When I first started vegetable gardening as a young mom, I never gave much thought to seed catalogs. Like most gardeners I knew, I bought my seeds from the local nursery and, for the most part, planted the same seeds each season.

The first time I accidently came across The Whole Seed Catalog, a new world of gardening, plants (some I had never heard of), and flowers was opened to me. Through gorgeous colored photos, The Whole Seed Catalog introduced me to heirloom seeds, organic gardening, amazing fruits, and vegetables and herbs from around the world with an emphasis on growing and eating healthy fruits and vegetables for my family.

“It seems that gardening and good food continue to connect people and places from all generations,” writes Jeremiath “Jere” Gettle who, at the age of 17, printed the first Baker Creek Heirloom Seed Catalog in 1998. The catalog now has nearly 1,200 seed varieties including seeds from the 19^th century and boasts it promotes and preserves American agriculture and culinary heritage.

“Seeds are the living component that connects us back to our ancestors, our own culture, and the amazing cultures and food traditions from around the planet. Saving this living link to the past and making a gift to the future is what seed saving is all about – reserving these precious seeds and their stories,” Jere writes in the 2020 issue of The Whole Seed Catalog.

Jere, along with wife, Emilee, have worked to make the catalog the family business and a well known resource for amazing heirloom/open-pollinated seeds (vegetables pollinated in the field by wind or natural pollinators) as well as cutting-edge information for and about the pure-food movement (fresh food as nature created).               

Each edition of the catalog offers colorful photos and descriptions of seeds for vegetables, fruits, and herbs. The 2020 edition has 452 pages that include information about heirloom varieties from around the globe; recipes, articles, and advice on growing and seed saving; and ancient histories of the precious heirloom strains, as well as many familiar American plants and new varieties from the around the world.

The beautiful photos and enormous amount of gardening information of the annual seed catalog leads me to keep the catalog for several years to glean the information loaded in each catalog.

Every year this enormous 1½” or more thick catalog becomes available in December until February in local bookstores for $12.99, or can be ordered online with free shipping or handling charges to customers in the USA, North America, Mexico and Canada.

Jere and Emilee, haven't been content to just create an amazing seed catalog, but beginning in 2000 began hosting festivals promoting gardening, especially with heirlooms. The gardening duo brought The National Heirloom Festival to Santa Rosa in 2010 and continues this year, Sept. 15-17, at the Sonoma County Events Center `at the Fairgrounds from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. One-day ticket is $15 or three-day pass is $30 (Purchased at the gate). Children are free.

Thousands come from around the world to the Expo to celebrate traditional crops, foods, seeds, poultry, and livestock. Featuring the largest display of heirloom produce, many small gardeners and large farmers supply an abundance of fruits and vegetables for exhibiting and tasting. 

The School Garden Network Kids' Pavilion is packed with fun and games including educational activities, contests and competitions.  The Bee Exhibit teaches attendees the importance of bees to crop production. The Dahlia Exhibit displays without a doubt “The Most Magnificent, Spectacular Colossal Blooms Ever Seen On Display” with cash prizes and ribbons awarded.

There are mountains of heirloom pumpkins and endless displays of organic vegetables. Cool Beans' heirloom seeds will be available to swap. On display will be the winners of the Sunflower Contest. More than100 nationally and internationally acclaimed speakers (individual speakers, expert-panels, or in-depth roundtable discussions) will again headline the Expo.

Fruit trees produce more fruit than they can handle or support adequately, mainly if the trees were not correctly pruned

in the recent season. To get a healthy crop from fruit trees, the implementation of this procedure will help produce a bountiful and healthy harvest.

Let's discuss why these practices are beneficial and how to implement them in a home orchard. 

Why is this important?

When fruit trees produce abundant fruit, they compete for the resources available, which causes the fruits to be small. This sugar drain, or "sink," can deteriorate the tree and make it more prone to pest and sunburn damage. Furthermore, newly planted fruit trees will benefit dramatically from this practice during the early years of the young tree's life by allowing the energy to be sent to the structure and root system, enabling the tree to grow more robust and healthier.

Benefits of thinning fruit trees

Thinning prevents overbearing and early fruit drop. It helps improve the remaining fruit sizes, color, and quality, as well as aids to avoid limb damage from a heavy fruit load. Moreover, it stimulates the next year's crop and helps prevent biannual bearing (heavy crop one year, light crop the next year). Fruit thinning can also prevent the spread of disease by allowing air movement around tightly clustered fruit, avoiding the disease organism from multiplying and spreading.

What is needed for thinning fruit trees?

Thinning is an easy task; all you need is fingers or a small pair of sharp pruners to remove the excess fruit.

When should fruit trees be thinned?

The best time for thinning fruit trees is after pollination occurs and early stages of fruit development start to show, usually before fruit exceeds an inch in diameter. Fruit trees thinned out later than this lessen the chance that fruit size will increase.

Method of thinning fruit trees

There are two methods to thin fruit trees: by hand or with a pole. Thinning by hand is slower but more effective that thinning with a pole.

Hand thinning involves removing the excess fruit to leave the remaining fruit with enough space so they do not touch at maturity. If a branch is producing fruit on the entire length, thin more heavily towards the terminal end. This may mean leaving only two to three fruit per spur. However, selecting the fruit on alternate branches will allow more of the crop to remain on trees. 

Pole thinning is used on large trees when handpicking is impractical. This practice is much faster but less precise, yet the result is often acceptable. Attaching a rubber band at the end of the pole will help reduce bruising or scarring of branches. Practice striking a cluster once or twice with just enough force to adequately cause some of the fruit to fall to the ground.

In summary

When the amount of young fruit on a tree is reduced early in the season, the quality of the remaining fruit is improved. Thinning fruit trees supports the overall health of the trees and allows for larger and higher quality fruit.

For more information on thinning fruit, click here to read Fruit Trees: Thinning Young Fruit, UC ANR Publication 8047

 

Gardens come in an infinite variety-- limited by one's imagination, resources, and environment. At its essence, a garden is a planned space incorporating a singular or variety of natural elements such as rocks, plants, water, shrubs, and trees. When a garden is large and planned for recreation, it is generally designated a park.

Cherokee Memorial Park (Cherokee), located east of Highway 99 at Harney Lane in Lodi, has 66 developed acres of gardens, including slightly over 30 specialty “gardens.” At Cherokee, the word ‘gardens' denotes both traditional garden space and types of burial sites, such as mausoleums or the recently added “Upright Garden.”  

Cherokee's VP of Operations, Marc Gabrys, has overseen the growth in the north end of Cherokee. He obtained his B.S. in landscape architecture from UC Davis and was hired to work part-time while a student 25 years ago (his anniversary is June 2020). Gabrys' responsibilities are varied – spatial planning of the new growth, several design projects, including the interior design of the newer buildings, and overseeing the day-to-day operations, including maintenance and landscaping.

Gardens come with challenges. When a garden is designed for the departed, a host of challenges arise. Imagine maintaining and mowing 40-45 acres of grass. One of the largest challenges at Cherokee is the constant edging around the grave markers. In addition to utilizing weed trimmers, one of the employees at Cherokee invented an attachment for mowers (the technology was later sold to Toro) that trims the lawns around a singular-sized grave marker. A single variety of grass is planted but is reseeded according to shade and other conditions. Most of the lawns end up as a blend of grasses. Grass cycling is standard operating practice excepting for times when large numbers of visitors are expected.

Cherokee hosts over 50 species of trees. Although there are no original native trees on the site, visitors can find four species of oaks, cuercus wislizeni (interior live oak – California), cuercus argrifolia (coast live oak), cuercus lobata (valley oak), and cuercus subers (cork oak). Recently, redwoods have been planted to screen the drainage pond and Highway 99 from sight and the park is framed by Italian cypress which are slowly being replaced. The highlight each summer are the blooming crepe myrtle, which are grown throughout the gardens. Smaller-sized trees are now planted, including Chinese pistache and Japanese maples.

A secondary challenge is maintaining the trees. Large tree roots encroaching upon grave sites can upset some families and appeasing family and providing beauty and shade can be an emotional and tricky balance. Larger trees are being replaced as needed by strategical selection and placement of smaller trees with less invasive root systems. Removing mature trees is a difficult decision; during a recent interview, Gabrys lamented, “We cry when we remove trees.”

It takes a good-sized crew to maintain the grounds. Cherokee employees 12 full-time maintenance workers and one grounds supervisor. Arborists and horticultural advisors are resourced on an as-needed basis, and in-house training is provided to the grounds crew. The grounds crew replants the flower beds twice a year, with purchased seasonal bedding plants.

Each year, Cherokee pays tribute to those who have served our nation during its Memorial Day Celebration. An avenue of flags, a field of flags, guest speakers, a collection of items for those currently serving are followed by a luncheon for those attending the service.

The gates are open between 7 am and 6 pm year-round and later during the spring and summer.

 

 

 

 

MONOCARPIC

The term monocarpic defines those plants that flower a single time, set seeds for reproduction, and then die. There are annuals, biennials, and perennials in this category of plant material.

The primary drive of a plant is to reproduce. Some plants produce seeds for that purpose.

Annuals grow, produce flowers, set seeds and die within a single growing season. Common examples are zinnias, paladosum daisy, asters, calendulas, and alyssum. Gardeners often plant bedding plants for seasonal color that are actually

tender perennials, not monocarpic plants; begonias are the best example.

Biennials take two years to flower then decline significantly or perish. The first year the plant establishes greenery, stores energy for flowering in the roots, and blooms the second year. A common example is hollyhocks.

A large group of perennials are monocarpic. Most of these plants originate in the tropics or subtropics. Often these plants take decades to flower and are grown as foundation specimens. We are all familiar with “Century plant” (Agave Americana). As the name suggests, it often takes about 100 years to bloom but then it dies. These plants set seeds but also grow “pups” at the base of the plant in preparation for their demise.

Other examples of monocarpic perennials include: aeonium, some bamboo (whole stands of bamboo will all flower during the same season and die), and most importantly, all bromeliads.