- Author: Bud Veliquette
The rose (Rosa) has an undeserved reputation of requiring a lot, in terms of time, chemicals, and trouble. But it doesn’t have to be that way. Here are a few tips to keep in mind if you are considering adding a rose garden, or even a handful of favorites to your existing garden.
Select for disease resistance
Find a variety that has a track record for resisting the “big three”: black spot, rust, and powdery mildew. Here, the AARS can be helpful. The All-America Rose Selections is a non-profit, which will list the top performers in 15 categories, including overall beauty, ease of maintenance, and the ability to resist disease.
Log on to rose.org/winning-roses/ and select “N. CA & Northwest”. Also, when you buy roses, go for Grade 1, which are usually found in nurseries, rather than the discount stores. This means that they must have three or more strong canes, well spaced around the graft. Also, don’t be afraid to do what is known as “shovel pruning”, meaning if a rose does not perform well in your particular area after one season, consider replacing it with something more reliable. One trick is to go for the glossy leafed varieties if you are buying during the growing season. The glossy leaves seem to repel most fungal infections.
Use beneficial insects
The most commonly known beneficial insect is the Lady beetle, which feed on aphids in both the adult and larval stages. But some of the lesser-known beneficial insects are also important, like the Leatherwing or soldier beetle, Syrphid flies, which are important predators of aphids, and predaceous mites. Thrips are a mixed bag, feeding on both plants and spider mites. And don’t forget that all spiders are predators, and are important in your garden. You can see them all in UC ANR’s Healthy Roses (publication #21589). Before reading this, I had been hand picking off Leatherwings, thinking they were harmful!
Use good cultural practices
First and foremost is the need for nutritious soil that’s fertilized on a regular basis and mulched, at least 6 hours sunshine minimum, and enough water. If you use drippers, roses can also benefit from weekly deep watering, and overhead sprayed water from the shower setting on a hose to keep the leaves free of aphids and mites, or even fungal spores, so long as the leaves are dry by sunset. Provide good air circulation by spacing roses at least 3’ apart, and trim out some of the bottom inside leaves for the same reason. Annual pruning will remove any damaged or diseased canes, as well as dead wood. At pruning time, all leaves should be stripped from the plant, so you can see what you’re doing, and cut out all unnecessary growth. If you are going for show quality roses, cut the canes down to 12-18”, which forces lush new growth in spring. The attached photos are some of my favorite blooms for cutting,Rosa floribunda ‘Hot Cocoa’, and R. ‘Brandy’, both grown without any toxics.
- Author: Kathy Low
When it comes to gardening, there is always something new or something more to learn. Luckily there are many opportunities nearby to expand your gardening knowledge. Below is a sample of some upcoming educational opportunities, most of which are free of charge.
August 31, 10:00-11:00
Topic: Composting. This class will be taught by Solano Master Gardeners.
Location: Vallejo People’s Garden (www.vallejopeoplesgarden.org)
Sept. 7, 10:00-3:00
Event: 30th Anniversary Sustainability Fair. For list of presentations see the Contra Costa MG website (http://ccmg.ucdavis.edu/?calitem=191703&g=12498)
Location: Walnut Creek
Sept. 14, 10:00-12:00
Topic: Seed Saving
Location: Loma Vista Farm, Vallejo, CA (www.lomavistafarm.org)
Sept. 14, 10:00-12:00
Topic: Loose Your Lawn and Sheet Mulching http://www.bayfriendlycoalition.org/Calendar.shtml
Location: Solano County Water District, 810 Vaca Valley Parkway, Vacaville
Sept. 17 – 19
Event: Weed Science School
Location: UC Davis Weed Research and Info. Center (www.wric.ucdavis.edu)
Note: a course fee applies
Sept. 22, 10:00-4:00
Event: “Down the Garden Path” Educational Garden Tour
Location: Napa (UC Master Gardeners of Napa County)
Note: There’s a fee of $25 in advance, or $30 on the day of the event.
Oct. 12, 9:00-12:00
FREE Event: Master Gardener Public Plant Exchange (and Gardening Talks)
Location: 501 Texas St., Fairfield
Bring a plant to share if you have one, if you don’t you can still take home a plant.
Come learn about the Master Gardener Program (11:30).
Attend one or more gardening talks.
Free Gardening Sessions scheduled:
9:30 Succulents
10:15 Plant Propagation
11:00 Garden Gift Ideas for the Fall
Pick up a free vegetable planting guide and other gardening information.
Fun for kids too!
- Author: Betty Victor
The first small garden harvest is in. Picture one shows the beginning of the garden, minus the tomato plants. Picture two is the first harvest.
This first harvest may not look like a lot to some gardeners who have a larger garden area to plant in. I have a very small spot where an avocado tree once grew-this is now the small garden.
In this small garden, you will find growing--Kentucky Pole green beans, which are producing more than we can eat now, so we are freezing them for winter. Growing next to the green beans are yellow string beans. In addition to the beans, there are two sweet green peppers, also a Jalapeño, and a peperoncini, 2 sweet Italian long peppers, that I am anxiously waiting for them to turn one yellow the other red, a medium size Italian white eggplant, that has 5 eggplants that are just about ready to be picked.
Tucked in between a Heavenly Bamboo (Nandina domestica) and a (Butterfly bush) Buddleia are 2 tomato plants that are heavy with fruit. In addition to these, I have 3 tomatoes plants in large containers. All the tomatoes were started from seed and are the heirloom variety. Scattered around the yard in containers you can find zucchini, patty pan squash, cucumbers, shallots and a leek, also 3 different kinds of basil, to go with the tomatoes for a caprese salad or tomato sandwiches.
So I have learned if you really want a vegetable garden, you will find the space for it. They need some tending almost every day, especially the ones in the containers, but well worth the effort.
- Author: Launa Herrmann
This past spring, while watering an Ash tree (Fraxinus) I planted in a small side yard several years back, I almost stepped on a Solanum lycopersicum. This tomato had sprouted next to an outdoor rocking chair that sat on a narrow gravel-covered strip of soil that was wedged between a small patch of concrete and the fence.
Over the weeks, as I watched the plant stretch upward and vine outward, this unexpected volunteer won my heart. I couldn’t bear to pull it up. So I did what bleeding heart gardeners do when stuck between rocks and hard places. I pounded in a stake to secure the tomato plant’s voluminous growth and draped its vines across the lap of the chair. When the concrete was no longer passable, I lifted the fruit-filled stems atop two plastic storage bins.
During my research into why this super star of my side yard is outperforming every tomato I ever planted in my entire life, I realize its success is mostly due to the soil, which was fallow for years, despite being gravel-covered clay. But I also learned that volunteer plants can increase nematode populations. Guess what? I can’t even reach the roots to inspect them for root knot nematodes (See UC ANR Publication 3470, Tomato nematodes).
Then I wondered if my volunteer is a disease resistant variety? I don’t know. All I know is what I see. Foliage over 6 feet tall and 6 feet wide and growing by the day. No evidence of chlorosis virus, spotted wilt or yellow leaf curl. No verticillium wilt or Mosaic virus — YET.
So . . . as I reap this year’s harvest, I envision next year’s volunteer — large, lush, lovely, drooping with pick-ready vine-ripe tomatoes. But I know super stars don’t last and reality gardening seldom measures up to the plot of dreams.
- Author: Cheryl A Potts
One zucchini.
Two zucchini.
Three zucchini.
Four.
"Quickly pick", I said to Rick
So we can have some more.
Ten zucchini
Twenty zucchini
Thirty zucchini
Wait!
"Quit the pick", I said to Rick
The pile is very great.
Hundred zucchini.
A thousand zucchini.
A million zucchini.
No joke!
"This makes me sick", I said to Rick
Next year, cantaloupe.