By Eve Werner, Butte County Master Gardener, April 25, 2014

What will you do with your delicious homegrown tomatoes?  If you want to harvest them throughout the summer and fall for fresh eating, you'll appreciate plants that produce over a long period of time.  Do you plan on canning or freezing them?  If so, plants that ripen their entire crop in a short period will be most convenient. 

Tomato varieties are grouped into two general types, determinate and indeterminate, according to the way they grow and set fruit.  Selecting a variety with a growth style to match your eating plans will enhance your gardening experience.

Determinate tomatoes stop vertical  growth at a specific point in their life cycle.  The plant then sets flower and produces a single crop that ripens at one time.  The bushy, compact growth habit of determinate varieties makes them perfect for smaller spaces or container planting.  Good determinate varieties for canning include Roma and San Marzano.

Indeterminate tomatoes, also known as “vining” tomatoes, grow, bloom, and produce fruit continuously until killed by frost, providing a steady supply of ripe fruit.  You'll see blossoms, green, and ripe tomatoes commingling on a single plant.  Indeterminate varieties grow big – six to ten feet tall in the Sacramento Valley.  Sturdy support with wire mesh cylinders or panels will promote healthy growth and reduce damage from pests and sunburn.  Indeterminate varieties to try include Sweet 100 (cherry tomato), Better Boy and Burpee 4^th of July (multipurpose), and Paul Robeson (heirloom).

For further information, see University of California Agriculture and Natural Resources (UC ANR) Publication 8159:  “Growing Tomatoes in the Home Garden”).

http://anrcatalog.ucdavis.edu/pdf/8159.pdf

By Carla Resnick, Butte County Master Gardener, April 25, 2014

Having healthy plants will go far toward good tomato crops.  Choose from tomato varieties that have been developed for disease resistance.  Tomatoes are susceptible to several disorders that can significantly diminish yield or even destroy an entire tomato crop, but many hybrid tomato varieties are resistant to them.  The disease identification codes (shown below) are usually marked on the plant label or seed packet following the tomato's cultivar name.

• A     Alternaria stem canker
• F     Fusarium wilt
• FF   Fusarium races 1 and 2
• FFF  Fusarium races 1, 2 and 3
• N     Nematodes
• T     Tobacco mosaic virus (TMV)
• St    Stemphylium gray leaf spot
• V     Verticillium wilt

Using this code system, it can easily be determined that a tomato type marked VFNT is resistant to Verticillium, Fusarium, nematodes, and TMV.  Note that “resistance” is not equivalent to “immunity.”  In areas where these problems have occurred in the past, even disease-resistant varieties may encounter some difficulty attaining full growth and production.  For that reason, it is recommended that home gardeners follow a crop rotation schedule and avoid planting tomatoes or other members of the nightshade (Solanaceae) family in the same location more than two years consecutively.

For further information, see University of California Agriculture and Natural Resources (UC ANR) Publication 8159:  “Growing Tomatoes in the Home Garden.”

http://anrcatalog.ucdavis.edu/pdf/8159.pdf

By Cindy Weiner, Butte County Master Gardener, April 4, 2014

Spring is here, and many native plants are coming into bloom. Orange California poppies color the roadside and hills. Redbuds burst with magenta flowers. Butterflies flutter among the blue dicks in grassy areas in upper Bidwell Park and along foothill roadsides. The good news is that many California native plants look just as good in the home garden as they do in the wild.

One of the showiest native shrubs is California bush anemone (scientific name Carpenteria californica), a member of the hydrangea family. Native to a small area in the Sierra Nevada foothills in Fresno County, it is now more common in cultivation than in the wild. It is an evergreen growing up to ten feet tall with narrow four- to six- inch-long shiny green leaves.  Blooming from around mid-April to early summer, the sweetly-scented flowers are white with many yellow stamens. Bush anemone needs light to medium shade, especially in the afternoon, with only occasional deep watering once established. It can be pruned to shape the shrub after flowering.

Sages (genus Salvia) are a large group of shrubby perennials in the mint family. They come in a wide variety of sizes, shapes and colors but all are native to dry areas of the state. Many species are also available as hybrids or cultivars. They are easy to grow in full sun and require little to no water once established. Sages thrive on neglect; applying fertilizer or giving too much water will shorten their lives.  They have tubular, two-lipped flowers generally arranged in whorls around their square-shaped stems. Sage flowers are very attractive to hummingbirds, native bees and other pollinators. Their foliage is often aromatic.

Four easy-to-find sages are white sage (S. apiana), purple sage (S. leucophylla), creeping sage (S. sonomensis) and Cleveland sage (S. clevelandii).

• White sage has silvery foliage with white flowers that grow clustered on spikes rather than in whorls. It can be sheared lightly after flowering.
• Purple sage has gray-green leaves and pinkish-purple flowers and grows in a mound to four feet tall.  
• Creeping sage is an eight-inch-tall groundcover which spreads to form a patch eight or more feet across. It has gray-green leaves with blue-violet flowers. Native to the northern Coast Range and Sierra Nevada foothills, on the valley floor it does better with some afternoon shade. 
• Cleveland sage has dark green, aromatic leaves with purple flowers and grows to about three feet tall.  Most sages benefit from annual pruning, especially to thin out woody centers.

Best of all, while the blooms of California natives can make valuable contributions to your spring garden, they also attract all kinds of pollinators, so your vegetable patch and fruit trees will benefit, too.

By Carolyn Melf, Butte County Master Gardener, March 21, 2014

Looking for a drought tolerant plant?  Euphorbias are one of the most dramatic garden plants.  The genus is expansive and includes 2000 species of herbaceous perennials, annuals and biennials, as well as evergreen and deciduous shrubs.  You might think you are unfamiliar with this plant family, but one tender (and colorful) variety of euphorbia is customarily purchased during the holiday season: the Poinsettia.  The Pointsettia's red leaves surround a “flower” called a cyathium, which is really a structure that consists of fused bracts that form a cup around the (actual) tiny flowers.

Euphorbias originated in southwestern Asia, Europe, Australia and the Mediterranean.  They are un-thirsty plants which prefer well-drained soil, and can be grown in either full sun or partial shade.  Euphorbias are not fussy about soil type either; they are tolerant of normal, clay, neutral or acidic soil.  And they are easy to maintain:  give them a little water to get it established, but thereafter allow the soil to dry out between thorough waterings.

Classified as an Evergreen Spurge, “Tasmanian Tiger” grows 3 feet wide and high with bow-tie like flower bracts edged in white.  The conical flower heads appear in spring.  Prune spent flower heads and stems down to the base of the plant—new ones will form during the summer.  This euphorbia provides interest all four seasons in our mild climate.

Euphorbia “Polychroma” is another showy variety that looks especially lovely alongside spring-blooming tulips and other bulbs.  It is also known as cushion spurge. Its bright golden flowers sit atop cushion-shaped light green leaves.  This versatile plant is useful in edgings, rock gardens and containers.  And autumn brings an extra treat:  red foliage color.  Trim this plant back hard to 4 inches in early summer to maintain a bushy, compact size. 

Euphorbia “Ascot Rainbow” matures at 20 inches wide by 20 inches high.  The edges of its narrow, gray-green leaves are edged in yellow, and it has variegated cream, lime and green flower bracts.  In cooler months, the foliage at the ends of stems can take on a rosy hue.  This more compact plant is attractive in groupings.

If your garden is plagued by deer and rabbits, they will avoid euphorbias because the stems of these plants contain milky white sap that can be an irritant to the skin or toxic if ingested.  It is a good idea to handle euphorbias with gloves to avoid getting the sap on your skin or in your eyes. The sap has a latex base, so it is also good practice to clean your pruners after using them on euphorbias, to help maintain a sharp blade.

Euphorbias make unusually attractive cut flowers that can be incorporated in floral arrangements.  To prevent the sap from bleeding, dip the stems in boiling water or seal the stems by holding a flame to them for a few seconds before adding them to an arrangement.