orchard-Floor Management For Fruit Trees”:

That publication is also bullish on establishing “grass alleys”: strips of turf, 5-6 feet wide, between the rows of trees, as long as the turf strips are set back about three feet from the trees: “The grass alley provides a solid place for equipment travel, helps prevent soil erosion, and helps increase water infiltration. Sod also helps to maintain soil structure. …weed invasion can be minimized and sod establishment can be fairly quick.”

Happy 10th Anniversary to Me! (How Gardening Has Helped Keep Me Alive, Courtesy of The Heart-Healthy Garden

The Heart Healthy Garden is a topic that is close to my heart, literally. After being diagnosed with four cholesterol-jammed heart arteries in March 2012, I underwent quadruple coronary artery bypass graft surgery on April 17, 2012. At the same time, I was told I had full-blown Type 2 Diabetes (A1C of 10.4). My general practitioner doctor (at the time) told me after the surgery, “You’re good for three to five years, tops.” I took that as a personal challenge.The surgery went well and the long road to healing from heart disease and diabetes began...including doctors' orders that a gardener does not want to hear: no lifting anything heavier than a gallon of milk for 3 months! Even more problematic for me: no bike riding for three months. After all, when surgeons slice open your sternum to work on your heart, it takes a long while for that bone to heal, despite being held together with wires.Thanks to regular exercise and a healthier diet, with a kickstart from low dosages of diabetes and heart medications, I lost over 60 pounds by February 2013, the replacement arteries (taken from the chest) that still service my heart were cholesterol-free, the blood sugar levels were back to near normal (A1C = 5.9), and I no longer needed to take any prescription medications for either of these ailments. With the doctors' blessings, of course. Today, I weigh the same as in 2013. And still ride my bike, over 100 miles a week.

A big part of my success was due to the encouragement and diet tips I got from the nurses who ran the cardiac rehabilitation program at the hospital. They believed - as I did - that there was enough clinical evidence out there that eating right and regular exercise can reverse heart disease and diabetes.

The “exercise” part of the recovery was not an issue. As an avid cyclist, I usually averaged 50 to 100 miles a week on the bike. Living at the time on 10 acres, I got a lot of weight-bearing exercise shoveling 10 cubic yard piles of mulch, and lugging it around in 8 cubic foot wheelbarrows throughout the property to keep my fruit and nut tree orchard fat and happy.

The “Diet” part of the secret? Eat less sugar. Eat more fiber. That included growing, and eating, heart-healthy fruits and vegetables, loaded with fiber.

Most people are familiar with fiber. Fiber is a component of all plant-based foods which cannot be absorbed or digested. It travels relatively intact through your body and out. This is the role of  insoluble fiber, the roughage found in many fruits, vegetables and grains that passes through your digestive system and helps promote regularity. Fiber is also composed of  soluble fiber,  a type of fiber that dissolves in water to form a gel-like material. Studies at the Mayo Clinic and other institutions have shown that soluble fiber may help lower blood cholesterol levels by reducing low-density lipoprotein, or "bad," cholesterol levels. Soluble fiber may have other heart-health benefits, such as lowering blood pressure, blood glucose levels (important for Type 2 diabetes patients) and inflammation.Consuming foods rich in soluble fiber became one of my nutritional  keystones for recovery. And it worked! If battling high cholesterol levels and diabetes are part of your life, ask your doctor if a high fiber diet (30 or more grams a day of fiber) is right for you. Better yet, ask a registered dietician. Doctors know pills. Dieticians know food. Which do you want to consume for the rest of your life?If you cast your vote for "food", you, as a gardener, may be wondering, “What are the top five fruits and vegetables with the most soluble fiber that should be part of a heart-healthy backyard garden?” Thanks for asking:

Artichokes

(3.2 grams soluble fiber per 100 grams).

According to the UC Davis Vegetable Research and Information Center website, the globe artichoke is a perennial, cool-season vegetable that yields and produces best when grown near or along the California coast where cool to mild climates prevail. In milder areas of the East Coast, some success has been reported growing from seed varieties, or from transplants such as “Imperial Star”.  A mature artichoke plant produces ten or more stems during a season; each stem can provide four to five buds.Unfortunately, perennial plantings of artichokes are not recommended in areas where warm to hot temperatures are common. However, it is possible to grow high-quality artichokes in inland valleys and low desert regions of southern California by handling the crop as a direct-seeded or transplanted annual crop. Until recently, it was believed that artichoke buds produced from seed-propagated plants were of inferior quality to those produced by vegetative propagation. Recent research at the University of California has shown that seed-initiated artichokes looked and tasted great. Moreover, annual cropping makes growing artichokes feasible in gardens with limited space because the crop does not require long-term space allocation. Quicker rotation with other vegetables is also possible.To grow artichokes in warm climates, plant seeds or transplants of 'Imperial Star’ in July for inland valley locations or in September for the low deserts.Blueberries

(3.0 grams soluble fiber per 100 grams).

Up until about 25 years ago, commercial highbush blueberry production was relegated to the cooler, more humid climates, especially in the northern tier of states. The development of southern highbush blueberry varieties meant we could start growing this tasty fruit here in USDA Zone 9 and other in warm climates. According to the UC Cooperative Extension, rabbiteye blueberries grow in the southeastern part of the country and thrive in hot, humid weather but are not cold hardy. Lowbush blueberries grow in the northeastern states and Canada. Northern highbush blueberries grow from Florida to Maine and the northern tier states and have a high chilling requirement that limits their adaptability. Southern highbush blueberry varieties have a low-chill requirement and are heat tolerant. Although they are self-pollinating, blueberry fruit set will increase and berries will be larger if two varieties are planted together. Most varieties grow 4 to 6 feet tall here. A few, such as Sunshine Blue (3'), are more compact.Shell Beans

(1.6-2.2 grams soluble fiber per 100 grams). 

This easy-to-grow summertime garden staple should be included in every yard. The horticultural bean (shell bean), is widely grown in many parts of the country. The colorful pods and beans of the horticultural bean make it an attractive addition to the garden and kitchen. The seeds of pinto beans look similar to those of the horticultural beans, but are smaller. They are used widely as brown beans and as refried beans in Mexican dishes. Black beans or black turtle beans make an unusual, delicious black-colored soup. They are easy to grow if given plenty of air movement to prevent the disease problems to which they are susceptible. Kidney beans are the popular chili and baking bean, available in deep red or white types. Navy pea and Great Northern beans are used in soups and as baked beans. Plantings of beans should be made after danger of frost is past in the spring and soil is warmed, since seeds planted in cold soils germinate slowly and are susceptible to rotting. One old nurseryman offers this tip to avoid rotting bean seeds: water the day you plant the seeds; don't water the soil again until you see the bean emerge from the ground.

Apricots

(1.8 grams soluble fiber per 100 grams).

Apricots - as well as other deciduous fruit and nut trees - are available inexpensively as bare root trees in late winter and early spring. According to the annual taste test surveys conducted by Dave Wilson Nursery, the top-rated apricot varieties include the Blenheim, Canadian White Blenheim, Tomcot, Early Autumn, Autumn Glow, and a couple of Apricot-Plum crosses: the Flavor Delight Aprium and the Cot-n-Candy Aprium.

Green Peas

(1.7 grams soluble fiber per 100 grams).

According to the UC Davis Vegetable Research and Information Center website, peas do best when grown during cool weather; warm weather shortens the harvest season. In the Central Valley, low foothills and East Bay, plant peas from September through March. Peas can be grown throughout the country, timed with coolness and humidity.Bush types grow in most areas of California; vine types do best when planted along the coast. It is essential to provide support for the climbing vine types. Do not use overhead irrigation; it increases the incidence of mildew. Harvest peas when the seeds and pods are well-developed, but tender enough so they may be crushed between the fingers without separating into halves. Harvest edible pod types at the first sign of seed development. The sugar content of peas readily transfers into starch. Peas overmature quickly and starch conversion continues after picking. Therefore, cook or process (can or freeze) peas soon after shelling.Bush peas have a shorter, earlier production period than the pole types. However, the pole types require extra work, but yield more and produce for a longer time.

Recommended varieties include: China, snow, or sugar Dwarf Grey; Sugar Mammoth; Melting Sugar; Cowpeas (Southern peas, blackeye peas); Snap (thick, edible pods); Sugar Ann (dwarf); Sweet Snap (semi-dwarf); Sugar Rae (dwarf); Sugar Daddy (stringless, dwarf); Sugar Snap.

And finally, listed from greatest to least, the soluble fiber content (grams of soluble fiber per 100 grams of food) of the most commonly grown garden fruits and vegetables:(From: Handbook of Dietary Fiber  by Sungsoo Cho & Mark L. Dreher)

* artichokes 3.2

* blueberries 3.0

* pinto beans 2.2

* apricots 1.8

* green peas 1.7

* kidney beans/white beans 1.6

* raisins 1.3

* avocado 1.3

* carrots 1.3

* eggplant 1.3

* oranges 1.1

* pears 1.1

* peaches 0.9

* strawberries 0.9

* leeks 0.9

* green beans 0.7

* cabbage 0.7

* cauliflower 0.7

* peppers 0.7

* potatoes 0.6

* peanuts 0.5

* asparagus 0.5

* celery 0.5

* spinach 0.5

* sweet potatoes 0.5

* turnips 0.5

* tomatoes 0.4

* apple 0.3

* melons 0.3

* broccoli 0.3

* corn 0.2

* lettuce 0.2

* walnuts 0.1

* olives 0.1

* cucumbers 0.1

* onions 0.1

* radish 0.1

* zucchini 0.1

As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases from some of the underlined links in the newsletter. This is how I am trying to keep this a free newsletter. And as long as you buy whatever you want from Amazon using any of those links to get into the Amazon site, I get a few pennies. Thank you.

Thanks for Subscribing and Spreading the Word About the Garden Basics with Farmer Fred newsletter, I appreciate your support. 

And thank you for listening to the Garden Basics with Farmer Fred podcast! It’s available wherever you get your podcasts. Please share it with your garden friends.

Fred Hoffman is also a University of California Cooperative Extension Master Gardener in Sacramento County.

Above is an interview about the Luther Burbank Home and Gardens in Santa Rosa, California. Luther Burbank, of course, is probably America’s most famous botanist, horticulturist and pioneer in agricultural science.

He is responsible for the development of over 800 varieties of plants in his 55 year career of plant hybridization, his most famous, possibly is the Burbank Russet potato, which is still available in supermarkets and restaurants every day. His biggest flower achievement? Probably the Shasta daisy. And his fruit tree introductions included the July Elberta peach, the Santa Rosa plum, the plum-apricot cross, the plum-cot, and the freestone peach, many of which are still in commerce. One of his most lucrative developments that you will hear about in this interview is the spineless cactus, which is valuable as cattle feed in drought-stricken areas.

Yes, you’re going to learn a lot about Luther Burbank here.

But also, listen carefully to the docent describing all of this during our visit to the Luther Burbank Home and Garden: Jack Hadley. I conducted this interview years ago, back in 2006.

My method of operation for conducting many of these “on the road” garden interviews is fairly haphazard: driving to a destination, I’ll see something interesting along the way. I’ll pull over, get out my microphone and recorder, and grab the first person who knows something about wherever I am - and is willing to talk - and I then turn on the recorder. It was just my good fortune to be talking to Jack Hadley that day in 2006. Jack passed away in 2013. Jack, although very informative, didn’t talk about himself in our conversation. I wish he had. It was only after reading his obituary that I came to the realization that here was a person I wish I had known better. If you are in the habit of reading obituaries, you may occasionally have the same reaction: “Wow, what an interesting person who lead a vibrant life. I wish I knew them.”

Give a listen to the interview, and then read this edition of the Garden Basics newsletter, or do both at the same time. We will tell Jack’s story in the newsletter, along with his invention of an item that may be in your garage or garden shed right now: the hand-held, Whirlybird-style fertilizer and seed spreader, which he developed as an employee of Ortho, the long-time garden chemical division of the Chevron corporation.

I have a feeling that Luther Burbank and Jack Hadley would have been good friends.

Here are some of Jack Hadley’s life achievements, as written about in his obituary from Legacy.com, published in the January 8, 2014 Santa Rosa Press Democrat:

“Jack Hadley, a longtime Santa Rosa resident, beloved husband, father, U.S. Navy veteran and inventor of the "Whirlybird" hand-held fertilizer-spreader, passed away on Dec. 29, 2013. He was 88. The oldest of four boys, Jack was born in Martinez, CA on Dec. 15, 1925. He attended Nichols Elementary school and Mt. Diablo High School in Concord, where he excelled in football. He graduated in June 1944 and was drafted into the U.S. Navy. He was assigned to the USS Colorado BB45 battleship in Leyte Gulf, Philippines and was anchored in Okinawa when the atomic bombs were dropped on the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in August 1945. They were assembling to invade Japan when World War II ended. He was discharged in June 1946 and attended Marin Junior College where he excelled in football as a half back and fullback. His hopes were fulfilled when he received a full football scholarship to Oregon State College (now OSU) where he studied agriculture. He hoped to run a cattle ranch. After redshirting in 1947, Jack suffered a severe dislocation of his shoulder in 1948 while playing linebacker, an injury that ended his football career. But he didn't slow down, riding bareback in the College Rodeo and winning first place in 1949. After graduation, Jack joined Chevron Chemical in 1951 as a livestock specialist. In 1952 he met and fell in love with Aneta Nygren, and three months later they were married. They had their daughter, Shellie, in 1953. Later Jack was in product development working his way up to Western Regional Manager. He worked for 36 years for Chevron Ortho Division where he invented the "Whirlybird," a hand-held fertilizer spreader. More than 100 million Whirlybird spreaders have been sold to date. Jack was known for his enthusiasm, can-do attitude and his positive and sincere outlook on life. He loved people, and they flourished when around him. While working for Ortho, Jack designed and built five homes on weekends. He was a powerhouse of creativity and energy. Jack retired in December 1986. After years of living in San Rafael, he and Aneta moved to Santa Rosa in 1987. Jack designed and built a beautiful dream home for them overlooking Sonoma Valley. Jack volunteered with "Ideas to Market" an inventors group, and later was recognized by the city for his work at Luther Burbank Home and Garden.”

Some of the comments left by Jack’s friends and family on that obituary page reinforce and expand on much of what you just read:

“Jack was a kind and generous soul, always cheerful and always with a good idea. It was my pleasure to know and work with him as a fellow volunteer at Luther Burbank Home & Gardens.”

“All who knew him loved him! Hope you are spreading your wonderful good cheer wherever you are now, Jack.”

“He has a special place in our hearts, as he stood tall during the goood and not so good times.”

“Jack was a beloved boss and mentor of ours when we worked for him at Ortho. What a wonderful man, this world won't be the same but heaven is rejoicing in his coming home!”

“Always a kind word, how you doing, with a laugh. Happy memories . Laughing, smiling. Always so sweet.”

“He will always be remembered as the spark plug that ignited Chevron and made it the envy of the industry. Jack was the best at everything..the best.”

“Jack was an overwhelming personality who could not accept a "NO, Jack" on a regulatory or label issue. The Ortho family will miss him. He was a treasure.”

“Never a happier man than Jack. I am a better person for having worked for and known Jack Hadley.”

“I remember Jack when they were very involved and great volunteers at the Burbank Home & Gardens. He had such a positive and helpful attitude about everything.”

“A great man and a great life. He left an indelible mark on so many. I was blessed to have the opportunity to witness his leadership skills for 10 years.”

“Mr. Hadley was one of the best I've ever met. He was always so kind and had the nicest smile and could light up a room with those eyes. He will definitely be a shining star up above.”

“Jack was a mentor for many of us. For me he was both a professional and personal friend who taught me much about work and life.”

“Jack was a wonderful man one of the best I ever worked for. He was always in high gear and full of life. he will be missed!”

“I loved working for Jack at Ortho. He was my hero and role model.”

“Even in his 80s Uncle Jack was a delight and bubbling with life. His LOVE of family and the world around him was intoxicating...a "Hadley trait" I hope transcends generations to come. Love always Uncle Jack.”

“Jack was a wonderful man and such a fine human being. Always positive and seeing the good in life, unfailingly kind and ever a gentleman. I always felt happy when I was around him, because he was so cheerful.”

As I am compiling this, it’s getting a bit misty in here. I bet you wish you knew Jack Hadley better, too. My interaction with Jack was brief; but I’m glad to be able to share with you my few minutes chatting with him, all those years ago. You’ll never be able to think about your Whirlybird fertilizer spreader in the same way.

As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases from some of the underlined links in the newsletter. This is how I am trying to keep this a free newsletter. And as long as you buy whatever you want from Amazon using any of those links to get into the Amazon site, I get a few pennies. Thank you.

Thanks for Subscribing and Spreading the Word About the Garden Basics with Farmer Fred newsletter, I appreciate your support. 

And thank you for listening to the Garden Basics with Farmer Fred podcast! It’s available wherever you get your podcasts. Please share it with your garden friends.

Fred Hoffman is also a University of California Cooperative Extension Master Gardener in Sacramento County.

That audio snippet (above) is from Episode 178 of the Garden Basics with Farmer Fred podcast, featuring author Emily Murphy, talking about her new book, “Grow Now-How We Can Save Our Health, Communities, and Planet, One Garden at a Time”. Go to Episode 178 to listen to the entire conversation. The audio sampler above touches on one section of her book, where she discusses the importance of knowing your “Nature Quotient.” As she puts it in her book:

“Your nature quotient (NQ) is a measure of your understanding of the natural world, the dynamics at work within it, and your personal connectivity to nature. It involves skills such as observation, curiosity, mindfulness, and empathy and compassion.”

But the podcast interview gave short attention to how to increase your NQ, in order to become a better gardener. Nor did it offer up the quiz that Emily presents in “Grow Now” on how to measure your NQ.

Since the name of this digital typing allegedly contains the words, “Beyond Basics”, it seems appropriate that we present the quiz here, along with tips for increasing your NQ, which you can also find in the book, “Grow Now”:

Measure Your “NQ” (Nature Quotient)

(In the book, you can circle all the answers that apply to you. If you try that here, you’ll have permanent black circles on your phone or tablet. Just get the book.)

• How much time, on average, do you spend outside each week? Two or more hours; one hour; less than one hour.

• What are your touchpoints with nature? Houseplants; nearby park or open space; plants and trees in your yard or garden.

• Which of the following have you done recently? Take a nature walk; stop when you hear the sound of a bird; notice a change in wind direction; look to the sun to figure out the time of day; notice a shift in the seasons; pick up litter; photograph flowers and plants.

• How often do you feel burnt out and exhausted? Often; sometimes; never.

• How comfortable are you without wifi, or going without your phone for periods of time? Love it; hate it; it doesn’t matter; a mix of all three.

• Can you determine when the moon is full? Yes; no.

• What do you think of bugs? Fascinating; frightening.

• What are your feelings on dirt? Love it; hate it; neutral; not sure.

• What do you do when you find spiderwebs outside? Leave them where you find them; Swipe them away.

• How do you see yourself? As someone who can grow anything with a little bit of effort; as someone who is challenged by gardening and everything you try to grow withers.

Unfortunately, for those of us who are results-oriented, this is a quiz without a score. As frequent guest (and retired college horticulture professor) Debbie Flower likes to remind us, “This information will not be on the Final.” So, just be honest with yourself, and perhaps take up some of Emily’s suggestions in her book for 15 easy ways to increase your NQ, with my additional thoughts in italics:

15 Easy Ways to Increase Your NQ

* Keep a Bird book and binoculars by the window. (be sure to tell the neighbors you’re looking for birds, not hot tub parties)

* Grow three new herbs in your kitchen or on your patio (gentle reminder: marijuana is not an herb. Besides, the teenagers next door have binoculars, too, and might covet your “herb garden”.)

* Compost your kitchen scraps and yard waste. (And start a worm compost bin. They’re quiet and undemanding. They’re happy with your leftover, chopped up vegetables.)

* Try growing - from a cutting - a plant that you pass on walks in your neighborhood. (Pro tip: for the sake of your health, ask before you snip. A good book on the topic is “Plant Propagation” by Alan Toogood)

* Try propagating a favorite houseplant. (Again, the book “Plant Propagation” is a handy reference)

* Try growing mushrooms in your cupboard or in a shady spot outside. (for advice on which mushrooms you find outdoors that are safe to eat, consult someone with extensive mud stains on their shirt and pants. They are probably members of a local mycological society, who spend their weekends crawling through forests, looking for mushrooms. And let them taste it first.)

* Commit to using only organic fertilizers. (Pro Tip #2: building a healthy soil with consistent practices of mulching, composting, no-till, and cover cropping may reduce your fertilizer needs to near zero, especially on permanent plantings.)

* Follow the sun by creating outdoor spaces to be either sun or shade, depending on the season. (Pro Tip #3: just moved to a new home? Plan before planting. And that could take a year. Track the moving shade in your yard with pictures for the first year in your new home. Once each month, on a sunny day, take a series of pictures at 9am, noon, 3pm and 6pm of the areas where you want to put a garden. Gauge from those pictures whether the area, on average, is full sun (6-8 hours or more per day), part sun (4-6 hours) or mostly shade (less than 4 hours). Plant accordingly. Fear not, you can still plant in year 1. Just use containers that you can move around easily to follow the sun.)

* Add a new, pollinator-friendly planting bed to your existing garden. (In USDA Zone 9, don’t forget to add winter-blooming shrubs that are attractive to bees and other beneficials, such as rosemary and euryops.)

* Begin a nature project. What can you make with leaves, driftwood, or other found items? (I like to put fallen oak leaves in a metal trash can and whip them into small pieces with a string trimmer, and then top my raised beds with those shredded leaves. A mulching mower can accomplish that task, as well)

* Do a simple test of the soil near your home. (Inexpensive pH and macronutrient test kits are widely available. A couple of universities also do inexpensive, but complete soil testing: University of Massachusetts/Amherst and Colorado State University.)

* Plan a small cutting garden for homegrown bouquets. (Zinnias are easy to grow and long lasting as cut flowers!)

* If there are trees in your yard or nearby landscape, create a comfortable spot to sit and enjoy them for some at-home forest bathing. (A long time ago, an old edition of the Sunset Western Garden book offered instructions for creating a redwood haven. I did it, and the result was fabulous! Truly a “greenhouse” and a cool, contemplative area in the summer that attracted nesting owls. Pro tip #4: use tall, evergreen trees that are native to your area. And you’ll need a big yard to do this! Instructions at the end of this newsletter.)

* Replace a section of your lawn with a riot of regionally appropriate plants and wildflowers. (YES!)

* Fill window boxes and planters with flowers and leafy greens you’ve never planted before. (“Bright Lights” Swiss Chard is a personal favorite for the eyes and mouth.)

Pick up Emily Murphy’s book, “Grow Now”, wherever you pick up books. Lots of great advice and great pictures!

============================================================================

How to Make an Evergreen “Greenhouse”.

These instructions from the 1988 edition of the Sunset Western Garden Book applied to coast redwood trees. Many different varieties of conifers could be used instead: pines, cedars, and firs, for example. Choose species that are native to your area for the best chance of longterm success.

From the 1988 Sunset Western Garden book description of Sequoia sempervirens (coast redwood tree):

“Plant several in a grove or in a 40-foot diameter circle. Inside it’s cool, fragrant, and a fine spot for fuchsias, begonias, and people on hot summer days. For grove or circle planting, space trees 7 feet apart. Trees can be planted 3-4 feet apart and topped at least once a year to make a beautiful hedge.”

If you have the room, do the circle. The hedge is too much work and, in my opinion, destroys the majesty of the trees.

As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases from some of the underlined links in the newsletter. This is how I am trying to keep this a free newsletter. And as long as you buy whatever you want from Amazon using any of those links to get into the Amazon site, I get a few pennies. Thank you.

Thanks for Subscribing and Spreading the Word About the Garden Basics with Farmer Fred newsletter, I appreciate your support. 

And thank you for listening to the Garden Basics with Farmer Fred podcast! It’s available wherever you get your podcasts. Please share it with your garden friends.

Fred Hoffman is also a University of California Cooperative Extension Master Gardener in Sacramento County.

Professional chef and Sacramento County Master Gardener Andi Macdonald shares her California-style gumbo recipe in the brief chat at the top of this edition of the Garden Basics’ “Beyond Basics” newsletter.

Mardi Gras season is also gumbo season in Lousiana. And we know a good thing when we taste it. Gumbo dishes have spread, and can be found served on a regular basis everywhere, including the dining rooms of Congress. What makes Andi’s gumbo recipe unique: it’s vegan.

“Sacrilegious!”, you say, about a dish that goes back hundreds of years in Louisiana, a staple of an early American diet that features meat as the main attraction. To quote Wikipedia:

“Gumbo is a heavily seasoned stew that combines several varieties of meat or seafood with a sauce or gravy. Any combination of meat or seafood can be used. Meat-based gumbo may consist of chicken, duck, squirrel, or rabbit, with oysters occasionally added. Seafood-based gumbo generally has shrimp, crab meat, and sometimes oysters. Andouille sausage is often added to both meat and seafood gumbos to provide "piquancy, substance, and an additional layer of flavor" to the dish. The key is to use a tender andouille so it does not become too chewy. Most varieties of gumbo are seasoned with onions, parsley, bell pepper, and celery. Tomatoes are sometimes used in seafood gumbo, but traditionally few other vegetables are included.”

“I have been a vegan for the past 2-1/2 years,” explains Macdonald, who trained at Michelin-starred restaurant Chez Panisse in Berkeley, CA, where founder Alice Waters developed the concept of California Cuisine and promoted the farm-to-table movement. Macdonald goes on to say: “I work at creating upscale vegan cuisine. I believe that all food should be wonderful, and there's no reason vegan cuisine can't meet a high bar. I also don't believe that following a vegan diet should be a political statement. Humans have evolved to like certain tastes and textures and that can be achieved in vegan cooking.”

Here’s the recipe:

Vegan Gumbo Yaya

By Andi MacDonald, Sacramento County Master Gardener / Professional Chef

Serves 8

What makes gumbo so special is the roux, a cooked mixture of flour and fat that both thickens and flavors the stew. Depending on what it will be used for, roux can be white, blond, brown, or black. For this gumbo, the aim is a very dark red-brown roux, which takes patience and a good eye. One way to tell that you’ve reached perfection is that the roux will smell like popcorn.

You can buy Creole seasoning from just about any grocery store or make your own. Making your own is pretty cheap and not difficult. There’s a recipe for a spice mix following the gumbo recipe.

Textured vegetable protein (tvp) is a gluten-free soy product available in many grocery stores. It can also be ordered online.

½ cup neutral oil, such as canola oil

½ cup AP flour

1 red bell pepper, diced

1 green bell pepper, diced

1 celery stalks, diced

1 yellow onion, diced

½ lb vegan Italian sausage, in ¼” slices

1 tablespoon Cajun/Creole seasoning (or to taste)

2 teaspoons Kosher salt (or to taste)

½ teaspoon black pepper (or to taste)

1 bay leaf

1 teaspoon chili powder

½ teaspoon dried oregano

2 teaspoons minced garlic

1 ½ cups textured vegetable protein, large chunks

7 cups vegetable stock

1 tablespoon filé powder mixed with water (optional, see comments in #7 below

* Combine the peppers, celery, and onions into a bowl and set aside.

* In a separate bowl combine textured vegetable protein with 1½ cups of warm water (or vegetable stock for more robust flavor). Cover and set aside.

* Pay close attention – this next step is crucial!  Heat the canola oil in a heavy saucepan.  When it gets hot, add the flour gradually, while vigorously stirring with a wire whisk. Boil the mixture and whisk as it continues to boil.  Keep stirring until the roux becomes a dark reddish brown color and smells like popcorn.  Be careful not to splash yourself or touch the side of the pan with your arm.  Be both attentive and brave – this procedure could take anywhere from 20 to 45 minutes.  Do not ever, ever, ever walk off and leave it.

* Pull the pan off the flame.  Add half of the vegetable mixture, and with a long handled wooden spoon, stir for 1 minute.  It will splatter and steam – so be careful!

* Return to the flame.  Add the remaining vegetable mixture and stir for an additional minute.

* Gradually stir in the vegetable stock.  Add the sausage, spices, herbs, garlic, and soaked textured vegetable protein.  Bring to a boil, reduce heat, and simmer for 45 minutes, stirring occasionally.

* Fifteen minutes before serving, check the gumbo. If it seems too thick, add more stock.  If it seems thin, thicken with a filé slurry (filé powder mixed with enough water to form a pourable paste).  Taste and add salt if desired.

* Serve over rice and top with fried okra pieces.  Some cooks add okra to the stew with the other vegetables.  Personally, I find boiled okra too slimy.  It’s best if it’s fried and sprinkled on top.  Win-win for both camps!

Creole Seasoning

2 tablespoons paprika

1 tablespoon smoked paprika

2 tablespoons garlic powder

1 tablespoon ground black pepper

1 teaspoons ground white pepper

1 tablespoon onion powder

1 teaspoon chipotle powder

1 teaspoon ground cumin

1 teaspoon ground coriander

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon msg (optional)

Combine ingredients in a small jar and stir or shake to blend.

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Although I am very familiar with the smell of freshly-made, stovetop or air-popped popcorn (which, by the way, has a much more pleasant aroma than overly zapped, artificially flavored, microwave popcorn), I had questions about some of her ingredients: neutral oil? AP flour? Filé powder?

“Neutral oil is an oil that doesn't have a strong flavor, such as canola, corn, grape seed, and mild olive oils,” explains Macdonald. “AP flour is white all-purpose flour, the kind used for just about everything. Filé powder, also called gumbo powder, is dried sassafras root. It is traditionally used to thicken gumbo. It's mixed with water to form a glutinous slurry (fancy chef talk for paste), which is then stirred into the gumbo, usually not long before serving. It's probably available at stores, but I order it from Amazon because I don't have the time nor inclination to drive all over the county trying to find it. In place of filé, a cornstarch slurry would work, as would potato flakes; neither exactly traditional, but it thickens the stew. Gumbo is served over rice.”

And as you heard in our chat, “Yaya” is the Greek endearment for “grandma”.

You’ve probably grown many of the ingredients of this gumbo recipe. But celery? Okra? And what about growing your own seasonings, including cumin, coriander, paprika, and chipotle?

Celery

As odd as it sounds, the primary commercial growing areas for celery in the United States are California and Michigan. Two very different climates. However, the majority of commercial farms in California growing celery are nestled in the fertile valleys near the Pacific Ocean, areas that seldom get above 90 degrees or below 40 degrees. Celery prefers climates without the extreme temperatures (which is Michigan in the summertime). In hot climates, success depends on your timing. Celery plantings in March and April or August through November in hot summer areas helps this sensitive crop dodge the heat in its developmental stages. For most of the country, March is the ideal month to start celery from seed, indoors. Set out transplants (which are much easier than from seed) in hot summer areas in March or April; in mild areas of the country set them out in late May or early June. Read more here from Johnny’s Selected Seeds about growing celery.

Okra

“Valued as a key ingredient in authentic Southern gumbo and other soups and stews, okra can also be roasted, pickled, dipped, or grilled. Despite being slow to evolve from seeding to fruiting, pods form repeatedly and quickly in late summer.” Here’s more from the Sonoma County (CA) Master Gardeners on how to grow okra.

Chipotle

Not the restaurant chain. It’s a dried, smoked jalapeño pepper. The website, chilipeppermadness.com says it takes 10 pounds of jalapeños to make one pound of chipotles. Here’s how to do it, from that same website.

Cumin and Coriander: Two Different Plants

The cumin plant: Cuminum cyminum. Here’s how to grow this herb and harvest its seeds, from West Coast Seeds.

The Coriander plant, Coriandrum sativum. But you may know is by its other common name, cilantro. A cool season crop in hot areas; a summer crop in milder areas. However, if all you want are the cilantro leaves, hot climate gardeners can grow it as a micro green in a shady area. Fill a tray with a light, seed-starting soil, scatter the cilantro seeds throughout. When they get a few inches tall, give it a haircut of about an inch or so from the top, and harvest just the upper leaves. The book, The Sunset Western Garden Book of Edibles says this about harvesting the coriander seeds: “To collect seeds, pull up whole plants when fruits (which look like seeds) begin to turn gray-brown; then put the plants headfirst into bags and shake them; or, hang them over paper and let seeds drop.”

Paprika

Grow it like you would a pepper. Because, it’s a pepper! Renee Shepherd of Renee’s Garden seed company is fond of the “Hungarian Magyar” paprika pepper, and explains how to grow it here.

As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases from some of the underlined links in the newsletter. This is how I am trying to keep this a free newsletter. And as long as you buy whatever you want from Amazon using any of those links to get into the Amazon site, I get a few pennies. Thank you.

Thanks for Subscribing and Spreading the Word About the Garden Basics with Farmer Fred newsletter, I appreciate your support. 

And thank you for listening to the Garden Basics with Farmer Fred podcast! It’s available wherever you get your podcasts. Please share it with your garden friends.

Fred Hoffman is also a University of California Cooperative Extension Master Gardener in Sacramento County.

Looking for tried and true pepper varieties to grow this year? How about proven varieties of tomatoes, greens, squash, okra, melons, as well as pollinator-friendly flowering plants such as begonias and petunias? Give a listen to Episodes 168 and 169 of the Garden Basics with Farmer Fred podcast.

In Episode 168, we chatted with Sacramento County Master Gardener and vegetable expert Gail Pothour. She and the other Master Gardeners there have been growing an array of All-America Selections winners for several years at the Fair Oaks Horticulture Center’s AAS Display Garden…along with some staff favorites. Not only are the vegetable varieties she mentions winners here in USDA Zone 9, but the majority of them are All-America Selections national winners, having proven their mettle in trial gardens from coast to coast.

In Episode 169, Diane Blazek, the Executive Director of the All-America Selections organization, lengthens this “you oughta grow this!” list considerably. In all, between the two episodes, we chatted about 45 different varieties of vegetables worth trying…and, my condolences to you if you were trying to jot them all down while driving.

Here, then, are the pepper varieties we mentioned, along with the usual effusive catalog descriptions, as well as personal thoughts on those varieties we mentioned that were not AAS Winners. All of the AAS winners mentioned can be found at all-americaselections.org . Due to space limitations in this newsletter, we’ll list the tomato varieties in next Friday’s Garden Basics “Beyond the Basics” newsletter. The following Friday (March 4) we’ll have the varieties of chard, lettuce, squash, eggplant, okra, melons and flowering plants that we talked about in those two podcasts.

You will also see the notation, “F1”, after many of these hybrid varieties. No, they are not part of the international Formula One auto racing circuit (although “Pepper Quickfire” would be a good name for an accident-prone driver).

According to the smarty pants experts who occupy the F1 Wikipedia entry, “…the term F1 hybrid (also known as filial 1 hybrid) is usually reserved for agricultural cultivars derived from two parent cultivars. These F1 hybrids are usually created by means of controlled pollination, sometimes by hand pollination.”

PEPPERS TO TRY IN 2022

Pepper Carmen F1 2006 AAS Edible Vegetable Winner

Carmen is an improved sweet pepper with an unusual shape. Most gardeners think of a bell shape when “sweet” peppers are mentioned. Not so anymore. Carmen is an Italian bull’s horn type which refers to its elongated shape, about 6 inches long. The medium thick flesh is the sweetest when it is ripe red, but Carmen peppers are sweet even when immature or green. One of the improved traits is the earliness to ripe red. Gardeners can look for red peppers about 75 days after transplanting into warm garden soil. The other improved traits are sweet flavor and high yield. Carmen proved to be widely adaptable, flowering and setting fruit over a wide temperature range. Like all peppers, Carmen will produce the highest number of peppers when grown in full sun and given proper nutrients and water. Carmen plants are productive with an upright, medium height of 28 to 30 inches. This plant size is perfectly adaptable to larger patio containers.

https://all-americaselections.org/product/pepper-carmen/

Cornito Giallo F1 2016 AAS Edible – Vegetable Winner

“DOUBLE YUM” was one judge’s response to the AAS Winner Cornito Giallo F1 pepper, “The flavor on this one is totally a winner!”  Starting as small green fruits, this AAS Winner develops into bright yellow jewels with a delicious sweet and fruity flavor.  The peppers themselves are plentiful and durable, yet easy to eat fresh. Being an early bloomer, you will be able to enjoy these peppers throughout the growing season and well into the fall.  Plant Cornito Giallo F1 in your garden this year and you can join our judges in exclaiming “YUM!”

https://all-americaselections.org/product/pepper-cornito-giallo/

Dragonfly F1 Sweet Pepper 2022 AAS Edible-Vegetable Winner

Dragonfly pepper plants produce beautiful purple peppers that have thick, sweet walls, unlike the thin papery walls of other purples on the market. Similar to the beloved dragonfly that flits around your garden, this pepper transforms itself from a green pepper into a purple fruit that is as delicious at the green stage of maturity as it is when fully purple and mature. Overall, it’s a much better purple color than comparison varieties, with above average, robust pepper flavor. Fruits are held high on the plant, keeping them from the soil. The 4-lobed fruits do not fade, and if left on the vine, turn a beautiful, bright red color.

https://all-americaselections.org/product/pepper-dragonfly/

Escamillo F1 Pepper 2016 AAS Edible – Vegetable Winner

A wonderful sweet taste on a golden yellow pepper, the Escamillo F1 pepper is an early bearing pepper plant with a compact habit makes it an ideal choice for any home garden. Gardeners will be captivated with the high yield of peppers per plant and how the fruit itself is held off the ground for easy picking and less rotting. This plant is a winner with its all-around qualities of excellent taste either raw, cooked or fire roasted, compact size and high yield.

https://all-americaselections.org/product/pepper-escamillo/

Gypsy hybrid Sweet Pepper 1981 AAS Edible – Vegetable Winner

The early and heavy production of the yellow sweet pepper Gypsy provides color and flavor variety to your salads and dips. The 3-4 inch wedge-shaped fruits are very tender, crunchy and sweet. The plants average 18-20 inches in height with a 14-18 inch spread and are resistant to tobacco mosaic virus disease. (One of my personal favorites. Gypsy has been part of my pepper bed for over 30 years)

https://all-americaselections.org/product/pepper-gypsy-hybrid/

Just Sweet F1 pepper 2019 AAS Edible – Vegetable Winner

A unique snacking pepper with four lobes like a larger bell pepper, only smaller. Not only are the 3 inch fruits deliciously sweet with nice thick walls but the plants are vigorous growers (up to 36 inches tall and 15 inches wide) that don’t need to be staked because they’ve been bred to have a strong bushy habit. Many judges conduct consumer taste tests and reported back that this pepper won those tests, hands down. The Just Sweet peppers are exceptionally bright, shiny and a vivid yellow color with a flavor described as sweet with aromatic accents. Great lunchbox item for kids!

https://all-americaselections.org/product/pepper-just-sweet/

Nadapeno pepper (from Baker Creek, Not an AAS Winner)

Love the flavor and crunch of jalapeño, but can’t take the heat? This truly heatless jalapeño is perfect for those with sensitivity or aversion to the heat of traditional jalapeño peppers. Great for pickling, stuffing, poppers and salsa. This variety is very early and prolific! (Not only will it fool your heat-sensitive taste buds, it will also fool Mother Nature. Nadapeno produced sweet peppers for us through mid-December)

https://www.rareseeds.com

Orange Blaze F1 Sweet Pepper 2011 AAS Edible – Vegetable Winner

Although colored peppers can be difficult to grow, this 2011 AAS Winner, Orange Blaze F1, solves that problem. This variety proved itself a winner in AAS Trialing Grounds across North America due to early maturity, sweet flavor, and disease resistance. It matured to a beautiful orange color earlier than the comparisons. Expect a very sweet flavor at full orange color about 65-70 days from transplant. Orange Blaze F1 produces 3 to 4-inch long fruits about 1 1/2 inches wide with 2-3 lobes. High resistance to diseases.

https://all-americaselections.org/product/pepper-orange-blaze/

Pot-a-Peno Pepper F1 2021 AAS Edible – Vegetable Winner

Pot-a-Peno is a fun new jalapeno pepper with a compact habit perfect for growing in containers and hanging baskets. Plentiful small, green jalapeño fruits have a traditional spicy zip that is great in any dish where you want a little punch of spice. Simply leave the fruit on the vine a few extra weeks and they will ripen to red for a sweet, spicy flavor. This variety is earlier to mature than other jalapenos giving you a head start on your garden’s harvest. A unique trait of Pot-a-Peno is how the fruit hangs down beneath the plant making it very easy to harvest without damaging the appearance or productivity of the plant. A dense foliage canopy makes for an attractive addition to your patio or balcony garden.

Not a sweet pepper, but not too hot, either. In the podcast that starts off this newsletter, Diane Blazek, Executive Director of the All-America Selections organization, has a recipe for stuffed poppers using the Pot-A-Peno pepper, cream cheese and mild sausage.

https://all-americaselections.org/product/pepper-pot-a-peno/

Pepper Quickfire F1 2022 AAS Edible – Vegetable Winner

Mighty, strong, hot, and quick! What more might one want in a hot Thai-type pepper? Quickfire peppers produce plenty of hot delicious fruits on a compact, sturdy plant that is perfect for container gardening. No staking is required. This pepper has tremendous ornamental value but was bred for its taste and yield. Culinary gardeners will definitely want to give this gem a try in their Thai and other Southeast Asian dishes where a little heat and kick give the meal some quickfire!

https://all-americaselections.org/product/pepper-quickfire/

Roulette F1 Habanero 2018 AAS Edible – Vegetable Winner

Roulette F1 resembles a traditional habanero pepper in every way (fruit shape, size and color, and plant type) with one exception – No Heat! This AAS National Winner’s one-ounce fruits are red with thick walls when it matures and a nice citrusy (no heat) habanero flavor! Gardeners will be delighted with the earlier production of large, uniform fruit and a very high yield. One judge noted that each plant easily produces 10-11 fruits at one time and up to 100 per season so there are plenty to eat fresh, cook with, and enjoy! For an early fruit production of a habanero pepper that will charm even those that don’t like it hot, take your chances…Roulette is the perfect choice.

https://all-americaselections.org/product/pepper-habanero-roulette/

Tequila sweet pepper (Fred’s choice) A true purple sweet bell pepper, deep in color with early maturity. Its 3 to 4-lobed fruits mature to a medium red. Matures in 75 days. Cut it open and savor the delightful aroma! Attractive fruits make excellent stuffed peppers and stir-fries. Resists Tobacco Mosaic Virus.

https://www.totallytomato.com/product/T03229/66

Tricked You Hybrid Pepper (Gail’s Pick)

This completely heat-free jalapeno is an improved version of the popular Fooled You Hybrid. Get jalapeno flavor without the heat or mix with hot jalapeno varieties to create the exact heat level you want in hot sauces and salsas. Improvements include disease resistance to Bacterial Spot, races 0-3, 7, and 8. Expect large harvests of these peppers that are 4½ inches long and 1½ inches wide. 90 days. https://tomatogrowers.com/products/tricked-you-hybrid

As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases from some of the underlined links in the newsletter. This is how I am trying to keep this a free newsletter. And as long as you buy whatever you want from Amazon using any of those links to get into the Amazon site, I get a few pennies. Thank you.

Thanks for Subscribing and Spreading the Word About the Garden Basics with Farmer Fred newsletter, I appreciate your support. 

And thank you for listening to the Garden Basics with Farmer Fred podcast! It’s available wherever you get your podcasts. Please share it with your garden friends.

Fred Hoffman is also a University of California Cooperative Extension Master Gardener in Sacramento County.

As you can hear in the podcast above, adding bagged soil products to your garden might cause problems with your plants, due to impeded water movement. What to do? Debbie Flower, our favorite retired college horticultural professor, says to stick to the native soil. But, she does offer tips on how you can use bagged soil in your garden. Give a listen. And if you want to hear the whole conversation, head to Episode 166 of the Garden Basics podcast, released Tuesday, February 8. Also in that episode: thwarting weeds around rosebushes, without resorting to chemical weed killers. But if you do choose to use them, how to do it safely.

Also in this edition of the Garden Basics “Beyond Basics” Newsletter:

• Do you need to fertilize cool season flowers and vegetables?

• What Your Yellowing Citrus Leaves Are Trying to Tell You

• When is a rock mulch on top of your soil most appropriate?

• A Deep Dive into How Water Flows Through Soil

• Soil Testing: Do It Yourself, or Send It Out

Do You Need to Fertilize Your Cool Season Annual Vegetables and Flowers?

Maybe. Maybe not. It depends. Listen to the entire conversation in Episode 167 of the Garden Basics with Farmer Fred podcast. Here’s a transcription of the salient points from the podcast to that question:

Fred: Do you need to fertilize cool season annuals?

Debbie: "Need" is a strong word. And it would apply to fertilizing anything, really. Plants make their own food and they use nutrients that they get through the environment and absorbed through their roots to make that food. The time to fertilize is when they show you that they don't have enough of those nutrients. And that is when they have very small new leaves and they're losing all of their older leaves down at the bottom or closer to the trunk or they're all turning yellow, that would be a nitrogen deficiency. Or when you're seeing different streaks of yellow, let's say, in the leaves. That could be a micronutrient deficiency, the plants should be flowering, producing flower buds and opening them and it's not or the plant should be producing fruit and the fruit should be expanding. And it's not. Those are deficiency symptoms. And that's when you apply nutrition, which is in the form of fertilizer in the cool season. All those processes are very slow in the plant. And if you have soil that has been mulched with organic matter for a long time, long enough  that the organic matter has started to break down and release nutrients to the soil, you typically will not need to fertilize the winter annuals.

Fred: That makes a lot of sense too. Because mulch is a slow release fertilizer as it breaks down. It's feeding the soil and if you've had that mulch for a long time, like you say, then your plants are slow. Slowly, slowly being fed. And I think we all prefer to be fed, slowly slowly.

Debbie: It's painful to eat too much at one sitting. Yeah, exactly. And a plant can show that symptom as well.  They can burn when you give them too much fertilizer. Yes, cool season annuals need nutrition, because they're alive and they're flowering or fruiting or whatever it is you you have them for, even just growing them for their showy green parts. But do we need to add fertilizer only if we see deficiency symptoms.

Fred: And it can't hurt to do a soil test. 

Debbie: Absolutely. Find out exactly what it needs. 

Fred: And you can buy soil tests that do more than just measure pH, which the less expensive soil test kits do. A step up are the test kits that also measure nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium. But you can go beyond that and buy more expensive soil test kits to check for micronutrient deficiencies.

More info about soil test kits included at the end of this newsletter.

=============================

Online Soil Test Services

If you don’t want to play kitchen counter chemist with the soil, you may be fortunate enough to live in an area where your county or state ag departments may help you out in that regard. Check with your local Cooperative Extension office to see if soil testing for homeowners is still part of their services. Unfortunately, in many states, including California, that service is no longer offered by Cooperative Extension. There are private companies that do offer soil testing, but they can be pricey and they may be more geared to agricultural soil testing. However, at least two universities do offer soil testing for home gardeners throughout the U.S. at reasonable prices:

University of Massachusetts/Amherst

Colorado State University

Click on those links for more information.

This soil test was conducted by UMass/Amherst. The test results also include in additional pages information about how to correct any soil abnormalities.

What are Your Yellowing Citrus Leaves Trying to Tell You?

Why do citrus tree leaves (the leaves of oranges, limes, lemons, mandarins, avocados, pummelos, grapefruit and others) turn yellow? There are many possible reasons, especially as winter transitions into spring. Generally speaking, each problem has some tell-tale differences in the yellow leaves to help you diagnose the cause. A few of the possible problems are illustrated below, from the UCANR citrus page, “Diseases and Disorders of Leaves and Twigs”, which has a more extensive list.(http://ipm.ucanr.edu/PMG/C107/m107bpleaftwigdis.html )

Iron Chlorosis

Interveinal chlorosis from iron deficiency appears as yellowing between the small, darker green veins. This net-vein pattern occurs primarily in young leaves of the fall growth flush as soils cool, reducing root activity.

=================================

Nitrogen Deficiency

Foliage is pale overall when nitrogen is deficient. The causes include a true deficiency of nitrogen, adverse soil conditions (cold, wet soil) or unhealthy roots.

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Magnesium Deficiency

Leaves turn yellowish overall but larger veins remain slightly green where manganese is deficient. Zinc deficiency symptoms are somewhat similar to those of manganese deficiency. Both are more prevalent on young leaves of the fall growth flush as soils cool and root activity diminishes.

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Boron Toxicity

Leaf mottling or yellowing, spotting on the underside of leaves, and premature leaf drop can occur from excess boron; severe symptoms can include twig dieback.

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Citrus greening disease (Huanglongbing)

Leaf mottling and yellowing that crosses leaf veins helps to distinguish citrusgreening; yellowing in just one section of a tree is characteristic of citrus greening. The cause is a bacterium spread by aphidlike psyllids (the Asian Citrus Psyllid, in particular, here in California). Symptoms include stunted trees, leaf and fruit drop, twig dieback, and fruit that are lopsided, small and bitter-tasting. When zinc deficiency is the cause discoloring occurs between distinctly greener veins. Report suspected citrus greening to agricultural officials if found in California.

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Zinc Deficiency

Extensive chlorosis develops between veins when zinc is severely deficient; leaves may be smaller in size on shoots that have shortened internodes.

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Potassium Deficiency

Yellowish leaves with edges bent downward, especially at tip are symptomatic of insufficient potassium.

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When is a rock mulch appropriate? When it’s next to a house in a wildfire zone.

Here’s a link with more tips on creating defensible space around your home from the Marin County (CA) Master Gardeners. As they point out, for the area that extends from 0 to 5 feet from any building’s foundation, use non-combustible mulches only (stone, rock, gravel, pavers, etc.).

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Watching the River (not) Flow

As you heard in the podcast at the top of this page, mixing different types of soil or bagged soil products into your native garden soil can slow the percolation of water, threatening those plants that are trying to survive in a root zone that may be saturated for too long with standing water. Here’s another deep dive into why that is, from UCANR’s Ventura County Cooperative Extension.

For a more gardener-friendly explanation on this same topic, pursuing it from the angle of why you don’t want to put gravel in the bottom of your containerized plants, is the Garden Professor’s Linda-Chalker Scott.

==================================

My Two Favorite Soil Test Kits (and one to get after winning the Lottery)

Basic: (pH, Nitrogen, Phosphorus, Potassium)

==============================

More Fun: (same as above, but with nine micronutrients added. Convenient.)

==========================

Move aside, Mama, I’m taking over the entire kitchen counter!:

(The Lamotte Soil Test Kit/Professional) $$$$

As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases from some of the underlined links in the newsletter. This is how I am trying to keep this a free newsletter. And as long as you buy whatever you want from Amazon using any of those links to get into the Amazon site, I get a few pennies. Thank you.

Thanks for Subscribing and Spreading the Word About the Garden Basics with Farmer Fred newsletter, I appreciate your support. 

And thank you for listening to the Garden Basics with Farmer Fred podcast! It’s available wherever you get your podcasts. Please share it with your garden friends.

Fred Hoffman is also a University of California Cooperative Extension Master Gardener in Sacramento County.

Above: In today’s Garden Basics “Beyond Basics” Newsletter podcast: Brad Gay of JB’s Power Equipment in Davis, CA explains what to look for when choosing garden pruners. And, Debbie Flower has a garden tool storage tip you may not be aware of: your garage floor could rust your shovels! Here’s a hint on what to do:

We are back to two Garden Basics with Farmer Fred podcasts a week as we start Season 3 (plus Friday’s newsletter podcast). On Tuesday’s Episode 164, we talked with Matthew Ampersand of Find Out Farms and Community Fruit in Sacramento about the best tools to own to pick fruit. Debbie Flower and I chat about the importance of winter cleanup in your garden, to help stave off the pests this spring and summer.

In Friday’s Episode 165, Debbie and I do a deep dive into garden tool care and selection, including the must-have tools that should be part of every gardener’s arsenal of backyard fun.

In Episode 164, Matthew Ampersand mentioned his favorite snips for removing citrus and apples from trees, while retaining a bit of the stem on the fruit (we talk about why that’s important). He said his go-to small pruners resemble dog toenail clippers. They fit easily into the front pocket of overalls, tend to stay sharp, and yes, professional orchardists and farm workers do use them.

It’s Citrus Harvest Season in USDA Zone 9. But Who’s Going to Pick all That Fruit?

Matthew also told us about his volunteer group, Community Fruit, that gathers unused backyard fruit around Sacramento and distributes the fruit to the needy. Considering that nearly one-third of all the food grown in the U.S. is never eaten, with most of it ending up in a landfill, this is a project that should be emulated throughout the United States.

One way you can help reduce the amount of wasted food in this country is to store it properly when you bring it inside, so it lasts longer in your kitchen. The UC Davis Post Harvest Technology Department has produced a handy sheet for hanging on the inside of one of your kitchen cabinet doors: “Storing Fresh Fruits and Vegetables for Better Taste.”

Also in Episode 164, Debbie Flower told us about the importance of winter cleanup in the garden, how removing fallen fruit, leaves, branches and any fruit hanging dead in the trees could stave off many insects, diseases and weed seeds that could survive the winter in that debris, and spring to life…in spring. If you have backyard apple or pear trees, this is especially effective at controlling codling moth, and its wormy larvae that will be burrowing in and out of your apples and pears when the weather warms. So, if you have areas of your garden that look like this:

Take action now before the codling moth comes out of hibernation in late winter and early spring.

Anvil versus Bypass? It’s No Contest When Choosing Hand Pruners

Episode 165, “Garden Tool Care and Selection”, presented a wide-ranging lesson from our favorite schoolmarm, Debbie Flower, on choosing the right tools and caring for them properly. We discussed the importance of caring for wooden handled tools, which involves sandpaper, boiled linseed oil and some old rags or towels. But we both drew a blank when talking about care tips for fiberglass handles on shovels and other large garden tools. One website did offer this, however:

“Fortunately, fiberglass handles require very little in the way of maintenance. All you really need to do is give them a good wash down to remove any dirt or grime. However, now is a good time to give each handle a thorough examination. Fiberglass can be damaged by the sun and if you apply to much stress it will crack. Catching any signs of damage early can save someone from getting seriously hurt if a handle should happen to break under a load. Remember to store your tools with fiberglass handles out of the sun.”

However, if you want the real lowdown on fiberglass handles, eavesdrop on some fire fighters. You might hear comments like this:

“We have some very old fiberglass handles here, once or twice a year they get TLC in the form of a wipe down with fine grit sandpaper to remove those pesky little splinters, some steel wool on the heads, and a little Rustoleum paint, good as new! Newer stuff comes with a plastic overlay which protects both you and the fiberglass. And be sure to wear gloves, always always always, even when cleaning up. You think fiberglass splinters are a pain? While cleaning up after a fire I found out the hard way that window glass splinters are much worse.”

And it’s kind of hard to be discussing garden tools without it devolving into the pros and cons of anvil versus bypass pruners. Basically, it’s this:

If you listened to this newsletter’s podcast at the top of the page, you also got the opinion of Brad Gay of JB’s Power Equipment in Davis, CA. Just say Yes! to bypass pruners.

Meanwhile, back at Episode 165, I gave my secret for cleaning my shovels and cutting equipment of hard to remove mud: a barbecue grill brush, that lives in the garden tool shed. Besides the cleaning action of the bristles, that thin metal plate at the top of the brush head is great for getting into the rolled foot rest of the shovel to clean out the mud:

Controlling rust on garden tools was also a hot topic of conversation in Episode 165. Here’s more information on rust control from Home Depot.

Debbie also mentioned, and I concurred, that one of our favorite utility garden tools is the Hori-Hori knife. It’s a trowel! It’s a root saw! It’s digs! It excavates weeds! And you’ll probably lose it, unless you paint the handle a bright yellow or wrap the handle with brightly colored electrical tape.

We spent a good portion of our tool care chat talking about sharpening tools. Go back and listen to that. And then watch this video.

Links to Products Talked About on the Podcasts:

Felco Bypass Pruners Felco’s How To Clean and Sharpen Pruners VideoFelco Sharpening ToolHori-Hori KnifeFiberglass Handled Shovels3-in-1 Oil

Orchard fruit pruning shears/snipsOrchard LaddersHarvest Bags

As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases from some of the underlined links in the newsletter. This is how I am trying to keep this a free newsletter. And as long as you buy whatever you want from Amazon using any of those links to get into the Amazon site, I get a few pennies. Thank you.

Thanks for Subscribing and Spreading the Word About the Garden Basics with Farmer Fred newsletter, I appreciate your support. 

And thank you for listening to the Garden Basics with Farmer Fred podcast! It’s available wherever you get your podcasts. Please share it with your garden friends.

Fred Hoffman is also a University of California Cooperative Extension Master Gardener in Sacramento County.

In this special podcast for the Garden Basics Newsletter, Beyond the Basics, I wanted to highlight five great garden hints offered by Debbie Flower from the original podcast, Episode 163 of the Garden Basics with Farmer Fred:

• Soaking pepper seeds in hydrogen peroxide can speed up germination; and, how seeds germinate. 

• Why seeds don’t need fertilizer.

• How to know when to transplant those seedlings into larger containers. 

• Why seedlings need a light period and a dark period each day.

• The importance of air movement and the development of reaction wood for the young seedlings.*

On Episode 163 of the Garden Basics with Farmer Fred podcast, we delved into seed starting tips, especially for those slow-to-germinate pepper seeds, which can take up to three weeks to show their first set of leaves. Our favorite retired college horticultural professor, Debbie Flower, offered several speedy seed germinating tips, which could be applied to just about any seed you’re trying to coax to life.

What you’ll need for successful seed germination and growth, according to Debbie:

• Small, clean seed trays or containers with drain holes.

• A soilless seed starting mix. (We offer up several homemade recipes, too)

• The benefit of soaking pepper seeds for a few minutes in hydrogen peroxide.

• Bottom heat via a propagation mat.

• Consistent moisture.

• Lights, once the seedlings appear.

• Air movement.

• Transplanting those seedlings into bigger containers once roots pop out of the bottom.

Listen to all of Episode 163 for more details about all those tips. Or read the transcript.

Debbie Flower is a horticultural treasure. One listen to what she has to say isn’t enough. She is offering up so many great tips for gardeners in our “scenic bypasses”, that it really pays to either listen a couple of times or read the entire transcript. I am amazed at all I am learning from her; and, I’m listening to what she has to say at least four times (the original interview, two editing sessions, proofing the final) and polishing the transcript. And reading and editing that transcript, although last on the list, reveals more great gardening information that I had missed before.

(A word of warning for future podcasters who will deal with transcripts: digital robots that provide the original transcript are notoriously inaccurate. Be prepared to spend at least an hour per 30 minutes of interviews to do the corrections. Translating from a transcription of the spoken word to a transcription intended for readers takes work. I am convinced that World War 3 could start due to someone reading a raw, robot-generated transcript; there’s that much misinformation included in the original file.)

In Episode 163, we also discussed the importance of gentle watering of seedling trays, so as not to dislodge the seeds. We have different ideas about the best sort of gentle watering equipment to use. A list and links of all the seed starting implements that we discussed, including watering equipment, is here:

Grow lightsDramm Water Breaker nozzlePump Pressure Water Sprayer

Multi Head hose-end sprayer with Mist settingSeed Starting trays, kitsIndoor GreenhousesOutdoor GreenhousesSeed Starting Mix

* The phrase, “reaction wood”, awakens the thirteen year-old boy in me. I wonder how many giggling scientists it took to come up with the explanation of the importance of air movement in the development of reaction wood among young plants. According to this scholarly presentation, the answer would be: 10.

As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases from some of the underlined links in the newsletter. This is how I am trying to keep this a free newsletter. And as long as you buy whatever you want from Amazon using any of those links to get into the Amazon site, I get a few pennies. Thank you.

Thanks for Subscribing and Spreading the Word About the Garden Basics with Farmer Fred newsletter, I appreciate your support. 

And thank you for listening to the Garden Basics with Farmer Fred podcast! It’s available wherever you get your podcasts. Please share it with your garden friends.

Fred Hoffman is also a University of California Cooperative Extension Master Gardener in Sacramento County.

The newsletter podcast (above) is an excerpt from last Friday’s Garden Basics with Farmer Fred podcast, #350, “New Home? First Garden Tips”. America’s Favorite Retired College Horticulture Professor(℠), Debbie Flower and myself, help out a very rhythmic listener figure out how to prep a garden space at her new home. And one of the first steps to take is to do a home analysis of the soil, referred to as the “Soil Texture Triangle Test”.

Although it might look like something designed by a Freemason on Acid, the Soil Texture Triangle is quite ingenious in its design, as well as the ability to give you an insight into many of the qualities of the soil you are attempting to garden in.

But before we get into the “why” and the “how” of the Soil Texture Triangle, here’s what you may have missed if you didn't listen to Episode 350 of the podcast in its entirety:

• Get a soil test done to determine the texture of your soil and its nutrient levels.

• Plan your garden carefully, considering the spacing of plants and the eventual growth of trees.

• Hydro-zone your vegetables in raised beds to meet their specific watering needs.

• Limiting factors if using raised beds on concrete for gardening in partial sun spaces.

The Soil Texture Triangle Test: Why do it?

Ahhh, the things you will learn about your soil when you figure out if you have sandy loam, silty loam, clay loam, sandy clay (great name for a Top 40 DJ), something in between, or - Heaven forfend - all sand or all clay.

Christine Anne Clark is a soil health specialist with the Crops and Soils Division of the Extension Service of the University of Wisconsin-Madison. She works with farmers, researchers and agricultural industry experts, to help the farmers in Northeast Wisconsin better understand their soils. In this University of Wisconsin publication - “The important role of soil texture on water” - she points out the obviously most important part of understanding the Soil Texture Triangle right there in the title. Know your soil, and you’ll know where the water is going (or not going) in your crops:

“It is not nitrogen, but water, that is the most limiting factor in crop production. Soil texture, structure, percent organic matter (OM) and management practices also influence the amount water and nutrients a soil can retain for crop use.  You can better understand your farmland’s strengths and weaknesses by digging deeper into the physical characteristics of your soil and where different soil types are located on your farm.

Soil texture refers to the feel of soil. Soils are made up of different amounts of sand, silt, and clay. There are 12 soil textural classes according to the USDA classification system.  Each soil texture has varying responses to water, affecting major crops like corn, soybeans, wheat, and alfalfa differently. Here’s a general overview:

1. Sand: Sandy soils have the largest particle size, which allows water to drain quickly. As a result, sandy soils tend to dry out faster. Sandy soils have low water and nutrient-holding capacity and struggle to retain sufficient amounts for crops. Shallow-rooted crops are more susceptible to drought stress in sandy soils, as they may experience water deficits that hinder their growth and yield.

2. Silt: Silty soils have medium-sized particles, providing better water retention than sandy soils. They have moderate water-holding capacity and drainage characteristics. During drought, silty soils can retain moisture for longer periods compared to sandy soils.  Silty soils have more plant-available water capacity than clayey soils. 

3. Clay: Clay soils have lots of small fine particles with many inner layers creating lots of surface areas that hold water and nutrients tightly. They have higher water and nutrient holding capacity but lower drainage, resulting in slower water movement and potential waterlogging. Also, they have lower plant available water capacity than silty soils because clays hold water tightly as they dry. During drought, clay soils can retain moisture relatively well, which benefits crops like corn, soybeans, and wheat. However, excessive water retention in clay soils can also lead to root oxygen deprivation and negatively impact crop growth in wet years. Any crop with a deeper root system may perform better in clay soils during drought as it can access the stored water.

Water infiltration speed and plant water availability are dependent on soil texture. In coarse sandy soils the bigger pore spaces increase the rate of water movement and have higher infiltration rates than fine textured soils. Coarse soils can “soak” up a drenching rain or recharge quickly but is unable to hold as much water as finer textured soils. A coarse sand infiltrates very fast, up to 10 inches per hour, while a clay is the slowest can be less than 0.05 inches per hour. However, sandy soils have a low water holding capacity compared to loamy or clayey soils. On the opposite end, soils with very high clay contents hold water tightly and provide less water storage for plants than loamy soils. The table below illustrates the water that can be absorbed by soil that is available to plants, which varies with soil texture. 

Organic matter increases water retention

Clark continues:

Typical Wisconsin soils have 1.5- 4% organic matter. Peat or muck soils can be over 20%.  The organic portion of soil is important, it improves soil properties that help plants grow by promoting structure, pore space, and a home and source of food for soil life. Yet anytime you till and mix oxygen into the soil, organic matter is burned off a bit. Over time this can decrease the amount of organic matter in soil. Increasing soil organic matter can take 5 to 8 years depending on soil type, climate, and management.

Organic matter has a natural attraction to water. Organic matter acts as a sponge in the soil, capable of holding and storing water. It has a high water-holding capacity due to its porous structure and ability to absorb and retain moisture, plus it helps aggregation and pore space where water can be stored. Here are some general examples of the impact of organic matter on soil water:  

* For each 1 % increase in soil organic matter helps soil hold 20,000 gallons more water per acre.

* An ideal soil with 4-5% organic matter can soak up a 4-6” rain event.

* A 1994 study by Hudson showed that a silt loam soil with 4% organic matter holds more than twice the water of a silt loam with 1% organic matter. 

Understanding the role of soil texture in water-holding capacity, and that organic matter significantly improves water-holding capacity can help us understand the strengths and weaknesses of a field during rainfall, irrigation, and during flood or drought conditions. Wisconsin has a wide range of soil textures. The challenge in managing sandy soils is to improve water retention or water holding capacity. In fine texture soils, however, the challenge can be to remove excess water depending on drainage conditions. Both goals can mean increased profit.  Farmers cannot change the soil texture that mother nature has provided them. Although increasing organic matter content takes time, practices such as adding compost or manure, using cover crops, and practicing organic farming methods can enhance the soil’s ability to retain water and support healthy soil and healthy plant growth.”

So, there you go. Even if you have achieved “Soil Nirvana” (see below), you would still need to regularly add compost, cover crops, mulch, and practice no-till gardening to keep the area thriving with microbial activity and a consistent supply of water that’s available for your plants.

Marin County (CA) Master Gardener Nanette Londeree puts it succinctly in the UCANR Publication, “Garden Good Guys - Soil”:

“An ideal soil would be made up of 45% minerals (sand, clay, silt), 5 % organic (plant and animal) material, 25% air and 25% water. The mineral portion would be loam (20 – 30% clay, 30 – 50% silt and 30 – 50% sand). It would be crumbly, relatively dark in color, smell earthy and rich, teem with microorganisms and earthworms, have plenty of nutrients and a pH between 6.5 and 7.5. This soil would be described as having good tilth. Tilth is to soil what health is to people. If you have this kind of soil now, you don’t need to read any further.”

And now you know what “tilth” is! Memorize that. It might be on the Final. Especially if St. Peter is a gardener.

So, How Do You Shake it Up, Shake it Up, Shake it Up, Shake it Up?

For that, we turn to Clemson University’s College of Agriculture, Forestry and Life Sciences’ horticulture and natural resources agent, Andrew “Drew” Jeffers. This is from the aptly named publication, “The Jar Test.”

Materials:

* Straight-edged, clear jar

* Permanent marker

* Ruler

* Watch or stopwatch

* Mesh sieve or old colander

Procedure:

1) Using a mesh sieve or old colander, sift the soil to remove any debris, rocks, and large organic matter (leaves, sticks, roots, etc.).

2) Fill the jar ⅓ full of the soil to be tested

3) Fill the remainder of the jar with clean water, but leave some space at the top. (At this point, I am sure Debbie Flower is mumbling at her phone: “And add a drop of dish soap!”)

4) Cap the jar and shake vigorously (“For 10 minutes!”, yells Debbie) until the soil turns into a uniform slurry.

5) Set on a level surface and time for one minute. (“Not two minutes?” questions Debbie)

6) Place a mark on the outside of the jar, showing the coarse sand layer settled at the bottom of the jar.

7) Leave the jar in a level spot for 2 hours. (“Finally! Something I agree with!”, says Debbie)

8) Mark the top of the next settled layer with the permanent marker. This is the silt layer.

9) Leave the jar on a level spot for 48 hours. (“I concur!”, says Debbie)

10) Mark the top of the next settled layer with the permanent marker. This clay layer has settled on top of the silt layer.

11) Using a ruler, measure and record the height of each layer and the total height of all three layers. Use the soil texture analysis worksheet below to record the results.

12) Use the soil texture triangle to estimate the soil type for the site.

a) The clay percentages are listed on the triangle’s left side. Lines corresponding to clay percentages extend from the percentages reading left to right (see red line).

b) The silt percentage is on the right side, with lines extending downwardly, diagonally from right to left (see green line).

c) The sand percentage is on the bottom side, with lines extending upwardly, diagonally from right to left (see blue line).

13) Track the lines with the percentages measured and find the spot on the triangle where all three lines intersect. The region where these lines intersect indicates the soil type present. The example shown represents a loam soil texture.

Adding organic matter to clay and sandy soil can help with:

* Nutrient holding capacity

* Improved drainage

* Reducing compaction

Soil Texture Analysis “The Jar Test” Worksheet

Measurements

Height of sand layer ________inches / cm

Height of silt layer ________inches / cm

Height of clay layer ________inches / cm

TOTAL HEIGHT OF LAYERS ________inches / cm

% SAND=(sand height)/(total height) x 100 =___________ % SAND

% SILT=(silt height)/(total height) x 100 =____________ % SILT

% CLAY=(clay height)/(total height) x 100 =____________ % SILT

Thanks for reading Beyond The Garden Basics Newsletter. Subscribe for free to receive new posts. Pledge Your Support, thank you!

Thank you for also listening to the Garden Basics with Farmer Fred podcast! It’s available wherever you get your podcasts. Please share it with your garden friends.

Fred Hoffman is also a University of California Cooperative Extension Master Gardener in Sacramento County. And he likes to ride his bike(s).

Podcast Bonus: High Scoring Roses for Most of the United States

We like to check in with Master Rosarian Charlotte Owendyk of the Sierra Foothills Rose Society, to find out which roses have captured her fancy in the last year or two. And beyond that, which roses she recommends because they can be easy to grow in a variety of climates. The Sierra Foothill Rose Society, after all, has California members from near sea level in Sacramento and Roseville all the way up to Lake Tahoe, more than a mile up in the Sierra Nevada mountains. Is there a rose that can be grown in such varied climates? Sure enough, Owendyk has a list that she likes to call, “Bulletproof Roses”.

Owendyk didn’t hesitate to respond about her favorite, widely adaptable rose. “One rose that can really take the heat and the cold is ‘Distant Drums’, which has a very distinct coloration,” she says. “The petals are apricot-colored in the center, surrounded by lavender on the outer petals. It’s hardy down to USDA Zone 4, and has a wonderful strong scent with great disease resistance.”

 We here are considered to be in USDA Zone 9, where winter lows seldom drop below the upper 20’s. USDA Zone 4, on the other hand, has seen lows dip down to 31 below zero in the winter. Yet, ‘Distant Drums’ can do well for your aunt and uncle in North Dakota. Lake Tahoe (USDA Zone 6) is relatively balmy in comparison, where January overnight lows average about 26 degrees above zero.

Another top performing rose for most of the United States, according to Owendyk is the floribunda rose, ‘Iceberg”, and its close relative ‘Burgundy Iceberg’. Floribunda roses are noted for their massive, long-lasting, colorful displays of large clusters of white flowers.

However, when it comes to a quick turnaround for getting new blossoms, nothing beats “Secret”, says Owendyk. “Normally, hybrid tea roses take five or six weeks to rebloom after deadheading,” says Owendyk. “For ‘Secret’, it’s only four to five weeks. That’s why it’s one of my favorite roses. Plus, it’s very fragrant.”

Other rose varieties that Owendyk is fond of in 2022, the ones she recommends for rose growers across the country, include:

• “Belinda’s Dream”, a shrub rose (“A tough, soft pink rose, with great disease and heat resistance” says Owendyk.)

• “Cinco De Mayo” (“Wonderful ruffled, smoky lavender flowers”).

• “Lyda Rose” (“The flowers look like apple blossoms, absolutely stunning”).

• ”Gemini” (“This All-America hybrid tea rose winner is very vigorous, with coral-and-cream colored petals”). 

• “Memorial Day” (“Extremely fragrant rose that blooms all summer, plus the canes don’t have many prickles or thorns”).

• “Sally Holmes” (“A shrub rose that can get seven feet tall and is tolerant of some shade”).

Other honorable mentions in Owendyk’s list of roses for everyone include “Betty Boop”, “Dick Clark”, Cherry Parfait“, “Julia Child”, “Marilyn Monroe”,  “Playgirl”, “Rock N Roll”, and “Quietness”.

“Floribunda? What’s That?” A Modern Rose Glossary

Master Rosarian Charlotte Owendyk and I talked rose pruning in Episode 162 of the “Garden Basics with Farmer Fred” podcast. The episode may have had you wishing for The American Rose Society’s “Handbook for Selecting Roses” , a great, pocket-sized encyclopedia of roses, and rose information, perfect for anyone shopping for good rose varieties. Plus, it has a lot of handy definitions when trying to decipher head-scratching questions such as, “What’s the difference between a floribunda and a grandiflora rose?” Here then, is a brief glossary of rose varieties, courtesy of the ARS:

GRANDIFLORA ROSE

In 1954, the introduction of a rose crossing between the ‘Charlotte Armstrong’ (a hybrid tea rose) and the floribunda rose, ‘Floradora’, resulted in a flower with carmine rose and dawn pink coloration. The cross had the characteristics of a hybrid tea rose, but also the ability to bear clusters or trusses and grow to a commanding height of six to eight feet or more. Thus, the class of Grandiflora was born. The first Grandiflora was named “Queen Elizabeth” in honor of the (at the time) very young queen of England.

FLORIBUNDA ROSE

The floribunda class of roses is characterized by its profuse ability to bear flowers in large clusters or trusses with more than one bloom in flower at any one time. Floribundas provide massive, colorful, long-lasting garden displays. Floribundas have the edge on hybrid tea roses. Hybrid teas bloom in cycles every six or seven weeks. Floribundas, on the other hand, can bloom continuously. One standout floribunda, with an ARS rating of 8.6, is ‘Lavaglut’.

HYBRID TEA ROSES

Probably the most recognizable class of roses, due to the large, shapely blooms, with each flower containing 30 to 50 petals. Flowers are borne on long stems either singly or with several sidebuds. One highly rated hybrid tea rose that is widely available at nurseries is ‘Mr. Lincoln’.

MINIATURE ROSES

The height of the average miniature rose is about 15 to 30 inches, making them ideal for edging beds and containers. Miniatures have been developed from many hybrid tea and floribunda roses. My favorite? ‘Joy’.

CLIMBING ROSES

Their long, arching canes have the ability to climb up fences, over walls and through trellises, arbors and pergolas. They offer a wide range of flower forms, shapes and colors. Among the highly rated climbing roses: ‘Don Juan’.

SHRUB ROSES

If you’re looking for easy care roses, consider the shrub roses. They can grow five to fifteen feet in every direction, depending on the climate. Shrub roses are noted for their hardiness, vigor, and large quantities of clusters of flowers. The ‘Knock Out’ varieties of shrub roses are especially hardy and highly rated. And you have to be hardy to thrive next to the drive-thru lane at Jack in the Box.

How to Prune a Climbing Rose

If you listened to Episode 162 of the '“Garden Basics with Farmer Fred” podcast, “‘PRUNE’-ciples: Tips for Pruning Roses”, you know Charlotte and I came to a grinding halt when it came time to talk about pruning climbing roses. It’s not a subject that lends itself very well to an audio format.

You need to see it in action to better understand the nuances of training climbers. We mutually decided on one very good Youtube video on pruning climbers you might want to watch. Enjoy.

If you listened to the podcast episode, you know Charlotte and I did a deep dive into the proper tools and clothing required to take on the somewhat dangerous task of pruning roses.

Here, then, is the part of the newsletter where I try to get you to buy something from Amazon, so I can earn enough funny money to keep my cat and dogs supplied in hard-to-find, canned varieties of pet food.

Pruning gloves, arm protectors for working around roses

Bypass-style Hand Pruners

Bypass-Style Loppers

Rechargeable Reciprocating Saw

P.S. Those sharp things on rose canes? They’re not thorns. They’re prickles. Really. Debbie Flower, retired college horticulture professor, explains.

As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases from some of the underlined links in the newsletter. This is how I am trying to keep this a free newsletter. And as long as you buy whatever you want from Amazon using any of those links to get into the Amazon site, I get a few pennies. Thank you.

Thanks for Subscribing and Spreading the Word About the Garden Basics with Farmer Fred newsletter, I appreciate your support. 

And thank you for listening to the Garden Basics with Farmer Fred podcast! It’s available wherever you get your podcasts. Please share it with your garden friends.

Fred Hoffman is also a University of California Cooperative Extension Master Gardener in Sacramento County.

ABOVE: Tips for Germinating Pepper Seeds in Less Than Two or Three Weeks

Episode 161 of the Garden Basics with Farmer Fred podcast delved into two popular issues: tips for choosing the easiest to grow succulents; and, the best plants and themes for a school/home school garden. In this newsletter, we expand on those two topics, plus a bonus podcast (above) with information on getting pepper seeds to germinate quicker. More tips are included at the bottom of this “Beyond the Garden Basics” newsletter. There’s no need to wait two or three weeks to see those pepper seeds begin to sprout! (Usually. Your results may vary. All gardening is local.)

Succulents That Can Take a Bit More Cold Weather

For gardeners just starting off their succulent garden, either indoors or outdoors, our interview with Robin Stockwell in Episode 161 has a lot of good advice on choosing and planting these unthirsty, beautiful blooming plants, which thrive in warmer climates. And what’s true for all plants is true for succulents: choose the right plant for the right place. The beauty of succulents: they do well, indoors, too. In the right sized pot, with the correct soil mix, of course. Robin gets into those details in Episode 161.

But what about for gardeners in colder climates? Are there any succulents that can take a freeze better than others? Robin Stockwell notes those in his beautiful, excellent book, “Succulents: The Ultimate Guide to Choosing, Designing, and Growing 200 Easy-Care Plants”. Unfortunately, it may be difficult finding this book, even though it is only five years old. Check with your favorite used book sources for a possible copy, or Amazon.

Stockwell highlights those succulents that can tolerate outdoor temperatures at or below freezing:

Delosperma (many). Hardy to 20 degrees.

Sedum hispanicum. Hardy to 20 degrees.

Sedum rupestre ‘Angelina’. Hardy to 20 degrees.

Sedum rupestre ‘Blue Spruce’. Hardy to 20 degrees.

Sempervivum (many). Hardy to 25 degrees.

Another strategy for growing tender succulents that may be a bit chilly in the outdoors in the winter where you live: grow them in pots, and move them to a warmer location (against a south or west facing wall, preferably with a cover) or…indoors.

Starting a School Garden? Tips for the Home School garden, as well.

In Episode 161 of Garden Basics, we tackled a question from a school superintendent who wants to start an elementary school garden. Our in-house school marm, Debbie Flower, has first hand experience with this, and offered up plenty of good tips, including making sure that the plant selections can overlap beyond botany lessons to other scientific endeavors in the classroom, such as choosing plants that attract beneficial insects and pollinators to control pests; and, choosing plants that may reflect on the Native-American culture of the area: which plants did the first residents consume and use? Homeschool instructors, as well, can pick up a lot of good tips for providing a well-rounded education, just by growing the right plants, especially native plants. Give it a listen.

And if you are interested in attracting bees and other pollinators to your garden, here’s a list of plants that can provide year-round bee attraction in California’s interior. For all zones, check out these regional plant recommendations of the Xerces Society for attracting bees, butterflies, hummingbirds and other pollinators to your garden.

More Tips for Germinating Pepper Seeds

For many home vegetable gardeners, growing peppers from seed can be an excruciating experience. January is the time for many in USDA Zones 7, 8, and 9 to start those seeds. Colder climates can wait another month or so. Still, it can take 12 weeks or more from the time of planting a pepper seed to the point where it is vigorous enough to be taken outdoors. However, there are some tips for speeding up that process.

Home gardeners who grow their tomatoes from seed usually get fairly quick results after sowing the seeds indoors. Given the right germinating conditions - a soilless planting mix, good drainage, plenty of light, plenty of warmth - tomato seeds can pop up in 8-10 days.

Pepper seeds are a different story. Why is it some peppers can take weeks to germinate?

"The important thing in getting your (pepper) seeds to germinate is to keep them warm – the soil temperature should be in the 80's", says Renee Shepherd of Renee's Garden, a popular seed catalog based in Felton, California. "Germination is very much related to even moisture and warm temperatures. You should see germination within 2 to 3 weeks if it's warm enough. I strongly suggest using bottom heat to achieve the warmth the seeds need – most good nurseries carry electric seed starting mats which will keep your seed soil at the right temperature in order for the pepper seeds to sprout. A local mail order source is Peaceful Valley Farm Supply."

For those who want to comparison shop, another source for heating mats for your pepper seeds: Amazon.

Another trick that some gardeners employ is soaking the pepper seed for awhile - even overnight - before sowing, in order to soften the seed coat. The value of that is open to debate.

"I have never heard of soaking pepper seeds overnight and have never done it in 20 years of running a trial garden," says Shepherd.

On the other hand, Professor Debbie Flower, formerly of the American River College Horticulture Department, sees the benefits of some "immersion therapy" for pepper seeds. "We soaked our pepper seeds in hydrogen peroxide for 10 minutes," explains Flower. "That's not enough time to scarify (soften or break the seedcoat), or even get them soaked, but enough to kill exterior diseases."

Many sweet pepper varieties will show their initial leaves about two weeks after planting the seeds. But some varieties of peppers take longer to pop up than others. "The hot pepper varieties take longer to germinate, some to three weeks," says Flower.

But if you are experimenting with the really hot pepper varieties, such as the Bhut Jolokia (Ghost Pepper), it could take up to four months, says the Trade Winds Fruit website:

"Chinense species (e.g. Habanero's) generally take longer to germinate than most common peppers. Keep soil warm to very warm (75-90F) for better germination. Do not use acidic soil. Some Chinense peppers, in particular Bhut Jolokia, Naga Morich and related peppers are very slow to germinate, averaging 1-4 months germination time."

By the way, if you are growing the Bhut Jolokia...you're playing with fire. The Ghost Pepper is rated at 850,000 Scoville units of heat. For comparison, the habanero rates 200,000; the Jalapeno is 5,000; the Anaheim equals 1,000. And sweet bell peppers? 0.

This is as hot as I can stand. The Inferno: 4,000 Scoville Heat Units

Another factor that can determine the rate of germination of pepper seeds: the pH of your seed starting mix. One of the most common ingredients in most seed starting mixes is peat moss, which is highly acidic, with a pH around 4.0. Pepper heads, including the Horticulture students at American River College, have found quicker germination when Coir (coconut fiber) is substituted for peat moss. Coir has a closer-to-neutral pH: around 6.5. The tests at American River College bear this out after trying Coir in their pepper seed soil mix. "We've had the best germination of peppers ever!" says Flower.

And don't be in a rush to set them out in their permanent garden home. "Pepper seedlings need to be grown out until they have at least several sets of true leaves, and it is at least 55° at night before you plant them out," explains Renee Shepherd.  "And they will need a little time to get used to being outdoors, as well." Here in the Central Valley of California, that would be around mid-May. Be patient. 

Now, for the MORE tips portion: Since first posted years ago, this Farmer Fred Rant Blog page has received a lot of attention. The beauty of that...lots of pepper growers have chimed in about their preferred methods for growing peppers.One method that was seconded by many: germinate your pepper seeds in between two moist paper towels in a room that is between 70 and 80 degrees. For many, that room might be the kitchen or bathroom. When the "tails" appear after about 6 or 7 days (the tails, by the way, are the emerging roots), gently transplant them into a moist, seed starting mix, preferably one that uses the more neutral coir instead of the lower pH peat moss. Or, make your own. My preferred home mix consists of equal parts coir, perlite and fine compost. The improvements I would make to that germination suggestion? Use coffee filters instead of paper towels. That way, the emerging root doesn't get tangled, as happens when using fibrous paper towels. Pulling out germinated seeds from paper towels may be hazardous to their health.Also, to insure a warm environment, here's something you could do in just about any indoor room: place the moist coffee filters, containing the pepper seeds, inside a glass baking pan. Place that on top of a germination mat. Cover the baking pan with plastic wrap to keep it warmer. I tried this at home, and the pepper seeds germinated with six days.

As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases from some of the underlined links in the newsletter. This is how I am trying to keep this a free newsletter. And as long as you buy whatever you want from Amazon using any of those links to get into the Amazon site, I get a few pennies. Thank you.

Thanks for Subscribing and Spreading the Word About the Garden Basics with Farmer Fred newsletter, I appreciate your support. 

And thank you for listening to the Garden Basics with Farmer Fred podcast! It’s available wherever you get your podcasts. Please share it with your garden friends.

Fred Hoffman is also a University of California Cooperative Extension Master Gardener in Sacramento County.

All About Tomatoes!

Gardeners LOVE growing tomatoes. So much so that the subject of tomatoes made the Top 5 audience favorite segments among all of the 2021

Garden Basics with Farmer Fred podcasts. The latest episode, #160, The Greatest Hits of 2021: All About Tomatoes, runs over an hour. And the top listened-to segments are directly or indirectly related to growing tomatoes: Starting Tomato Seeds (episode 79), Reusing Potting Soil (also Episode 79), Transplanting Tomatoes (Episode 93), Tomatillo Pollination (Episode 124), Tomato Pruning (Episode 106) and Tomato Troubleshooting (Episode 110).

There is so much to talk about when it comes to growing tomatoes, that even an hour+ special podcast isn’t enough. So, for the Garden Basics Newsletter readers…enjoy the conversation posted at the beginning of this newsletter with Don Shor of Redwood Barn Nursery in Davis, CA. We talk about our tomato winners and losers of 2021 in our own yards; the best tomatoes to grow for the novice gardener (or any gardener who want a successful tomato-growing experience); and, our picks for our favorites to grow this year.

By the way, if you know a gardener who is venturing into growing tomatoes for the first time or just wants more tomato information, please share this newsletter with them.

Thank you!

We spent a bit of this special newsletter podcast talking about the All-American Selections Winners, and how that can be a good barometer for choosing the tomato varieties that you might want to plant this spring and summer. The AAS has tomato trial gardens throughout the country; many of their choices are national winners. You can also drill down into the complete AAS Winners list to find the best performing vegetables and flowers for your region of the country.

Growing Tomatoes in Containers

This year’s Great Tomato Growing Experiment: is this small area (4’x16’), adjacent to a north-facing fence, truly the sunniest spot on the property?

After monitoring my entire full sun-deprived Folsom yard for nearly three years, this one spot, near the garage, may be the one area that gets more than eight hours of direct sun a day, perfect for growing tomatoes.The dilemma (well, two dilemmas, actually): because it is a concrete surface, the tomatoes must be grown in containers; and, how do you avoid water stains on the concrete when the barrels drain?Solution: use a big container (in this case, half barrels with five 7/8” drain holes drilled through the bottom) and place that container on top of a catch basin with several 3/4” holes drilled on the side rim on the back side, allowing the water to drain from the catch basin to the  12” wide gravel area along the fence line.

The prototype catch basin was at the suggestion of Master Gardener Lori Ann Asmus, owner of Emerald City Interior Landscape Services, who decorates Christmas trees professionally (you can see her work during the holiday season at various lobbies in public buildings, including the downtown Sacramento’s Citizen Hotel).

The catch basins were, in reality, meant for placing beneath Christmas trees to catch any water overflowing the tree holders. They are available wherever fine Christmas tree accessories are sold. And Amazon, of course.The barrel/catch basin combo have shims under the front side, allowing a gentle slope towards the fence, coaxing the water to go out the back side of the holes in the catch basin and into the gravel. So far, so good.Regarding the container dilemma: when planting thirsty summer vegetables in full sun, try to use the largest containers, preferably made out of something that doesn’t allow heat build-up. Plastic pots are notorious for overheating the soil. It’s not unusual for the soil in an unprotected plastic pot in full sun to reach temperatures in excess of 140 degrees on a day in the upper 90’s. A wood barrel works perfect for that purpose. Plus, the greater volume of soil in a barrel (as opposed to a 15-gallon plastic pot) also helps the plant avoid stress from dried-out soil if you miss a watering during 90 and 100-degree days. And, more soil means more room for root development. And don’t forget Smart Pots, lightweight fabric containers that breathe, so they stay cooler and inhibit root girdling, as well.Because a container plant may need water every day in the summer, I’ve given these two tomato plants (a Champion full-size tomato and a very popular grape tomato, Juliet) their own watering system: a battery operated timer on a nearby faucet with a Y-adapter. Connected to the timer is a short, half-inch drip line run, going along the backside of the barrels. Connected to the half inch line: quarter inch tubing snaked through a small hole on the lower backside of the barrel, and topped off with an adjustable drip bubbler/sprinkler in the middle, which sends out 6 or 8 even streams of water in a circle. Unfamiliar with drip irrigation systems? Entire kits are available, such as this.

Pro tip: run the quarter inch line in the barrel BEFORE filling it with a good quality potting soil. (By the way, “Pro Tip” = “lesson learned the hard way”).

The tomato cages are made from 4’x5’ sheets of concrete reinforcement wire, 6” mesh (for easy reaching of the tomatoes). Bend the sheets in a circle and fasten with plastic zip ties. Or, use your barbed wire tool (What? Everyone doesn’t have a barbed wire tool? It’s also known as fencing pliers.) to cut off the vertical 12-gauge wire ends on one side, and then bend the free horizontal wires around the opposite side. Or, an even easier way to connect the opposite sides of the wire sheet: use sturdy zip ties.Watering containerized plants is tricky, and must be increased or decreased more frequently, depending on the weather. Having a nearby faucet/timer/drip system in place helps ease those adjustments. Fertilization can also be tricky. Because of the leaching nature and frequent watering that an easy-draining potting mix needs during the summer, fertilizers must be applied more frequently. Note that “frequently” does not mean “more fertilizer”. If, for example, the directions on your slow-release vegetable fertilizer package advises fertilizing with a certain dosage once a month, modify it to meet the needs of your container plant: cut the dosage in half, and apply every other week.

Don’t forget that topping that containerized plant with a few inches of a bark mulch can help maintain soil moisture on a hot day and also keep the soil temperature moderate.

Thanks for Subscribing and Spreading the Word About the Garden Basics with Farmer Fred newsletter and podcast, I appreciate your support. 

As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases from some of the underlined links in the newsletter. This is how I am trying to keep this a free newsletter. And as long as you buy whatever you want from Amazon using any of those links to get into the Amazon site, I get a few pennies. Thank you.

And thank you for listening to the free, Garden Basics with Farmer Fred podcast. It’s available wherever you get your podcasts. Please share it with your garden friends.

Fred Hoffman is also a University of California Cooperative Extension Master Gardener based in Sacramento County, California.

In episode 159 of the Garden Basics with Farmer Fred podcast, we discussed gardening trends of 2022 that might have appeal for you. We talked with Andrew Bunting of the Pennsylvania Horticultural Society, which released its list of garden trends worth pursuing in the coming year. Among the trends catching on in many parts of the country (some of which are fairly well established in other parts of the U.S.), are putting in pollinator-friendly plants, converting lawns into gardens, attending a plant swap, and more. Their complete list is at the bottom of this newsletter.

One trend we discussed that you did not hear on the Garden Basics podcast: the increased interest in gravel gardening. Their are some rather profound differences between gravel gardening and maintaining a landscape topped with rocks, which has been popular in the southwest for more than a century.

There are some rather beautiful examples of gravel gardens back East and in the midwest, as you will hear Bunting describe in this special podcast edition of the Garden Basics with Farmer Fred newsletter.

One gravel garden that Bunting highlighted was the Olbrich Botanical Gardens in Wisconsin. You can see and listen to Jeff Epping of Olbrich describe the development and results of their gravel garden experiments here.

In this newsletter podcast, Bunting describes the success of gravel gardens throughout the mid-Atlantic region. Following that, retired college horticulture professor Debbie Flower and myself will discuss whether this is appropriate for the hot climates of USDA Zone 9, and some of the possible drawbacks. Still, the results from back East are certainly eye-catching. But is it right for you, especially if you live in a hot summer/low rainfall climate? As we say in the podcast, go ahead and try, but do it on a small scale at first.

The Pennsylvania Horticultural Society is also putting together the Philadelphia Flower Show, June 11-19, 2022. For more information about the Society, along with details about their 2022 Flower Show, click here. Here is their list of the 2022 Garden Trends:

• Utilize Native and Pollinator-Friendly Plants. Coax bees and pollen-loving insects to your gardens. Native plants attract native pollinators. A good California source for the appropriate plants is the Calscape website, Calscape.org, for ideas for native plants suited to wherever you live in California.

• Consider Turning Lawn Space into Garden Space. Removing a small piece of lawn and transforming it into garden space has the power to significantly lower fossil fuel emissions that would otherwise be applied to the lawn through regular trimming and maintenance. Your new garden space can also boost its positive environmental impact by being used as a pollinator garden, perennial garden, or even a vegetable patch.

• Attend a Plant Swap and Make a New Friend. A great way to incorporate new plants in your garden and gain expertise as a beginning gardener is by attending a plant swap. At a plant swap, attendees can bring their small plants, cuttings, potting soil, pots, seeds or other gardening equipment and exchange them for something they don’t have. This is a simple way to diversify your garden, learn new horticultural skills, and connect with fellow gardeners. Many of these exchanges can be found online in local Facebook pages or the Next Door gardening groups.

• Try Gravel Gardening. Saving water in the garden isn’t just a passing fad here in California; it’s the law. The Pennsylvania Horticulture Society has noted that more and more areas in the U.S. are experiencing inconsistent weather patterns and periods of drought. Planting gardens that require little watering or irrigation is growing in popularity. However, there is one trend back East that may sound intriguing to some California gardeners: gravel gardening, which offers a way to cut back on water and fertilizer use in your garden through eliminating the use of soil. Gravel gardens can incorporate a multitude of plants, including a wide array of succulents and ornamental grasses, as well as lavender, ceanothus and sage. A word of warning for California gardeners: if you excavate several inches of soil and fill it with gravel, make sure the soil below has good drainage. Also, when temperatures hit triple digits, a gravel garden may require regular irrigation. Starting a gravel garden in an area that gets afternoon shade may eliminate that need for more frequent watering.

• Grow Your Own Fruit. Growing fruit is no longer reserved for those with large yards. Even just a few fruit trees can produce hundreds of pieces of fruit, perfect for jams, jellies, cookies, ice cream, or simply eating as-is. Dwarf fruit trees come in many varieties including figs, mulberries, apples, peaches and pears, and are ideal for growing in a limited, sunny space.

• Cut Flowers Are Trending. Across the country, boutique flower businesses are incorporating more and more classic cut flowers like zinnia, dahlia, poppy, cosmos, and Shasta daisy. Cut flowers offer a rewarding means to experience the pride of growing your own flowers and sharing them with loved ones that will never go out of style.

Thanks for Subscribing and Spreading the Word About the Garden Basics with Farmer Fred newsletter, I appreciate your support. 

And thank you for listening to the Garden Basics with Farmer Fred podcast! It’s available wherever you get your podcasts. Please share it with your garden friends.

Fred Hoffman is also a University of California Cooperative Extension Master Gardener in Sacramento County.

YOU DON'T WANT THESE WORMS IN YOUR GARDEN, COMPOST OR WORM BIN

The damage that jumping worms (aka Asian Jumping Worms, Crazy Worms, Alabama Jumpers, or Snake Worms) can do to your garden soil.

(video originally produced by the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources)

More on how jumping worms damage your soil structure, from Oregon State University:

Because they have very large mouths akin to mechanical excavators, jumping worms are able to grasp and consume large amounts. With their voracious appetite, they outcompete the native microbial organisms and invertebrates that other organisms feed on. Their propensity to eat all the litter creates bare soil where invasive plants and animals move in, altering native ecosystems. They also remove the mulch that helps cool the soil and conserve moisture,

Further, the castings – or fecal material – of most worms contain extremely important microbes that help fight soil-borne plant diseases and repel insects. Worm castings also improve soil structure by diversifying the size of soil particles, which enhances moisture penetration and increases water retention. With jumping worms, the outcome is the opposite. Since their gut biome is slightly different, there aren’t the same beneficial results.

“What they are casting out doesn’t absorb moisture well so you end up losing porosity, which affects the overall structure of the soil,” said Sam Chan, Oregon State University Sea Grant Extension watershed health and aquatic invasive species specialist. “Initially wet and gummy, the castings quickly dry into hard granules that are difficult to rewet, not the best medium for growing plants.”

The changes to soil structure and composition caused by the worm castings can attract certain unwanted microbes, which creates an increased susceptibility to disease and can cause girdled roots. Plant stems and roots at the surface of the soil may become exposed to more environmental extremes from the loss of litter and decomposed organic matter and changes to soil structure.

Jumping worms have been outlawed in many states, but not all, and can still be found online for fishing. Chan advises to be careful not to purchase jumping worms, also known as crazy worm, Asian jumping worm and snake worm, and to spread the word about their danger. Many people – even those who sell them – aren’t aware of their invasiveness.

To help decrease the spread of jumping worms, shake off the roots of plants when sharing or buying at a private plant sale. Buy bareroot plants when possible. Never share compost, mulch, soil or plants that contain a known infestation.

Nurseries are being careful, but it’s still a good practice to inspect the soil for cocoons when you transplant. If you find jumping worms in your garden, they will probably be in pockets rather than the whole garden. Brush off your shoes and equipment when you move from place to place in an effort to keep them from spreading. If they are in contained spaces, you can spread plastic to heat the soil. Once it reaches 104 degrees F, the cocoons die.

Audio from Episode 126 of the Garden Basics with Farmer Fred Podcast

If you’re wondering about blackberry discoloration this summer, you won’t find that information in the podcast (above). What you will find for your ears: great information about superior blackberry varieties to grow, along with tips for pruning and trellising blackberries.

As to why you might start seeing some discoloration in your blackberry patch right now might be due to the weather.

But before we shine a light on that, here’s what you may have missed in last Friday’s Garden Basics with Farmer Fred podcast, Ep. 349: “Stressed? Your Garden Can Help.” And haven’t we all seen an increase in the stress levels this past couple of weeks. One easy way to soothe the worried mind: single malt Scotch Take a whiff of the garden. Really!

America’s Favorite Retired College Horticulture Professor, Debbie Flower, and myself sniff out the answers that may be in your own yard.

• Gardening and spending time in nature can help reduce stress and anxiety.

• Forest bathing, or enjoying a slow walk or sit in a natural environment, can have calming effects.

• Having a garden or indoor plants can provide stress relief and improve mental well-being.

• Aromatic plants, such as jasmine, lavender, and mint, can have a soothing effect on the mind and body.

Why Are the Blackberries Turning White?

From the garden e-mail bag, Teri asks: "What is wrong with my blackberries?"

Dewey & Ann write: "What is causing this problem with my Chester blackberries? This is on the majority of them.  I had it last year too. I checked with the local Hmong community farmers, and they also had it and said it was the 111 degrees we had in Oroville. We are at 2500 feet and 10 degrees cooler, but it wasn’t this hot last year. My Black Satin Blackberries were forming and doing well and I thought the problem was only with the Chester. Well, pretty soon I see it on them also. Am I missing something in our soil? It’s not on every one of them. It’s a dried seed eventually, but goes from a pink to beige and then worse if you don’t pick them. I would like to get to bottom of this. Can you help me?"Your local Hmong are wise horticulturists. The recent week of very sunny 100+ temperatures, along with several of triple digit scorchers in the first week of July, could very well be the culprit.Usually when we think of heat stressed plants, the cool season ones that tend to croak when it gets hot come to mind, such as lettuce plants in early summer or snow pea vines by Memorial Day weekend.Even warm season vegetables that like sunlight, especially tomatoes, can be adversely effected by too much high intensity sun. Abiotic disorders such as cracking, solar yellowing or green shoulders are common this time of year on young tomato crops. 

One remedy for those tomatoes: don't prune off any of the leaf canopy of tomato plants; or, cover with a lightweight row cover to provide some more shade.

And now, you can add blackberries to the list of crops that develop problems when it gets too sunny, too hot, dry and windy, especially because of extended heatwaves. The problem is known as White Drupelet Disorder (WDD).

According to the UC Integrated Pest Management Guidelines for Caneberries:"White drupelet is a tan-to-white discoloration of one to many drupelets on the fruit. Most often, white drupelets will appear when there has been an abrupt increase in temperature accompanied by a drop in humidity; it is especially pronounced when there is wind. In the Monterey Bay area, white drupelet typically occurs when temperatures that are fairly steady around 70 degrees suddenly go above 90 degrees, and there is an absence of fog.While white drupelets may seem to be directly caused by weather, they are actually caused by ultra-violet (UV) radiation. Weather conditions modulate this by the effect they have on penetration of UV radiation into the fruit. Cool, humid air scatters and absorbs UV radiation, while hot dry air has the opposite effect and allows more direct UV rays to reach the fruit. The movement of humidity away from the canopy by wind only heightens the effect of hot dry air. Additionally, as humidity is moved away from the plant canopy, more UV rays penetrate the canopy and damage fruit that may not even have been exposed to the sun. Fruit inside of the canopy is not acclimatized to UV radiation and is subsequently more susceptible when it reaches them.Some growers of caneberries in the Willamette Valley of Oregon, where rapid changes from a normally mild climate to temperatures up to and above 100 degrees occur through the summer, use overhead irrigation to minimize fruit loss to white drupelet. This is not merely to mist the fruit; instead, large amounts of water are applied to thoroughly wet the canopy and maintain cool temperatures and high canopy humidity for as long as possible. Sprinkling is not done too late in the evening to allow fruit to dry before nightfall.While some varieties, such as Apache blackberry, Kiowa blackberry, and Caroline red raspberry tend to get white drupelets more frequently than others, almost all caneberry varieties are susceptible to white drupelet to some degree."

From North Carolina State University:

White drupelet disorder (WDD) is a discoloration of some of the drueplets on developing blackberry fruit. The drupes appear as tan to white and can be concentrated in patches or randomly distributed on the fruit. The causes of WDD in blackberries are attributed to multiple factors. Environmental factors include the exposure of the drupelets to ultraviolet-B (UV-B) light or high light intensities, low humidity, wind, rainfall, and interactions of these factors. WDD is often observed earlier in the fruiting season when the canopy is less dense. We know that there are some cultivars are particularly prone to displaying this disorder, so there is a genetic factor as well.  The blackberry cultivar Apache appears to be especially vulnerable.

From the University of Arkansas:

Thoughts on White Drupes on Blackberries by Dr. John R. Clark - Fruit Breeder

“I would like to make a few comments on white drupes (WD) and related topics in the early part of this blackberry season in Arkansas. My experience is from the research plots in the Arkansas breeding program, based in West-Central Arkansas, and are based on observations from early June until June 17, 2013. I have seen more white drupes this year than normal, and I think it is due to several factors. A primary one is that our environment shifted quickly, from daytime high temperatures in the upper 70s and nights in the upper 50s to daytime highs near the mid-90s, with above 70 nights (all are Fahrenheit temperatures). I think the plants were rather shocked with this change and responded with more susceptibility to this increased heat and possibly sunlight. I also saw more true sunburned berries during this time –the whole sides of berries burned red or white. The problem appears to have lessened somewhat as fruit maturity has moved along, and I suspect the plants may have adjusted to some degree. One cultivar I noted to have no white drupes was Prime-Ark®45. As I was looking closely at cultivar and new breeding developments I could not find any white drupes on it while some selections were covered with WD berries. Natchez had a few white drupelets with the first ripe berries, while Ouachita had no ripe berries. Note this was in the floricane fruit of PA 45, and it began ripening about June 5 (our season is running 7- 9 days late this year).

Prior to this heat, we saw a tremendous amount of dry drupe berries, often concentrated at the tips of berries. I am not sure if this was anthracnose or another problem, but the weather was very wet several weeks prior to this, the plants were only sprayed with liquid lime sulfur at bud break, and heavy foliar anthracnose was seen during this time. I don’t have a solution to this problem other than as a breeder to try to select and advance selections to release that have less or none of the WD problem, and not spraying to try to identify the most resistant plants to the dry drupe issue. I still feel this WD event is associated with wet periods and sunlight damage; it can be much worse on berries located lower on the plant and closer to the ground that stay wetter longer.”

From the University of Missouri’s Integrated Pest Management Program:

July is the prime time for harvesting and enjoying blackberries. The fruit is ripe when the drupelets are uniformly black. However, sometimes individual or multiple drupelets on a blackberry are off-colored. White, tan, red, or brown drupelet discoloration can be caused by various factors during the growing season.

White drupelet disorder on blackberry often occurs during hot, dry summers. Although drupelets enlarge during the growing season, they fail to turn red. These white or tan drupelets can be interspersed individually among dark-colored ones or in groups. In the past, white drupelet disorder was attributed to stinkbug feeding. However, white drupelets are caused by ultraviolet radiation and high temperatures. In studies conducted on red raspberry, unpigmented or white drupelets developed when fruit was exposed to temperatures of 107°F or higher with four or more hours of ultraviolet radiation. In another study, researchers found that the use of 30% shade cloth during the growing season reduced white drupelet disorder by 63%, but the total soluble solids (i.e., sugars) concentration of shaded fruit was 1% lower than non-shaded fruit, which slightly reduced blackberry sweetness. Some of the older blackberry cultivars, such as Kiowa and Apache, are more prone to developing this disorder than others, but several are susceptible. While white drupelets on blackberries may not be aesthetically pleasing, affected fruit are edible.

Interspersed red drupelets on ripe blackberry fruit can develop before or after harvest. Excessive rainfall before harvest has been associated with red drupelets that are soft and never turn black. In 2020, red drupelets were observed on the floricane crop Prime-Ark 45 blackberries grown in the field and in high tunnels in North Carolina. Also, a tiny eriophyid mite (Acalitus essigi) is known to cause "redberry" fruit on blackberry. Late-maturing blackberry cultivars are particularly prone to redberry mite infestations. These mites feed on the fruit core and at the base of berry drupelets. However, these mites are not common in the eastern United States.

Reversion is the most common cause of red drupelets on blackberry fruit after harvest. With this disorder, some of the black drupelets at harvest change to a red color. Reversion occurs on blackberries that are damaged by bruising or fruit compression during harvest or shipping. Also, blackberries that have a core temperature above 73°F at harvest tend to have a higher incidence of red drupelet than cooler fruit, especially during the early part of the season. Thus, a step-cooling process to lower fruit temperature is used to reduce the incidence of this disorder.

Anthracnose is a fungal disease that produces brown, shrunken drupelets on infected blackberries. Infection occurs in the spring during warm, wet conditions. Pruning to enhance air circulation among plants and removal of old fruiting canes in the dormant season reduces the amount of overwintering inoculum in the planting. Also, weed control improves air flow through the planting during the growing season and helps reduce disease infection. An application of liquid lime sulfur (Sulforix) can also be applied to dormant blackberry buds just before they begin to produce new growth will control anthracnose. Blackberries infected with this disease are off-flavored and are unfit for sale.

All those Universities agree: blame it on our “Heatdome” weather.

Thanks for reading Beyond Basics: The Garden Basics with Farmer Fred Newsletter! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work.

Thank you for also listening to the Garden Basics with Farmer Fred podcast! It’s available wherever you get your podcasts. Please share it with your garden friends.

Fred Hoffman is also a University of California Cooperative Extension Master Gardener in Sacramento County. And he likes to ride his bike(s).

Are you trying to grow a salsa garden? It's great that most of the ingredients for salsa ripen at about the same time in the backyard garden. The main salsa ingredients - tomatoes, peppers, onions, and garlic - are ready this time of year. And if you wait until September or October to make the salsa, there might be some limes ready from a backyard lime tree in citrus growing regions. But there is one ingredient that throws off that salsa recipe timing: cilantro. Cilantro is easy to grow in hot climates in fall, winter, and early spring. But in hot summers? You can forget about it being ready when the rest of your salsa ingredients are all growing fine. Because of the rising frequency of extended, triple digit summer temperatures (“heat dome” seems to be the 2024 phrase that pays), cilantro is going to turn bitter and send up flower stalks (which, by the way, the beneficial insects love).

You could buy cilantro at the store or farmer’s market. But the aroma and tangy taste of fresh, homegrown, just-picked cilantro can’t be beat.

Before we delve into the solution for getting fresh homegrown cilantro in the summer, here’s what you may have missed in last Friday’s Garden Basics with Farmer Fred Podcast, #348:

Right now - mid-summer - is peach and plum harvest time for most of us. Phil Pursel of Dave Wilson Nursery talks about choosing the tastiest peach and plum tree varieties, along with care tips, including watering and fertilization. Phil points out the difference between freestone and cling peaches, the importance of chill hours for peach trees, and the major insect pests of peach trees. Phil’s favorite peach: the Red Baron. Fred’s favorite: a dwarf variety, the Garden Gold peach. Phil’s favorite plum: the Emerald Beaut. Fred’s tastiest favorite plum: The weeping Santa Rosa plum.

We’ve talked in the past about ways to improve clay soil; but what about sandy soil? Maser Gardener Gail Pothour offers tips for a listener in Michigan on what to add to that sandy soil to help it retain nutrients and water. And it turns out, Gail is also knowledgeable about how parts of Michigan got its sandy soil to begin with!

The episode concludes with our America’s Favorite Retired College Horticulture Professor, Debbie Flower, dissecting a listener’s plan for adding sticks to the bottom of a new raised bed. Even though it’s counterintuitive, that can actually slow down the flow of water through the bed, leading to possible wet soil problems for the plant roots. Unlike what water does above ground (fall through the air, downward). Underground, water must travel along soil particles, not air particles - to head downward. Thus, the importance of using a uniform soil type throughout the container or raised bed.

Find out more when you listen to Ep. 348, The Tastiest Peaches and Plums. Improving Sandy Soil. Raised Bed Drainage Tips.

How To Grow Cilantro in a Hot Summer Climate

There is a solution for cilantro lovers who garden in a hot climate, according to Renee Shepherd, owner of Renee’s Garden seed catalog: Grow cilantro as a microgreen. “Pick it when it's very young, just a few inches tall,” advises Shepherd, based in Santa Cruz County, CA. “The hotter the weather, the younger you pick it. I have seen it growing that way in the Napa Valley. I work with a grower there who besides growing the cilantro seed for us, grows very fancy greens for upscale restaurants in San Francisco. And it's very hot in Napa, just as hot as where you are. He's successful growing cilantro as a microgreen. He uses row covers for protection and grows it in an area that gets afternoon shade through the summer.”

Shepherd says it is a quick, easy crop to grow as a microgreen in just a couple of weeks. The seeds will sprout in five to ten days. But even though you're harvesting the cilantro at a very young age after just a few weeks of growing, you increase your chances of success by planting it where it gets afternoon shade.

That’s just one of the crops Renee discusses in today’s newsletter podcast (above). At Renee’s Garden seed catalog, the Cut & Come Again Salad Garden is prominently featured.

Here is a sampler of carefully chosen varieties for growing in the Cut & Come Again Salad Garden from Renee’s Garden, especially when gardening in containers or small space gardens:

There are replacements for cilantro that may complement your homemade salsa. Some common substitutes mentioned online include mint, basil, parsley and chives, all of which grow well here this time of year. However, there are herbs that ripen in the summer that contain a more cilantro-like flavor. Most of these herbs originate in Southeast Asia, usually Vietnam, and they're available at better nurseries that have a wider range of herbs.

According to Rose Loveall-Sale of Morningsun Herb Farm in Vacaville, CA: “One of the best cilantro substitutes is Vietnamese coriander (Polygonum odoratum), which is also called Rau Ram. The flavor is very similar to cilantro, with a hint of lemon and without the soap flavor that's often associated with cilantro. It makes a great cilantro substitute during the summer when other cilantro species suffer and die under the hot dry conditions.”

Morningsun Herb Farm will be one of the participating vendors at the UC Sacramento County Master Gardener’s big free event, Harvest Day, at the Fair Oaks Horticulture Center on Saturday, August 3.

If you bought cilantro seeds today, you could be harvesting it by August for your salsa recipes, by growing it as a microgreen. The UC Master Gardeners of Sonoma County offer these cilantro microgreens growing tips:

• Grow microgreens indoors in pots or trays that are a few inches deep; outdoors grow them in a flat that gets afternoon shade and is protected with a row cover.

• Make sure all containers have good drainage.

• Use a commercial seed starting soil mix to avoid soil pathogens.

• Sow seeds 1/8 of an inch deep. Mix seeds with fine sand to help with even distribution.

• Water regularly with a spray mister to avoid disturbing seeds. Maintain moist, but not wet, soil.

• Growing indoors? You can start the seeds in a container in low light, but move the pot or flat to an eastern, western, or south-facing window after germination.

• Provide six to eight hours of sunlight as soon as sprouts appear. Indoors, if lacking a sunny window, use specialized grow lights over the trays, about 12 hours a day, with the lights 6-12 in. above the sprouted greens.

• Harvest microgreens after they develop their first set of true leaves and are about 2-4 inches tall.

• Snip small clusters of stems with scissors a little above the soil level; rinse before eating.

Thanks for reading Beyond Basics: The Garden Basics with Farmer Fred Newsletter!

Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work.

Thank you for also listening to the Garden Basics with Farmer Fred podcast! It’s available wherever you get your podcasts. Please share it with your garden friends.

Fred Hoffman is also a University of California Cooperative Extension Master Gardener in Sacramento County. And he likes to ride his bike(s).

Today’s podcast deals with any hot climate vegetable gardener’s dilemma: what greens can I grow in the summer that are bolt resistant and won’t end up tasting bitter? We talk with Sacramento County Master Gardener and avid vegetable grower Gail Pothour, who talks about the finalists in the heat-resistant greens growing trial held at the Fair Oaks Horticulture Center. And the Fresh Physician (and avid gardener), Florida-based Dr. Laura Varich, who extols the virtues of a diet loaded with green, leafy vegetables. And she has a favorite leafy green vegetable that (in her own yard) can withstand the Florida summer heat.

But before we delve into the delicious, nutritious, easy to grow world of leafy green vegetables, here’s what you may have missed in last Friday’s Garden Basics with Farmer Fred podcast, Episode 347: The Garden Basics travel playlist -“Top 5 All Time Episodes” (which was also featured in last week’s newsletter), “Growing Raspberries and Boysenberries”, and “Getting Rid of Slugs in a Compost Pile”.

The Take-aways:

• Proper spacing, irrigation, and pruning are important for growing berries successfully.

• Slugs can be managed in compost bins by ensuring proper moisture levels and using barriers like iron phosphate or copper.

Why, thank you, AI, for that succinct, bland recap of a 40 minute-plus podcast! Please, take a WD-40 break and I’ll add the flowers.

The ever-ebullient and knowledgeable Master Gardener Pam Bone loves to grow raspberries and boysenberries.

And with 40 years of backyard growing experience of those vining sweet treats, she’s got the keys to success down pat. Originally aired in April of 2022.

Susan Muckey, Master Gardener and worm whisperer, volunteers at the Fair Oaks Horticulture Center’s Composting/Vermicomposting Demonstration area.

And she was surprised, amused and befuddled that a question from a listener asked: “There are slugs in my compost! How do I get rid of them?”

We both wondered, how did those slugs get in there? We went through our litany of slug and snail control suggestions, although Susan has one unique take: “Turn the pile at night, so you won’t see them.”

Again, all that, plus that Garden Basics playlist of 5 episodes for long car trips, is in last Friday’s episode 347 of the Garden Basics with Farmer Fred podcast.

In Search of a Heat Resistant Green

(Today’s Podcast Transcript)

Originally aired on Garden Basics Ep. 264, “Top 10 Homegrown Vegetables, Part 2”

Farmer Fred   I have been on a lifelong garden search for a lettuce variety, a loose leaf lettuce variety, that can take the heat. Some are better than others as far as getting through July, perhaps. But it seems like when July turns into August, they all start bolting.

Gail Pothour   Right. And actually, several years ago, we did an experiment two years in a row at the Fair Oaks Horticulture Center. Because we get this question a lot, “Why can't I grow lettuce in the summer?”. So we thought okay, let's find some varieties, and grow them through the heat of summer and see how they do. First off, you need to start with some varieties that are heat resistant, like Jericho that was bred in Israel, so it's a little more heat resistant. And we tried half dozen or so different varieties we monitored when we planted them, how many weeks it was before they started bolting. Some did better than others. Some did pretty well. But what we found is you need to mulch heavily to keep the moisture in, to keep them well watered, provide shade during their entire lifespan in the summer, and then be prepared as soon as one starts to bolt, take it out and then replant with another transplant. So kind of a succession planting. It is possible but it's a lot of work. It takes a lot of water and shading and monitoring. Not sure if it's worth it or not. Grow it in the shade if you have a shady location but often it's not just the sunlight, it is the heat and that’s true even in the shade in Sacramento. We can be fairly warm in the summertime. So it's a tough thing to do.

Farmer Fred   The closest green I found that can be grown year round and especially if you do it in the shade it does okay here, and that’s swiss chard.

Gail Pothour   right yeah, that can be grown year round. I have done it in an area of my yard where it got some afternoon shade in the summertime. And it was able to survive over summer. But yeah, any of the other leafy greens are going to be a little tough. One of my favorites or absolute favorite lettuce is called Pomegranate Crunch. It's a red romaine. And it is very good. I get it as pelleted seeds, which makes it a little bit easier to germinate. Lettuce can have a difficult time germinating. Lettuce does need light in order to germinate. So don't plant the seed too deeply. Pelleted seeds don't have that problem. But I think sometimes if people have difficulty getting lettuce to germinate, it’s because maybe they buried it too deep. It needs light. It's one of the few vegetables that needs light to germinate.

Farmer Fred   And I believe it's one of those seeds that will not germinate in heat.

Gail Pothour   Right, right. If you tried sowing lettuce seed in the summer, maybe for a fall crop, it is difficult. If your soil temperatures are too warm, the lettuce seed can go dormant. So if you're also starting it indoors, whereas I use a heating mat to get a lot of my seeds to germinate, you don't use a heating mat for lettuce because the soil will be too warm and lettuce seed will go dormant in heat.

Farmer Fred  Some of the varieties that have been recommended as heat tolerant lettuces that I've grown over the years, and they're barely heat tolerant, are Black Seeded Simpson and Amish Deer Tongue. They're pretty good. But like I said, they do eventually bolt. But  I think one good rule to remember is if you want lettuce to last in the yard as long as possible, grow loose leaf varieties, not head lettuce.

Gail Pothour   Right. And of the ones that we did in our heat tolerant trial, the ones that did well besides Jericho was Year Round Bronze. It's an oak leaf variety, and it was late to bolt in the summer so it actually did very well. Red Cross is a red butterhead, Merlot is a dark red leaf lettuce, and “Paradai”, a red oak leaf. That's one of my favorites, but I can no longer find seeds for it. And then Nevada. It's a green loose leaf, kind of a semi heading type. So all those did well as well as completely expected in our summer heat. So they did better than a lot of other varieties.

Farmer Fred  I'm glad you mentioned Nevada because I have grown that one before and it it was pretty good. But I think if you want a dependable green, do the Swiss chard.

Gail Pothour   Right, I agree.

Link: Sacramento County Master Gardeners’ Warm Weather Lettuce Trials

============================

Dr. Laura’s Tip for a Heat Resistant Leafy Green Vegetable

Originally aired on Garden Basics Ep. 327, “The Heart Healthy Garden” Guest: Dr. Laura Varich, the Fresh Physician

Farmer Fred I have been on a search for a bolt resistant lettuce, and you gave me that tip last year when we talked last June. I believe it was episode 269 about a healthy diet. You said you need to try the Chinese cabbage, the Tokyo Bekana Chinese cabbage. It is bolt resistant. It can take the heat. And I go, well, gee, I'll try that because I've been searching for years for a summertime lettuce, a green, that I can grow and have with just about every meal. And sure enough, that Tokyo Bekana Chinese cabbage, which isn't really a cabbage, it's more lettuce-like, it has a crunchy flavor, it's a loose leaf variety. Grow it in the shade in the summertime. Grow it in the winter in full sun. And it is delicious. It grows easily. You can plant a short row every month and you can cut it and it comes back and eventually it wears out.

But you can still plant it several times a year. Try it. Thank you, thank you, thank you so much. And you even said to try it! it's a game changer. And it really is for anybody searching for a bolt resistant, leafy green that can take the heat. Try that Tokyo Bekana Chinese Cabbage.

Dr. Laura Varich You get a nice big head of that growing and you could just cut off the outer leaves like you said and keep it going and keep it going. And for some reason, the cabbage pests don't seem to like it that much. I haven't had trouble with them, whereas I have trouble with some of the other cabbages. Another one I want to tip you off to, in case you haven't tried it, is one called Devil's Ear lettuce. Have you tried that? 

Farmer Fred No. OK, I'm writing it down. Devil's Ear lettuce.

Dr. Laura Varich That's another one that I feel like it probably goes a lot longer before bolting than the rest of them. And it's kind of got a long skinny leaf. It's a smallish kind of head with a long skinny leaf. It's a loose leaf. And it's got some purple on the edges. Super wonderful, very nice flavor. And it doesn't bolt, at least not for a long time. So I love that about it.

Farmer Fred They've done some trials out at the Fair Oaks Horticulture Center, the Sacramento County Master Gardener Demonstration Garden, and  one summer they did try a lot of different heat tolerant lettuce or allegedly heat tolerant lettuces. And their final verdict was, well, they're barely heat tolerant. And they included things like black seeded Simpson, Amish deer tongue, Red Cross, Jericho, Year Round Bronze and a dark red leaf lettuce called Paradai, P -A -R -A -D -A -I, which is a red oak leaf lettuce. And also they tested Nevada, which is a green loose leaf. And it's kind of a semi -heading type. Again, they did as well as expected in summer heat, but as expected means, well, it might get you to August, but that's about it. So you think Devil's Ear lettuce can last through August? 

Dr. Laura Varich Oh, I don't know if I'd say that. But it seems to go longer than the rest of mine as far as before it bolts. 

Farmer Fred All right. Well, I will definitely pick up some devil's ear lettuce and give that a try this summer and see how it does. Great. Let's talk a little bit about greens. They're so good for you. They're low calorie and you can serve them in a variety of ways. You can serve them raw in a salad. You can saute them. You can mix it up in stir fries. There's just so much you can do with greens.

Dr. Laura Varich Yeah, and they really are good for you. If you think about healthy foods, they're probably our number one healthy food. They have the most nutrients, again, that nutrient density that we were talking about. So yeah, greens are terrific for us. 

And some of the things that are really, really good for us in the foods that we eat. I know we talked about this a little bit before, the strong colors and the strong flavors in our food. And greens have both of those things going for them. Those dark green colors are really a combination of colors. It's a whole smattering of colors that's making that dark green. So they've got a lot of phytonutrients there and they do have some of those stronger flavors, right? Some of that bitterness to it and things like that. That tells us that there's a lot of those are really good phytonutrients in there. So yeah, greens, we can do so much with them. And it's just a matter of finding the ones that you really love. 

Thanks for reading Beyond Basics: The Garden Basics with Farmer Fred Newsletter! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work.

Thank you for also listening to the Garden Basics with Farmer Fred podcast! It’s available wherever you get your podcasts. Please share it with your garden friends.

Fred Hoffman is also a University of California Cooperative Extension Master Gardener in Sacramento County. And he likes to ride his bike(s). Uphill.

Before we start digging through the mulch looking for termites, here is what you may have missed in last Friday’s (June 28) Garden Basics with Farmer Fred Podcast,

Ep. 346: All About Soil Thermometers, Soil pH, and Cardboard Mulch.

• Soil thermometers are precise measuring devices that need to be taken care of properly. They should not be left sitting in the soil or exposed to direct sunlight.

• The depth at which you measure soil temperature depends on what you are planting. For seeds, measure at a shallow depth, while for transplants, measure at a deeper depth.

• Some soil thermometers have a calibration nut that allows you to calibrate the temperature reading. This can be done by placing the thermometer in a glass of ice water and adjusting the arrow to read 32 degrees.

• Soil pH can vary at different depths, especially when using layered mulching techniques. It is important to wait for the layers to break down and mix together before relying on pH readings.

• Professional soil tests from reputable labs can provide accurate information about soil pH and nutrient levels. It is recommended to follow the specific instructions provided by the lab when taking soil samples.

• Cardboard can be used to smother grass and weeds when starting a new garden bed. It should be plain and unadulterated, and watered before being placed on the soil. It takes time for the cardboard to break down and create a suitable planting environment.

=========

After nearly five years of podcasts, here are the five most listened-to episodes of the Garden Basics with Farmer Fred podcast:

#5. Ep. 263 The Top Homegrown Vegetables, Pt 1

Farmer Fred and Master Gardener/vegetable expert Gail Pothour discuss the top 5 homegrown vegetables. They cover topics such as growing tomatoes, cucumbers, sweet peppers, beans, and carrots. They provide tips for beginners, including starting with easy-to-grow varieties and using supports for indeterminate tomatoes. They also discuss favorite tomato and pepper varieties and share tips for growing cilantro in the summer.

#4 Ep. 258 10 More Garden Quick Tips

Fred presents 10 more garden quick tips. The topics covered include creating a container garden, making a cheaper seed starting mix, storing and washing chicken eggs, taking better pictures of garden insects, growing small apples, and growing the Suncrest peach tree. The episode also features interviews with experts in the gardening field who provide valuable insights and advice. In this conversation, Fred discusses various gardening topics, including growing fruit trees in small spaces, warding off pests, propagating strawberry runners, improving drainage, and growing popcorn. He provides tips and advice on each topic, sharing insights from experts and personal experiences. The conversation covers a range of gardening techniques and practices that can be helpful for both beginners and experienced gardeners.

#3 Ep. 256 Container Gardening Basics

Fred interviews Pam Farley, author of the book 'The First Time Gardener, Container Food Gardening.' They discuss container gardening for beginners, including tips on choosing the right containers, ensuring proper drainage, and selecting the right plants. They also cover troubleshooting common issues in container gardening and provide a quick planting guide for vegetables, fruits, and herbs.

#2 Ep. 266 Cucumber Growing Basics

This conversation with America’s Favorite Retired College Horticulture Professor (and cucumber aficionado), Debbie Flower, covers topics such as cucumber varieties, growing techniques, harvesting tips, and how to prevent bitterness in cucumbers. The episode also touches on the importance of bees in pollinating cucumber flowers and discusses common pests and diseases that can affect cucumber plants. They provide recommendations for trellising cucumbers and share favorite cucumber varieties. In this conversation, Fred also provides recommendations for further reading and resources.

#1 Ep. 319 How to Plant and Care for a Shade Tree

Consulting arborist Gordon Mann joins Fred and shares his expertise on planting and caring for shade trees. They discuss the importance of choosing the right spot with good soil, proper planting techniques, and the long-term care required for tree health. They also emphasize the role of soil in tree growth and the need for organic matter and mulch. The conversation covers topics such as tree watering, root pruning, and the correct way to plant a tree. Overall, the episode provides valuable information for homeowners looking to plant and care for shade trees. They also delve into the topic of tree pruning, emphasizing the need for proper pruning techniques and debunking common misconceptions. The conversation concludes with a discussion on the importance of tree diversity and the role of water management in tree care.

Mulch vs Termites

From the garden e-mail bag, Carol wants to know: “We mulch all over the place, but all those wood chips got me thinking about termites! Has anyone mentioned a problem with the little guys? We keep the chips away from the wood siding, but how far is far enough? Any thoughts?”

My first thought is: mulch is good. A layer of organic mulch, such as wood chips, chipped/shredded tree limbs, compost, or straw, applied a few inches thick around (but not touching) the plants in your garden and walkways, has a lot of benefits.

Mulch retains moisture; it keeps soil temperature constant; it reduces plant stress; mulch suppresses weeds; organic mulch will gradually increase soil organic matter; it attracts beneficial organisms that improve soil fertility and porosity; mulch encourages healthier plants; it reduces the needs for pesticides and fertilizers; mulch protects roots and plants from mechanical injury; and applied on a hillside to thwart the development of flammable weeds, mulch can suppress the spread of brush fires.

Worrying about introducing termites to your yard via a load of mulch is a waste of worry wrinkles. Former college horticulture professor Debbie Flower and I talked about this in an episode of the Garden Basics podcast (Ep. 284 “Ranking Garden Mulches”), because it is a good question for anyone wondering if that load of chipped/shredded tree parts (my favorite form of mulch) that is dropped off in front of your house might contain termites.

“There could have been a pest or disease in that plant that was taken down,” explained Flower. “But all research has shown that those diseases and insect pests, as well as fungus and bacteria, do not survive the process of the chipping and then the moving of the pile. They rely on the intact plant to live. Termites don't live in wood mulch. They rely on bigger pieces of wood, not on this chipped-up stuff that's piled up with lots of air between it. It gets wet, it dries out, it's a very different environment that termites don’t like. The diseases, as well as the insect pests that may have caused the demise of the tree do not survive this process, so they don't come to your house.” You can hear our entire conversation about mulch in today’s newsletter podcast (above).

University research agrees with that assessment. However, there are some warnings.

The University of Florida cautions users of mulch to only apply a thin layer of mulch – or none at all – next to the foundation of the house or outbuildings. Thick, consistently wet mulch can provide a living bridge from the mulch pile to the wood foundation of a house.

Iowa State University points out a problem with termite species that might live in the soil in that state, but still say mulch is a good thing. “Does this mean, as some pest control advertisements claim, that mulch attracts termites to your home or that the mulch somehow causes termites? The answer to both questions is, ‘no.’ In the field, termites were detected with equal frequency beneath mulches of eucalyptus, hardwood, pine bark and pea gravel, as well as bare, uncovered soil. Sustained activity over time was significantly higher beneath gravel mulch.”

Linda Chalker-Scott of Washington State University agrees, but also warns about using cardboard as mulch, which can attract termites: “Many people believe that they shouldn’t use wood chip mulches around their house for fear of attracting termites to their home. This is not true. Termites are not attracted to wood-based mulches, they prefer higher nutrient woody materials like cardboard. If termites were in the tree when it was chipped to make mulch, the termites would have died through the process and will not be introduced into your garden from the mulch. However, if you have an established termite population in the ground surrounding your garden, wood chip mulch can be a bridge from the soil to the structure. If you are concerned with termites around your garden, it would be best to consult a professional to set up monitoring or barrier control methods around your home.”

I would add that keeping mulch 12 inches away from the foundation, allowing that area to occasionally dry out, will dissuade termites from entering that non-moist environment.

Thanks for reading Beyond Basics: The Garden Basics with Farmer Fred Newsletter! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work.

Thank you for also listening to the Garden Basics with Farmer Fred podcast! It’s available wherever you get your podcasts. Please share it with your garden friends.

Fred Hoffman is also a University of California Cooperative Extension Master Gardener in Sacramento County. And he likes to ride his bike(s).

Before we delve into the sweaty details of getting your garden through the summer, here’s what you may have missed in last Friday’s Garden Basics with Farmer Fred podcast, the Heart Healthy Garden, recorded live at the Sacramento Rose Society in February of 2024:

• Eating a heart-healthy diet and exercising regularly can help improve heart health and reduce the need for medications.

• Fiber is an important component of a heart-healthy diet and can be found in a variety of fruits, vegetables, and whole grains.

• Growing your own fruits and vegetables allows you to have a constant supply of fresh, fiber-rich produce.

• Choosing heirloom varieties of vegetables can provide higher nutritional content compared to hybrid varieties.

• Seeking information from reliable sources, such as university websites, can help ensure accurate and trustworthy gardening advice.

What’s in Today’s Podcast at the top of this page?

The perfect companion piece to the information below, Debbie Flower and myself discussed more container planting tips, recorded last summer at Harvest Day at the Fair Oaks Horticulture Center, a free community event held the first Saturday of August every year, including this August, on Saturday, August 3. Details here about Harvest Day. This segment originally aired in Episode 278 of the Garden Basics Podcast. Among its highlights:

• Why you don’t want to use garden soil in containers.

• The best potting mix to use for a container plant.

• What’s happening to the roots of plants in containers on a 100-degree day.

• How to better protect your outdoor potted plants in a heatwave.

• The differences in shade cloth, and how to use it.

• How to reuse old potting soil.

• Are you watering your container plants effectively? Probably not.

• What do you put in the bottom of a plant container to aid drainage? Nothing! We tell you why.

• How to save garden seeds to last for years.

• And, how to get pepper seeds to germinate in half the time.

Helping Plants Cope with the Heat

Much like most of the country, our area here in Northern California just went through the first real heat wave of the season, with temperatures hovering around the century mark for several days this past week. The “Excessive Heat Warning” issued by the National Weather Service for Tuesday through Thursday predicted, “Dangerously hot conditions with temperatures 95 to 108 possible and widespread major heat risk.” As if that was not enough, try getting a good night’s rest with “limited overnight relief with temperatures in the 60s to mid 70s.” My apologies to those of you who normally try to sleep at night when summer nighttime temperatures are above 70.

Several meteorologists are calling for more intense heatwaves for the United States this summer. What’s a gardener to do to make their lawn and garden more heat-tolerable? Here are some tips for having a thriving garden during the summer’s upcoming heat waves, as well as save water:

• Mulch like mad. Create a one to three-inch layer of organic material such as bark, shredded leaves, or chipped/shredded tree branches, laid on top of the soil. This will reduce moisture loss from soil, moderate soil temperatures, control weeds which compete for water, and will return nutrients to the soil as it breaks down. Be sure to keep mulch a few inches away from the stems or trunks of plants.

• Count on compost. Mix compost into the soil to increase the soil’s ability to absorb and hold water, and to slowly release nutrients to plants. This reduces stress, making them less susceptible to pests.

• Plant early ripening varieties of vegetables that are mostly harvestable after only 60-65 days of growth. Plant in blocks instead of rows to create shade for roots and reduce evaporation.

• Choose vegetable varieties that will produce a lot of food from one plant, such as tomatoes, squash, and peppers. Corn, on the other hand, is a thirsty crop that may only give you one or two ears per stalk, depending on the variety.

• Hot afternoons can kill a container plant in a single day. Consider grouping potted plants together in an area that gets some afternoon shade. Or slip that pot into a larger pot so the sun isn’t beating down on the sides of the pot containing the soil.

• If you feed plants, use a slow release, organic fertilizer to discourage excessive plant growth that attracts pests and increases water needs. 

• Hold off on major planting chores. When working on a large planting project, remember that the best time to plant is in the fall when the weather starts to cool. Winter rains will help these plants establish deep, healthy root systems before they are exposed to the summer heat.

• The less lawn, the better. Lawns need more water than most other landscaping, so consider reducing or replacing your lawn with water-wise groundcovers, low maintenance perennials or a porous hardscape. If you plant a lawn, chose drought resistant varieties.

• Mow lawns less often and raise the height of your mower blade to 3 inches. The longer grass will shade roots, lessen evaporation, and inhibit weed growth.

• Get wise to the weeds. Keep up with controlling these unwanted plants since weeds compete for water. The combination of a drip irrigation system and several inches of mulch will help prevent weeds.

• Go with the low flow. Use soaker hoses for irrigation. Or invest in a drip system or micro sprayers that can cut down on water waste. This allows the slower trickle of water to penetrate further into the soil without running off.

• Consider installing a ‘smart controller’ for your irrigation system. This can save water by helping to calculate your water requirements and automatically adjust as the weather changes.

• Irrigate early in the day. Watering early in the morning with cooler temperatures and lighter winds will minimize evaporation.

• Go deep. Water less often, but more deeply. This encourages deeper root systems that can better tolerate dry periods.

• Get in the zone. Group plants with similar water needs together to make watering easier and more efficient.

• Go native. Consider replacing declining plants with a species better suited to your climate, such as plants native to your area. Once established, many of these plants can survive on rainfall alone.

Thanks for reading Beyond Basics: The Garden Basics with Farmer Fred Newsletter! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work.

Thank you for also listening to the Garden Basics with Farmer Fred podcast! It’s available wherever you get your podcasts. Please share it with your garden friends.

Fred Hoffman is also a University of California Cooperative Extension Master Gardener in Sacramento County. And he likes to ride his bike(s).

Last week, we did a little podcast tour of my garden, with Debbie Flower asking the questions. Turnabout is fair play, so this episode features Debbie’s unique, water-saving landscape and her collections of plants and garden tools that have some very interesting stories.

But again, an audio tour is missing the picture. Pictures, to be more exact. So, while you’re listening to this repurposing of Episode 343 of the Garden Basics with Farmer Fred podcast, scroll down to enjoy the visuals that go along with the stories of Debbie Flower’s landscape.

But first, here’s a link to what you might have missed on Tuesday’s Garden Basics podcast (Ep. 342) - our weekly Q&A session, this time tackling the challenges of planting carrots in hot climates; and, the pros and cons of using landscape fabric/weed cloth in your garden (the “pros” list will be quite short).

Word of Warning: Latin Used Here Today

A word of warning: a lot of Latin-based botanical names are tossed around here. Some people think we’re just bein’ highfalutin’ elitists, jabbering in a dead language. Actually, the botanical names can be very accurate in pinpointing the exact plant.

For example, according to the Sunset Western Garden Book, the plant known commonly as “Dusty Miller” could refer to any of five distinct plants with differing growth habits: Artemisia stelleriana, Centaurea cineraria, Lychnis coronaria, Senecio cineraria/Jacobaea maritima (old name/new name), and Tanacetum ptarmiciflorum. The “Dusty Miller” Debbie refers to as a plant she remembers from her youth in New Jersey was the Lychnis; and to avoid any confusion, she only used the term, “Lychnis”. Here in California, I grew up with Senecio cineraria in the front yard, which was always referred to as, “Dusty Miller.”

“What Does That Have to Do with the Price of Tea in China?”

That was a favorite saying of my mother, to prod me to get to the point of whatever I was talking about. OK, here’s the point: After listening to this, you may be intrigued by one or more of the plants in Debbie’s garden, perhaps the California native plant, Eriogonum grande rubescens that she mentions towards the end of our chat.

But, just hearing her say, “Eriogonum grande rubescens” may have you wondering…

“What the hell? How do you spell that?” At least, that is what I was thinking when she said it. But I’m too polite to interrupt. Besides, if I had asked the question, “What is the common name for that plant?” There’s a darn good chance the answer would be a variation of, “I don’t keep common names in my brain,” bringing the chat to a standstill, while we ponder the answer. In the interest of keeping the conversational ball rolling, I move forward, knowing I can solve this issue easily enough:

CHECK THE OFFICIAL TRANSCRIPT!

Don’t check the Substack transcript. Don’t check the Apple or Spotify transcripts. Unless you want a good laugh. And it’s why I include my own edited transcript for each episode of the Garden Basics podcast available at either GardenBasics.net or via my podcast uploader, Buzzsprout. Not only will you get the correct plant spelling (usually), but you will also get the common name, usually (but not always) in parenthesis. For example, here is the portion of the Eriogonum plant chat from the transcript provided at GardenBasics.net:

Farmer Fred  

But this is quite the view, sitting here on your front porch, especially this time of year with the Palo Verde in bloom, and just the understory of all the plants and the flowers of the sage peeking up over the the wall.

Debbie Flower  

And the Eriogonum grande rubescens (red or rosy buckwheat) that's flowering red right now, with the lavenders in front of it. And then the yellow calendulas. I like that combination too. And the pink Pelargonium behind.

Now, here is the same portion, generated by AI and used by many podcast transcription services:

Farmer Fred 

this is quite the view sitting here on your front porch, especially this time of year with the Palo Verde in bloom, and just the understory of all the plants and the flowers on the stage peeking up over the the wall

Debbie Flower 

and the Areoginum grandrubescens. That's an flowering read right now with the lavenders in front of it. And then the yellow color Angelus. I like that combination too. And the pink Pelargonium behind, see

And this is why we are safe from world domination by Artificial Intelligence. It’s just a robot that has never pulled a weed or smelled a rose in its mechanical life.

Nor, even after five years of manually correcting their transcripts to make them more gardener friendly, have they figured out the difference between “root” (as in, a tree root) and “route” (as in, “Get Your Kicks on Route 66”). Even though Oklahoma City is “oh, so pretty,” you’d think they could figure out after all these years, I am probably referring to that bulge in your lawn, not offering melodious praise to Amarillo, TX or Gallup, NM. Or Flagstaff, AZ.

(P.S. “Angelus” is not a plant. It’s daily church bells at noon and 6 p.m.)

Again, just punch play above, and begin scrolling through the pictures of Debbie’s Garden:

“Native fescue lawn in foreground, Leymus condensatus ‘Canyon Prince’ grey-green grass behind. Pink flowering shrub is my neighbors. It’s probably an oleander”

“Hollywood juniper at the end, far right, Matilia poppy next (Romneya coulteri) 

Butterfly weed with white blooms (Asclepia speciosa), Meyer Lemon on right, perhaps the dead remains of a young Tower of Jewel plant in the bottom.

Three Tower of Jewel plants (2 in their second year, one in its first year) (Echium wildpretti). Scarlet Oak in back. Unnamed “Governor’s Mansion” pelargonium on left.

Closer look at the “Governor’s Mansion” pelargonium.

Palo Verde ‘Desert Museum’ tree

“Fat Albert” Colorado Blue Spruce with Verbena bonariensis in front, desert willow on right

Eleagnus x Ebbingei cultivar. Commonly called oleaster or Ebbing's silverberry, it’s a cross between Elaeagnus macrophylla × Elaeagnus pungens (according to the Missouri Botanical Garden)

 Eleagnus, Muhlenbergia rigens (deergrass), toyon, Fat Albert Colorado blue spruce 

In a hot climate, it makes sense to put a greenhouse in afternoon shade

Asparagus aethiopicus, Sprenger’s day (Sprenger's asparagus fern)

Dymondia margaretae (Silver Carpet). An interesting story about this groundcover.

Birdbath with high-spout dripper. Caged for cat deterrence.

The gardener’s path. On right: calendula, abutilon, Eriogonum giganteum (St. Catherine’s Lace buckwheat). On left, around birdbath: liriope (lilyturf)

Smart Pot with vegetable seeds planted and bamboo sticks to deter animals.

Green Cone composter.  Strawflower and Borage behind.

 lavender, Eriogonum grande rubescens (red or rosy buckwheat) on right, calendula in back. Upside down wine bottle is in a small olla at base of newly planted lavender.

closeup of wine bottle in olla.

Counterclockwise from front left: Palo verde, Euphorbia charisma’s ‘Wolfenii’, Hesperaloe parviflora, sulfur buckwheat, white pacific coast Iris, salvia leucantha, another salvia leucantha. “This is one of the dryest parts of my garden,” says Debbie.

Thanks for reading Beyond Basics: The Garden Basics with Farmer Fred Newsletter! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work.

Thank you for also listening to the Garden Basics with Farmer Fred podcast! It’s available wherever you get your podcasts. Please share it with your garden friends.

Fred Hoffman is also a University of California Cooperative Extension Master Gardener in Sacramento County. And he likes to ride his bike(s).

If this newsletter podcast sounds familiar, it should. It is also the current (Ep. 341) Garden Basics podcast where myself and America’s Favorite Retired College Horticulture Professor, Debbie Flower, take a late May stroll through my garden, discussing the plants, as well as gardening techniques. But wouldn’t it be nice to see those plants and garden accoutrements? Well, here you go.

But first, a recap of what you may have missed on this week’s two Garden Basics podcasts:

Tuesday, June 4:

Ep. 340 -Q&A Cross Pollination Concerns. What is the Best City or State for Gardening?

• Understanding cross-pollination and its implications for seed saving and plant breeding.

• The importance of local conditions and location-specific knowledge in gardening.

• The impact of climate and weather on gardening success.

• Different perspectives on the best US cities for gardening, highlighting the influence of location on gardening success.

Thank you, AI, for your dry summary. Debbie Flower and I are more warm and endearing than that.

Friday, June 7: Ep. 341 - Fred’s Yard Tour with Debbie.

Or, listen above and scroll below. But we are definitely more entertaining and informative than AI would have you believe:

Takeaways

• The importance of selecting heat-resistant greens for summer gardening

• Strategies for dealing with garden pests like tomato hornworms and cabbage worms

• Tips for growing determinate tomatoes and managing peach trees

• Insights on using raised beds and root cellars for gardening

• The benefits of using vermiculite for seed planting and the use of worm bins for fertilizer

• The significance of providing shade for certain plants and the value of using row covers for protection. SmartPot compost sacks are a convenient and effective way to create rich compost for gardening (golly, AI, thanks for plugging the sponsor!)

• Clover is resistant to dog urine and can be used as a ground cover in areas frequented by pets.

• Fruit trees can be grown in containers, and it's important to control the width and height of the tree to manage root growth.

• Different soil types, such as raised bed soil planter mix and pumice, can be used for gardening in containers.

• Citrus, blueberries, and potatoes can be successfully grown in containers, providing a versatile option for home gardeners.

Again, just punch play above, and begin scrolling here:

Thanks for reading Beyond Basics: The Garden Basics with Farmer Fred Newsletter! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work.

Thank you for also listening to the Garden Basics with Farmer Fred podcast! It’s available wherever you get your podcasts. Please share it with your garden friends.

Fred Hoffman is also a University of California Cooperative Extension Master Gardener in Sacramento County. And he likes to ride his bike(s).

Before we delve into the soil, fertilizer in hand, a quick review of what was on the Garden Basics with Farmer Fred podcast this past week;

Tuesday, May 28, Ep. 338: Zucchini Sex! Which cherries are best for cooking?

Questions tackled on this episode include answering questions about squash that is slow to produce healthy looking fruit (it’s due to the lousy sex life of male and female squash flowers this time of year: “it’s too hot!”, “it’s too cold!” “I’m hungry!” “I’m too full!” (See? Plants are just like us. Except they don’t get headaches.) And, some kind words about growing tart/sour cherry trees. They’re great in pies!

Takeaways from Ep. 338

• Squash, melons, and cucumbers have male and female flowers on the same plant, and successful pollination requires synchronized flowering.

• Pollinators like bees play a crucial role in transferring pollen between male and female flowers.

• When fertilizing plants, it's important to consider the temperature and nutrient concentration, especially with synthetic fertilizers.

• Organic fertilizers tend to have lower nutrient concentrations and are less likely to cause burning or osmotic problems.

• Cherry trees, particularly tart cherries, require good drainage to prevent root rot.

Friday, May 31 - Ep. 339 How to Water Clay Soil (and more tips for gardening in clay!)

In this episode of Garden Basics with Farmer Fred, the focus is on how to water clay soil and other tips for gardening in clay. Debbie Flower, America’s Favorite Retired College Horticultural Professor, shares valuable insights on the topic. The episode covers the characteristics of clay soil, the importance of organic matter, watering techniques, mulching, and the use of cover crops. The conversation also delves into the impact of soil structure on crop production and the benefits of no-till and cover cropping practices.

Takeaways From Ep. 339

• Understanding the characteristics of clay soil and the importance of organic matter in improving its quality.

• Learning effective watering techniques for clay soil, including surge irrigation and the use of moisture meters.

• Recognizing the benefits of mulching and the use of cover crops to enhance soil structure and promote healthy plant growth.

When Should You Fertilize Your Plants?

From the garden e-mail bag, Danny has been thinking about fertilizing, probably a little bit harder than most of us gardeners: “I am wondering if at a particular temperature, plants can’t feed themselves. Do they just need water if it’s too hot? What time of day is best for feeding the plants: during the day, or at night? Or do they need the sun to eat?”

Those were good questions, which we took up on the Garden Basics podcast. You can hear that segment in today’s newsletter podcast post.

According to retired college horticulture professor Debbie Flower, Danny is on to a very important aspect of correct fertilization techniques in the garden: plants can’t absorb fertilizer, if it’s too hot.

“Research shows that above 86 degrees Fahrenheit, plants don't use fertilizer, don't absorb nutrients,” explains Flower. “They're just pumping water through their system to keep themselves cool, much like a human would sweat in a very hot situation. He asks if they need sun to eat. Plants do need sun to make food. Plants are autotrophs, meaning they feed themselves. ‘Auto’ means self. And they use nutrients which are gathered primarily through the roots and some from the air through the stoma on the leaves to make their own food. And that food would only happen when the plant can collect the energy from the sun or other light source.”

Flower also explains that when we fertilize, that food is being processed and absorbed primarily underground, by the plant roots. “When we fertilize, we are just putting nutrients into the growing media. That growing media, in most cases, is the soil outdoors. It can also be the soilless mix in a container you have for a houseplant. Whatever the roots are growing in, that is the media I'm talking about. And that's where the nutrients need to be, that the plant will then absorb. We can apply those nutrients at pretty much any time of day or night. But we really want to apply the nutrients when it's cooler. All we're doing is loading the root zone with the nutrients that the plant then will collect when it's ready to make its own food. The one caveat is it's recommended we not fertilize at very high temperatures, above 86 degrees. If we get any fertilizer on the leaves of the plant, we might cause burning, especially if we applied too much fertilizer at any one time. We can cause burning, because the plant only has a limited ability to choose what it absorbs. If the growing media is just completely full of nutrients, and it's above 86 degrees and the plant is trying to just pump water through itself, it may not be able to get just water if there's too much of the nutrients in the root zone or too much when applying it. Those are the reasons we don't apply when temperatures are very high. We want the plant to be able to get just water to keep itself cool when it’s hot.”

The source of the fertilizer is also critical. “Plant injury can happen more easily when applying synthetic fertilizers in hot weather,” says Flower. “When we apply organic fertilizer, however, they tend to have a much lower concentration of nutrients in them. And they are in larger molecular sizes and need to be broken down by natural processes before the plant can get them. So, it's a slow release. It happens over time. It happens with the activity of weather as well as microorganisms and macro-organisms like worms, that break down that organic material and release those nutrients more slowly. So, we tend to be safer applying the organic ones. We tend to have less fertilizer burning with organic fertilizers.”

But if you're using lots of mulch, you may not even need to apply any fertilizer at all, says Flower.

“Using organic matter can apply all the nutrients that you need,” says Flower. Remember that the source of the nutrients for the plant is in the growing media. We put the nutrients in, or nature does, by digesting the dropped leaves, for example, creating a natural compost below the plant. Put it in the growing media and then the plant will take that up when the plant needs it.” Good sources of mulch for the garden include chipped/shredded tree parts, straw, fallen and shredded leaves, or aged compost.

Thanks for reading Beyond Basics: The Garden Basics with Farmer Fred Newsletter! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work.

Thank you for also listening to the Garden Basics with Farmer Fred podcast! It’s available wherever you get your podcasts. Please share it with your garden friends.

Fred Hoffman is also a University of California Cooperative Extension Master Gardener in Sacramento County. And he likes to ride his bike(s).

If you listened to the full interview with avocado grower/Master Gardener Greg Alder in Ep. 360 of the Garden Basics podcast, you got a good fundamental education on growing backyard avocados. We covered such topics as:

* Growing Conditions for Avocados

* Fertilization Tips

* The importance of watering avocado trees

* The Role of Mulch

* Soil Testing for Success

* Cold Tolerant Avocado Varieties

* The Flavor Profile of Avocado varieties

* Top Avocado Varieties to Grow

* Understanding Avocado Pollination

* The “Single Tree” productivity of avocado trees

* Growing Avocados in Different USDA Zones

* Avocado Growing across the U.S.

* Managing Greenhouse Conditions for Avocado Trees

Again, go back and listen to the original interview in the Garden Basics podcast, Episode 360.

The part of our chat with Greg Alder that intrigued me the most, though, was our brief discussion of the flavors of various avocado varieties. It is that part that is excerpted above, at the top of the newsletter. After all, why plant something you wouldn’t be thrilled to eat? His choices for the best tasting avocados included the Hass, Gwen, Sharwil, Reed, GEM, and Fuerte.

The newsletter podcast includes the ravings of another fruit-oriented lunatic, Ed Laivo, who has spent most of his adult life talking about, growing, and selling fruit trees. His latest venture is a fruit-based You Tube page “Ed Able Solutions”. The excerpt above includes the audio of one of his You Tube postings, praising the Reed avocado.

Another fruit fanatic whose opinion I respect is Tom Spellman, formerly the Southern California representative for Dave Wilson Nursery. When posed with the question, “What are your favorite tasting avocados?”, Tom replied:

“Fred, I agree with all of Greg’s picks. Some other favorites of mine are Pinkerton, Jan Boyce, and Stewart. Best recommendations for California home growers is to plant a small collection of varieties including both A and B flowering types that will give you fruit year round. For example, If you had the Fuerte, Hass, Reed, and Stewart, you would have four overlapping varieties so you can almost always be able to harvest from two. Right now I still have Hass and am starting on the Reeds. Hass will finish about the time Stewart comes on. However, in Northern California, you also have to consider adaptability.”

Oh yeah, adaptability to other areas. As Greg Alder pointed out in our Garden Basics interview, avocados have a narrow sweet spot for growing conditions: not too hot, not too cold, the correct humidity, minimal drying winds, the right amount of water. Parts of the San Francisco Bay Area come the closest to providing that avocado ideal climate. Here in the Central Valley of California, where temperatures have a wider swing, a successful backyard avocado tree usually has these conditions in common: afternoon shade, protection from heavy winds, lots of mulch, reflective surfaces for winter heat, such as a nearby concrete patio, or a nearby west or south-facing fence. And of course, plenty of water to maintain evenness of the soil moisture. Oh, and that soil - preferably not too much clay - should drain fairly quickly.

Years ago, as the area’s chief Avocado Skeptic, I pointed out in a Farmer Fred Rant! Blog Post entitled: “Avocados in Sacramento? Good Luck!” that the varieties that seem to have the best success here are Bacon, Zutano, Mexicola, Fuerte, Pinkerton, Jim, Sir Prize, and Stewart. However, “success” does not necessarily equate “outstanding taste”.

But trying to choose avocado varieties based on the information regarding their heat and cold tolerances is not an easy task, nor the complete criteria.

From Greg Alder:

“There is very little info out there on cold and heat tolerance of avocado varieties because the assessment of this is more complicated than it would seem.

One, varieties tolerate cold and heat in different ways. For example, sometimes one variety's leaves get burned in heat while they hold on to their fruit (Pinkerton) whereas another variety's leaves do not get burned but they drop their fruit (Reed). So which is more heat tolerant?

Two, many factors beyond the scion variety affect an individual tree's performance in cold or heat: rootstock, timing of the cold/heat, underlying (invisible) health of tree, crop load, and more. So you can see a row of trees all of the same variety with variable damage after a hot or cold spell.

But here is what I can say: My place (in Ramona, east of San Diego) is both slightly too hot and too cold for avocados every year. My trees get some cold damage and some heat damage every single year. In this kind of environment, I have learned two main lessons:

* Protect trees until they are about six feet tall, and then they can recover well from cold or heat damage. Avocado trees are wimps when young, but they get surprisingly resilient after that size.

* All the best varieties are worth trying. There is not a large difference in heat or cold tolerance among the varieties that have the best fruit.

Here are a few links to posts Greg has written where he describes or show some minor differences between varieties and ways to protect from heat and cold:

Protecting avocado trees from cold

Protecting avocado trees from heat

Heat tolerance of avocado varieties

Avocado varieties in the cold

Growing avocados in California's Central Valley

Avocados, Australian Style

Did you know that on a per capita basis, the country that consumes the most avocados is Australia? At least, that’s what the marketing department of Australia’s avocado growers, Avolution, claims. So, it’s only right we get their input on the best tasting avocados, along with their PR spiel:

Avocado lovers are spoiled for choice when it comes to the variety of this delicious and nutritious fruit. In Australia, avocados are produced all year round due to the range of climates and conditions across eight major avocado growing regions. The country’s diverse production landscape has led to the cultivation of numerous avocado varieties, each with its unique characteristics. This article will introduce some of the best avocado varieties to try, with a focus on the Australian market.

I. Hass: The Dominant Variety

Hass is the main avocado variety in Australia, representing 83% of production in 2021/22. This popular cultivar is produced almost all year round across the country’s production regions. Hass avocados are known for their thick, pebbly skin that turns from green to a dark purplish-black when ripe. The fruit has a creamy, buttery texture and a rich, nutty flavour, making it a versatile choice for various dishes, from guacamole to avocado toast.

II. Shepard: The Late Summer and Autumn Star

Shepard avocados, harvested in Queensland through late Summer and Autumn, make up 14% of Australia’s total avocado production. During this time of year, they become the dominant variety on the Australian market. Shepard avocados have smooth, green skin that remains green even when ripe. Their flesh is also buttery and smooth, with a slightly sweeter taste compared to Hass avocados. This variety is ideal for salads, as its firmer texture helps it maintain its shape when sliced or diced.

III. Unique Varieties Worth Exploring

While Hass and Shepard avocados dominate the Australian market, there is a multitude of other varieties worth trying, accounting for the remaining 3% of the country’s avocado production. Some of these unique cultivars include:

Reed: This large, round avocado has a thick, slightly pebbled skin and a rich, creamy texture. Reed avocados are known for their exceptional taste and are often considered a gourmet variety.

Fuerte: With its smooth, green skin and pear-like shape, Fuerte avocados have a creamy texture and a delicate, nutty flavor. This variety is excellent for slicing and adding to sandwiches or salads.

Pinkerton: Pinkerton avocados have a distinctive elongated shape, smooth green skin, and a small seed. The fruit boasts a creamy texture and a mild, nutty flavor.p

GEM: A relative of the Hass avocado, GEM avocados have a similar taste and texture but are slightly smaller in size. They are known for their high oil content, making them a delicious and nutritious option.

Australians are the highest consumers, per capita, of avocados in the English-speaking world, a title they have proudly maintained. According to “Facts at a Glance,” a report compiled by Avocados Australia, Australian avocado production is forecast to increase significantly over the next few years, with at least 115,000 tonnes per annum expected to be produced by 2025. This growth reflects the country’s ongoing love affair with avocados and the diverse range of varieties available.

Conclusion

Australia’s avocado market offers an impressive selection of varieties for consumers to enjoy. While the popular Hass and Shepard avocados dominate the market, other unique cultivars like Reed, Fuerte, Pinkerton, and Gem are worth exploring for their distinct flavours and textures. As the Australian avocado industry continues to grow, avocado enthusiasts can look forward to trying even more delicious varieties in the future.

Finally, no survey of the best tasting varieties would be complete without consulting America’s new favorite expert on everything, Google Generative AI:

• Hass The most popular and widely available variety, Hass avocados are known for their buttery, meaty texture and subtly nutty flavor. • Fuerte With a pear-like shape and smooth green skin, Fuerte avocados are sweeter and fruitier than Hass avocados, with a creamy texture and delicate, nutty flavor. • Reed This large, round avocado has a thick, slightly pebbled skin and a rich, creamy texture. • Shepard This avocado has a milder flavor than Hass avocados and firm flesh that maintains its structure well. • GEM A relative of the Hass avocado, GEM avocados have a similar taste and texture but are slightly smaller in size. 

So, backyard gardeners…do you feel lucky?

Thanks for reading Beyond Basics: The Garden Basics with Farmer Fred Newsletter! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work.

Thank you for also listening to the Garden Basics with Farmer Fred podcast! It’s available wherever you get your podcasts. Please share it with your garden friends.

Fred Hoffman is also a University of California Cooperative Extension Master Gardener in Sacramento County. And he likes to ride his bike(s).

Composting, Indoors and Out

Today’s newsletter podcast deals with options for indoor food scrap composting equipment, specifically kitchen composters (originally aired in Episode 196 of the Garden Basics with Farmer Fred podcast in May of 2022. In our conversation with America’s Favorite Retired College Horticulture Professor, Debbie Flower, she took a scenic bypass to talk about her outdoor garden kitchen scrap composter device, the Green Cone Composter. More information about that is below.

But before we get to that, let’s recap what you may have missed on this week’s two Garden Basics podcast, which includes another deep dive into the “kitchen scraps in the garden” debate:

Tuesday, May 21: Episode 336 - Q&A Kitchen Scraps in the Garden? When Should You Plant a Flowering Magnolia Tree, Spring or Fall?

Takeaways

• Burying kitchen scraps in the garden can attract scavengers like rats, gophers, voles, and ants, and may affect the quality of the soil microbiology.

• Composting kitchen scraps first or using alternative methods like African keyhole-style gardens or the Green Cone composter are recommended.

• The best time to plant a flowering tree like the Magnolia Genie is in the fall, but it can also be planted in the spring with extra care and regular watering.

• Keeping a tree in a container over the summer requires frequent watering and protection from heat damage.

• Using Smart Pots can help maintain cooler soil temperatures and reduce evaporation in container gardening.

Friday, May 24: Garden Basics Podcast, Episode 337 - How to Choose Nursery Plants. Tips for Starting a School Garden

Takeaways

Choosing Nursery Plants:

• Read the signs and make sure the plant will fit in your garden and take the conditions you have in mind.

• Check the plant for health, including good color, no holes or spots on the leaves, and no stickiness or mushiness.

• Inspect the media the plant is growing in, looking for weeds, the height of the media, and the presence of roots.

• Consider direct seeding certain vegetables like cucumbers and squash, as transplanting them when they have too many leaves can hinder their growth.

• Pot up plants in larger containers if you're not immediately planting them in the ground, especially for tomatoes, peppers, and other summer vegetables.

Tips for Starting a School Garden:

• School gardens can be a valuable educational tool and a source of community involvement.

• Getting the school on board and finding funding can be challenges, but reaching out to the principal and parent groups can help.

• Students play an active role in maintaining the garden and learn valuable gardening skills.

• The garden provides opportunities for hands-on learning, including lessons on composting, integrated pest management, and plant care.

• The garden also serves as a gathering place for the community, hosting farmers markets and lunch pop-ups.

Burying Kitchen Scraps in the Garden: Is That a Good Idea?

Recently, we received a question wondering about the pros and cons of burying kitchen scraps to feed the garden soil.

From the garden e-mail bag, Alice confesses: “I am a lazy composter. What we do is bury our kitchen scraps in different holes, all throughout our raised beds, all winter long. And it ends up making truly beautiful soil over the years. And there's lots of earthworms and other microorganisms I can't even see. Anyway, I'm wondering if there would be any problems with that. We do have raccoons, skunks, and possums because we live in the country. But they don't visit the garden. Apparently, they have resources elsewhere. And except for them, I don't see that there's an issue because the soil looks very nice. But you never mention burying garbage in your columns or podcasts. So, I'm wondering if there's some problem that I'm not aware of.”

Alice, other possible scavengers of kitchen scraps buried in the garden might include rats, gophers, voles and ants. Especially ants, which could create tunnels throughout your raised bed which could siphon the irrigation water away from plant roots and out the bottom of the bed, or wherever their tunnels might lead. However, whatever you're doing seems to be working.

But beware, there are a lot of variables. You want to bury it deep, certainly deeper than 12 inches to keep the four-legged varmints, including the household dogs, away from it. You don’t want to bury meat scraps. Also, avoid any foods soaked in oils, salts or sugars, which can attract smaller pests and possibly effect the quality of your soil.

For even more opinions, and they are just that - opinions - the National Gardening Association has a thread at their website (garden.org) entitled, “Kitchen Waste Buried in Garden Soil?” Many people have weighed in on their experience doing that very thing, and it appears to be evenly divided as to whether they like it or not.

Some of the comments and opinions:

From Florida: “My mother in law (who lived to be 97 years old) had wonderful vegetable and flower gardens and she'd always take kitchen waste out to her garden, dig a hole and bury it. Just be sure to bury it deep enough that night time critters (raccoons, possums) don't dig it up.”

From Nevada: “Short answer: No. Decomposition is an aerobic process, it needs oxygen to happen - that's why we continually turn our composts piles. Well preserved fossils were formed in an anaerobic environment - without oxygen, instead of decomposing, they turned into rocks. You won't really have fossils in your garden, you will have a landfill. Although archeologists do get pretty excited when they find an old dump. If you choose to leave your kitchen waste on the surface of the soil, it will decompose but, the bacteria will be using nitrogen in the process. So, the soil will be low in nitrogen until the decomposing process is completely finished. When the bacteria finish the job and die, the nutrients will be put back into the soil. In the meantime, you will have a messy, rat filled garden.”

And, From Western Massachusetts, my favorite: “I do this. Well, I was doing it, but the dogs drove me insane so I have stopped for now. I was using this method and won't know how it works until I plant that bed in May (it will be tomatoes next year):-Dug a trench 12-18" deep and piled the soil to the right of it. -started keeping a separate wastebasket for kleenex, paper towels ("browns"). It's actually kind of amazing how much garbage is composed of that stuff....toilet paper rolls and so on. -go out and dump the kitchen compost bucket & coffee grounds in the trench, throw on some browns, cover with an inch or so of soil-repeat until the whole mound was about ten inches off the surface of the bed, then dig another trenchThis was great for me and also great for the dogs who were like, 'did someone bury a Kleenex somewhere???? IT IS WAITING FOR ME'And I had to cover the three rows I'd done with chicken wire. If it weren't for those bozos though I would totally have kept it up. I think the freezing and thawing over the winter would have compressed that to a normal soil level and by the time I transplanted tomatoes into it in late May, it would be unrecognizable. Unfortunately I was unable to complete my testing on this theory.”

Many of the other answers were variations of what is known as the African Keyhole Garden, a subject we explored in depth in a previous edition of this newsletter.

The African Keyhole Garden

There is also the African Keyhole Garden, which is another way to incorporate kitchen waste in the garden using a container – with plenty of small holes – to allow worms to go in and out of it, sort of like a real time, secure worm bin where the worms can spread their castings throughout the garden bed. The garden is shaped like a keyhole, to allow you to get to the middle of a six-foot bed to deposit the scraps in a container, which could be as simple as a trash can with a lid, with holes drilled in the sides that are buried in the garden. “The African keyhole garden was designed by CARE in Zimbabwe during the mid-1990’s to encourage people to grow their own food,” explains Napa County Master Gardener Penny Pawl. “The design relied on materials that were close at hand—such as bricks, stones, branches, hay, ashes, manure and soil—to create an easy-care garden for disabled people. The plan became so popular that many Africans began growing kitchen gardens. More than 20,000 of these have been built in Africa.”

An Alternative Way to Bury Kitchen Scraps in the Garden

Another person with experience of burying kitchen waste in the garden is our frequent contributor to the podcast, retired college horticulture professor Debbie Flower. She has a device that is buried in her garden that hold kitchen scraps and keeps the four-legged critters out: the Green Cone Solar Waste Digester/Compost Bin.

“It's tall enough - about three feet tall - that a raccoon, which was my initial fear, cannot get into it,” says Flower. “It has a lid with a hinge and a lock. I have to say I've broken every hinge and lock that has come on them. That's kind of the weak point of the thing, but I just put a rock on top. And only because the lid might blow away. Nothing has tried to get into it. I have lots of worms that go in and out of it. Everything in it just disappears because the worms come to it and take it away to the rest of the garden. I had my last one for 15 or more years.”

I believe the best place to break down those kitchen scraps for use in the garden is in a compost pile or a worm bin, where the worms will make some of the best soil amendments around, worm castings.

Thanks for reading Beyond Basics: The Garden Basics with Farmer Fred Newsletter! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work.

Thank you for also listening to the Garden Basics with Farmer Fred podcast! It’s available wherever you get your podcasts. Please share it with your garden friends.

Fred Hoffman is also a University of California Cooperative Extension Master Gardener in Sacramento County. And he likes to ride his bike(s).

In today’s newsletter podcast, our America’s Favorite Retired College Horticulture Professor, Debbie Flower, talks about earwigs, a garden scavenger that probably does more damage than you might want a “neutral” garden critter to do. Probably the most famous “neutral” garden insect is the non-selective praying mantis, who doesn’t mind chowing down on your aphids for dinner, with a ladybug for dessert. The big takeaway from that earwig chat? “Don't wear loose clothing in an earwig infested garden.” We also touch on (in a manner of speaking) roly polys (aka, pillbugs).

This Week on the Garden Basics Podcast

Before we delve into the answer to that question posed in the headline, here is what is going on in the Garden Basics with Farmer Fred podcast this week:

Tuesday, May 14: Episode 334 Q&A Rhubarb for Hot Climates? Lights for Seedlings?

In this episode, we answer garden questions from listeners. The first question is about growing rhubarb in hot weather. Master Gardeners Ruth Ostroff and Kathy Morrison (of the Sacramento Digs Gardening newsletter) discuss their experiences with growing rhubarb in Sacramento, which is challenging in a hot climate. (Ruth also names the rhubarb variety she has had success with in the hot Sacramento Valley.) Kathy shares a rhubarb recipe, made as an upside-down cake.

The second question is about grow lights for starting tomato and pepper seeds indoors. Debbie Flower and I explain the importance of using a light system that is big enough to cover all the seedlings equally, as well as mixing different bulb spectrum colors. Of course, Debbie also emphasizes the need for air circulation and movement for young plants. We’re old, so we recommend using fluorescent lights, but we discuss the different options available in the market.

Friday, May 17: Ep. 335 Roof Rat Control Tips. Asparagus-Lemon Recipes

In this episode of the Garden Basics with Farmer Fred podcast, the main topic of discussion with retired UC Cooperative Extension Farm Advisor Rachael Long is roof rats and their impact on gardens and orchards. The conversation covers the behavior and habits of roof rats, their diet, nesting habits, and the damage they can cause to fruit trees. The episode also includes tips for controlling roof rats, such as trapping and using bait stations. Additionally, the episode features a segment on recipes using garden fresh asparagus and lemons, with Master Food Preserver Myrna Undajon-Haskell.

Takeaways:

• Roof rats are nocturnal creatures that can cause significant damage to fruit trees and orchards.

• They have a preference for heights and are known to nest in attics and burrow underground.

• Roof rats can be controlled through trapping and the use of bait stations.

• Recipes using garden fresh asparagus and lemons are provided.

• Preserving lemons and dehydrating citrus are also discussed.

So, Who is Eating Your Seedlings? Controlling Sowbugs, Pillbugs and Earwigs in the Garden…and Indoors

From the garden e-mail bag, Jessica wants to know:

“I have a crazy amount of roly-polys and pincher bugs this year. And the pincher bugs keep making their way into my house, too. Help! Is there anything I can do to drive them away other than bug spray? And can the roly-polys cause damage to my plants? I normally don't have a green thumb but my plants are doing great this year and I'm finally feeling like a good ‘plant mom’ so I don't want anything to mess them up.”

Jessica, generally roly-polys (pillbugs) and sowbugs cause few issues with thriving plants. They prefer the dead organic matter on the ground. But if their favorite foods aren’t around, they will go after your plants.

According to the creepy, crawly experts at the UC Integrated Pest Management Department, sowbugs and pillbugs feed primarily on decaying plant material and are important decomposers of organic matter. However, they occasionally feed on seedlings, new roots, lower leaves, and fruits or vegetables touching the soil. They sometimes come indoors, which can be nuisance.

If pillbugs or sowbugs are a problem, reduce the amount of decaying organic matter on the soil and minimize the wetness of the soil surface. Irrigate early in the day so surfaces are drier by evening. Keep compost and mulch back from plants and building foundations to keep them outdoors. Using raised beds or planting boxes and drip or furrow irrigation instead of sprinklers usually keeps pillbugs and sowbugs from becoming serious problems.

Pincher bugs (earwigs) are also a mixed blessing. They will munch on garden plants, but they also eat aphids!

Despite their ferocious appearance, earwigs generally don’t attack humans, although they are capable of biting if trapped in clothing or sat upon.

Should you be concerned about earwigs in your garden? Yes, and no. If your yard is primarily lawn, trees, woody ornamentals or native plants, let the earwigs do their job, going after aphids.

However, if you are growing vegetables, herbaceous flowering plants, sweet corn or plants with soft fruits such as strawberries or apricots…yes, take action. Earwigs feed at night and hide during the day in dark, cool, moist places in the yard as well as within flowers and vegetables. Your job is to reduce their hiding places and surrounding moist areas, as well as employing vigilant trapping.

Some tips for earwig control from the UC Integrated Pest Management Program:

• Eliminate dense undergrowth of vines, ground cover, and weeds around vegetable and flower gardens.

• Clear weeds away from the base of fruit trees and prune out any fruit tree suckers near the ground that earwigs could use as a ladder. Harvest fruit as soon as it’s ready. Pick up any fallen fruit.

• Remove leaves, boards, boxes, and other debris from the planting areas.

• Move flowerpots and other garden objects that can harbor earwigs.

• Reduce moisture in the area. Use drip irrigation instead of sprinklers.

Indoors, earwigs can be swept or vacuumed up. If earwigs are a regular problem in a building, inspect the area to see how they are getting into the house and seal up cracks and entry points. Remove materials outside the perimeter of the building that could provide hiding places, such as ivy growing up walls, ground cover, bark mulches, debris (especially leaves in gutters), wood piles, leaf litter, piles of newspapers, or other organic matter. 

Also, keep water and moisture away from the structure by repairing drain spouts. Grade the area so water drains away from the structure.

Pillbug and Sowbug Fun Facts!

(courtesy of Butte Co. (CA) Master Gardener Michelle Ramsey)

• It’s hard to believe, but sowbugs and pillbugs are more closely related to lobsters and crayfish than they are to insects.  These soil-dwelling crustaceans belong to the Isopoda order.

• Because they are crustaceans they breathe through plate-like gills located on the underside of the abdomen. 

• These bugs are the only crustaceans that have adapted to living their entire life on land.

• Sowbugs and pillbugs are similar in appearance and their names are sometimes used interchangeably.

• However, the sowbug has a pair of tail-like appendages which project out from the rear of its body.

• The pillbug has no extreme posterior appendages, and can roll up into a tight ball when disturbed. This is why pillbugs are sometimes called “Roly-Poly” bugs

• Females have marsupial-like pouches on the undersides of their bodies that can hold up to 100 developing eggs. 

• The immature isopod can remain in the pouch for up to 2 months after hatching. 

• Full development to an adult takes about 1 year.  During this time, the isopod will molt 4-5 times.  Molting occurs in two stages: first the back half of the exoskeleton molts, then, two to three days later, the front half molts.

• The life span of both pillbugs and sowbugs is about three years.

• Sowbugs and pillbugs are most active at night. They spend daylight hours in moist, dark habitats.

• Because they breathe through gills, they require a very moist environment.  That’s why you will find them hidden underneath rocks, in ground litter, or between the edges of moist grass and sidewalk areas during the day.

• They do not bite, sting or transmit disease. They are harmless to humans.

Thanks for reading Beyond Basics: The Garden Basics with Farmer Fred Newsletter! Thank you for supporting my work with your pledge. I really could use some new handlebar tape.

Thank you for also listening to the Garden Basics with Farmer Fred podcast! It’s available wherever you get your podcasts. Please share it with your garden friends.

Fred Hoffman is also a University of California Cooperative Extension Master Gardener in Sacramento County. And he likes to ride his bike(s).

If you’re looking to harvest bigger pieces of fruit from your trees and vines this summer, now's the time to get out your hand pruners and thin off the overcrowded fruit. Other good reasons for thinning lots of little fruit from trees now can also thwart bigger problems later this year, such as undersized fruit, excessive fruit drop, and broken fruit tree branches.

Here are some tips for thinning from the fruit tree experts at UCANR:

• For apples, European and Asian pears, apricots, peaches, nectarines, plums, pluots, kiwifruits, and persimmons: Remove some of the fruit. Space fruit evenly along each branch, with perhaps six inches between each piece of fruit. More importantly, be sure to leave the largest sized fruits on the tree or vine. Although the trees might appreciate a light feeding now, the best time to fertilize these crops is in July and August, when the trees are setting their fruit buds for the following year. An exception would be peach and nectarine trees attempting to recover from peach leaf curl. For those varieties, thinning and fertilizing now can help redirect the tree’s energy into producing more leaves to replace the fallen ones.

• For table grapes, remove grape bunches so that there is at least six inches of space between each remaining bunch of table grapes. Cut off the "tails" from the remaining bunches at that same time. This is the lower one-quarter to one third of the bunch, where it begins to taper down in size. This will send more energy to the remaining grapes on the bunch. The book, "The California Master Gardener Handbook" advises that fertilizer can be applied for each grapevine when the berries are about a quarter-inch big, usually in May. The same book advises gardeners to apply about 50 gallons of water per week per vine, during the hottest months (June through August) here in the Central Valley. Apply less (about 35 gallons a week) during May and September. Adding a few inches of mulch to the top of the soil beneath the vines will help preserve soil moisture.

• Because of their small size, cherries are not usually thinned from backyard trees. In addition, nut crops, such as almonds and walnuts, are not thinned.

• What about blueberries? The amount of thinning will depend upon the blueberry variety and fruit load relative to the vegetative area of the plant. Larger plants and branches that are more vigorous can support a heavier fruit load.

• Citrus trees tend to thin themselves, a phenomenon called “June Drop.” However, citrus fruit thinning now can help a tree drop fewer fruit in late spring.

Certain citrus types such as Valencia oranges or some mandarins have tendencies towards alternate bearing. That’s a year with heavy fruit production followed by a year with sparse production. You can reduce the potential of a tree to alternate bear by reducing the fruit load in a heavy fruit set year by thinning out some of the fruit. Pruning the tree will also help to offset alternate bearing. Also, fertilize less in light years and more in heavy years so that the trees needs are met according to the demands of the fruit load. Despite using these strategies, some varieties will just alternate bear.

• Do not allow the old citrus fruit to stay on the tree longer than necessary. This may contribute to a smaller crop and perhaps, more fruit drop, for the next crop. And, as you may have noticed, those oranges and mandarins that usually produce ripe fruit in the winter but still have some left on the branches may taste dry, with little or no flavor. Cleaning up fall fruit now beneath citrus trees can help cut down on future pest and disease issues, as well.

The University of California’s “California Backyard Orchard” website goes into the science of the benefits of thinning deciduous fruits:

Removal of flowers or young, immature fruits early in the spring can lead to increases in fruit size by limiting the number of fruits that continue growing to harvest. It increases the leaf-to-fruit ratio and removes smaller fruit that would never reach optimum size or quality. Apples, European and Asian pears, apricots, peaches, plums, kiwifruits, and persimmons are almost always thinned until the leaf to fruit ratio is favorable for supporting growth of adequately sized fruits. Typically, nut crops and cherries are not thinned.

Large fruit come from strong flower buds that grew in full sunlight, and on trees that have a favorable leaf to fruit ratio; not too many fruit per branch. In order to manipulate the tree into having just the right amount of crop that will size well and develop adequate flower buds for next year’s crop the fruits are hand thinned, removed in the dormant pruning process, or both. Apples, European and Asian pears, apricots, peaches, plums, kiwifruits, and persimmons are almost always thinned. Fruits on non-thinned trees are still edible, just smaller.

The earlier that fruits are thinned and the leaf to fruit ratio is increased, the larger the fruits will be at harvest and the greater the effect on next year’s bloom. The home fruit gardener needs to use judgment regarding spacing of the fruit as well as removal of small and damaged fruit. Spacing fruits evenly along a branch or leaving only one fruit per spur is a good practice, but leaving the largest fruit is more important. The small ones even well spaced will never become as large as the big ones closer together or in clusters. Leave the same number of fruit per branch, but leave the big ones no matter how they are spaced. This will lead to larger fruit. Most home fruit producers do not thin enough fruit off. It hurts to drop all that potential fruit on the ground. It usually takes 2–3 years of experiencing small fruit from inadequate thinning to get it right.

Blossom thinning also increases the leaf to fruit ratio because competition among developing fruits and elongating shoots and roots is relieved early; however, risk can be associated with blossom thinning because bad weather during bloom and postbloom may reduce fruit set even more.

Standard apple and peach cultivars require leaf to fruit ratios between 40:1 and 75:1 (40 to 75 leaves per single fruit) to reach typical size at harvest. Early varieties need a larger ratio of leaves to fruit. Spur-type apple varieties require a smaller leaf to fruit ratio of 25:1 to attain good crop size. This result seems to be related to the fact that photosynthates and stored food reserves are distributed more for fruit growth relative to vegetative growth in trees of this growth habit. Leaves of dwarf trees seem to be more efficient in exporting photosynthates because they are exposed to direct sunlight for more hours of the day than those on standard trees.

Nut crops are not thinned because kernel size is not an important factor.

Thanks for reading Beyond Basics: The Garden Basics with Farmer Fred Newsletter! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work.

Thank you for also listening to the Garden Basics with Farmer Fred podcast! It’s available wherever you get your podcasts. Please share it with your garden friends.

Fred Hoffman is also a University of California Cooperative Extension Master Gardener in Sacramento County. And he likes to ride his bike(s).

The podcast included with this newsletter features an interview with Rachael Long, University of California Cooperative Extension Farm Advisor Emeritus, and one of the nation’s best sources of information on the benefits of having barn owls prowling over your property to control rodents. Rachael mentions the UC Publication, “Songbird, Bat and Owl Boxes” which is a paid publication. Here’s a link for more information on barn owl boxes; and, another link with specific barn owl box building instructions. This chat originally aired in Episode 40 of the Garden Basics podcast in August of 2020.

Before we continue with our beneficial insect hit parade, here’s what has happened this week on the Garden Basics with Farmer Fred podcast:

Tuesday, April 30: Ep. 330 - Q&A Controlling Bermudagrass; What about using black plastic in the garden?

Gail from California wants to start a vegetable and flower garden in her backyard, which is currently covered in Bermuda grass. Fred and Debbie suggest waiting a year and using soil solarization to kill off the Bermuda grass. They also recommend starting small with container gardening. They discuss the challenges of dealing with Bermuda grass and the benefits of solarization. They also touch on the use of black plastic mulch in the garden.

Friday, May 3: Ep. 331 Cucumber Starting and Training Tips

In this episode, Fred and Debbie Flower discuss cucumber planting advice, including starting cucumbers from seed or nursery transplants, training cucumber growth, and choosing the right cucumber plants. They also cover topics such as soil temperature, soil type, watering, trellising, pollination, and harvesting cucumbers. They provide tips for preventing cucumber diseases and pests, as well as suggestions for different cucumber varieties to try.

Meet the Garden Beneficials, Part 2

Last week, we discussed three of the best beneficial insects to have in your garden: lacewings, ladybugs, and hoverflies. Today, we cover several more garden good guys worth putting to work in your yard to subdue the pests, and the “Welcome Mat” plants they need for extra food and shelter.

Soldier Beetles (leather-winged beetles)

Like many of the beneficials, it is the larval stage of soldier beetles that do most of the munching on the bad bugs. Whereas the adult soldier beetles feed mostly on the pollen and nectar of flowers - as well as the occasional aphid, insect eggs and larvae - young soldier beetles can be found under the bark of the plant or in soil or litter. There, they feed primarily on the eggs and larvae of beetles, butterflies, moths and other insects.

Plants That Attract Soldier Beetles

* Celosia Cockscomb

* Coreopsis

* Daucus carota Queen Anne’s Lace

* Echinacea purpurea Purple Coneflower

* Pycnanthemum Mountain Mint

* Rosa Roses

* Solidago Goldenrod

Parasitic Mini-Wasps

Mini-wasps are parasites of a variety of insects. They do not sting! The stingers have been adapted to allow the females to lay their eggs in the bodies of insect pests. The eggs then hatch, and the young feed on the pests from the inside, killing them. After they have killed the pests, they leave hollow “mummies.” Among the parasitic mini-wasps:

Braconid Wasps

Braconid wasps feed on moth, beetle and fly larvae, moth eggs, various insect pupae and adults. If you see lots of white capsules on the backs of a caterpillar, these are the braconid cocoons. Leave the dying  caterpillar alone!

Ichneumonid wasps control moth, butterfly, beetle and fly larvae and pupae. 

Trichogramma wasps lay their own eggs in moth eggs (hungry caterpillars-to-be), killing them and turning them black.

Plants that attract parasitic mini-wasps:•Achillea filipendulina    Fern-leaf yarrow•Achillea millefolium    Common yarrow•Allium tanguticum    Lavender globe lily•Anethum graveolens    Dill•Anthemis tinctoria    Golden marguerite•Astrantia major    Masterwort•Callirhoe involucrata    Purple poppy mallow•Carum carvi    Caraway•Coriandrum sativum    Coriander•Cosmos bipinnatus    Cosmos white sensation•Daucus carota    Queen Anne’s lace•Foeniculum vulgare   Fennel•Limonium latifolium    Statice•Linaria vulgaris    Butter and eggs•Lobelia erinus    Edging lobelia•Lobularia maritima    Sweet alyssum - white•Melissa officinalis    Lemon balm•Mentha pulegium    Pennyroyal•Petroselinum crispum    Parsley•Potentilla recta ‘warrenii’   Sulfur cinquefoil•Potentilla villosa    Alpine cinquefoil•Sedum kamtschaticum    Orange stonecrop•Sweet alyssum - white•Tagetes tenuifolia  Marigold ‘lemon gem’•Tanacetum vulgare    Tansy•Thymus serpylum coccineus   Crimson thyme•Zinnia elegans    Zinnia - 'liliput'

TACHINID FLIES

Parasites of caterpillars (corn earworm, imported cabbage worm, cabbage loopers, cutworms, armyworms), stink bugs, squash bug nymphs, beetle and fly larvae, some true bugs, and beetles. Adults are 1/3 to 1/2 inch long. White eggs are deposited on foliage or on the body of the host. Larvae are internal parasites, feeding within the body of the host, sucking its body fluids to the point that the pest dies. Plants that attract tachinid flies:•Anthemis tinctoria    Golden marguerite•Eriogonum fasciculatum    California Buckwheat•Melissa officinalis    Lemon balm•Mentha pulegium    Pennyroyal•Petroselinum crispum   Parsley•Phacelia tanacetifolia    Phacelia•Tanacetum vulgare    Tansy•Thymus serpyllum coccineus    Crimson thyme

MINUTE PIRATE BUGS (Orius spp.)

True to their name, minute pirate bugs are tiny (1/20 inch long) bugs that feed on almost any small insect or mite, including thrips, aphids, mites, scales, whiteflies and soft-bodied arthropods, but are particularly attracted to thrips in spring. 

DAMSEL BUGS (Nabis spp.)

Damsel bugs feed on aphids, leafhoppers, plant bugs, and small caterpillars. They are usually dull brown and resemble other plant bugs that are pests. Their heads are usually longer and narrower then most plant feeding species (the better to eat with!).

BIG EYED BUGS (Geocoris spp.)

Big eyed bugs are small (1/4 inch long), grayish-beige, oval shaped) bugs with large eyes that feed on many small insects (e.g., leaf hoppers, spider mites), insect eggs, and mites, as both nymphs and adults. Eggs are football shaped, whitish-gray with red spots. Plants that attract minute pirate bugs, damsel bugs and big eyed bugs:•Carum carvi    Caraway•Cosmos bipinnatus    Cosmos “white sensation”•Foeniculum vulgare    Fennel•Medicago sativa    Alfalfa•Mentha spicata    Spearmint•Solidago virgaurea    Peter Pan goldenrod•Tagetes tenuifolia   Marigold “lemon gem”

Thank you also for listening to the Garden Basics with Farmer Fred podcast. It’s available wherever you get your podcasts. Please share it with your gardening friends.

Fred Hoffman is also a University of California Cooperative Extension Master Gardener in Sacramento County, California. And he likes to ride his bike(s).

The podcast included with this newsletter features an interview with Rachael Long, University of California Cooperative Extension Farm Advisor Emeritus, and one of the nation’s best sources of information on the benefits of having bats, which are flying mammals (not rodents), in your neighborhood. Originally aired in Episode 180 of the Garden Basics podcast in March of 2022.

Before we begin bug hunting, here’s what has happened this week on the Garden Basics with Farmer Fred podcast:

Ep. 328 Q&A - Should you add fertilizer to a compost pile? Can planting late-ripening peaches thwart peach leaf curl disease?

In this episode of the Garden Basics Podcast, Fred Hoffman and Master Gardener Susan Muckey discuss composting and answer a listener's question about adding nitrogen to a compost pile. They explain that adding nitrogen is not necessary for most compost piles and discuss the ideal carbon-nitrogen ratio. They also provide tips for turning a compost pile and maintaining the right temperature. In the second part of the episode, Quentyn Young, Master Gardener and orchard specialist, joins the conversation to discuss strategies for dealing with peach leaf curl, including planting late ripening peach varieties.

• Adding nitrogen to a compost pile is not necessary for most composting methods.

• The ideal carbon-nitrogen ratio for a compost pile is 30 parts carbon to one part nitrogen.

• Turning a compost pile helps to introduce air and maintain the right temperature.

• Late ripening peach varieties can be a good strategy for preventing peach leaf curl.

=======================================================

Ep. 329 How to Water

In this conversation, Farmer Fred and America’s Favorite Retired College Horticulture Professor (and former nurseryperson), Debbie Flower, discuss various methods of watering plants, including watering seeds, young plants in containers, mature plants in containers, and lawns. They also touch on the use of sprinklers versus drip irrigation, the benefits of rainwater, and the ancient practice of using Oyas for irrigation. The conversation emphasizes the importance of finding a watering system that works best for each individual and regularly checking plants for signs of distress.

• Watering seeds requires keeping the seed bed evenly moist, and watering from the bottom can be an effective method.

• When watering young plants in containers, it's important to water each container individually and ensure that the entire column of soil is wet.

• For mature plants in containers, using a watering wand with a fine breaker can provide a gentle and effective watering method.

• Lawns can be watered using sprinklers or more efficient methods like MP Rotators, and it's important to turn off the water when runoff occurs.

• Drip irrigation is a cost-effective method for irrigating crops, but it requires monitoring for breaks and securing the drip tape to the ground.

• Oyas, an ancient irrigation method, can be used to slowly release water to plants, but their effectiveness depends on soil type and plant needs.

• Regularly checking plants for signs of distress and maintaining irrigation systems is crucial for healthy plant growth.

===============================================================

Meet the Garden Good Guys and Gals

Nature wants to make your job as a gardener as easy as possible; but you have to help.

We've talked about putting in plants that attract insects whose primary job is to pollinate your garden, helping to insure a bountiful harvest of food and flowers. 

But what about attracting those other "good bugs", the crawling and flying creatures whose diet includes pests that are ravaging your garden plants? These beneficial predatory insects do not live on aphid steaks alone. They need other natural sources of food and shelter for their entire life cycle before they call your backyard a permanent home. What are these "Welcome Mat" plants and the beneficial insects they attract? Here is a list of three of those good bugs and some of the plants that they like to visit for shelter and as another source of food for their diet and their children. Next week, we’ll have even more beneficials and plants. For best results, group these plants nearby or along the garden border to attract the garden beneficials.

P.S. Readers with a long memory will recall much of this information from an earlier post here in May 2022.

LADYBUGS (Ladybeetles)

Easily recognized when they are adults by most gardeners. However, the young larvae, black with orange markings, eat more pests than the adults, and they can’t fly. Yellowish eggs are laid in clusters usually on the undersides of leaves.

Plants that attract ladybugs:•Achillea millefolium    Common yarrow•Ajuga reptans    Carpet bugleweed•Alyssum saxatilis    Basket of Gold•Anethum graveolens    Dill•Anthemis tinctoria    Golden marguerite•Asclepias tuberosa    Butterfly weed•Atriplex canescens    Four-wing saltbush•Coriandrum sativum   Coriander•Daucus carota    Queen Anne’s lace•Eriogonum fasciculatum   CA  Buckwheat•Foeniculum vulgare    Fennel•Helianthus maximilianii    Prairie sunflower•Penstemon strictus    Rocky Mt. penstemon•Tagetes tenuifolia    Marigold “lemon gem”•Tanacetum vulgare    Tansy•Taraxacum officinale    Dandelion•Veronica spicata    Spike speedwell•Vicia villosa    Hairy vetch

Another planting tip to keep ladybugs around throughout the year in mild climates: put in ornamental grasses, especially deer grass (Muhlenbergia). Don’t prune it back until spring. You just might witness the newest crop of ladybugs emerging from this winter hideaway on a warm, sunny day!

LACEWINGS

Beautiful, little (3/4”) green or brown insects with large lacy wings. 

Individual white eggs of lacewings are found laid on the ends of inch-long, stiff threads, usually along the undersides of leaves. 

It is the larvae (which look like little alligators) that destroy most of the pests. They are sometimes called “aphid lions” for their habit of dining on aphids. They also feed on mites, other small insects and insect eggs. On spring and summer evenings, lacewings can sometimes be seen clinging to porch lights, screens or windows.

Plants that attract lacewings:•Achillea filipendulina    Fern-leaf yarrow•Anethum graveolens    Dill•Angelica gigas    Angelica•Anthemis tinctoria    Golden marguerite•Atriplex canescens    Four-wing saltbush•Callirhoe involucrata    Purple poppy mallow•Carum carvi    Caraway•Coriandrum sativum    Coriander•Cosmos bipinnatus    Cosmos white sensation•Daucus carota    Queen Anne’s lace•Foeniculum vulgare    Fennel•Helianthus maximilianii    Prairie sunflower•Tanacetum vulgare    Tansy•Taraxacum officinale    Dandelion 

HOVERFLIES (incl. syrphid flies, predatory aphid flies, flower flies)

Also known as syrphid fly, predatory aphid fly or flower fly. Adults look like little bees that hover over and dart quickly away. They don’t sting! They lay eggs (white, oval, laid singly or in groups on leaves) which hatch into green, yellow, brown, orange, or white half-inch maggots that look like caterpillars. They raise up on their hind legs to catch and feed on aphids, mealybugs and others.

Plants that attract hoverflies:•Achillea filipendulina    Fern-leaf yarrow•Achillea millefolium    Common yarrow•Ajuga reptans    Carpet bugleweed•Allium tanguticum    Lavender globe lily•Alyssum saxatilis    Basket of Gold•Anethum graveolens    Dill•Anthemis tinctoria    Golden marguerite•Aster alpinus    Dwarf alpine aster•Astrantia major    Masterwort•Atriplex canescens    Four-wing saltbush•Callirhoe involucrata    Purple poppy mallow•Carum carvi    Caraway•Chrysanthemum parthenium    Feverfew•Coriandrum sativum    Coriander•Cosmos bipinnatus    Cosmos white sensation•Daucus carota    Queen Anne’s lace•Eriogonum fasciculatum    CA Buckwheat•Foeniculum vulgare    Fennel•Lavandula angustifolia    English lavender•Limnanthes douglasii    Poached egg plant•Limonium latifolium    Statice•Linaria vulgaris    Butter and eggs•Lobelia erinus    Edging lobelia•Lobularia maritima    Sweet alyssum white•Melissa officinalis    Lemon balm•Mentha pulegium    Pennyroyal•Mentha spicata    Spearmint•Monarda fistulosa    Wild bergamot•Penstemon strictus    Rocky Mt. penstemon•Petroselinum crispum    Parsley•Potentilla recta ‘warrenii’   Sulfur cinquefoil•Potentilla villosa    Alpine cinquefoil•Rudbeckia•Rudbeckia fulgida    Gloriosa daisy•Sedum kamtschaticum    Orange stonecrop•Sedum spurium    Stonecrops•Solidago virgaurea    Peter Pan goldenrod•Stachys officinalis    Wood betony•Tagetes tenuifolia    Marigold “lemon gem”•Thymus serpylum coccineus    Crimson thyme•Veronica spicata    Spike speedwell•Zinnia elegans    Zinnia "liliput"

In the Next Newsletter: More Beneficial Insects

Including parasitic mini wasps, tachinid flies, minute pirate bugs, damsel bugs, big-eyed bugs - and the plants they need to build a home and raise a family.

Thanks for Subscribing and Spreading the Word About the Garden Basics with Farmer Fred newsletter, I appreciate your support. 

And thank you for listening to the Garden Basics with Farmer Fred podcast! It’s available wherever you get your podcasts. Please share it with your garden friends.

Fred Hoffman is also a University of California Cooperative Extension Master Gardener in Sacramento County.

Our cohort in all things tomato, Don Shor of Redwood Barn Nursery in Davis, got into a lot of helpful information for tomato gardeners besides just talking about tomato varieties in Episode 317 of the Garden Basics podcast, The 2024 Tomato Preview Show. The mini-podcast (above) highlights four tips we discussed that can make you a more successful gardening tomato-head.

Among Don’s tips:

• The first thing you should do when you when bring that tomato plant home from the nursery.

• And, if you are growing tomato plants from seed, what you need to do before you plant it outdoors.

• How to save tomato seeds from open pollinated varieties for next year.

• How to save your tomatoes when it gets really, really hot.

• How to improve the flavor and texture of supermarket tomatoes.

• Plus, I threw in an extra tip on growing fruit trees in containers for a longer fruit production life in tight quarters.

The Tomatoes of the 2024 Tomato Preview Show (with links for more info)

Rugby

Chef’s Choice Orange

Juliet

Bodacious

New Girl

Tough Boy

Blue Ribbon

Pineapple

Champion

Purple Boy

Bush Early Girl

Itz a Keeper

Super Fantastic

Jet Star

Principe Borghese

Riesetomate tomato

Sungold

Barry’s Crazy Cherry

Sweet Carneros Pink

Pork Chop

Michael Pollan

Gardener’s Delight

Big Beef

4th of July

Sweet Million

Super Sauce

Orange Wellington

Dr. Wyche’s Yellow

Purple Tomato (a GMO variety)

A sampling of our comments of each of those tomato varieties (listen to the full episode for even more tomatoey details)

Fred: the big winner last year for me was Rugby, based on your endorsement of that tomato over the last couple of years. And Rugby is just a wonderful tomato. 

Don: it grows very, very well and a very good producer here. So yes,  you and I definitely agree on Rugby. 

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Don: I still highly recommend the Chef's Choice series and I strongly recommend Chef's Choice Orange based on previous years. That's still in my top ten. 

Fred: Several of the Chef's Choice tomatoes have been All-America Selections winners, as well.

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Don: I have to say every year I have one plant that just grows incredibly robust compared to all the others. It's never the same one, of course, and it produces really, really heavily. And in 2023  for me, that was Juliet. Now I recommend Juliet very highly for a lot of reasons. I did a quick count, just trying to figure out how many fruit my Juliet plant produced. It was something close to 400.

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Fred: One that you have recommended over the years. And I finally broke down and tried it and it was actually it was successful the second year I tried it. And that's another Don Shor rule about planting tomatoes. Give them three years, plant them for three years and see if you still like it. And Bodacious did quite well for me in 2023. It was the the last plant to give up, and I harvested the remaining green ones in November and I finally finished the green ones as they ripen slowly in the garage. I finished those off in late February. 

Don: Yeah, it's been a very good performer. If you're looking for something in what we sometimes call the beefsteak category, a large slicing tomato with good connective tissue that you could use in a sandwich, Bodacious is probably your best bet here in the Sacramento Valley. Bodacious has great flavor all as well, has taken heat very well for me. Continues to be a good performer for me. 

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Fred: Another one of your perennial favorites - and I've been planting it now for like three or four years - well, I finally ran out of the seed. I'm going have to get some fresh seed. The New Girl tomato.

Don: Yes, New Girl has been out yielding Early Girl for me for the last two years.

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Don: There's another one out there called Tough Boy. Some people are doing that one and have had very good results. Tough Boy is another one where they're trying for that same 4 to 6 ounce fruit size, nice round red tomato, good flavor, a good all-purpose tomato. That's another good one.

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Don: There's one that I've been recommending and it's going to be a hard one to find unless the nursery start it themselves. It’s Blue Ribbon. It doesn't crack, it doesn't split. It didn't get blossom and rot. The fruit is always 12 ounces or so, a good size all the way up to a pound. Sometimes it didn't get sunburned. It just performs really well. It's not just attractive. I mean, the Blue Ribbon refers to the fact it's a very, very good looking tomato. It also has really good flavor, and holds well on the vine. 

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Don:  So here's my big surprise from last year. Every year there's one variety that surprises me. Pineapple. The name refers to the rather tangy flavor. This year I got 14 very large fruit on the one plant, each of them about one and a half to two pounds.

Fred: An oldie but a goodie.

Don: I don't usually tell people heirlooms are going to be your highest yield, but the Pineapple really, really surprised me how much it produced. Great quality. I recommend if you have room for four or five tomato plants, try Pineapple.

Fred: You're right, it's beautiful, with sort of a golden orange color. 

Don: And red striations in the flesh. It slices great, it cooks great.

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Fred: How did Champion perform for you last year? You seem to plant it every year.

Don: It was just fine, as usual. You know, I got a lot of fruit on it. It's a really good red tomato. 

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Don: There's a whole group of tomatoes I'm getting pretty fed up with, and that is the purple, blue and black tomatoes, Black Beauty, Blue whatever. We're just finding some of them really, really don't soften. And the flavor is, in my opinion, rather astringent. And I don't know what it takes to get them to have good flavor. If someone out there has come up with a new hybrid purple or blue tomato with good flavor. I'd love to know what it is because so far, I'm not impressed. 

Fred: I did ask the Facebook people who follow the Get Growing with Farmer Fred page, “What tomato did you really like from 2023?” And I did get a reply from one follower whose opinion I respect. He's a high school horticulture teacher and he said he loved Purple Boy. Said it was very productive. And that's good enough for me. I'll give that a shot. So I've got some Purple Boy seedlings coming up. 

Don: I'm writing it down as we speak. 

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Fred: I have actually picked for 2024 an oldie but a goody container-sized tomato, called Bush Early Girl. It produces fairly good sized tomatoes, but on a plant that only gets 18 inches tall.

Don: The dwarf tomato series varieties are becoming very popular. I have grown some of these. I haven't grown that particular one. You'll find the yields are okay for what they are. This is a small plant. There's a bunch of little miniature tomatoes, Little Napoli, Little Sicily. One of my growers handed me a Mini Marzano. The plant grew 16 inches by 16 inches. Produced about 12 fruit, each of which was about one ounce.  You know, if you're in an apartment and you have a balcony, that's a fun thing to do. Many of these are not going to give you the yields you're expecting. 

Fred: The Bush Early Girl, by the way, is a compact determinant, which means it's going to set most of its crop once and then you can pull it out. But it ripens in only 54 days.

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Fred: I think the seed catalogs especially the specialty tomato seed catalogs like Totally Tomatoes are getting wise to me because they're starting to throw packets of other tomato seeds in with my order, things that I didn't order. Because they think, “he'll plant anything, just send it.”

Don: They did that to us, what, two or three years ago? They sent this one out. It was just a number at the time and I remember sending a note to the owner of Seeds ’N Such. “What is this one? We need to know. This is really a great performer. It stayed firm late in the season. It produced well. It was a compact plant.” He goes, Oh yeah, we're going to send that out next year with a name, It’z a Keeper. And that turned out to be an outstanding variety and I really do highly recommend it. It is really firm. It's one of those tomatoes that you just wonder if it's ever going to ripen. It is ripe. It's just very, very solid. The name, “It’z a Keeper” refers to the fact that it can sit on your counter for awhile. Pick it in mid-October, three or four weeks later, it is still just fine and still has very good flavor. Again, you're going to have to find it yourself, because hardly any retailers are going to have that one available as a plant. But It’z a Keeper is an interesting new variety that I think has a lot to recommend for it. 

Fred: I’ve got a couple of those questionable freebies growing now. One is called Super Fantastic and the other is called Jetstar. if you live in Canada, you would like Super Fantastic, even though I’ve started that seed. It produces ten ounce tomatoes, an indeterminate. According to West Coast Seeds, which is based in British Columbia, “Super Fantastic tomato seeds produce hearty, vigorous vines that adapt well to a variety of climates, immensely popular and an excellent producer on the West coast of British Columbia. These rich, meaty beefsteak tomatoes are very versatile.” 

Don: the West Coast of British Columbia is a pretty wet, cool place. Wherever your live, look for particular varieties that are recommended by your local garden centers.

Fred: The Jetstar one that I'm growing that I know nothing about is advertised as being “a prolific producer of big globe shaped fruits that ripen all the way through.”Well, that's good to know. “Excellent flavor with low acidity, nice compact habit, indeterminate. It gets 3 to 5 feet tall.” It does not state the size of the tomatoes though. So I don't know.

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Don: We mentioned compact varieties. There is one that I find myself recommending more and more year after year and I think you're going to grow it this year. When I first read about it, it was described as the classic tomato for sun drying and it is very, very good for that. In fact, I started growing it just for that purpose because one of my staff people just loves to take them and cut them in half and dry them. It's Principe Borghese. 

Fred: Yeah, you wore me down on that one. 

Don: It also happens to be very good for sauces and salsas, things like that. And it's a very compact variety. So people who are limited for space that really like a rich flavored, almost gourmet quality tomato, look into Principe Borghese.

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Don: Late last year I remember we talked about a very strange tomato that I was growing and I told you, I'll give you a report card on this one again. Riesetomate. It looks like a bunch of grapes. It's a single tomato with numerous lobes. They look like, as I say, a bunch of red grapes, all one fruit with all these lobes on it. It produced at least 80 fruit for me. These are very, very rich flavors. It's the kind of thing where you just break off a piece and eat some fresh. It made amazing salsa and it was one of the strangest looking tomatoes I have actually ever grown. So if you have room in your garden and you want to grow something truly weird, look for the Riesetomate tomato.

Fred: I just went online to see what a Riesetomate looks like and there are all these other Riesetomate types. There's a Riese that I'm looking at from Rare Seeds that looks like a very deep red cluster of grape sized tomatoes. 

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Don: Sungold is still the most popular cherry tomato that's out there, beating older more established varieties such as  Sweet 100, Sweet Million, that whole category. Kids seem to really like Sungold.

Don: one group of cherry tomatoes  that you might want to look into are the ones that are being produced by Brad Gates, who you've had on your show many times, from Wild Boar Farms. His cherry tomatoes are phenomenal producers and very, very sweet, including Barry’s Crazy Cherry, which produces hundreds of fruit. I always plant Sweet Carneros Pink. I always plant Pork Chop, that's a very good yellow tomato. Another reliable producer is Michael Pollan, named after the author. It's a very good producer. Very interesting.  I do recommend trying some of his. They're different. 

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Don: you mentioned Gardeners Delight. Usually that is a very reliable tomato and I have customers that swear by it. So I want to see a new gardener getting some that we know are going to do well for them.

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Don: One that I was reintroduced to a couple of years ago was Big Beef. We talked about not doing beefsteak types. Well, Big Beef can go in early, it sets early, makes a really good size, good quality fruit and seems to be very well adapted. It was an All-America selections winner in the 1990s. So I've added that to my top 20. And I have customers that swear by it now because they've gotten very good large fruit as early as the first week of July. 

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Don: Here in Yolo County, UC Davis’  Dr. Robert Norris, who has been advising Master gardeners here for decades, strongly recommends 4th of July as an early ripening, very good fruiting tomato. And that's done very well for a lot of people. So that's a case where it's a local variety that has a lot of people that have tried it. It's a tried and true in our region. Wherever you're listening, there probably is one like that.

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Fred: So to recap, this year I will be planting the Principe Borghese, Rugby, Gardeners Delight, Bodacious, New Girl, Purple Boy, Super Fantastic, Bush Early Girl, Jetstar and one of my favorite cherry tomatoes, Sweet Million. 

Don: We'll have Rugby. I'm doing a second year of one called Super Sauce, which was extremely good producer, bigger than Rugby, very similar. And I'll have my usual red and yellow and orange tomatoes from Chef's Choice series, and I'm going to do Orange Wellington next to Chef's Choice Orange, because I've had both and they're both very good. And I'm curious if Orange Wellington, which I found in the Burpee catalogue, is as good a producer as they say it is, and good flavour as they say it is. 

Fred: I still like Dr. Wyche’s Yellow. It’s one of my favorite yellow-orange beefsteaks to grow. 

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Don: there is one other blue tomato on the horizon you've probably been reading about. It's the Purple Tomato, the first genetically modified plant that the public can buy. It is a purple fleshed tomato. It got a lot of publicity. All you do is Google “purple tomato”, and the information about this will all come up. It costs about two bucks a seed. You're not going to find that a whole lot of garden centers, but some of your friends will probably be growing it. It should be interesting to see what it's like. And my first reaction was, why do they do a purple one? Those are terrible.

Fred: Now wait a minute. It’s a seed.

Don: You can get seed of this purple fleshed tomato, two bucks a piece and they're out there. You can certainly buy them. It is the first in the United States. There was a genetically modified tomato introduced in Japan last year, which has enriched nutrient status. It has higher  something, vitamin A probably. This one is purple, not just purple skin, but vivid purple flesh all the way through. And I can't remember right off the top of my head the name, but you can find it quite easily. Yes, you can buy the seed, as I say, two bucks a seed and you can grow yourself. And so for years I have I have customers who don't want GMOs. They have customers who think they're interesting. Never was an issue. They would say, Are any of these GMOs? I would say there are no GMOs in the nursery industry or in the garden industry. That's no longer true. This one is out there, but you have to buy  direct from the supplier. So this purple fleshed tomato, there is going to be certainly a lot of conversation about it. I would be great if someone would grow it and let us know how the flavor is and who knows? It might actually get into the trade, as the price comes down. But for two bucks a seed, you're not going to see a whole lot of  plant growers jump into that one.

Fred: I just looked it up. It has a very clever name. Purple Tomato. 

Don: Quite interesting looking. And I'm guessing some people have already bought the seed. So we'd like to hear your reports on it. 

Fred: The Purple Tomato, as described by its developer, who is Norfolk Plant Sciences, the Purple Tomato contains high levels of antioxidants and anthocyanins normally found in fruits such as blueberries and blackberries.

Don: Yes. And so far my experience has been that makes them taste pretty astringent. But we'll find out with this one. Maybe they've figured a way around that problem.  

Thanks for reading Beyond Basics: The Garden Basics with Farmer Fred Newsletter! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work.

Thank you for also listening to the Garden Basics with Farmer Fred podcast! It’s available wherever you get your podcasts. Please share it with your garden friends.

Fred Hoffman is also a University of California Cooperative Extension Master Gardener in Sacramento County. And he likes to ride his bike(s).

Today’s newsletter podcast (recorded in January 2021) features an arborist discussing ways you can spot when your trees may be in danger of falling, especially in a wet, windy winter.

More information about what was discussed in the podcast can be found at the University of California Ag and Natural Resources publication, “Inspect Your Landscape Trees for Hazards”.

Small Trees for Small Yards

In this era of "Big House, Small Yard", choosing the right size tree can not only enhance the beauty of your backyard, it can forestall serious and expensive pavement problems that might force you to crack open your wallet in five to ten years. Planting a tree with a future height and spread of more than 40 feet in a small backyard will eventually make you recall that old TV show title, "Dark Shadows". Even spookier will be the repair bills when the extensive root systems of these larger trees start heaving and cracking your concrete patio, driveway, sidewalk and foundation.

The Sacramento Tree Foundation recommends planting large trees at least 15 feet away from any hardscaping or construction. If the site you've picked out for a new tree can't be situated that far away from any concrete, electrical systems or sewer pipes, here are some good, small trees that need only six feet of planting distance from building foundations, walks and driveways.

Most of these trees will get no taller than 25 feet: Amur maple, Japanese maple, eastern redbud, flowering dogwood, Washington hawthorn, crape myrtle, saucer magnolia and Bechtel crabapple.

Needing only 10 feet of "growing room" from tree to concrete are these medium-sized (25-40 feet) ornamental plants: trident maple, hedge maple, Japanese white birch, goldenrain tree, capital pear and chanticleer pear.

Before your shovel hits the ground, here is an easier way to plant your tree or shrub: instead of digging deep, dig wide. Then, refill that crater with the native soil. Current research from the University of California has shown that digging a hole an inch or two less than the depth of the tree's root ball (the portion in the container) is more beneficial than digging a deeper, narrow planting hole.

The trick to a successful planting also includes loosening the surrounding soil at the planting site. Loosen up the soil (again, to the depth of the root ball) in an area at least twice as wide as the container (for young trees and shrubs) or the entire diameter of the tree canopy. Even better, rototill out to six feet from the location of the tree trunk. A tree that can easily send out its lateral root system will have better access to water and nutrients.

Check the tree for girdled roots before planting. If the roots are encircling the rootball, slice through the length of the root ball on four sides about an inch deep. This will help the roots to spread down and out, not round and round.

Plant the tree so that the top of the root ball rests on solid soil, one to two inches higher that the surrounding soil; this allows for settling and helps avoid crown rot. Avoid soil amendments; by refilling the hole with the original soil, the tree more quickly adapts to the native environment where it will have to reach out in order to be successful.

Staking should only be done if the tree can't stand on its own. And by all means, remove the single stake that comes with the tree from the nursery. Use two stakes, one on either side of the root ball. Tie the tree to the stakes using old nylons or another flat, wide, ribbon-like article. Tie loosely at the lowest point on the trunk where the tree will stand upright. Remove the stakes as soon as the tree will stand on its own, usually not more than one year.

Beyond The Garden Basics is a reader-supported publication. To receive complete new posts, have access to past newsletter issues, and support my work, consider becoming a paid subscriber.

Lower Your Tree Size Expectations.

Freakish high gusts of wind are becoming more commonplace throughout Northern and Central California, especially with the change of the seasons. Last weekend, a Red Flag warning was posted by the National Weather Service for the danger posed by the combination of high winds and dry landscapes that might ignite wildfires. Sure enough, the high winds swept into several sections of our state. The Bay Area office of the National Weather Service reported high winds exceeding 50 and 60 miles per hour in several coastal areas. In Southern California, wind gusts of 50 miles per hour buffeted high profile vehicle traffic on Interstate 5, north of Los Angeles. And a wildfire broke out in Riverside County, which, at press time, was still only 20% controlled.

A bit closer to home, we nervously look at our neighbors’ huge conifers shedding small branches on windy days throughout the year.

That’s a not so gentle reminder of last January, when one of their 60-foot-tall Atlas cedar giants fell into our yard during a windstorm here in suburbia, a fallen tree that was so large that it caused damage in three different backyards.

If you are considering planting a tree, and you have a typically sized urban or suburban yard, you can minimize future damage from flying tree limbs to your property and your neighbors by choosing a medium sized tree. Generally, these are trees that grow between 25 and 40 feet tall. And November is still an excellent time for planting new trees in our area.

Shop for smaller trees that have minimal invasive roots and have several eye-catching traits such as colorful leaves, flowers, or distinctive bark.

Two trees that are underutilized in current landscapes that have minimal problems include:

• ‘Emerald Sunshine’ Elm (Ulmus propinqua). The ‘Emerald Sunshine’ elm is resistant to many of the problems of older elm varieties while maintaining a more reasonable eventual height: about 35 feet tall, with a spread of 25 feet tall. This elm has deep green leaves that turn yellow in the fall. ‘Emerald Sunshine’ is reportedly tolerant of hot, windy conditions, making it a good candidate for cities in warm summer areas with low humidity.

• ‘Redpointe’ Red Maple (Acer rubrum ‘Redpointe’). There are a lot of new red maple hybrids that have proven themselves in our area, especially the ‘October Glory’ red maple. The ‘Redpointe’ has many positive traits as well, although it does get a bit larger than the Chinese Fringe tree or the “Emerald Sunshine” elm, yet it still is much smaller that the ‘October Glory’ maple, which can get to 50 feet tall. The ‘Redpointe’ is described as a maple that is upright with a broadly pyramidal shape that requires little pruning. ‘Redpointe’ will reach 40 feet with a 20-foot spread. Its deeply lobed leaves are deep green from spring to fall when they turn a brilliant shade of red.

Here are a few more suggestions for trees that fit well in small to medium yards:

• Chinese Fringe Tree (Chionanthus retusus). Perfect for small yards, as it only gets about 20 feet tall with a spread of 10 to 15 feet. UC Master Gardener Cathy Ronk of Tulare County says the Chinese Fringe Tree has clusters of showy, lightly fragrant, fringe-like white blooms. The Chinese Fringe Tree is also one of UC Davis’ “Arboretum All-Stars,” notable for its yellow fall leaves and moderate water needs.

Trees recommended, along with comments, from the Sacramento Tree Foundation:

• Chinese pistache (Pistacia chinensis). 30-45 feet tall and wide. The Sacramento Tree Foundation says this tree has the “Best fall color show in our region. Nice round shape, and a low water user.” Choose a male variety such as the ‘Keith Davey’ to avoid the messy berries.

• Shantung Maple ‘Pacific Sunset’ (Acer truncatum ‘Pacific Sunset’). 25-30 feet tall and wide. “Hearty and fine textured, with larger leaves than regular Shantung maples.”

• Sweet Bay (Laurus nobilis). An evergreen tree or shrub, the Sweet Bay can get 30-40 feet tall, but takes well to pruning. “Dark green, dense form makes a good screen. Small yellow flowers in clusters followed by small black berries. Leaves are bay leaves used in cooking.”

• And again, a very popular tree for its summertime flowers is the crape myrtle (Lagerstroemia indica and its hybrids). This Chinese native gets about 25 feet tall, with a distinctive gray-light brown, exfoliating (peeling) bark that reveals a smooth whitish inner bark in the winter. It blooms best in warm summer climates, and is subject to mildew in moist climates. However, hybrid varieties have been bred for hardiness and mildew resistance. Look for varieties with names of native American tribes such as Arapaho, Hopi, Muskogee, Natchez, and Zuni.

Fred Hoffman is also a University of California Cooperative Extension Master Gardener in Sacramento County.

Simple instructions from the Placer County (CA) Master Gardeners on proper tree staking:

Q: I just planted a new tree and want to know the best way to stake it.

A: It’s important to know that not all newly planted trees need to be staked. In fact, improper staking can harm rather than help. The more freely a tree can move, the stronger its trunk will become and the more likely it will be to withstand storms.

There are three situations in which staking is necessary: to protect against damage from equipment, vehicles or animals; to anchor trees whose roots cannot support the tree upright in the wind; and to support trunks unable to stand upright by themselves.

Protective stakes only need to be tall enough to be seen and avoided by equipment operators. Three stakes are generally enough and they should not be attached to the tree. Netting or wire fencing can be attached to the stakes to exclude animals.

Anchor stakes should be firmly set in the surrounding soil outside the root ball. Short stakes used for protection can do double duty as anchoring stakes by attaching the lower part of the tree to them with broad, flexible ties. The idea is to restrict root ball movement, while allowing the top of the tree to move in the wind.

Trees trained properly at the nursery should not need support staking. Most reputable tree growers no longer remove lower branches to create top-heavy, “lollipop” trees. They know that leaving these “nurse branches” on the young tree will help it develop a thicker trunk with healthy taper.

To determine if your newly purchased tree requires support staking, remove the stake that came with the tree from the nursery. If the tree stands upright on its own, you should not stake it.

However if the trunk flops over, place two stakes in the ground outside the root ball on opposite sides of the tree so that prevailing winds will blow through the stakes. Starting about 2 feet above the ground, use two fingers, one on either side, to support the trunk. Move your fingers slowly up the trunk until the tree stands upright. Flexible ties that allow movement should go 6 inches above this point. Cut the stakes 2 to 3 inches above the ties so that the trunk and upper branches will not be damaged by blowing into or rubbing on the stakes. Check the ties regularly to make sure they are not constricting the trunk.

Remove stakes and ties as soon as they are no longer needed.

Thanks for reading Beyond Basics: The Garden Basics with Farmer Fred Newsletter! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work.

Thank you for also listening to the Garden Basics with Farmer Fred podcast! It’s available wherever you get your podcasts. Please share it with your garden friends.

Fred Hoffman is also a University of California Cooperative Extension Master Gardener in Sacramento County. And he likes to ride his bike(s).

In today’s newsletter podcast, Debbie Flower, America’s Favorite Retired College Horticultural Professor, extols the benefits of spending time in the garden, and closely observing your plants. And, I talk about how those who took up gardening during the Covid epidemic found out that gardening is good for the gardener, too, in a myriad of ways.

Do some gardeners have a natural green thumb? Although there can be a lot said for patience and perseverance when it comes to landscaping tasks, perhaps there are some habits that seasoned gardeners have in common. Such a list was published by the Santa Clara and San Joaquin County Master Gardeners here in California a few years ago entitled, “The Top 10 Habits of Happy and Successful Gardeners.”

It is a list that is worth reviewing from time to time, to see which habits you’ve made a normal part of the garden day, along with those habits that might need a bit of refreshing.

For those of you that like the quick list, the Top 10 included: “Feed the Soil”, “Learn Before Lopping”, “Embrace Failure”, “Shop Carefully”, “Put the Right Plant in the Right Place”, “Water Intentionally with Both Hands”, “Control Snails and Slugs”, “Never Let a Weed Go to Seed,” “Attract Beneficial Insects”, and “Linger in the Garden”.

Successful Habits of Happy Gardeners, by Louise Christy, Santa Clara Co MG (Summer 2018, San Joaquin MG Garden Notes) (Habits 1-5)

Habit Number 1: FEED THE SOIL

Happy and successful gardeners know that taking care of the soil (and learning to love our clay soil) is the first priority.

Soil has three main parts. The first is the mineral component, which soil scientists divide into sand, silt, and clay based on particle size. The important thing to know about sand, slit, and clay is that the clay particles are the smallest, and they are really small. The super-small size of the particles makes clay soils highly nutritious for plants.

The second component of soil is the organic matter. Good, healthy soil is teeming with life, from big earthworms and pill bugs, to billions of living micro-organisms, fungi, and bacteria. Healthy soil also contains a lot of organic mat- ter, for example decomposing leaves or grass clippings. It is the job of the living organisms in the soil to breakdown the organic matter and return its nutrients, especially nitrogen, to the soil.

The third component of soil is the space in-between the mineral and organic particles. This pore space is filled with water and air which are both essential to healthy soil. Plant roots need oxygen in addition to water and all those worms and beetles and protozoa and bacteria that are busy breaking down organic matter need water and air to stay alive.

"Feeding the soil" means replacing the water and organic matter and preserving the air by not overwatering or compacting the soil. Happy and successful gardeners follow this maxim for improving soil: compost, compost, compost, mulch, mulch, mulch.Compost improves the structure of the soil and makes it crumbly and easier to work. Spread compost all over the soil a couple times per year. If the soil has not been gardened recently, you may want to dig the compost into the soil several inches down. The other key to feeding your soil and increasing the organic matter is to use organic mulch. The most popular mulches seem to be wood chips or bark, but you can also use grass clippings, leaves, straw, or once again, compost.

When working with clay soil, avoid overwatering, and let it dry until it is moist and crumbly before you dig. Do not add sand to clay soil. Sand plus clay equals concrete.Great garden soil with lots of clay, organic matter, and microorganisms will be dark brown and crumbly and will smell earthy. It can be dug easily with a trowel, and it will have worms. Be patient and persistent. Building great soil can take years, but with careful treatment and feeding, “impossible clay” can become lovely garden soil.

Habit Number 2: LEARN BEFORE LOPPING

Happy and successful gardeners know pruning is a good thing and fun to do, but it can be complicated, so they make a point to learn before lopping.Many gardeners have pruners with them constantly for clipping and trimming their plants. There are many good reasons to prune and clip plants including training young plants, grooming for appearance, to control the shape and size of a plant, to influence flowering and fruiting, to invigorate stagnant growth, and to remove damaged or infested growth. However, improper pruning can ruin or destroy plants.Not all plants respond to pruning in the same way. Happy and successful gardeners are careful to research and learn how their plants will respond to pruning before they prune. This is especially important when talking about a large and valuable tree. Badly pruned large trees may drop branches or die, resulting in hazardous situations and expensive removal costs.

Habit Number 3: Embrace Failure

Gardening is a learned skill. Compare it to medicine. Just like no one is born knowing how to perform a liver transplant, no one is born knowing how to garden. Like any other skill, there is a world of knowledge and technique that when learned, over time, will lead to success.Happy and successful gardeners like to experiment in the garden and have learned to embrace failure. A dead or sick plant is a learning opportunity. They're always curious, always wondering what's going on in the garden, and eager to learn. For the most part, happy and successful gardeners aren't very sentimental about their plants. If a plant is sickly, a good gardener knows it's time to move it or remove it---which means, it's time to go shopping!

Habit Number 4: Shop Carefully

There is nothing more delightful than a few hours at a great nursery. It's like having all the benefits of a garden without the work. Experienced gardeners look for specific things when buying plants.

1) Look for plants that are healthy and vigorous. The plant should have sturdy stems or branches, show evidence of new growth with no sign of insect infestations, disease, or injuries.

2) Look for plants with good shape and structure.3) When choosing annuals and vegetable transplants in small pots, look for young, small plants, not ones that seem to be mature or already have flowers.4) Buy transplants when there is only one plant per pot. Experienced gardeners have learned to recognize crowded transplants and avoid buying them.5) Look for a healthy, well-developed root system. Roots should usually be white or light colored, not brown, slimy or mushy. If there is a small mat of roots at the bottom, but otherwise the plant looks vigorous, it's probably OK.

Habit Number 5: Put the Right Plant in the Right Place

If you ask experienced gardeners for their favorite gardening tip, it is usually "Right plant, right place."Plants that are well suited to the location where they are planted will be faster to put out new roots and new growth. They will be healthier and better able to withstand insect pests and diseases than if they were planted in the wrong place. They will perform well, grow well, look better, and require less attention from you.We have what's called a Mediterranean climate which means dry summers, rainy winters, some frost, and minimal freezing. The majority of San Joaquin Valley is in Sunset Zone 14 and USDA Hardiness Zone 9.

Evaluate the planting spot by thinking about the following questions:

Does the area get full sun, part sun, or shade? Is the area more wet or dry? Where is the water source? Does the spot get high traffic or is it out of the way? Is the area near a wall or fence that reflects heat? What is the amount of horizontal and vertical space available? Is the space on a hillside? Check the Sunset Western Garden Book, the nursery label, or books and sources online to determine the right plant for your place.

Part 2 Top Ten Habits of Happy and Successful Gardeners by Sue Davis, Master Gardener (Habits 6-10, Fall 2018 SJ MG Garden Notes)

Habit Number 6: Water Intentionally and With Both Hands

Hand water your garden occasionally. It allows you to see the level of moisture in the soil firsthand, so you can adjust watering accordingly.

Water with both hands. Carry a trowel or cultivator in one hand, and the hose in the other. Water the area, and let the water sink in. Then, with the trowel or cultivator, dig down into the soil in several places. Be sure to check down that they work properly.

Dig down several inches. Has the water penetrated all the soil? Often, especially when watering soil that has been dry for a while, we grossly underestimate the amount of water needed to really soak the soil. Your goal with intentional watering is to get the water to penetrate the root zone of the plant.

Watering intentionally means you should pay attention to your sprinkler and drip systems. Reset the timers as appropriate for the season. Maintain them, make sure broken or clogged parts are fixed.

With containers, often the water simply slides right down between the root-ball and the side of the pot. If the soil is very dry, the root-ball shrinks and repels water. The best solution for watering very dry containers is to put the whole pot into a bucket, fill it with water to the top of the root-ball, and leave it overnight.

Habit Number 7: Control snails and slugs

When you see your plants ravaged with huge raggedy holes in the leaves or silvery traces crisscrossing the driveway in the morning, you have snails.

Many happy and successful gardeners go out in the night to hunt snails. A successful snail hunter says, " If you have insomnia, you can either think about the snails eating your garden, or you can get up and put a stop to it."· Hunt at night with a flashlight or a headlamp.· Have a bucket half full of water with a squirt of dish detergent.· Search your entire yard. Do this often. You will soon discover the snail “hot spots.”· Pick them up and drop in the bucket.· Night hunting is best after a spring rain when the snails are most active.· When you are done with the hunt, leave the bucket outside overnight. In the morning dump it in the compost or in the garden.

The soap is not harmful.

If you are diligent, after several hunts you will have reduced the population considerably. After a few years, you will have very little snail problem at all, and your hunts will be short and much less disgusting.

Slugs present a slightly different problem. Slugs don't have convenient handles, so picking them up is hard. Beer traps work well for slugs, but be sure to clean them out and fill with new beer after a few days.

What about snail bait? SLUGGO is made of an iron phosphate active ingredient with bait additives. Go ahead and use it if you prefer--it is safe and effective, and non-toxic to wildlife and pets. Avoid using metaldehyde baits (Correy’s, Deadline) which are highly toxic to animals.

Habit Number 8: Never Let a Weed Go To Seed

Weeds are survivors. Weeds often have high rates of seed production, hard seed coats, or underground rhizomes or bulbs that allow them to remain viable for years.

There are many types of weeds. Like your garden plants, they can be classified into annuals and perennials, even shrubs and trees. Annual weeds pop up in your garden over and over. When these weeds are little they look just like baby garden seedlings. They compete with garden plants for light, water and nutrition, and they will win the fight if you don't join the battle.

In most soil there is a collection of weed seeds that have accumulated over decades. weed ecologists call this a ‘seed bank.’ Weed seeds can lie dormant in the soil for years until conditions favor germination. For example, seeds of chickweed and mustards can remain viable for 10 years, purslane up to 40 years and curled dock over 80 years!

Keep the weed seed bank in mind as you garden. Whenever you see a weed about to go to seed, remember that one weed's deposit to the seed bank is thousands of seeds that may last in the soil for many years. That thought alone should be enough to get you to pull that weed out of the ground.

Chemicals for weed control should be the last resort. Never use them in a vegetable garden. If you do choose to go that route, follow all label directions.

Habit Number 9: Attract Beneficial Insects

Among the insects in your garden there are basically two kinds of eaters: vegetarians and carnivores. When we see a bug eating our roses, our first instinct is to kill it, often with some kind of noxious chemical spray.

Nature offers a better route. What we need to do is to invite the carnivorous insects back into the garden. These voracious little creatures will eat the aphids and parasitize the hornworms, mangle the mites, and crunch the caterpillar eggs, killing them so they do less damage to our plants. In gardeners' parlance, you want a balance between the "good bugs" (beneficials), and the "bad bugs" (pests). When balance is achieved, there will be much less damage to plants.

Beneficial insects can be encouraged by providing sources of nectar and pollen--in other words, flowers. Most beneficial insects are very small, they appreciate tiny flowers in their scale.

Many of the "bad bugs" are actually the larval stage of "good bugs." The syrphid fly larvae look like tiny green worms, and the larvae of lacewings and lady beetles look almost like tiny alligators. Larvae eat the most aphids!

Learn to tolerate some insect damage as a minor but necessary evil for attracting beneficials. When you spot aphids on a plant, don't immediately kill them all off. Aphids appear first, then the carnivorous insects move in to eat them.

Above all, do not use toxic pesticides. They kill the beneficials as well as the pests, completely defeating your purpose. Often use of pesticides results in rebound or secondary infestations that are worse than the original problem.

Habit Number 10: Linger in the Garden

"Linger: to stay in a place longer than necessary, typically because of a reluctance to leave."

One habit I have noted among the successful gardeners I know: have patience with a new plant. Lots of patience. “Sleep, creep, leap” is a gardener’s way of saying to give a perennial or shrub at least three years before it puts on a show. And this is especially true with California native plants. For its first year, it will just sit there. All the action is happening underground, developing a robust root system. In the second year, you’ll note more growth. To convince yourself that it is growing, put a stake next to the plant in its first year. The stake should be the exact height of the plant. By year two, the plant should be a bit taller than that stake.

Thanks for reading Beyond Basics: The Garden Basics with Farmer Fred Newsletter! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work.

Thank you for also listening to the Garden Basics with Farmer Fred podcast! It’s available wherever you get your podcasts. Please share it with your garden friends.

Fred Hoffman is also a University of California Cooperative Extension Master Gardener in Sacramento County. And he likes to ride his bike(s).

In today’s newsletter podcast, nursery owner Don Shor and I share success and failure stories from our 2023 tomato gardens. We both agree that one of the best tomatoes this year that we grew from seed was Rugby F1, a sauce/paste tomato that is large, meaty, and tasty.

In our own yard, Rugby was the overall winner for us. Although it is described in several seed catalogs as a Roma-type tomato, don’t be fooled. Rugby is much larger than other Roma canning tomatoes, about seven ounces each. Pink-red in color, Rugby has meaty flesh that is good for canning. But unlike smaller Roma tomatoes such as San Marzano or Roma VF, Rugby takes well to slicing and can be served on a sandwich or in a salad. Rugby is an indeterminate tomato, and did produce throughout the growing season, with great foliage cover to protect fruits from too much sun. There were few – if any – weather related issues with cracking or sunburn. Rugby is also resistant to diseases such as tomato mosaic virus, leaf mold, fusarium and verticillium wilt, crown and root rots, as well as bacterial speck. We will be planting Rugby again in 2024.

My tomato failure this year was the industry’s fault: a victim of a seed mixup. Here is the purchased, mismarked, packet.

Gardener’s Delight, is an indeterminate German heirloom small tomato, a favorite for years in our garden, with a long growing season and a grape-like shape, a bit larger than a cherry tomato. Oddly enough, although the name on the “Gardener’s Delight” tomato seed package (above) is wrong, the picture was EXACTLY correct. The tomatoes that these seeds produced resembled a run-of-the-mill, red, cherry tomato. That should have been a red flag to me. Whatever variety of cherry tomato that came from the packet of seeds was certainly not one that was a keeper: very little production that ended mid-summer.

This is what a Gardener’s Delight tomato is supposed to look like: a bit larger than a cherry tomato, nor perfectly round, as it tapers a bit on the blossom end. Nor does it grow in tight clusters, as some cherry varieties do.

Chalk it up to another victim of “Jalapeno-gate”, a country-wide (if not world-wide) seed mixup issue that was initially noted by many pepper aficianados - as well as retail and wholesale nurseries this past summer. Read about it here.

However, we enjoy Gardener’s Delight so much, that my plan for 2024 will be to purchase seed of that variety from two different seed catalogs and plant a few from each. I’ll be avoiding the seed catalog source of this year’s Gardener’s Delight failure.

More 2023 Tomato Winners and Losers

Which varieties were successful for you this year? Which tomatoes were a bust? Let me know how yours did.

Meanwhile, over at the Fair Oaks Horticulture Center, the Sacramento County Master Gardeners conducted their own tomato trials this year. They grew three very popular varieties: Big Beef, Lemon Boy, and Celebrity. And for comparison, they grew the newer, alleged improvements of those three: Big Beef Plus, Lemon Boy Plus, and Celebrity Plus. Were the newer varieties really an improvement? The results were mixed.

During a 30-day period of harvesting in July and August, the original Big Beef tomato plant produced 84 tomatoes with an average weight of 15 ounces. Big Beef Plus, however, only produced 75 tomatoes with an average weight of 8 ounces. Still, the taste testers among the Master Gardeners preferred the taste and texture of the Big Beef Plus, 75% to 25%.

Both Lemon Boy and Lemon Boy Plus tomatoes that were harvested in that same time frame, and produced about the same number (132 to 111) and size (6.8 ounces to 7.5 ounces), although the Lemon Boy Plus had a few larger tomatoes that were beset with cracking. Lemon Boy was preferred by the taste testers to Lemon Boy Plus, by about a three to two ratio.

Celebrity Plus (50 pounds) outproduced the Celebrity tomato (40 pounds), with both varieties having about the same size of tomatoes. The judges were divided on the taste and texture, with 71% preferring the flavor of Celebrity Plus. For texture, Celebrity was favored by 75%. The big difference was the size of the plant: Celebrity stayed fairly compact, about three to four feet tall, while the Celebrity Plus climbed up to the top and over the five-foot cage.

“In our limited demonstration, all plants grew well and had no disease issues,” says the Master Gardener’s final report on the tomato trial. “We will probably keep all of the cultivars on our list to grow again.”

Thanks for reading Beyond Basics: The Garden Basics with Farmer Fred Newsletter! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work.

Thank you for also listening to the Garden Basics with Farmer Fred podcast! It’s available wherever you get your podcasts. Please share it with your garden friends.

Fred Hoffman is also a University of California Cooperative Extension Master Gardener in Sacramento County. And he likes to ride his bike(s).

In this insightful conversation (above), Farmer Fred speaks with Diane Blazek, executive director of All-America Selections and the National Garden Bureau, about the seasonal transition from summer to fall and how it presents an opportunity for gardeners to refresh their landscapes with vibrant fall colors and cool season blooming plants. Diane's extensive experience in the horticultural industry positions her uniquely to share knowledge on regional and national plant varieties, particularly those achieving popularity across the United States.

Diane highlights the significance of fall planting, emphasizing it as an ideal time for gardeners. With the energy from the summer season still lingering and the ground remaining warm, fall allows for planting before the onset of hard freezes in the colder USDA Zones. This period often fits well within planting guidelines since it enables various plants, especially perennials and bulbs, to establish robust root systems before going dormant. Diane insists that successful fall planting leads not just to immediate gratification but also ensures future blooms and growth come spring. She suggests that novice gardeners pay attention to hardiness zones and engage with local gardening experts to choose suitable plants for their specific climate.

The discussion navigates through practical tips for gardeners, such as understanding the appropriate timelines for planting in areas with cold winters, where the ground may freeze. Diane advises that planting six weeks prior to the ground freezing is optimal for perennials and shrubs, whereas bulbs may have a bit more leeway. The seasoned gardener might experiment with plants that extend beyond their hardiness zone, but careful consideration of a plant's specific requirements is important for beginners seeking reliable results.

Farmer Fred and Diane share insights into the benefits of local nurseries and local cooperative extension offices as critical resources for regionally appropriate plant selections. To further aid gardeners, Diane explains the biological aspects of fall planting—specifically, that initial growth is often underground, with plants focusing on root establishment rather than leaf growth in cooler temperatures. This foundational growth is vital for ensuring a plant's health and successful blooming in future seasons.

They also address winter protection strategies for hardy perennials in colder USDA zones, emphasizing that mulching can be an effective way to insulate plants during freezing periods.

The conversation highlights several flowering plants that are particularly well-suited for fall planting, with Diane showcasing some recent standouts like the ‘Yellow, My Darling’ Echinacea and various cultivars of Buddleja, which bear aesthetic appeal but come with regional considerations due to their invasive potential in certain areas.

Diane also outlines several other standout plants, including hardy hibiscus, highlighted by its vibrant blooms and the exciting new hybrid, ‘Holy Grail,’ which features stunning scarlet flowers.

The distinctive and visually appealing ‘Backdraft’ Kniphofia, reminiscent of Halloween candy corn, adds further enthusiasm to the list of recommended plants.

Ornamental grasses are mentioned for their diverse utility; they add seasonal color, elegance, and even provide habitats for beneficial insects like ladybugs during the winter months.

Diane concludes by reinforcing the importance of fall planting, particularly focusing on perennials, as they set the stage for vibrant gardens come spring. She encourages listeners to explore more about these plants through the National Garden Bureau’s resources for further inspiration and guidance. The synergy between seasonal gardening, plant selection, and ecological benefits forms a compelling narrative aimed at empowering new and experienced gardeners alike to embrace the opportunities that fall planting presents.

Written by Fred, with a little AI help from Auphonic.

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With your help, we raised over $2,000 for the Sacramento Children’s Home Crisis Nursery during the “Farmer Fred’s Ride for the Kids” on Saturday, Sept. 28. 100-mile bike ride was a success. Mission accomplished!

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Thanks for reading Beyond Basics: The Garden Basics with Farmer Fred Newsletter! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work.

Thank you for also listening to the Garden Basics with Farmer Fred podcast! It’s available wherever you get your podcasts. Please share it with your garden friends.

Fred Hoffman is also a University of California Cooperative Extension Master Gardener in Sacramento County. And he likes to ride his bike(s).

In today’s newsletter podcast (above), we get tips on starting a wildflower garden from Marina LaForgia, of the Gremer Lab at UC Davis. LaForgia, a 2019 PhD graduate of Davis, is now doing research on seed dispersal and persistence. If you live in an area of the country where you can plant wildflowers or cover crops in the fall, especially in a drought-prone area, you’ll want to listen.

Thinking about planting cover crops this fall? The range of cover crop success in the U.S. is rather wide: USDA Zones 10 down to 6B. According to a cover crop study conducted by the Natural Resources Conservation Service in Pullman, Washington (USDA Zone 6B), it really depended on how cold it gets in a particular winter. Peaceful Valley Farm Supply has a cover crop solutions chart that lists many varieties that are reported to take the cold down to 25 degrees.

A very informative video from Peaceful Valley Farm Supply about planting wildflower seeds can be found here. (Note: Peaceful Valley is not an advertiser here. They just know their stuff. That’s good enough for me.)

What’s Your USDA Zone?

Want more zone details? Here’s a link to an eye-numbingly detailed USDA Zone Map from Wikipedia.

Fall is for Sowing Cover Crops and Wildflowers. But Should You Wait for the Rain?

Early fall - October through mid-November - is usually the time for planting a wildflower garden or sowing cover crop seeds on your bare garden beds here in USDA Zone 9, including most of California. “Usually” being the operative word; “rain” being the wild card. You can increase the chances of germination if the soil bed is prepared by thoroughly moistening it to depth of a few inches. Follow that up with weekly, thorough irrigations until the seeds sprout. However, the shorter, cooler days of October sometimes can fool a gardener into not watering enough, thinking that the rains will soon be coming.

Some native plant experts, such as LaForgia, say to wait for the rains before planting wildflower seeds. That event seems to be a long way off, especially with temperatures lately reaching the 90’s. In that wildflower video from Peaceful Valley, Trish recommends waiting until after the first hard frost in her area, which, because of the hilly terrain of Nevada City, could be anywhere from USDA Zones 9B to 7B. This will help the seeds achieve winter dormancy, and then come alive in the following Spring.

Meteorologists seem divided on what the next three or four months will bring to much of the U.S., especially for Northern California: no rain until heavy storms begin in late December (according to Weather West meteorologist Daniel Swain); a typical amount of rain, over the next 90 days (the National Weather Service’s Climate Prediction Center); or, we don’t know: “Quite a bit of uncertainty exists during the upcoming 4-months due to widely varying oceanic-atmospheric teleconnection patterns that should create highly changeable weather patterns.”(National Interagency Fire Center).

Again, you can try to plant seeds of some wildflowers and cover crops now... Just keep the soil bed moist (not soggy) until germination. And if no rain has begun by that time, irrigate weekly.

Peaceful Valley Farm Supply in Nevada City, who are the cover crop experts in the Sierra foothills, urges their customers to plant cover crops at the correct time, rain, or no rain: “Do not delay planting to wait for the rain. It is better to have the seed in the ground waiting for the rain than to plant after fall rains begin. If possible, irrigation should be applied immediately after planting. The irrigation should be long enough to at least wet the soil to one to two inches below the seeding depth, with two or three subsequent irrigations to supplement the early growth if rains don’t happen in the Fall. The more growth these cover crops make in the Fall, the better.”

In the University of California publication, “Cover Cropping in Home Vegetable Gardens”, Sacramento County Master Gardener Gail Pothour explains that a cover crop is planted for the purpose of improving soil quality and nutrition as well as attracting beneficial insects. Cover crops add nitrogen to the soil, improve water penetration (due to long roots), suppresses weeds, and adds organic matter to the soil. Drawbacks to cover crops may be obvious, some not so obvious. Although you are taking a portion of the garden out of production of cool season vegetables and flowers, you are improving the soil. The not-so-obvious drawback: cover crops can be a bit of work in late winter and early spring. For maximum benefits, cover crops need to be cut back as flowering begins to keep that nitrogen in the soil. Then, the entire plants need to be chopped into little pieces and worked into the soil for maximum benefits three to six weeks before planting your spring vegetables or flowers.

In addition to clover, Pothour suggests using bell or fava beans as a cover crop. “For an upright cool season cover crop that is easy to cut down in the spring, use bell beans, or fava beans,” explains Pothour. “The large, round, flat-seeded ‘horse bean’ or fava bean plants are nearly identical to bell bean plants, but bell beans are usually planted as a cover crop because the seed is smaller and therefore cheaper. Of course, you can use fava beans as a cover crop, but remember that a fair amount of nitrogen (in proteins) will be removed when you harvest the seed, making less nitrogen available for the succeeding crop.” For best results, cut back the bean plants when they begin to flower if your goal is soil improvement.

Thanks for reading Beyond Basics: The Garden Basics with Farmer Fred Newsletter! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work.

Thank you for also listening to the Garden Basics with Farmer Fred podcast! It’s available wherever you get your podcasts. Please share it with your garden friends.

Fred Hoffman is also a University of California Cooperative Extension Master Gardener in Sacramento County. And he likes to ride his bike(s), despite the flat tires, due to Humboldt County potholes.

In today’s newsletter podcast, retired college horticulture professor Debbie Flower and Master Gardener Gail Pothour offer tips for growing potatoes. We also talk about the best months of the year to plant potatoes. That answer? It depends where you are. Give it a listen (above).

More Potato Planting Tips

From the garden e-mail bag, Alan asks: “What varieties of potatoes are best to grow here in California?”

There are dozens of varieties a potato gardener in California can choose. Among the favorites of the University of California potato experts are Norgold Russet, Red la Soda, Kennebec, and White Rose. One of my favorites is Yukon Gold. Local nurseries and California-based garden catalogs, such as Renee’s Garden, will be getting in and shipping out seed potato varieties such as Colorado Rose, Heirloom Russet Burbank, Purple Majesty, French Fingerling, and Heirloom German Butterball in the winter.

One of the keys to homegrown potato success is planting at the right time, to avoid frost damage to young plants. We just passed the summer potato planting season of August and September. However, winter or early spring planting of potatoes is good, January through March in milder areas of California. A general rule of thumb: plant potato pieces about three to four weeks before the final frost. At California’s lower elevations, frost season is usually December and January. Planting in March, though, is good insurance against a wayward frost.

Throughout the United States, planting seed potato pieces three to four weeks before the final frost is a good rule of thumb. Find your average first and last frost dates here.

Your local nursery is a good barometer for the top potato varieties to grow in your area. Seed catalogs, as well, offer a wide variety of tasty and unusual potatoes that can do well in many climates.

Is there a difference between 'eating potatoes' and 'seed potatoes'?

Why plant “seed potatoes”? These are certified disease-free varieties, available from nurseries and catalogs. Using grocery store potatoes for planting have two drawbacks: they may have been treated with a sprout inhibitor to increase their shelf life; and, although the potato may be safe to eat, it may still transmit a disease to your soil.

Which brings us to another query from the garden e-mail bag. Bill asks: "What's wrong with using some of the potatoes from our earlier harvest to plant a new crop? Is there a difference between 'eating potatoes' and 'seed potatoes'?"

Each potato-growing state has tests to certify seed potatoes. These tests include field and storage inspections as well as demanding potato criteria. The seed potatoes are certified to be free of some diseases that can ravage an entire garden, including early blight, late blight, damping off, verticillium wilt and nematodes.

Diseases can spread easily, via the wind, plants, soil, and tools. As a precaution, you shouldn't plant potatoes and tomatoes in the same soil within three years of each other. To avoid this issue entirely, heirloom potato growers can plant in large containers, at least 15 gallons in size, using bagged soil.

Whether you grow in the ground or in containers, here are some potato planting tips:

• Cut seed potatoes into pieces weighing from one and a half to two ounces, each having one or two eyes.

• Store cut pieces at room temperature and preferably in a humid place for one or two days before planting to allow the cut surface to form a callus. This decreases the chances of rotting.

• In the garden, prepare a planting furrow about four inches deep. Drop seed pieces into the furrows, and cover with two inches of soil.

• Leave the furrow this way for 4 to 6 weeks. When the sprouts are a couple of inches high, add 2 more inches of soil so that the seed pieces will be covered at the original ground level.

• If planting in containers, start with a couple of inches of soil in the bottom, lay the seed potato pieces on the top, and cover with two inches of soil. As the sprouts grow, repeat that process until you are within a couple of inches of the container top.

• With either method, if a frost threatens the sprouts, cover with a permeable frost cloth. Most of the potato crop can be harvested when the vines die, or the skin of the tubers is firm, not flaky. 

Thanks for reading Beyond Basics: The Garden Basics with Farmer Fred Newsletter! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work.

Thank you for also listening to the Garden Basics with Farmer Fred podcast! It’s available wherever you get your podcasts. Please share it with your garden friends.

Fred Hoffman is also a University of California Cooperative Extension Master Gardener in Sacramento County. And he likes to ride his bike(s).

I’ve often heard from dietitians and health food aficionados that consuming microgreens and baby greens provide more nutrition than their full grown counterparts. Is that true? In a 2021 published study of two greens - spinach and roselle - researchers discovered that these plants - when harvested within 20 days of sowing - have some critical nutritional benefits greater than the full grown plant, according to the National Library of Medicine:

“Compared to field grown mature foliage, greenhouse-grown micro/baby-greens were lower in digestible carbohydrates and CA (calcium) but higher in digestible protein, P (phosphorus), K (potassium), Mg (magnesium), Fe (iron), Mn (manganese), and Zn (zinc).”

From the National Library of Medicine (Nov. 2021): Nutrient Content of Micro/Baby-Green and Field-Grown Mature Foliage of Tropical Spinach (Amaranthus sp.) and Roselle (Hibiscus sabdariffa L.)

So, for certain nutritive boosts, nature’s “fast food” (greens harvested at microgreen or baby green stage) is the way to go. Better yet, it’s quick from the garden to the plate, reaching cutting stage in 10 to 20 days after sowing in optimum conditions and temperatures.

In today’s “Beyond the Garden Basics” newsletter podcast (above), Master Gardener Gail Pothour discusses how to grow and harvest microgreens, and how they can be used in various dishes.

Below, Renee Shepherd shares her secrets for growing and harvesting baby greens, perfect for the freshest salad and other recipes. This is a transcript of a conversation we had with Renee, back in Episode 282 of the Garden Basics with Farmer Fred podcast.

THE CUT AND COME AGAIN FOOD GARDEN

Farmer Fred

One of the healthiest garden plants that you can grow our greens. But if you live in a hot climate, maybe you're limited to only growing greens during the cool season. Or if you live in a cold climate, it's your summer crop. But because greens are so healthy, you should be able to grow them year round. And, you know something? You can, with the advice of our guest today. It’s Renee Shepherd, the founder of Reneesgarden.com. She is widely regarded as a pioneering innovator in introducing international vegetables, flowers, and herbs to home gardeners and gourmet restaurants. She founded the Shepherd's Garden Seeds back in 1985. And she sold the company later on, and then established Renee's Garden to do what she likes best: searching out the very best seeds from around the world, testing them in her own garden, cooking and developing recipes around their unique characteristics, and sharing them with other gardeners. I've been a Renee's customer for years and years. I love her choices and introductions, especially the Sunset Mix sweet pepper.  Renee is the one who gave me a tip a few years ago when I was bemoaning the lack of cilantro to make salsa in the summertime. Cilantro, here in USDA zone nine, is basically a cool season crop. But you'd like to have some cilantro when you're making salsa in the summer, when the tomatoes and garlic and peppers and onions are ready. She said all you got to do is cut and come again with cilantro. Just grow it from seed in a shady spot. Then, when it gets a couple inches tall, you cut it and use it. Isn't that right, Renee?

Renee Shepherd 

That's the cut and come again method. It gives you a way to get several harvests of a lot of things that really wouldn't be able to take the heat.

Farmer Fred 

Actually, I think it's perfect for anybody who wants to garden. With a cut and come garden of greens, all you probably need, if you're starting it now, is a shady spot to grow it in, a large container, or if you have the room, a garden bed. But I would imagine, too, in a sunny window inside you could grow this.

Renee Shepherd 

Well, I'm not 100% sure that you would have great results on a windowsill, because it needs so much more light. You might get one cutting out of it.  I suggest you grow it outside for the best result.

Farmer Fred 

How about indoors with grow lights?

Renee Shepherd 

Indoors with grow lights? That's certainly a possibility.

Farmer Fred 

All right, we've just sold some more equipment there.  But there's a lot of greens that take well to the cut and come again method. You have a YouTube video at Reneesgarden.com that explains how you do that. So go ahead and explain it for our podcast audience. How exactly do you grow leafy greens that will come back after you cut them?

Renee Shepherd 

We think the cut and come again method is the way to grow the most greens in the smallest space in the shortest time. So it works for all lettuce mixes. And it  works for spinach, chard and kale, Asian greens, a lot of different things. It's not just for hot weather, it's really a way to get a lot of results from a small space and it's a different way of growing things. So either in a bed or in a large container. You prepare the soil. You get a seed mix and you pour out the seed in your hand. And then you shake the seeds through your fingers so it kind of goes into the bed like grass seeds. Don’t pack them in too thickly, but you try to spread them out, ideally, so the seeds are about a half an inch apart. And then you water it in. And when it gets about four to five inches tall at the most, you want to take  kitchen scissors or snips, and just cut off the top few inches, leaving a one inch crown. So you want to leave a one inch crown in the ground and cut the rest. So you have three to five inches of greens. You harvest as much as you need for a meal that day. In other words, the greens are going to come up densely. And you wouldn't grow them to maturity, because they would be way too crowded and they wouldn't grow well. They would get long and lanky. But if you harvest them at the baby stage, they're young and tender and delicious. So let's say you had a garden bed that’s about a couple of feet on each side, like two or three feet across and two or three feet wide. You could grow enough mesclun mix or baby lettuce mix there to give you a lot of meals. You cut just as much as you needed. After you cut it, you fertilize again with a high nitrogen fertilizer, like fish emulsion, if you're an organic gardener, which we are. You’ll  then get a second growth. But in really hot weather, you would not get a third growth. But in the cold season, you could sometimes even get a third cutting. So it's cut and come again.

Farmer Fred 

And how long does it take to produce the first crop? And then how long is it before you get a second crop?

Renee Shepherd 

I would say for the first crop, you're talking 30 to 45 days. And the second crop depends on the weather. But probably another couple weeks.

Farmer Fred 

Would you grow it in sun or shade?

Renee Shepherd 

If it's very hot weather, I would certainly grow it where it gets afternoon shade. Or you can also cover it with shade cloth. But I'm not kind of claiming that you're going to get much of a crop if it's 100 degrees, and baking in the sun. But I have seen growers in California up in the Sonoma area, grow it under a shade cloth - which is  mesh - that you cover your bed with. That reduces the amount of UV going in. But generally speaking, if it's getting really warm, then you should ideally grow it where it gets morning sun and afternoon shade. In the cool season, it doesn't really matter. It'll grow just fine, I would say. up until late spring. Start it as soon as the weather starts to cool down.

Farmer Fred 

I really like the idea of using the shade cloth for a very different reason: to keep the pests away. To keep the aphids, the white flies, the cabbage looper moth from laying eggs on those greens.

Renee Shepherd 

Well, the other nice thing about using the cut and come again method, you're only growing something four or five inches tall. And you're growing it safely from pests, because the plants are not in the garden long enough. You know what I mean?

Farmer Fred 

You have a lot of different mixes that you can use and I imagine that you can kind of mix and match all the various spicy greens as well as the mild greens. That would be very nice, and very colorful as well, in a salad mix or however you want to use greens.

Renee Shepherd 

You want to use two containers or two places on your garden bed. Grow one with mesclun or baby leaf lettuce, which is all kind of sweet reds and greens that are either either smooth and buttery and crunchy. We make up our mixes by growing the varieties individually and then combining them so you've got not just the flavor and color, but a good mouthfeel, because you don't want all soft lettuces and you don't want all crispy lettuces. It's nice to have both. Let's say we're talking about lettuce. You grow one baby leaf lettuce mix. And next to it you can grow a spicy greens mix that has arugula and mustard and spicy things. And then you go out to make a salad for dinner. You harvest two thirds lettuce and 1/3 spicy greens. You can tailor it to your own tastes. And you can certainly grow arugula as a cut and come again and you can grow lots of different things. Arugula is very fast growing. And frankly, it's not bitter when it's young. So you want to harvest it no more than four inches tall.

Farmer Fred 

And at that height,  the plant has developed its own character. It's got that shape that you recognize. It’s  going to be very colorful, too.

Renee Shepherd 

Most stores now sell mixes of baby leaf greens. Everyone knows what that is. But you can also buy baby kale, and baby arugula. All these things can be grown in the cut and come method yourself. It's much cheaper and it's really easy to do, especially for people in limited spaces. You can grow a really nice salad garden and greens gardens in containers in this fashion.

Farmer Fred 

I would think, then, if  you can get maybe two or three crops with the “cut and come again” for a bowl of lettuce in a portion of the garden, you'd want to have about two or three going at the same time. Maybe plant the second batch about a week or two after the first batch?

Renee Shepherd 

I would say a couple of weeks. But you know, you don't have to have a big patch because it produces a big quantity of greens. So it's a good strategy for having long term salads.

Farmer Fred 

I noticed in your video, when you were harvesting the greens when they're only four or five inches tall, all you did was you simply grabbed a handful of them, and then cut it one inch above the soil line beneath your hand and took that in for dinner.

Renee Shepherd 

Yeah, you wrap your hand around a bunch of tops, and you cut underneath your hand leaving one end. And then you take that in for dinner that night. It's really tender and delicious when it's fresh. Just make a real simple vinaigrette,  like with a mild rice vinegar, or whatever kind of vinegar you like, and really good olive oil. And that's really all you need.

Farmer Fred 

You know, speaking of that, you have recipe books.

Renee Shepherd 

Well, that's true. We have a huge trial garden where we trial and evaluate new varieties and grow many different kinds of the same variety. So we've always come up with recipes and what to do with it. Because if we have convinced you to grow radicchio, you're going to need some radicchio recipes. And if you grow pole beans, and you've used up the three ways you always made beans, you might want some new ideas. So all the cookbooks I've written are all alphabetical by vegetable, so you can look up whatever you're harvesting.

Farmer Fred 

And you can find those cookbooks online at Reneesgarden.com

Renee Shepherd 

We’re growing lots of basil, we planted a second crop of basil, so we'll have it ripe, when more tomatoes ripen.

Farmer Fred 

There you go. Yeah, basil can last quite a while, as well. I'm always amazed at parsley, because it's a biennial. And so you can get two years worth of harvest from that.

Renee Shepherd 

Well, that's true. We usually plant two crops a year, we are in USDA Zone 8.  One  will overwinter. And then we plant another one. So yes. I like Italian large leaf parsley better than most others. It’s my favorite. It's very healthy, too, and tastes so good.

Farmer Fred 

Not only that, but in its second year when parsley does start to flower, it attracts a whole host of beneficial insects.

Renee Shepherd 

Yes, and that's certainly something that a lot of gardeners are really getting into, seeing their gardens as a way to create backyard habitat, and encourage pollinators and solitary bees and all kinds of beneficial insects and songbirds. Not just feeding them, but feeding nature. It's really important and something all gardeners can really do.

Farmer Fred 

It behooves every gardener to build the good bug hotel.

Renee Shepherd 

Well, absolutely. That just means to plant lots of wonderful annual flowers that they all can feast upon.

Farmer Fred 

That's right. And a wide variety of plants, too. You want birds in your yard? They need some evergreen shrubs where they can they can hide out in.

Renee Shepherd 

Yes, thinking of your garden as a habitat, and source of food and pleasure not only for you, but by everything that surrounds you in nature. It is really an important concept because I think we are the source of a lot of habitat in our suburban and city gardens, more than we know, and it’s becoming more and more important.

Farmer Fred 

Anything else you want to cover in this?

Renee Shepherd 

We're getting into the real end of summer. So as soon as the weather starts to cool down would be a good time to launch another round of cut and come again greens, it's something you can do really quickly and easily. And if you're a beginning gardener, it's a great way to get going and besides lettuces, because I mostly talk about that. But you can grow - and it really is fun to grow - baby chard and baby kale, which is really more tender than mature kale, and spinach. So there's  really quite a few greens that can be grown in this fashion.

Farmer Fred 

Is green kale, in your estimation, tastier than ornamental kale?

Renee Shepherd 

Oh about 1,000%. Ornamental kale was bred for ornamental purposes, mostly in Japan, originally. It really is designed to be pretty. Is it also edible? Yeah. Is it delicious? Not particularly.

Farmer Fred 

We should point out that at Reneesgarden.com, you can find all sorts of seeds available, mixes available, for the container kitchen garden. So indeed if you do have a limited space to work with - maybe a sunny patio or less - there's a lot of good mixes that will work for you in containers.

Renee Shepherd 

We specialize in varieties for containers. So we have container chilies and container peppers and container cucumbers and container eggplants and containers zucchini, including a really nice French variety that really does well in a container. As well as watermelons. We have lots of these container cut and come again mixes, because that's something we really look for. And our other varieties all tend to be in vegetables at least, varieties chosen for wide adaptability and great flavor, because we eat them ourselves.

Farmer Fred 

You test them yourselves too.

Renee Shepherd 

Yes, we have a large trial garden both here in Northern California near Santa Cruz and also in Vermont.

Farmer Fred 

Talk a little bit about the Ortalana di Faenza zucchini. And I'm sure I butchered that name.

Renee Shepherd 

That is not the container variety. That is a very traditional Italian striped zucchini, characterized by a very nutty taste, just really sweet and nutty and custardy. It's a very delicious one. The French seed that we get, which is the container varieties, is called Astia (?). And then last year, we introduced the opposite, which is a climbing zucchini, which will crawl up a trellis and I really liked because then you can break off the fruits off the vine standing up. You don't have to go looking bending over and trying to find them and they don't hide. So we've got one for a zucchini for any use.

Farmer Fred 

Yeah, the climbing zucchini, by the way has the obvious name of Incredible Escalator.

Renee Shepherd 

Yes, it's from a German company and they just had a number for it. So they allowed me to name it, and since it moved quickly up I thought I'd name it escalator.

Farmer Fred 

Well, just in my own defense, I am growing that Ortalana di Faenza zucchini in a large barrel, and it's doing just fine.

Renee Shepherd 

That's one of my favorites, actually, flavor wise. And they make just beautiful fruit. And if you roast them whole, they're just wonderful  with olive oil and garlic. They're just delicious any other way you can think to enjoy them. They just have a really really excellent flavor. Container zucchini works well because it doesn't, it's non-vining. It's grows like a bush. And the zucchini are all easily pickable and  it's a very beautiful plant. It's very ornamental.

Farmer Fred 

I would be remiss if I did not ask you at this time of the year, what can you do with an overgrown zucchini that you found hiding under the leaves?

Renee Shepherd 

Well, I don't get them too often. Because I'm too greedy. I always go out and look, almost every other day. I am not an expert on overgrown zucchini. So I don't think  I'll have anything really new and exciting to tell you. You can cut them in half and scoop out the insides and  make a filling with the zucchini and sauteed with rice and Italian sausage and basil and then stuff the shell. Bake it topped with olive oil and a Italian kind of seasonings. That's nice.

Farmer Fred 

I guess I'll just continue feeding the big ones to the worms.

Renee Shepherd 

Yeah, or get a neighbor with chickens.  I would say that is the highest use of overgrown zucchini and trade them with people with chickens in return for an egg or two once in a while.

Farmer Fred 

Oh, I used to trade them to the neighbors to feed their cows.

Renee Shepherd 

Amen to that.

Farmer Fred 

Fall is for planting, August and September is for planning, and thinking about what your family will eat. Try some new varieties as well. Don't start too big, start with a small patch if you've never grown something before, see if your family likes it and experience something new. USDA zones nine and eight and even seven can have a cool season garden, perhaps with some protection. But there's no reason why you can't be out there gardening most of the year.

Renee Shepherd 

Well, I do have to tell you that I used to get invited to this one family’s Thanksgiving feast every year, and I really never saw them much, and didn't know them very well. And I couldn't figure out why they wanted me to come to Thanksgiving. And I found out it was because of the fall garden produce I brought.  I brought a great big salad, with all those wonderful fall greens. And that's why they invited me. So obviously everybody can grow lots of delicious things for fall. It's really worth doing, and fun. And it's easier, because as the weather cools down, there's less pest problems. Plants stay well in the garden. You can have another crop of root vegetables, lots of greens. Some of the healthiest things can be grown in the cooler fall weather, and they don't take as much energy because they’re not as many weeds. It is actually the easiest time of year.

Farmer Fred 

Exactly. And with your international expertise in the world of vegetables, the wide variety of bok choi, Chinese cabbages, is amazing.

Renee Shepherd 

Yes, we we've had more and more Asian greens just because they're fast and easy and so healthy. We really try to look and feature things that are high nutrition. Most of all, deliciousness is our highest criteria.

Farmer Fred 

There you go. So find out more at Reneesgarden.com. Noted seeds woman, Renee Shepherd, has been our guest. Renee, thanks for all the good advice about the cut and come again garden.

Renee Shepherd 

Well thank you very much for talking with me. I've really enjoyed it.

One of the best soil amendments to add for happy plants are worm castings, also known as worm poop. However, the price of a bag of worm castings approaches twenty dollars, so you may want to tack on a new “to-do” item for the soil in your garden: vermicomposting, which is raising worms, usually in a worm bin. Those worms will feast on many of your kitchen scraps, giving you back a soil amendment teeming with microbial activity, perfect for plant roots to enjoy.

And you don’t have to worry about the worms if you go on a three-week vacation. Give them some extra food before you leave and re-dampen the bedding. They won’t complain.

Worms do best at temperatures slightly less than room temperature. Putting them in a cool indoor room or basement is an excellent idea. If you maintain the right balance of food, the bins won’t smell, either.

Here are tips from the Sacramento County Master Gardeners on starting and maintaining a worm composting bin:

• All you need to create worm castings is a worm box, bedding material, red wriggler worms (not earth worms) and food scraps.

• Bins can be purchased or homemade. Use a solid color (not clear) plastic storage box or a sturdy wooden box with a tight-fitting lid to keep out pests and protect your worms. If making your own bin, be sure to drill ¼-inch holes in the bottom to allow for drainage.

• Worms will not escape; they dislike light and will migrate toward the center of the box.

• A commercial vermicomposting system that feature stackable bins take up a house-friendly smaller footprint, perhaps 24 by 24 inches.

• Moistened, shredded newspaper or corrugated cardboard, shredded leaves, purchased pine shavings, or coconut fiber (coir) bedding provides worms with a balanced diet as well as a damp, aerated place to live.

• Always keep the bedding as moist as a wrung-out sponge.

• Place the worm bin in the shade or indoors. The worms will tolerate a wide range of temperatures, but the best temperatures are between 55° and 75°F. However, today’s newsletter podcast guest, Sacramento County Master Gardener Susan Muckey, prefers to be more of a “tough love” worm parent. She lets her worms deal with temperatures that range from 40 to 80 degrees. Listen to what she has to say in the podcast at the top of the page.

• Worms love most fruits and vegetables, used tea bags, used coffee grounds and filters. Do not feed them animal products, dairy, onions, or processed foods. Limit citrus peels to less than 20% of the food. Some worm parents say that the total citrus contribution to the worm bin should be closer to zero percent.

•  Chopping the food into small pieces, one inch or less in size, will speed up the composting process.

• To avoid fruit flies and odors, cover the food with at least one inch of bedding.

• Use red wigglers or red worms. They can be purchased at some nurseries, worm farms, and fishing supply stores.

• The castings are ready when they are dark and fine in texture. Separate the worms from the castings. Place the worm castings in your garden bed before planting. Work the castings lightly into the soil with a rake. Cover with mulch or compost. If you soil could talk, it would thank you!

Thanks for reading Beyond Basics: The Garden Basics with Farmer Fred Newsletter! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work.

Thank you for also listening to the Garden Basics with Farmer Fred podcast! It’s available wherever you get your podcasts. Please share it with your garden friends.

Fred Hoffman is also a University of California Cooperative Extension Master Gardener in Sacramento County. And he likes to ride his bike(s).

If I was to ask you, “What is organic gardening?” You might squint a little, and say something along the lines of, “Well, organic gardeners don’t use chemicals in the garden”. That wouldn't be correct.

After all, water is a chemical, and all gardeners probably use water. And, there are chemicals used in organic gardening, including manufactured fertilizers that are OMRI certified as organic. OMRI - the Organic Materials Review Institute - is a nonprofit organization that provides an independent review of products, such as fertilizers, pest controls, livestock health care products, and numerous other inputs that are intended for use in certified organic production and processing.

Pondering the question, “What is Organic Gardening?”, is interesting. If you go online and search for a definition of organic gardening, it runs the gamut.

The University of Massachusetts, for one, says even among those claiming to be organic gardeners, it differs as to exactly what constitutes organic gardening.

“In general, organic gardening differs from traditional gardening in two important ways, use of agricultural chemicals and use of artificial or processed fertilizers.”

However, they don't say exactly what “agricultural chemicals” are.

Then, UC Davis’ Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education Program states, “Organic agriculture is the practice of growing, raising, or processing goods using methods that avoid the use of most synthetic pesticides and fertilizers, as well as bioengineering, ionizing radiation, and sewage sludge.”

Alright, now we're starting to narrow down the definition of “organic gardening”.

The University of Georgia says that a generally accepted definition of organic gardening is: “The use of cultural practices to improve soil and plant health in order to reduce plant problems without the use of synthetic fertilizers and pesticides.”

This is becoming very interesting.

So we turn to the Royal Horticultural Society in jolly old England, and they say: “Organic gardening is commonly used to describe cultivation systems which make minimal use of manufactured chemical substances. These are practical elements of a broader philosophy which takes a holistic view of gardening, emphasizing the interdependence of life forms.” That “broader philosophy” may include the tenets of permaculture.

And then we have the thoughts of a man we had as a guest about a month ago. IHeart was there discussing phosphorus, a soil macronutrient, and some of the possible dangers or cautions one should employ if using phosphorus fertilizers.

It was garden book author, Robert Kourik. And I wondered about the manufacturing of phosphorus.

I asked him, “Is the process that makes phosphorus fertilizers, in your estimation, not organic, even though phosphorus fertilizer is considered organic?”

And he said, “I like to think of it as considering a cradle-to-grave review of organics.”

Well, that needed some expansion.

So back for his expansion time is Robert Kourik, author of the book, Sustainable Food Gardens as well as many other garden books.

“The way I define organic gardening is what I call a full-cycle ecosystem,” says Kourik. “In other words, using as few external inputs as possible, while harvesting as much as possible. If you have an organic garden and you truck everything in from five miles away, and you buy bone meal, and you buy blood meal, and you buy phosphate fertilizers and more, you have a tremendous amount of inputs coming from near or far. That doesn’t reflect what would naturally happen if you weren't bringing in that nutrition and those other products. I’m trying to keep it as a closed loop as much as possible. So when I talk about ‘cradle to grave”, let's look at what it costs to produce these inputs, how they’re produced, what it takes to truck them around, as well as what do you get out of it, and what are the alternatives that you could use in your own garden, instead.”

Listen to the podcast (above) about how you can transition to a more self-sustaining organic garden. Perhaps it won’t be a fully self-sufficient ecosystem, but you will have lessened your carbon footprint, if you’re a big-picture kind of person. Perhaps closer to your own reality, you will have saved some money, one cover crop or mulch pile, at a time.

Thanks for reading Beyond Basics: The Garden Basics with Farmer Fred Newsletter! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work.

Thank you for also listening to the Garden Basics with Farmer Fred podcast! It’s available wherever you get your podcasts. Please share it with your garden friends.

Fred Hoffman is also a University of California Cooperative Extension Master Gardener in Sacramento County. And he likes to ride his bike(s).

A dogwood tree is easy to love: flowers in the spring, beautiful orange/pink/red fall leaf color; a small to medium height tree, perfect for a patio area.

The University of Florida lists the dogwood tree’s strengths and weaknesses:

“The state tree of Virginia, the flowering dogwood grows 20 to 30 feet tall and spreads 25 to 30 feet. It can be trained with one central trunk or as a picturesque multi-trunked tree. The flowers consist of four bracts which subtend the small head of yellow flowers. The bracts may be pink or red depending on cultivar but the species color is white. The fall color depends on site and seed source but on most sun grown plants will be red to maroon. The bright red fruits are often eaten by birds. Fall color is more vivid in USDA hardiness zones 5 to 8a. Branches on the lower half of the crown grow horizontally, those in the upper half are more upright. In time, this can lend a strikingly horizontal impact to the landscape, particularly if some branches are thinned to open up the crown. Lower branches left on the trunk will droop to the ground, creating a wonderful landscape feature.

“The tree is not suited for parking lot planting but can be grown in a wide street median, if provided with less than full-day sun and irrigation. Dogwood is a standard tree in many gardens where it is used by the patio for light shade, in the shrub border to add spring and fall color or as a specimen in the lawn or groundcover bed. It can be grown in sun or shade but shaded trees will be less dense, grow more quickly and taller, have poor fall color, and less flowers. Trees prefer part shade (preferably in the afternoon) in the southern end of its range. Many nurseries grow the trees in full sun, but they are irrigated regularly. Flowering dogwood prefers a deep, rich, well-drained, sandy, or clay soil and has a moderately long life. It is not recommended in the New Orleans area and other heavy, wet soils unless it is grown on a raised bed to keep roots on the dry side. The roots will rot in soils without adequate drainage.

Several of the cultivars listed are not readily available. Pink-flowering cultivars grow poorly in USDA hardiness zones 8 and 9. 'Apple Blossom'—pink bracts; 'Cherokee Chief'—red bracts; 'Cherokee Princess'—white bracts; 'Cloud 9'—white bracts, many blooms, flowers at early age; 'Fastigiata'—upright growth while young, spreading with age; 'First Lady'—leaves variegated with yellow turning red and maroon in the fall; 'Gigantea'—bracts 6-inches from tip of one bract to tip of opposite bract; 'Magnifica'—bracts rounded, 4-inch diameter pairs of bracts; 'Multibracteata'—double flowers; 'New Hampshire'—flower buds cold hardy; 'Pendula'—weeping or drooping branches; 'Plena'—double flowers; var. rubra—pink bracts; 'Spring Song'—bracts rose red; 'Springtime'—bracts white, large, blooms at an early age; 'Sunset'—supposedly resistant to anthracnose; 'Sweetwater Red'—bracts red; 'Weaver's White'—large white flowers, adapted to the south; 'Welchii'—leaves variegated with yellow and red; 'White Cloud'—flowers more numerous, bracts white; 'Xanthocarpa'—fruit yellow.

“Aphids may be controlled by spraying them with a strong stream of water from the garden hose.

Several borers will attack dogwood. Try to keep the trees healthy with regular fertilization, and irrigation during dry weather. Indications of borer problems are holes in the trunk, leaves smaller than normal, and dieback of the crown.

Dogwood club gall midge causes galls at the branch tips. The leaves on affected branch tips may be distorted and the branch may fail to form a flower bud. Prune out the galls as soon as they are seen.

Leaf miners cause brown blister-like mines on the undersides of leaves. The adult leaf miner skeletonizes the leaves.

Scales can build up to large numbers before being detected. Horticultural oil will help control overwintering stages.

Twig girdlers prune the tips of small branches. They are more of an annoyance than a serious problem unless you are a nursery operator.

“Dogwood anthracnose may be the biggest concern with growing flowering dogwood. Infection is favored by cool, wet spring or fall weather. Drought and stressed trees appear to be most affected, as are those at higher elevations. Trees on the coastal plain may be much less likely to become affected. Consecutive years of infection can kill trees. Keep the tree healthy with regular irrigation in dry weather but avoid overhead irrigation. Plant the tree in an area which allows the leaves to stay as dry as possible. Consult a local pathologist for the latest in control measures. Cornus kousa is thought to be resistant to anthracnose and it can be planted in areas where anthracnose is a problem. It is a very beautiful tree.

Early symptoms of dogwood canker are smaller and paler leaves than normal. Leaves on infected branches are red earlier in the fall. At first the symptoms appear only on the infected side of the tree but become more general as the canker enlarges. There is no chemical control for the disease. Avoid trunk wounds during and after planting.

Crown canker is associated with wet soils and can be controlled with appropriate fungicides.

Flower and leaf blight attacks fading bracts, especially during wet weather. Infected flower parts fall on the leaves spreading the infection.

A large number of leaf spots attack dogwood. Clean up and dispose of infected leaves.

Powdery mildew covers the leaves with a fine white coating.

Leaf scorch occurs during hot, dry, windy weather. This condition looks like a disease. Scorch symptoms are drying and browning of the leaf margins, or, in more serious cases, drying and browning of the interveinal area.”

What does driving a British sports car, dating Kim Kardashian, and growing a Dogwood tree have in common? High maintenance.

If you’ve made it this far, you probably have come to realize that a dogwood tree - especially in a climate not conducive to its happiness - may require regular, proper maintenance.

Which brings us to listener Katie’s question about her stressed-out dogwood tree that seems to be sprouting everywhere. Listen to the podcast (above) for our take on the topic. The astute among you may see some possibilities for stress in this picture of her dogwood:

The University of California’s Ag and Natural Resources Department lists the optimum conditions for a dogwood tree:

“Dogwoods can grow in several different climatic zones depending on species. They prefer generally acid soils with high organic content. Dogwoods generally need adequate moisture. They do best in areas with partial shade to full sun. In hot, arid climates, partial shade is preferred to protect them from leaf scorch.”

The University of California likes to make lists of a plant’s possible problems. The list for the dogwood?

A 1961 Jaguar E-Type (British Racing Green, of course) might be easier to keep healthy.

But just like that fellow down the street from you who is always tinkering in the garage on some past love in his internal combustion life, there are gardeners throughout the country who will suffer any dogwood setbacks gladly, nursing them back to health, just to enjoy the spring flower show and the fall color. For gardeners, the pain is worth the pleasure.

Thanks for reading Beyond Basics: The Garden Basics with Farmer Fred Newsletter! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work.

Thank you for also listening to the Garden Basics with Farmer Fred podcast! It’s available wherever you get your podcasts. Please share it with your garden friends.

Fred Hoffman is also a University of California Cooperative Extension Master Gardener in Sacramento County. And he likes to ride his bike(s).

Back in July, we discussed “Six Common Tomato Problems.” Among those maladies were abiotic disorders (problems that are caused by factors such as weather, soils, chemicals, mechanical injuries, or cultural practices; and, not caused by insects or disease). Tomato abiotic disorders include blossom end rot, fruit cracking, leaf rolling, solar yellowing, sunburn, and tomato flower drop…all related to weather or watering issues.

In that column, I mentioned we would tackle an annual tomato-related issue, tomato worms, in a future edition. Well, here it is, in the podcast, above. America’s Favorite Retired College Horticulture Professor, Debbie Flower, waxes rhapsodic about the three “worms” (caterpillars, really) that can damage your tomato plants: Tomato/Tobacco hornworm, tomato fruit worm, and tomato pinworm, along with the moths that laid those eggs. She reassures us that nature has supplied us with plenty of “good guys” to help control these munchers and burrowers. Links that are listed in the notes for that podcast include: descriptions of tomato hornworm, fruit worm, and pinworm; and two posts from the Farmer Fred Rant blog, “Plants that Attract Beneficial Insects”; and, “The Good Bug Hotel”.

Today’s Beyond the Garden Basics newsletter tackles another abiotic disorder: tomatoes that are slow to ripen because of heat spikes this summer. And who hasn’t suffered through that this year? (Put your hand down, San Francisco.)

Why Are My Tomatoes Slow to Ripen?

From the garden e-mail bag, Vinnie asks: “My tomatoes are very slow to turn from orange to red, and several have yellowing as my bushes are not as leafy as I would like. They also are rather firm, though the plants have done well up to this point, with a decent amount of fruit as well as setting new tomatoes higher up on the plant. My “Sweet Million” cherry tomatoes also are having difficulty turning red, the same with the “Early Girl” and “Champion” full-size tomatoes. I planted the tomatoes in mid-April. They only get about six to eight hours of direct sun, depending on the season. But it seems I’ve had tomatoes for weeks at the same state of not turning fully red in color, so I was a little curious and disappointed in that. The plants are healthy, but not very bushy.”

You are not alone, Vinnie. Many area gardeners are wondering about the lack of color of their tomatoes now, in late summer. Blame the triple-digit heat spikes that have occurred coast to coast for the slowdown this summer.

Researchers from across the country have studied the effect of excess heat on ripening tomatoes. Their consensus: don’t worry, be happy. Those tomatoes will still be edible. And if you want to speed up the ripening process, harvest those tomatoes that are beginning to show color before the next forecast triple digit heatwave hits. Let them ripen indoors, in a dark place on the kitchen counter.

However, too much shade or lack of foliage on outdoor plants can also impede ripening tomatoes.

The University of California’s Contra Costa County Master Gardeners Newsletter says:

“A key resource that tomatoes need for ripening is plenty of leaf surface for photosynthesis. Often by late summer, some of the leaves on the tomato have started to dry up and wither and are no longer helping to nourish the plant. The plant is less vigorous than it was earlier in the season, so it takes longer for the green tomatoes to ripen. If you've run out of patience with slow ripening tomatoes, one thing you can do to speed up ripening is to remove some of the green tomatoes. Then the tomato plant can put all its energy into ripening the tomatoes that remain on the plant.

“Soil temperatures are also important. For optimal growth, tomatoes need soil temperatures that are less than 80 degrees. Hot air temperatures raise the soil temperature. Containers may be particularly vulnerable to soil temperature rise if they sit in the hot afternoon sun. Mulching can help keep soil temperatures lower. Also, if your tomatoes are hit by afternoon sunshine, you might consider erecting some shade barriers to keep the sun off the containers.

“If you've run out of patience with slow ripening tomatoes, one thing you can do to speed up ripening is to remove some of the green tomatoes. Then the tomato plant can put all its energy into ripening the tomatoes that remain on the plant. You can ripen the green tomatoes you remove on your kitchen counter. They won't be as yummy as the ones that ripen on the vine, but they're still better than store bought tomatoes.”As a final caution, don't be tempted to fertilize the tomato plant thinking it will speed up production. Fertilizing now will probably just cause the tomato to go into a vegetative growth mode that is too late in the season to be helpful.”

Kansas State University chimes in:

“Tomato color can also be affected by heat. When temperatures rise above 95 degrees, red pigments don’t form properly, though the orange and yellow pigments do. This results in orange fruit. It doesn’t affect the edibility of the tomato, but often gardeners want that deep, red color back.”

The report goes on to state that high heat also will cause poor fruit to set, especially on slicer tomatoes.

“Cherry tomatoes seem to be more heat tolerant,” Kansas State Horticulturist Ward Upham said. “But for slicers, high temperatures seem to interfere with pollen viability or can cause excessive style growth, leading to a lack of pollination. Tomatoes that have already formed (before excessive heat) are not affected.”

The “style” of a flower is the stem inside the flower that is part of the pistil. This question will not be on the Final.

Upham said it takes about three weeks for tomato flowers to develop into fruit that is about the size of a golf ball. After that, growth is usually more rapid over the following three to six weeks, and then just a few more days to change color.

“Though there are ‘heat-set’ slicing tomato varieties that will set fruit at higher temperatures, that difference is normally only two to three degrees,” Upham said. “Once cooler temperatures arrive, tomato flowers will resume setting fruit.”

Cornell University says not to worry about letting those harvested, not-quite-red tomatoes sit in a dark, cool place indoors:

“Light conditions have very little to do with ripening. Tomatoes do not require light to ripen and in fact, fruit exposed to direct sunlight will heat to levels that inhibit pigment synthesis. If temperatures remain high outdoors, these picked fruit will ripen more quickly, perhaps by as much as five days. As far as flavor, the greener fruit should develop flavor and color like what you would get if field ripened. The key is picking them when they are showing the first signs of ripening (no earlier) and keeping them at room temperature. Do not refrigerate, as this will absolutely destroy their flavor. Outside, direct sun can also lead to sunscald of fruit. Because of that, do not remove plant leaves to help ripen the fruit. Also, soil fertility doesn't play much of a role. We do know that high levels of magnesium and low levels of potassium can lead to conditions like blotchy or uneven ripening or yellow shoulder disorder. But the slowness to ripen is not likely due to soil conditions. Adding additional fertilizer will do nothing to quicken ripening.”

Remember, too: we have a long tomato growing season here in USDA Zone 9. Fresh garden tomatoes are not uncommon in our area on Thanksgiving; some gardeners here have even reported Christmas tomatoes (yes, they were cherry tomatoes, but you wouldn’t want to see what the plant looks like on Dec. 25). Don’t worry. Be happy!

Thanks for reading Beyond Basics: The Garden Basics with Farmer Fred Newsletter! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work.

Thank you for also listening to the Garden Basics with Farmer Fred podcast! It’s available wherever you get your podcasts. Please share it with your garden friends.

Fred Hoffman is also a University of California Cooperative Extension Master Gardener in Sacramento County. And he likes to ride his bike(s).

If you own a Japanese maple tree, or pass by one on your daily strolls, check the leaves. Are they getting a little brown around the edges? Are the leaves beginning to fall off? Welcome to late August and early September, where the quadruple whammy of triple digit temperatures, hot dry winds, reflected heat from a nearby wall/concrete surface, or irregular watering can make many Japanese maples start to suffer. Note the location of those Japanese maple trees. Are they in full sun more than six or eight hours a day? Is it facing a direction where winds are common in the hot afternoon? Around here, it is primarily west and southwest winds.

Although most Japanese maples prefer morning sun and afternoon shade, there are several varieties that can take the full sun.

Chris Aycock of El Dorado Nursery and Gardens in Shingle Springs, CA has his favorite Japanese maples for sun or partial sun. “An old standard is the ‘Bloodgood’ Japanese maple,” says Aycock. “It gets about 20 feet tall and wide. If you want something smaller, ‘Fireglow’ is a nice 12 to 15 foot, upright growing variety. If you're looking for a lace-leaf Japanese maple, ‘Orangeola’ is one of my favorites. It's a very fast growing, cascading lace-leaf-style Japanese maple, with orange-red foliage. It’s very tough and very vigorous.” Hear more of Aycock’s comments and tips about Japanese maple trees in today’s newsletter podcast (above).

Scott Paris of High Hand Nursery in Loomis, CA says he has found three Japanese maples for sunny areas in Northern California: ‘Seiryu’, ‘Pine Bark’, and ‘Tobiosho’.

“The ‘Seiryu’ is amazing,” says Paris. “It is the only upright growing lace-leaf variety. With its beautiful red fall color, it is a showstopper. When stressed in the heat, it is very rare that it flags. Instead, it gets a cinnamon hue.”

Paris is also high on the ‘Pine Bark’ Japanese maple. “This has cool-looking leaves, and the bark resembles a pine tree, with stunning red fall color.”

One of Paris’ most consistent performers among Japanese maple trees is the ‘Tobiosho’. “It’s a basic green maple in the summer,” Paris explains. “People usually cruise by it and yawn. But no, this maple is a consistent grower with outstanding fall color.”

That’s good information if planting a Japanese maple is on your fall to-do list. But for those with suffering Japanese maples right now, here are some do’s and don’ts.

• If the leaves on the Japanese maple tree are browning, fight the urge to pull them off. Those browning leaves, while hanging on the tree, can help the tree avoid sunburn to the branches and trunks.

• Be careful with watering. Check the soil moisture at a depth of eight or 10 inches before you irrigate. Japanese maples need regular watering, but too much standing water can lead to soil-borne diseases in the root area.

• Remove any lawn beneath the tree that is competing for the water. Because turf roots are shallower, they will get first dibs on any water from sprinklers or drip irrigation systems.

• Add mulch beneath the tree to help preserve a more consistent soil moisture level. Arborist Anne Fenkner of Davey Tree Company suggests the “4-4-4” rule for mulching beneath trees: “Place wood chips that are four inches deep, starting four inches away from the trunk of the tree, and extend that mulch four feet out all around the tree.”

• Aycock seconds that mulching motion, with an added tip: “Mulching is very critical, it helps keep the roots cool. Although we will recommend full sun for quite a few of the varieties, we will tell you to plant it away from the house so there's no reflective heat. You're better to have it out in the open rather than up against a hot wall.”

• Don’t fertilize a suffering Japanese maple in the heat of the summer. The best season for a single application of fertilizer for Japanese maples, according to Paris, is spring. “Japanese maple trees are not greedy,” says Paris. “But maples resent quick-release ammonium sources of fertilizer. Apply in early spring and not more than once a year.” All-purpose, slow-release organic fertilizers, usually with nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium content in the single digits, are widely available. Remember, too, that as the mulch layer around your Japanese maple tree breaks down, it is feeding the soil, too.

Thanks for reading Beyond Basics: The Garden Basics with Farmer Fred Newsletter! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work.

Thank you for also listening to the Garden Basics with Farmer Fred podcast!

It’s available wherever you get your podcasts, including our home page, GardenBasics.net . Please share it with your gardening friends.

Fred Hoffman is also a University of California Cooperative Extension Master Gardener in Sacramento County. And he likes to ride his bike(s).

In today’s Beyond the Garden Basics Newsletter podcast (above), Debbie Flower and I tackle a question from Liz, who asks: “I just purchased from the local nursery, a lavender plant and also a sage. I'm sorry, I don't know the exact name. But they're common. The plants were in pots. Each plant is about one foot tall. I already planted them in the yard early yesterday morning. They were fine all day yesterday. Everything was moist, the soil was prepped. Today is 100 degree weather. They are not looking like they're happy campers. So I'm wondering about these drought tolerant plants. I don't want to overwater them. Is this wilting natural, or should I be doing something else?”

We have tips for Liz. Tip #1:

Heat Protection for Your Plants

Bursts of triple-digit temperatures are occurring across the United States this summer, lasting anywhere from a couple of days in a row, to weeks on end (hello, Phoenix!). However, even for short periods, the combination of too much bright sun, too much heat and not enough water are enough to vex the garden as well as the most experienced gardeners when they encounter sickly-looking plants this time of year.

First of all, take care of yourself in the heat. Work early in the morning in the sunny areas, work in the shade in late mornings, then wrap things up for the day (if possible). Wear sun protection and take plenty of water breaks.

According to the garden experts at the University of California’s Agriculture and Natural Resources Division, here are four quick and easy ways to help make sure your perennials, shrubs and trees not only survive, but also thrive in the summer heat.

• Add mulch, mulch, and more mulch. When temperatures get extreme, having a good layer of mulch prevents soil from heating up excessively and losing water to evaporation. Apply four inches of a medium shredded bark mulch to insulate the soil. This protects the fine roots that plants use to feed from the surrounding soil. Mulch also helps maintain healthy soil ecology with earthworms and other de-composers that promote nutrients and oxygen in soil. Mulch will pay for itself by maintaining more consistent soil moisture so you can water less and have better success with your plants. Be sure to maintain the depth of your mulch to ensure you can benefit from all the services it provides.

• Don't fertilize permanent plants during hot summer months. When a fertilizer is applied, especially one that is high in nitrogen, a plant is triggered to produce more green growth. An increase in growth means an increase in water and nutrient needs. During hot spells, it is especially hard to keep up with plant water and nutrient needs as soils dry out quickly and water may not be readily available. Save your plants from stress by stopping fertilizer application when triple digit temperatures are forecast. However, warm season annuals should continue to be fertilized.

• Water trees deeply and less frequently. “When watering trees you want to consider the roots below the tree and you want to encourage a network of deep roots. If you are only watering for short periods at a higher frequency, the roots will remain shallow since that is where the tree finds its water supply,” said Janet Hartin, UC ANR environmental horticulture advisor. “Deep roots mean a healthier tree that is less susceptible to disease.”

In general, young plants or new transplants require more water than older, more established plants. Clay soils absorb water slowly so watering can take longer but is typically done less frequently. This is a contrast to sandy soils that moisten and drain quickly. Typically, watering sandy soils is done more frequently.

• Wait to introduce new shrubs or trees until the fall when the weather is cooler. Because root systems on new plants are smaller and need time to develop, these plants require more water, more frequently. New plants introduced into a landscape during hot summer months have a significantly higher rate of failure. On the other hand, plants will take root more easily when air temperatures are in the 70’s, yet soil temperatures are still warm.

Container Plants vs Heat? Smart Pots is a Winner

Another tip (self-serving, but true, based on personal experience): Keep the soil from overheating in container plants located in full sun by growing them in Smart Pots, whose porous, yet sturdy fabric structure allows the soil to remain as much as 30 degrees cooler than plants grown in plastic pots; 10-15 degrees cooler than plants grown in fiber or terracotta pots.

This is why we like say, “Fall is for gardening!”

For more hot weather gardening tips, check out the July 21st edition of this newsletter.

Thank you for also listening to the Garden Basics with Farmer Fred podcast! It’s available wherever you get your podcasts. Please share it with your garden friends.

Fred Hoffman is also a University of California Cooperative Extension Master Gardener in Sacramento County. And he likes to ride his bike(s).

In today’s newsletter podcast (above), Don Shor of Redwood Barn Nursery in Davis explains why now is the best time to be planting your vegetables for autumn and winter (in milder areas of the country). For those of you who live in the West, the South, parts of the Midwest and mid-Atlantic states, (USDA Zones 7, 8, and 9) we get down to specifics in this audio episode on the best varieties of vegetables to grow during the cooler months of fall and winter:  lettuce, spinach, Swiss chard, cabbage, Chinese cabbage, cilantro, broccoli, cauliflower, beets, snow peas, fava beans, carrots, celery, onions, garlic, parsnips, shallots and turnips.We’ll tell you about some tasty, easy to grow varieties that maybe you’ve never eaten, such as pak choi, black seeded simpson lettuce, Danvers half long carrots, and Romanesco broccoli. What’s that? Give a listen. 

Fall Vegetable Gardening Basics

Do you want your family to eat healthy year-round? The healthiest, freshest foods are the fruits and vegetables you grow yourself. And in many areas of the West and South, the 365-day vegetable garden is easy to achieve. And now, late summer (August and September), is the time to be planting the seeds and transplants for the vegetables your family will enjoy throughout the fall, winter and following spring.

Although we are still in mid-summer, this is the time to start your winter vegetable garden here in Northern California, as well as other mild-winter areas around the state and the nation. Most of this  planting can be done during the milder months of September and October (along with mid-August for some winter crops). For specific crop planting times for the various areas of California, refer to the UC Master Gardening Vegetable Planting webpage.

Designing Your Cool Season Garden Bed

The winter garden bed should have many of the same characteristics as the summer garden: 

a sunny and level location close to the house;

a convenient water source; 

and, soil that drains easily. 

     Because of possible heavy rains in winter, raised beds can solve that drainage problem for homeowners living with clay soil. Mix in other soil amendments, such as compost and manure, to improve crop production in the foggy, wet, cold days that await.

     For foothill gardeners, a raised bed with wooden sides has an added benefit. Those structures can support a hinged, translucent top, such as glass, polyethelene or fiberglass…an instant cold frame to protect winter vegetables from low temperatures or heavy wind and rain.

     Starting vegetables in the heat of the summer, especially from seed, requires a consistently moist seedbed until the plants are up and growing. An automatic garden watering system, such as a battery operated timer that attaches to a faucet, can ease that process.

 Cool Season Vegetable Varieties    

Here are some of the winter vegetable varieties that do well in Northern California, how much room to leave between the plants in each row, and how much to plant for a family of four (with moderate appetites):

Artichokes: A bit of a challenge in the interior valleys. Easy to grow in coastal areas. Plant from roots, not seed. Green Globe; 4 feet apart; 5-10 plants.

Broccoli: Green Goliath, Green Duke, Waltham 29; 10 inches apart; 20 foot row.

Brussels sprouts: Jade Cross Hybrid; 24 inches apart; 20 foot row.

Cabbage: Earliana, Copenhagen Market, Savoy King, Burpee Hybrid; 24 inches apart;15 plants. 

Cauliflower: Snowcrown, Snowball Y, Purple Head; 24 inches apart; 15 plants.

Carrots: Nantes or Danvers half long, Short n' Sweet; 2 inches apart; 25 footrow.

Chinese cabbage: Michili, Pak Choi; 6 inches apart; 10 foot row.

Garlic: California Late, California Early, Elephant Garlic; 6 inches apart; 20 foot row.

Kale: Dwarf Blue Curled Vates, Dwarf Curled Scotch; 10 inches apart; 12 plants.

Kohlrabi: Early White Vienna, Sweet Vienna;  3 inches apart; 10 foot row.

Loose leaf lettuce: Ruby, Bibb, Salad Bowl, Green Ice;  6 inches apart; 15 foot row.

Peas: Mammoth Melting Sugar, Sugar Ann, Sugar Snap. 2 inches apart; 5 foot row.

Onions: Stockton Red, Stockton Yellow, Walla Walla, Texas White; 4 inches apart; 20 foot row.

Radish: Champion, Watermelon, Crimson Giant, Cherry Belle; 5 inches apart; 20 foot row.

Rutabaga: Victoria, Valentine, Strawberry; 3 inches apart; 15 foot row.

Spinach: Melody Hybrid, America, Bloomsdale Long Standing; 6 inches apart; 15 foot row.

Turnips: Purple Top White Globe, Shogoin (greens); 2 inches apart; 10 foot row.

Perennial Vegetables that need a lot of room:

Asparagus: Mary Washington, UC72, UC157, 500w; 12 inches apart; 20 foot row.

Rhubarb: Victoria, German Wine, Crimson Cherry; 2 feet apart ; 20 foot row.

“It’s the Best Garden Event in Northern California!” (I said that)

Harvest Day at the Fair Oaks Horticulture Center

Saturday, August 5, 8am-2pm. Free!

Debbie Flower and I will be talking about “Garden Tips to Save Time, Money and Water” at Harvest Day at 830 am. The Fair Oaks Horticulture Center is located at 11549 Fair Oaks Blvd, in Fair Oaks Park, Sacramento County, California. Hope to see you there! More details here. Presented by the U.C. Master Gardeners of Sacramento County.

Thank you for also listening to the Garden Basics with Farmer Fred podcast! It’s available wherever you get your podcasts. Please share it with your garden friends.

Fred Hoffman is also a University of California Cooperative Extension Master Gardener in Sacramento County. And he likes to ride his bike.

In this episode of the Beyond the Garden Basics newsletter/podcast, we engage in an in-depth discussion about weed killers with Debbie Flower, America’s favorite retired college horticultural professor. We delve right into the complexities of weed management, addressing the various options available while navigating the maze of products at our local big box stores.

As we stand before a daunting wall of weed killers, the conversation brings clarity to the overwhelming choices, shedding light on the distinctions between the products and their formulations.

We start by tackling the widespread confusion surrounding Roundup, a brand historically synonymous with glyphosate. As glyphosate is being phased out, we explore the newer formulations that have replaced it. Many consumers may assume that Roundup still contains glyphosate, but Debbie explains that consumers must be vigilant in understanding the fine prints of these products.

According to the University of Tennessee publication, “Update on Roundup-Branded Herbicides for Consumers”, Roundup weed-killing products now encompass a range of active ingredients that may vary significantly in toxicity and efficacy. We emphasize the importance of reading labels thoroughly, highlighting the legal implications of using herbicides incorrectly.

Debbie expands on the shift in chemical composition within Roundup by introducing us to several active ingredients like Diquat, Fluazipop, and Triclopyr. We discuss the implications of using these chemicals, including their varying half-lives and their potential effects on soil and nearby desirable plants.

Notably, Debbie reminds us that some products can render soil inhospitable for new planting for extended periods, which is crucial information for gardeners planning their next steps after weed control.

Throughout our discussion, we touch on the critical aspect of safety. Both Debbie and I stress the significance of protecting oneself when applying any chemical herbicide. We explain how understanding the signal words such as “caution,” “warning,” and “danger” on product labels can help consumers navigate the toxicity levels of different herbicides.

The conversation leads us to the point that, while chemical weed control can be effective, many gardeners often overlook traditional methods, like manual weeding and mulching, which can be safer and more environmentally friendly.

We tackle alternative options popular on some Internet gardening sites, including vinegar as a natural weed killer but quickly highlight the hazards of using 30% vinegar, which is often found in the cleaning aisle rather than the gardening section. This topic was also covered in depth in the September 3, 2024 edition of the “Beyond the Garden Basics” newsletter.

We caution gardeners about the need to treat such products with care, as they can be more harmful than conventional herbicides. This well-rounded dialogue between us brings to light both the benefits and the risks associated with various gardening techniques and products.

As we progress, we dig into the technical side of weed killers—discussing how different chemicals are absorbed by plants, persistence in soil, and the necessary wait times before replanting. Debbie provides valuable insights into the environmental impact of chemicals leaching into the soil and waterways and how this can affect crops and landscaping efforts. Our conversation is not merely about identifying the right products but also understanding their broader implications on health and the environment.

Finally, we encourage listeners to be proactive and informed gardeners by seeking out educational resources on reading and understanding product labels, as well as considering effective non-chemical alternatives to weed management.

With all these insights shared, the overarching message is clear: informed decision-making is paramount in effective and safe gardening practices. We leave you equipped to tackle weed problems while fostering a safe and flourishing garden.

And, one more excellent weed suppressant:

(authors: Fred and his pal, AI)

Farmer Fred's Ride For the Kids!

I'm fundraising on behalf of the 2024 Sac Century Challenge on September 28th to raise money for the Sacramento Children's Home Crisis Nursery and I could use your support. Here’s the link for making a donation.

On that date, I’ll be riding my bike, a Surly Midnight Special (NOT an e-bike) 100 miles along the Sacramento River to help out the Sacramento Children’s Home Crisis Nursery. I’ve ridden 100 miles in one day plenty of times…when I was younger. 

But at 73, I could use some moral support, and the Sacramento Children’s Home Crisis Nursery can use your pledge money. So, how about it? Maybe pledge 10 cents a mile (that’s $10) along with a hearty, “You go, Fred!” Or a more generous one dollar a mile ($100), to give me the mental endurance for the entire ride, to dodge the pothole-filled levee roads and pedal harder in the ferocious headwinds that makes this ride a real challenge!

The Sacramento Children's Home Crisis Nursery is the only program of its kind in Sacramento County and directly prevents child abuse and neglect by supporting families with small children at times of crisis. The nursery allows parents to bring their children ages newborn to five for emergency hourly or overnight care during difficult times, with the goal of keeping families together and reducing the number of children entering foster care. To care for our community's most vulnerable children, we rely on support from community members like you. By donating, you empower us to provide a safe haven for children throughout the Sacramento area, offering respite to parents during times of crisis, and building a strong support system for the future. Your support helps provide a safe place to stay local kids in need. Again, here’s the link to make a donation to the Sacramento Children’s Home Crisis Nursery.

Thank you for your support, and say "Hi!" if you see me pedaling like crazy into a headwind out there on Saturday, September 28th!

Thanks for reading Beyond Basics: The Garden Basics with Farmer Fred Newsletter! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work.

Thank you for also listening to the Garden Basics with Farmer Fred podcast! It’s available wherever you get your podcasts. Please share it with your garden friends.

Fred Hoffman is also a University of California Cooperative Extension Master Gardener in Sacramento County. And he likes to ride his bike(s).