- Author: Penny Pawl, UC Master Gardener of Napa County
by Penny Pawl , U.C. Master Gardener of Napa County
As I sit down to write this article, my wisteria is in full stunning bloom. No leaves are present yet, but as the blooms fade, the leaves will appear.
This plant and cuttings from it have been in my family for many years. When we first moved to Napa, we lived in a Victorian downtown and this plant was growing up the side of the house. I took cuttings from it and one went to my mother's home in Calistoga where it might still be growing. She moved to Napa and I gave her another which grew very well in her new home. I took a cutting from that plant and planned to make a bonsai of it but eventually put it in the ground against a fence in my garden.
It continues to grow and the only attention I give it is trimming it back in summer and winter. After each pruning in summer, when I take off the seed pods, it reblooms. It has bloomed up to four times in one summer. The rebloom is never as great as the first bloom of the year, but I enjoy seeing the flowers.
I also cut back any of the long stems that come out all over the plant. For all these years it has continued to grow and flower without any fertilizer, water (apart from rain) or other attention. It seems to thrive on neglect.
If you leave the seed pods on the plant, they will ripen and shoot seeds out several feet. Unless you want a forest of wisteria, don't allow these seeds to sprout.
The wisteria is a member of the pea family and is native to China, Japan and parts of North America. The seeds of Chinese wisteria (Wisteria sinensis) were brought to the U.S in the early 1800s and the Japanese variety (Wisteria floribunda) followed in the mid-1800s. Plants grown from seed can take up to 20 years to bloom so nurseries imported plants as soon as they were available.
Wisteria is considered an invasive species in most parts of the U.S., although not listed as such for California. The so-called Kentucky wisteria (Wisteria macrostachya) is not invasive. I once knew a Napa County Master Gardener who lived in a very old house with wisteria planted on one side. Over time, the wisteria spread by roots to the other side of the house. So, my advice is not to plant this vigorous plant by your house.
Asian wisterias bloom on old wood and before the leaves appear, while Kentucky wisteria blooms on new growth when the new leaves have appeared. What's known as American wisteria (Wisteria frutescens) does not have invasive tendencies. The flowers come in shades of purple, pink or fuchsia; however, purple is the most common. Some plants are hybrids and can only be reproduced by grafting. Some of the flower clusters can be two feet in length.
The use of wisteria in bonsai has been common for years. Some of the bonsai are outstanding, with huge trunks. These large specimens are usually collected by “urban collectors,” bonsai hobbyists who adopt plants when homeowners take them out.
One of my neighbors has a wisteria that has been trained into a small tree. All the side growth was removed, and one trunk was allowed to grow from which all the leaves and flowers emerged. This style of wisteria must be groomed constantly to keep the shape.
If your wisteria has not bloomed and you have fertilized it, it may be suffering from too much nitrogen. Like other members of the pea family, wisteria roots have nitrogen-fixing abilities. While related to sweet pea, wisteria is poisonous to humans and animals.
Wisteria's natural tendency is to grow upward. Depending on the variety, the branches spiral either left or right. I didn't know this, but I checked my plant and, yes, all the branches spiral one way.
Wisteria vines will grow up trees, trellises, houses or whatever they can find. They have been known to break the support they were growing on, so if you have a wisteria, keep an eye on it.
By Susanne von Rosenberg, UC Master Gardener of Napa County
It's almost the end of March, and we're getting close to the planting season for summer vegetables. At the same time, we're supposed to avoid any non-essential contact with other people.
What does this mean? It's the perfect opportunity to gain experience starting vegetables from seed. You can order vegetable plants through the mail, but you'll have a much wider range of choices and you'll save money if you start plants from seed.
Some seeds are typically planted directly into the soil; others need to be started indoors and then transplanted. Plants with larger seeds, such as beans and squash, are started directly in the ground. Plants with smaller seeds, such as tomatoes and some herbs, are usually started indoors.
Ideally you would have started tomatoes from seed by the beginning of March, but if you choose tomato varieties that ripen relatively quickly, you can still start them now. You'll plant them out in the middle of May and have a good harvest by August. Start planting beans and chard from seed when the soil has warmed up somewhat (the middle of April); cucumber, squash and melon seeds should be planted when the soil has warmed to at least 65°F—typically the beginning to the middle of May, depending on where you live.
You also still have time to get in some spring vegetables. It's not too late to plant peas. I love being able to eat sugar snap peas right off the vine. Radishes and most lettuces mature quickly. You can also grow mixed greens either for salad (mesclun) or braising greens. You should be able to harvest your first crop within 30 to 40 days of sowing. If you want to grow lettuce to a mature size from seeds planted now, plant it in an area that gets afternoon shade.
What do you need to be successful starting seeds? All seeds need air and water, and some seeds (primarily lettuces) need light to germinate. If you are planting outdoors, the soil should be moist but crumbly. If it's too wet or too cold, seeds can rot. If your soil feels like a wrung-out sponge, it's just right.
Amend and fertilize your soil before you plant. Rake the planting bed well. You want it to be easy for the seedlings to emerge. Never let your planting bed dry out after you've planted the seeds. Once they have started to germinate, they'll die if they dry out. Water your soil gently to moisten it without disturbing it.
Aside from keeping the soil moist, the biggest challenge with starting seeds in the ground is that many critters really appreciate a tasty green sprout. I used to have no luck starting plants from seed; it seemed like none of my seeds ever sprouted. As it turns out, I just had particularly diligent birds eating all the sprouts as soon as they appeared. If you suspect that you have interested critters, consider covering your seed bed with floating row cover or a wire cage with a fine enough mesh to keep out snails, birds and field mice.
If you're starting seeds indoors, you have greater control of your environment, and it will be easier to keep your seed-starting medium evenly moist. Using seed-starting medium rather than regular potting soil is important for smaller seeds.
Your biggest challenge will be making sure your seeds get enough light once they've sprouted. You can buy a fancy plant light, put together your own, or simply set seedlings outside in a protected location during the day. (Bring them back in at night.) When your seedlings are outside during the day, they're getting accustomed to the harsher outside conditions and will suffer less transplant shock when you plant them into the ground.
Start fertilizing your indoor seedlings with half-strength liquid fertilizer when the first true leaves appear (the ones that look like the plant you're growing). If you've grown your seedlings entirely indoors, you need to acclimate them to the tough outside world before you plant them in the ground. This is called “hardening off.”
Start by setting your seedlings outside for half the day in a shady area. Over the period of about a week, increase the amount of time they spend outside and the amount of direct sun they get, until they're outside all day in the full sun. Then they're ready to plant in the ground.
I have a few other tips for you to make your seed planting more successful. If you're starting your seeds indoors, plant two seeds per pot or cell. That will greatly increase the odds that you'll have at least one seed sprout. (If both sprout, pinch off the weaker sprout.) Use fresh seeds. They're more likely to sprout and they'll produce healthier plants. Finally, get your irrigation and any structures such as a trellis set up before you plant your seeds or seedlings. It's much easier than trying to install it later when you have to work around your plants. Trust me, I know.
The UC Master Gardeners of Napa County are volunteers who provide UC research-based information on home gardening and answer your questions. In keeping with current precautions and recommendations, Master Gardener in-person events and programs are canceled through the end of April.
By Susanne von Rosenberg, UC Master Gardener of Napa County
Happy Spring! Spring officially arrived on Thursday, March 19, at 8:49 p.m. If you're feeling like most people right now, though, it feels less like a happy spring than a really uncertain time.
Our gardens can help us cope with the challenging times that life throws at us whether it's a new global virus or personal issues. If you are one of the lucky people who have a garden, even if it's just a few pots on a balcony, you have a ready-made way to help you feel calmer and even improve your immune system and mood. Many of us will have more time at home than we usually do in the next few weeks; let your garden be part of your refuge.
Research shows that just being in nature, or even viewing scenes of nature, reduces anger, fear and stress and increases pleasant feelings. Exposure to nature not only makes you feel better emotionally, it contributes to your physical wellbeing, reducing blood pressure, heart rate, muscle tension and the production of stress hormones.
There is evidence that being able to see nature from a window or having a plant in their room can also reduce pain for hospital patients. Being in, or seeing, nature can even help you be more compassionate. Functional MRI studies show that when participants viewed nature scenes, the parts of the brain associated with empathy and love lit up, but when they viewed urban scenes, the parts of the brain associated with fear and anxiety were activated. So you can benefit greatly from your garden just by looking at it or being in it.
You may want to bring some of the joy of the garden inside by making a bouquet. Get creative. You don't need a lot of flowers; interesting branches and grasses can make a beautiful bouquet.
Gardening is also good for your immune system. The microorganism Mycobacterium vaccae is ubiquitous in soil. A fat found in this microorganism strongly stimulates the human immune system. The same bacterium boosts serotonin levels in the brains of mice, and it's very likely doing the same for you.
M. vaccae thrives in typical backyard gardens or anywhere soil is enriched with organic matter. Gardeners are exposed to it through inhalation and ingestion of small particles any time we dig outside or eat produce plucked from our gardens.
A scientific hypothesis called the Hygiene Hypothesis theorizes that one reason humans today suffer from higher rates of stress and allergies is because we are no longer exposed to the same soil bacteria that our ancestors were. Some scientists refer to those bacteria as “old friends.” As part of our modern lifestyle we've lost (or reduced) contact with our old friends. Luckily, we gardeners are regularly reacquainting ourselves with them.
You can reap even more health benefits in the garden. One of the best ways to reduce anxiety, as you probably know, is to tune into the present, rather than worrying about the future or having regrets about the past. Taking just a few minutes in the garden to really see and experience what is going on can help you become much more present.
Notice the flowers, the insects, the birds, the movement of the plants. All of them will connect you to the here and now and help your worries fade away. You can go further by meditating or doing simple yoga or stretches in your garden, weather permitting. You can find great resources online for all of these activities. Or if you like to journal, consider sitting in the garden while doing so. It will make this quiet time even more restorative. Or you can simply brew yourself a lovely cup of tea and take it outside to enjoy.
On the other hand, maybe you like to work off your anxiety through exercise. I'm sure that somewhere in your garden there are weeds to be pulled, plants to be pruned, or mulch to be applied. Each of these tasks is an opportunity to work off some stress. For me getting the big weeds out is particularly satisfying.
It's also helpful in these stressful times to keep making plans. Work on the design of your flower beds, or your vegetable planting schedule, or even consider a complete redo of your garden. Carefully planning your vegetable garden will maximize your yield, and a beautiful flower bed can deliver joy to many.
For some folks, getting things done is a great way to reduce anxiety. If you're a regular gardener, you probably have a list of projects that you would like to get done…someday. How about tackling that storage shed you've been wanting to clean out for a while? Or getting all those tools cleaned and sharpened?
Whatever you do, I wish you the joy, satisfaction, and calm that gardening can bring.
The UC Master Gardeners of Napa County are volunteers who provide UC research-based information on home gardening and answer your questions. To find out more about upcoming programs or to ask a garden question, visit the Master Gardener website (http://napamg.ucanr.edu) or call (707) 253-4221 between 9 a.m. and noon on Mondays, Wednesdays or Fridays.
By Susanne von Rosenberg, UC Master Gardener of Napa County
Growing some of your own vegetables is one way to contribute to a more sustainable world. Locally grown food, if grown correctly, has a much smaller environmental footprint than food imported from elsewhere. The good news is that you can make your vegetable garden even more sustainable by a few simple practices: reducing the inputs, minimizing waste and building your soil.
Building your soil is the best thing you can do for healthy plants. It helps sequester (store) carbon, and it provides an opportunity to reuse garden waste on your property. I hope you compost your fruit and vegetable scraps (nothing diseased, though) and other garden waste.
Compost is a wonderful soil amendment and mulch. Natural biological processes will help break down those materials that need to break down, and earthworms and other soil critters will mix the amendments into the soil without you having to lift a finger.
Other things you can add to the soil include shredded newspaper (if your newspaper uses soy-based inks) and cardboard. You can use overlapping layers of cardboard covered with a layer of mulch to help control weeds. In those parts of your garden that stay moist, the cardboard will break down completely in three to four months.
It's also a good idea to avoid tilling or turning your soil. Tilling or turning your soil reduces the organic matter in your soil. Most plants, once you're done harvesting, can simply be cut down. Leave the root mass in the soil to add organic matter.
You can further improve your soil and sequester more carbon by growing cover crops. Don't turn the cover crops into the soil; just cut them down, chop them up and leave them in place as mulch.
Reducing inputs simply means buying less stuff to support your garden and using less water. By now, we all know how to reduce our water use: use drip irrigation, mulch and monitor your plants to make sure that you don't over- or under-water them.
So how can you buy less “stuff” such as plants and seeds, fertilizer and weed- or pest-control products? To reduce your need for fertilizers, you can plant cover crops in the winter, especially legumes such as fava beans to fix nitrogen in the soil. In healthy soil, nutrients already in the soil are more available to your plants.
If your soil does need more nutrients, try to find local sources of manure. (Manure should be composted before it is applied to your garden.) If you buy fertilizer, apply the same principles that you do for your other purchases: figure out where the ingredients come from, and buy as local and sustainable as possible.
To reduce your purchases of plants and seeds, grown your own plants from seed, share your seeds with other gardeners, and save seeds from open-pollinated varieties. It makes sense to share your seeds because fresh seeds (no more than two years old) produce the best plants.
Growing your own plants from seeds is fun. It allows you to grow more varieties than you can purchase and to have plants when the nurseries may not carry them. For example, the ideal time to set out broccoli and cauliflower seedlings for fall harvest is in mid-August, but just try finding seedlings for these crops in nurseries in August.
Some of the best ways to control weeds are to control where you water using drip irrigation. Mulching also helps minimize weed germination, or you can hand-pull or hoe weeds, of course. As long as a weed has not set seed, add it to your compost. It's just more organic matter. Bindweed (field morning glory), blackberries and Bermuda grass can sprout from bits of stems and roots, so allow them to dry out completely before adding them to compost or using as mulch.
Healthy plants, properly tended, will be most resistant to pests and diseases. For insect pests, you can hand-pick the critters. (I sometimes shake plants over a bowl if a plant has been invaded.) Or you can wait for natural predators to arrive and take care of them for you. Look first to non-toxic methods, such as spraying aphids off with a garden hose
If you hand-pick critters, cool mornings or evenings are best because insects will be much slower when it's cold. Plants also have their own forms of defense. They produce compounds in their tissues to help deter predators. Consider ignoring some damage. Plants communicate with each other through hormonal signals from their roots, and the plants near the one that is being attacked will also produce defensive compounds.
There are many ways to make your vegetable gardening more sustainable. The important thing is to keep improving.
For more about caring for the soil:
Healthy soils for a healthy California. Check out the Home and Garden section.
https://ucanr.edu/sites/soils/
Building soil health:
https://ucanr.edu/sites/Nutrient_Management_Solutions/Management_Goals/Build_Soil_Health/
Tips to improve home garden soil:
https://ucanr.edu/sites/soils/Soils_for_Homes_-_Gardens/
Master Gardener Workshop: “Growing Tomatoes in the Home Garden” on Saturday, April 4, from 9:30 a.m. to 11:30 a.m., at University of California Cooperative Extension, 1710 Soscol Avenue, Napa. Learn tips and tricks for cultivating great tomatoes including the latest research on care. On-line registration (credit card only) or Mail-in/Walk-in registration (cash or check only) or call 707-253-4221.
The UC Master Gardeners of Napa County are volunteers who provide UC research-based information on home gardening and answer your questions. To find out more about upcoming programs or to ask a garden question, visit the Master Gardener website (http://napamg.ucanr.edu) or call (707) 253-4221 between 9 a.m. and noon on Mondays, Wednesdays or Fridays.
By Penny Pawl, U. C. Master Gardener of Napa County
One of spring's miracles is about to occur. The California Pipevine Swallowtail butterflies will start emerging from their pupas and gather around California pipevine plants to create a new generation sometime in March.
Last March, temperatures were low. The butterflies did not appear until April. I feared they would be deformed but all were perfect.
The Pipevine Swallowtail is the one floating around dressed in blue and black. It is about the size of a Monarch. The females do not have the blue lower wing.
To attract this particular butterfly, you need to grow California pipevine (Aristolochia californica). This plant is the only food that Pipevine Swallowtail larva or caterpillars (also known as cats) eat before they go into the pupa. The pipevine plant contains acids that taste bad to other creatures and may even poison them. This feature improves the chances that the cats will make the transition to butterflies.
California pipevine grows in Napa County along creeks and river ways under trees. It even crawls up trees. It is called pipevine because the flowers, which start to bloom in February, are shaped like a Dutchman's pipe with stripes on their sides. I know there is a good plot of these at the Martha Walker Garden in Napa's Skyline Park. John Hoffman, a now-deceased Master Gardener, supplied the vines.
Pipevine flowers are fertilized by gnats. One day, out of curiosity, I opened a flower to see if anything was inside. There was a gnat flying around. A few months after the flowering, a seed pod forms. The cats love the taste of those.
I have gathered pipevine seed on occasion but have had no luck getting the seed to germinate. If you leave the seed pod to ripen on the vine, it will attract yellow jackets so I remove any pods I find.
On the other hand, pipevine will easily reproduce from a cutting. The cutting should be as long as possible—three to four feet. Coil it up and bury it one to two inches deep in potting soil in a container. Keep it watered and you will eventually have another pipevine, although it takes a while to get to the size that attracts butterflies. Mine required two summers of growing before any butterflies appeared, and even then, there weren't many.
I water my pipevine all summer and it continues to grow. All summer long I see the butterflies fluttering along the fence the vine is planted on. Checking the underside of the leaves and the newer stems I find eggs in groups of eight to ten. I collect some of them and raise them indoors. Others I leave on the vine and I see the beautiful cats all summer. The cats do have some predators, but because of the toxins they have consumed, birds leave them alone.
It takes a lot of pipevine meals before these cats go into the pupa stage. When I move the group into the house to raise them, I know I have made a five-week commitment to feeding and cleaning their enclosures daily. Then they go walkies (as I call it) and make the pupa.
More about walkies: all the cats I have raised, of every type, do the walkies before they settle down and make the pupa. They are releasing liquids and finding the perfect spot to make their pupa. It is amazing how far they will crawl. Occasionally a butterfly emerges in my house from under the table or another place, because the cats have escaped and walked to a hidden spot.
The pupa is made by shedding their outer skin. Moths weave a cocoon web around themselves. Once they become a pupa, the waiting game begins.
Some will emerge from their pupa in a month and go on to lay more eggs. Others will take almost a year to transition. Sadly, like all butterflies, they have a short life—only about six weeks.
To learn more and enjoy more about pipevine swallowtail, visit these websites:
https://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=29626
http://butterfly.ucdavis.edu/butterfly/Battus/philenor
https://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=17456
The UC Master Gardeners of Napa County are volunteers who provide UC research-based information on home gardening and answer your questions. To find out more about upcoming programs or to ask a garden question, visit the Master Gardener website (http://napamg.ucanr.edu) or call (707) 253-4221 between 9 a.m. and noon on Mondays, Wednesdays or Fridays.
