Category Archives: gardening tips

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May – Words of Wisdom

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With each new season, we start fresh with high expectations for a bountiful harvest of vegetables and mouth-watering fruit,  fragrant flowers to pick for bouquets and healthy plants to attract beneficial insects to the garden. As the months pass it seems one problem after another crops up. Don't get discouraged, though. Most any condition or disease can be corrected with the right information. I get many emails from readers with some of the same problems that you might have. Here are a few recent inquiries.

 

GARDEN HOSES

One reader asked about the safety of her new hose. The label on the hose states not to drink from it and she is wondering if it's safe to use it to water her organic vegetable garden.

Most of us grew up drinking water from the hose and on a hot day we still do. But is it safe? A recent study by the Ecology Center, a nonprofit environmental organization based in Ann Arbor, Mich., that reviews consumer products addressed potentially hazardous chemicals in gardening tools. The group tested nearly 200 gardening products, including hoses and discovered some disturbing findings.

To illustrate how chemicals can migrate from harden hoses into water, the research team left a section of garden hose filled with water out in the sun for several days. When the water was tested it was found to exceed federal standards for safe drinking water for several chemicals- including 4 times the standard considered safe for phthalates, 18 times that for lead, and 20 times that for BPA, an organic compound banned from baby bottles.

Most garden hoses that are sold are still made of PVC which can leach unsafe levels of lead into water. There are safer options available, though. Food grade Ether-based polyurethane or natural rubber hoses are a better choice. Look for hoses with nickel or chrome-plated fittings as brass can also leach lead into water.

Plants don't generally absorb lead, unless there is a high concentration of it in the soil but who wants to take a chance? With any hose, even one labeled "drink-safe' let the water run until it's cold before you drink from it because bacteria can grow in warm standing water.

CITRUS ADVICE

Another reader asked what she should do for her Meyer lemon which has yellow leaves. I told her that the yellowing is due to insufficient nutrients. First, apply a fertilizer containing nitrogen. There is also a chance that iron, sulfur and magnesium could be in short supply. Look for these ingredients on fertilizer bags and apply as directed. Also don't overwater citrus. Let the plant dry 2" below the soil surface between deep waterings.

LAWN CARE

Lawns also need a deep watering to train roots to grow deep. When to water? One easy method is to walk on the lawn and check in an hour after stepping on it. If it hasn't rebounded the lawn needs water. Also leave grass clippings to decompose after mowing. You'll need to mow about once per week so the clippings are short and can decompose quickly.

RHODODENDRONS

When everyone's rhododendrons but yours are blooming what can you do?  This plant sets flower and leaf buds in late August or September so fertilizing regularly for the next few month is important. Also water deeply when the soil is dry 1-2" deep and mulch the soil around your plant to keep the roots cool and moist. Rhododendrons and azaleas are shallow rooted so don't work up the soil underneath.

Feel free to email your questions to me. I'm happy to help.
 

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Hidden Gardens of Bonny Doon

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Enter the Hidden Gardens of Bonny Doon with me as I preview several gardens that will be featured on the tour this coming weekend.  While some of our gardens have a few areas with a "wow factor" , the gardens I was privileged to visit have this element at every turn. I was amazed, impressed and truly honored to spend time in each of them.

First stop was a garden that took my breath away. Looking past the lush lawn, the view takes in all of Monterey Bay. It wasn't always this way, the owner explained. When she moved to the property in 1981, she didn't even know there was an ocean view. It was only after some judicious pruning that this stunning view was revealed.

We  ambled through the many paths that took us up close and personal with perennial beds overflowing with blooming iris, spirea, weigela, succulents, hardy geraniums, coprosma and coleonema to name just a few.

Rabbits are an ongoing problem in this garden. Seems they love her Angelina sedum, coprosma, and Rose Campion as much as she does. Little 12" tall fences surround several of the beds which looks comical but apparently works as the rabbits don't like to jump over them.

Stained urbanite has been stacked by the owner to make short retaining walls and the look is quite classy blending in the flagstone and gravel paths. She explained how easy it was to stain the broken concrete from the old driveway by slapping on some concrete stain. "Piece of cake", she told me.

Other flower beds she edged with Sonoma fieldstone, stacking them herself. At every turn you can see the personal touches that make a garden unique. An old rusty mailbox was tucked into one of the beds overflowing with blooming pansies and million bells calibrachoa.  I loved this garden.

Next stop was another garden 30 years in the making. You won't believe the "before" pictures when you see this garden now. I could barely see the potential in the old pictures but the owner could and started to build up the rock hard soil bed by bed. After many years she has created  an organic garden full of flowering rhododendron, roses, viburnum, herbs, vegetables, citrus, apples and a 5 year old  Staghorn fern that measures 4 ft across.

The owner explained that deer are not a problem because they won't jump the irregular picket fence. Seems the wide pickets confuse their eyesight. Unfortunately, the gophers have decided recently that after 14 years, her camellias are now on the menu and she has lost almost all of the original 40 in the past year. Instead of lamenting her loss, she sees it as an opportunity to add new plants. She has the optimism that all gardeners possess.

Chickadees nested in a box attached to the porch. Garter snakes and alligator lizards patrol the flower beds. A bathtub, sunk into the earth serves as "the poor man's hot tub". Old metal chairs are planted with flowers and ferns and other found garden art is sprinkled generously though out the garden. This is the garden of an artist whose studio is nestled back among the trees. At every turn you feel the peacefulness of this wonderful place. This is a garden to experience not just view.

The last garden I was lucky enough to preview, was an asphalt driveway just 6 short years ago. There are occasional unplanted spots that still show asphalt. What a transformation. With the help of lots of top soil and an auger this gardener has created a spectacular space.  "Everything grows like crazy here", she explained.

The front garden is open to deer and is planted with echium, leucospermum, arctotis, barberry, thyme, rosemary and New Zealand flax. One of her favorite plants is a huge variegated holly that buzzed so loudly with bees I thought the electrical line coming into the house was making all the racket.

In the back, a small orchard edged the fence. Blooming lilacs by the deck heavily scented the air. Succulents intermingle with peony, erysimum and gaura. This gardener explained she " she is one of those people who buys whatever she likes and then finds a place for it". Having had previous experience growing grapes and olives in Sonoma, she is a hands-on gardener who does it all herself. She's a self-described  "drip queen".

A ceramic artist, her sculptures are focal points though out the garden. There is a lot of other garden art in this garden, too.

Where do these gardeners find the garden art, water features and other items that give their gardens that personal touch? One explained, she is always on the lookout for estate sales as she drives around or sees advertised in the paper. "That's were you can really find the treasures", she explained. "Little old ladies have some great plants and other wonderful finds in the back of the garden".

The Hidden Gardens of Bonny Doon Tour takes place Saturday and Sunday, May 19th and 20th. Don't miss it.
 

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Tomatoes for the Santa Cruz Mountains

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The spring sun has started to warm the soil. I'm already having visions of eating ripe, luscious tomatoes later in the season. I have several friends who are tomato fanatics and share their trials, tribulations and successes with me. Every year brings new hope to a gardener who is excited to grow the best tomatoes ever.

One friend who loves her tomatoes is going to finally start a gardening journal in a binder. With a page devoted to each of her tomatoes, complete with color pictures, seed grower descriptions and space for her own notes, this year her tomatoes just can't fail to be delectable.

During the last couple of years, cool spring and early summer weather  took its toll on tomato production and taste so this year she is trying some different types for cooler climates. Many of these tomato varieties originate from cooler growing areas in Russia and other northern growing areas. She chose from Alaska, Amber Colored, Anna Russian or Azoychka varieties that are all Russian heirlooms,  Alicante from England or Black Krim originally from the Isle of Krim on the Black Sea in the former Soviet Union. Of course, Black Cherry, the only true black cherry tomato, is on the list. With a description of "irresistibly delicious with sweet, rich, complex, full tomato flavor that bursts in your mouth" , who could resist?

This tomato aficionado planted out her early "tried and true" varieties that she started from seed in the ground the last week of March in Wall O' Water season extenders to keep them warm. Night time temps in March were pretty cold so they needed all the help she could give them. The regulars include Early Girl, Stupice, Carmello and Sun Sugar.

New seedlings she bought and recently planted include Purple Cherokee, Paul Robeson, Northern Lights, Black Plum, Green Zebra and Sunset Red Horizon. She is also trying "a Red Brandywine that didn't do well last year but if we are lucky enough to have a warmer season if may do better".  She is "looking forward to the addition of new colors ( green striped, black, purple, marbled orange and red)  and hoping to enjoy the nuances of flavor that accompany them".

Renee's Garden Seeds has lots of great tomato varieties available online at www.reneesgarden.com. One is a colorful trio of treasured heirlooms that consists of Black Krim, the glowing orange Sweet Persimmon and traditional Italian Costuluto Genovese. She offers a total of 13 varieties including  heirloom Camp Joy cherry as well as everybody's favorite Sungold. For containers, there's Super Bush and for that burger, Big Beef Beefsteak tomato.  I'd like to try a Chianti Rose or the Italian Pompeii plum tomato.

According to Renee's website, tomatoes are native to South America and were carried to Europe in the 1500's by the Spanish conquistadors. Southern Europeans began enjoying their fruits early on, but in England they were viewed with suspicion and grown as ornamentals only as they are members of the nightshade family. In this country, Thomas Jefferson grew tomatoes to eat although most Americans didn't start cultivating tomatoes for the kitchen until the end of the Civil War.

Hope springs eternal for a tomato grower. What tomatoes are you growing this year? What were your best producers in years past? I'd love to hear from you as the season progresses and I'll share this with readers later in the summer or early fall.