Help for the Home Gardener from the CCMG Help Desk
Client's Question:
“I am thinking about what to plant in a strip along our concrete driveway and a fence line. I am wondering about a cactus garden. There is no watering source, other than by hand, which I am fine with and actually enjoy. Do you have any suggestions on types of cactus or plants? If cacti, I was thinking of ones that are not too spiny as I have small children as neighbors.”
CCMG Help Desk's Response:
Thank you for contacting the CCMG Help Desk about what to plant along your fence. It is difficult to give you specific suggestions without knowing what kind of sun exposure that strip gets. Walnut Creek gets quite warm in the summer and many plants that generally do well in full sun might not do as well between a fence and a concrete patio or driveway because both the fence and the concrete can increase the heat.
water-wise plants
You also need to be careful about drainage, especially for succulents. Many succulent gardeners create a small mound (8-12” high) to plant the succulents on to assure good drainage. In your case, maybe that mound would be parallel to the fence. The reason: the soil in many parts of Contra Costa is clay, which does not offer good drainage, making it difficult to grow succulents in the ground. Many succulents grow well in containers where it's easier to give them a better soil mix and control the water. Although most succulents are drought-tolerant, prolonged periods without water may cause their leaves to lose color, shrivel or drop. Give plants just enough water to keep them plump and attractive. You might consider planters (maybe rectangular to fit the space). This could be a solution for you to consider.
Other possibilities for the space would be some of the drought-resistant grasses, perennials or smaller shrubs, either planted in the ground or in containers. Some suggestions for these include lavender, salvia (such as Salvia greggii--autumn sage), Origanum, Santolina, or “pink muhly”--a grass (Muhlenbergia capillaris).
Contra Costa Master Gardeners Help Desk
Editor's Note: The Contra Costa Master Gardener Help Desk is available year-round to answer your gardening questions. Except for a few holidays, we're open every week, Monday through Thursday from 9:00 am to Noon at 75 Santa Barbara Road, 2d Floor, Pleasant Hill, CA 94523.
We can also be reached via telephone: (925) 646-6586, email: ccmg@ucanr.edu, and we are on the web at http://ccmg.ucanr.edu/
In some light frost cases minor damage might occur, where the damaged section will only wither and die off, leaving unsightly sections, or missing leaves.
In major frosts and freezes, plants can be irreparably damaged and lost. In many cases losing complete collections.
Some ways to avoid the damage is to provide overhead cover during light frost nights (for potted cactus and succulents)
For ground planted cactus and succulents covering with a frost barrier cloth, might help alleviate or mitigate any of the damage.
On nights where there might be a heavy freeze or frost, providing a low heat under the frost blanket will help. Check with your local nursery for ways to provide heat under a frost blanket in that situation.
Thank you for your comments… and thank you for reading and commenting on the blog. The Help Desk blog is still in a “learning as you go” mode.. and probably always will be. Your comments are quite pertinent and were an oversight on our part… maybe from making the original response during some pleasant summer weather… but as an avid succulent gardener myself, they are necessary considerations for a successful year-round in-ground succulent “strip” garden. We’d also be interested in your ideas on “low heat” under a frost blanket protection from heavy frosts or freeze… maybe (large) Christmas tree lights? Hopefully, if the client followed our suggestion to visit Ruth Bancroft Garden (RBG), they will see what grows year-round only several miles from their garden. RBG also grows some non-cold-hardy succulents/cactus which they faithfully cover with constructed “plastic film boxes” every winter, but some of the large cactus that can’t be covered are still at risk… RBG has through experience become a well-planned “survival of the fittiest” cactus and succulent garden, but they also keep their more vulnerable plants well protected in the winter. For their members, RBG also conducted a class in October on “Winter Prep” for their tender plants.
I personally can not recommend much of the cactus family around small children, as they pretty much all have various types of thorns. Even many of the succulents, have some type of thorns.
Crassulas, Sedums, Euphorbias, Echevrias, Agave sp., and many other types of succulents can make excellent small bushes (to 1 1/2 feet high), others will be excellent as specimen plants, some of them also produce offsets which will make attractive clumps of the same plants. Community plantings in larger strawberry pots is another way to display the smaller sedums, and crassulas, and more of the unusual succulents.
One of my recommendations is to check out a book on succulents from your local library to give you an idea of what you might like to try growing. Another place to try is The Ruth Bancroft Gardens to see what succulents, and cactus look like in a growing environment, as well as further information. The internet is another good place for information as well
"I'm looking for a recipe to dry and cure fruits in An oven"
are you referring to cactus fruit or any and all fruit?
There is somewhat limited information about drying "cactus fruit"... one site I found and looks reasonable is Desert Harvesters at http://www.desertharvesters.org/ but caution you to read carefully and possibly question the site if you are confused... Master Gardeners cannot vouch for the site but it does look comprehensive and promising...
for other fruit drying in oven, this is often covered by the term "dehydration"... usually done with special equipment even in the home but can also be done on "cookie sheets" in the home oven... for more on that I recommend doing a Google search on "fruit dehydration UC" and you will find numerous links and resources on "dehydration" and "fruit drying" that have been produced by various UC resources on preserving, etc. We can vouch for those resource links...
Good Luck... hope this works for you... if not please do not hesitate to ask again...
CHEERS
UC Master Gardeners of Contra Costa County (SIM)