- Author: Dustin Blakey
To me December represents the nadir of garden activity. It's cold, the days are short, and frankly I'm too worried about surviving Christmas with the kids to think about plants. As far as gardening is concerned, January is a huge improvement over the preceding month.
Maybe you get them sooner, but the companies I buy seeds from send me their propaganda in January. I can't think of anything that instills more of a sense of optimism and confidence in one's ability to raise a garden than a seed catalogue. Thankfully my lousy soil and uncooperative weather conspire to ensure I am fully humble by August when I'm left with not much more than some basil, cherry tomatoes, and maybe some sunburned peppers.
But today I'm excited! August is a long way off.
This weekend I'll probably put in my order for seeds for 2014 if I don't have to put in too much time toward child supervision.
This is the time of year you need to start thinking about what you want to grow and where you'll get the seeds or transplants. I usually just use what ever tomatoes and peppers I can find transplants for locally, but when I want a specific cultivar, then I will need enough lead time to grow the transplants in order to have them ready in time for spring. The time to sow vegetable transplants is getting close. If your seed order is still a to-do item, you may miss your chance to grow your own transplants. Don't delay! Operators are standing by.
You probably need to sow about 6 to 8 weeks before transplants are set out in the garden. If you grow cole crops from seed instead of buying transplants that means you need to be sowing soon!
Be sure when you make your seed order that you get enough for your fall crops. It is hard to find seeds or transplants in late summer and the seed companies may be sold out of the kind you want.
Remember that seed companies' writers always describe their offerings as amazingly super-awesome, but clearly not all can be. I recommend experimenting a little because that's fun, but don't be afraid to grow tried-and-true cultivars that worked for you in the past. Likewise when you can't find your favorite, don't worry about it. They usually drop poor sellers that either perform poorly compared to their other cultivars, or are just too hard to produce. In other words, there's usually a good reason you can't find it.
You can always ask a Master Gardener or a friend what they grow, as well. In some cases it just doesn't matter at the small scale of a home garden what you pick. I've always been impressed with eloquent descriptions of items like radishes. Is there really a radish worthy of a J. Peterman treatment?
Most seed companies buy many of their seeds in bulk from suppliers and repackage them. If you see the same cultivar available elsewhere–and it's packed for the current year–don't be afraid to go with the cheaper option. Sometimes you're just paying for a fancy seed envelope, shiny catalogue, or great story. (Ask me about kiwanos some time.)
Finally, plant what you like to use. If you don't like turnips, they don't need to be in your garden. Plant more of what you like instead! I find myself planting radishes, eggplant and squash each year because that's what you grow in a garden, but I really don't like them. Every spring I think that this will finally be the year I like squash, but it has yet come to pass. As I'm fighting squash bugs in July I annually conclude that I would have been happier with that space planted in bell peppers.
Maybe this will be the year I only buy seeds for what I like and will grow, and do it early enough to plant on time. But don't bet on it.
I'm sure you'll do better than me.
- Author: Dustin Blakey
Water has been in the news and on our minds a lot, so I thought I'd share a bit about North America's driest spot.
I spent Saturday, Jan. 4 at Death Valley. The family and I, among other things, went to Zabriskie Point. I'm not sure why, but Death Valley is about the only place we can take the kids without a fuss. (Well, that and the donut shop.)
Here I am in a pic my wife took with the happy kids:
My daughters are both Junior Rangers at Death Valley -- with badges! -- so I assume they take extra notice of their surroundings. It's a nice thought, anyhow. Natalie (the older one) saw these interesting formations on the ground.
These are little impact craters from rain drops, but it looks like the Moon's surface. This could be from the monsoon last summer -- or maybe later.
Well, this morning I was looking at our MG's Facebook page and I noticed this interesting post from the National Weather Service in Las Vegas. Apparently on Jan. 4, 1974 there was a snowstorm there. Our visit was on its 40th Anniversary.
This is a picture of accumulated snow at Zabriskie Point. It's not exactly the kind of snow they get in Mammoth, but it was neat to see where we had just been blanketed with snow. Apparently they got several inches of snow in Las Vegas that day.
Obviously the weather was more hospitable for humans this past weekend, but I think we would all welcome some precipitation.
If you go there, be sure to hike around in the badlands below the viewpoint. Most everyone stays up on the overview. It's much quieter below (fewer people) and there are some neat views to be had without a photographer standing in front of you.
- Author: Alison Collin
- Remember to winterize irrigation systems before the heavy freezes start. If you have a “frost free” faucet attached to the wall of your house, make sure to disconnect any hoses from it, especially those with a pressure nozzle attached. The mechanism is inside the house wall, and the stretch between the mechanism and the actual faucet is prone to bursting in cold weather if water cannot drain from it. The same applies to “splitters” or Y connectors – either remove completely or make sure that the nozzles are in the open position.
- If you banded trees with Tanglefoot for insect control, remove the bands for the winter.
- Check any plant ties to make sure that they have not become too tight over the summer and loosen or reapply as necessary.
- If you did not harvest bush or climbing beans when fresh, leave them to dry on the vines and then harvest them as dry beans for use in soups. Put them in the freezer for a couple of days after shelling them to kill off any bugs.
- If you are planning to use straw mulch over the winter, make sure that you buy straw and not hay. Hay contains seeds of grasses, oats or alfalfa and although these are nutritious for stock they will rapidly grow in the garden – and who needs all that weeding?
- Author: Jan Rhoades
After a busy spring filled with garden preparation and early planting, followed by a summer of weed fighting and too many tomatoes, and, finally, an autumn of processing the bountiful harvest, it seems fitting that a backyard gardener should get a long winter’s rest to enjoy the fruits of such labor. Right? Well, somewhat right. Though there is not so much to do in the garden during the winter, there are still some very important maintenance chores and some little tasks that will make for a better garden come spring. So, put on that old jacket and wooly hat…time to put the garden to bed!
Pull up old vines and plants that are not producing. Insect pests that feed on these plants in the summer have probably laid their eggs on them. These eggs will overwinter and hatch in the spring, hungry and ready to eat your new plantings. Other pests, such as squash bugs, use old plant debris to live in over the winter…so, best to do a thorough clean-up. If these old plants are not diseased, they can be worked into the garden soil to add valuable organic matter. Fall is an excellent time to amend garden soil. Well-rotted manure, compost, fertilizer and leaves can all be incorporated before the ground freezes, enhancing beneficial microorganisms and soil insects.
If you still have root crops such as beets, carrots, parsnips and turnips, they can be mulched with straw or leaves and dug up as needed. Some say these vegetables turn sweeter after the ground cools. Kale, chard, cabbage and spinach can also withstand winter cold. Be sure to mulch around them to protect their roots and preserve soil moisture. Winter squash and pumpkins should be harvested before heavy frost damages them. If you planted garlic this fall, it will need regular watering and a good layer of mulch.
Annual flowers need to be pulled up and composted. Perennials should be cut back and mulched when the ground has become quite cold. Good mulching materials include straw, pine needles and leaves.
Raspberries and blackberries also need to be cut back. The canes that bore fruit should be pruned to ground level and mulching around the base of these bramble fruits is also good. Berries need water in the winter if there are dry spells. Strawberries also need a thick layer of mulch to protect them.
Trees and shrubs need water during the winter, too. Give them ample water through the fall and then water about once a month during the winter. Watering in the winter is tricky – try to pick a day when temperatures are above freezing, and water early in the day so water can be absorbed before temperatures drop at night. If you have fruit trees, remember that dormant spraying, pruning and other special treatments, such as spraying for leaf curl, are important winter tasks.
So, you can see, no rest for the weary gardener. But, one of the pleasures of these longer nights is hunkering down in front of the fire to spend some quality time with those gorgeous, enticing seed catalogues. Spring is just around the corner!
- Author: Dustin Blakey
When a Christmas shopping urge suddenly hits, you may end up adopting a poinsettia. Fortunately they are a lot easier to take care of than a puppy. Actually it's worth mentioning that they are NOT puppies. You are not obligated to care for them for years. Your main goal is to keep it alive through Christmas. After that, the dumpster makes a good home.
To keep a poinsettia alive through December 26 requires only two things: don't let it freeze and keep it well-watered.
The most common problem with poinsettias at home is letting them get too dry. When that happens, the leaves burn and fall off. This leaves you with a few naked stems adorned with a some sad, little bracts. Something like a potted plant version of Charlie Brown's Christmas Tree. It will not grow new leaves to fill in the bald area by Christmas Eve.
It's very important to check your plants every day for water. The best way I've found to do this is to pick them up. If they are lightweight, they need water. Fingers don't tend to work well as a gauge in this case. Note that I'm not saying to water them every day, just to check them. Nearly as bad as being too dry is allowing them to sit in a continual pool of water. When the root zone is constantly saturated, they tend to get diseases. This will conveniently kill them off right before all your fussy family comes to visit.
I usually follow this routine:
- Pick up the pot. If it's light, I water it thoroughly.
- I come back in about 20 or 30 minutes and check it. If there is still water standing in the sleeve and the soil is wet, I drain out the excess from the sleeve. You don't need to fertilize them.
- Repeat daily.
That's it.
After the holidays, I throw the plant out. Poinsettias make fine, green house plants but realistically, you won't get it to turn color for next year's holiday season, and it will be tall and leggy. Commercial growers use plant growth regulators and careful adjustment of temperature to control the height. They (and you) can initiate flowering by regulating day length, but it is hard to find a dark spot in the house. Plus it's a real pain to move the plant in and out your closet every single day at 4:30. Just toss the plant out and buy a new one each year. A nurseryman will be grateful for the business, and that will cancel out any bad karma from throwing out the plant.
If the thought of tossing out a perfectly good plant still disturbs you, send it home with a visiting guest. You'll remain guilt-free and maybe smooth out some family discord in the process.
