As a gardener, I consider soil as the foundation for all I do. Like a friendship or marriage, it must be respected and nurtured if you want it to thrive and continue to be there for you. What soil isn't is dirt.
I recently read an article in The New York Times by Dan Barber, the chef and co-owner of the two Blue Hill restaurants in New York. In the article, he wrote about how much he liked a locally grown emmer,a wheat variety also known as farro. He had been extolling the virtues of this grain, but it wasn't until he visited the farm that he realized what made the emmer so delicious.
The farmer managed the soil not by adding chemicals but by rotating crops and including cover crops in the rotation. Crop rotation improves soil health which, in turn, affects the flavor of the food grown in it.
Crop rotation is another subject Master Gardeners learn about in training, and we preach it in the public workshops we offer. I thought I knew something about this subject, but after reading Dan Barber's article, I realized I had only scratched the surface in understanding its impact on soil. The article was about farming and not gardening but the same principles apply.
The practice of crop rotation has been around for centuries, and it takes many forms. It entails planting vegetable crops of the same family in different locations each year. What you plant, and the order in which you plant,makes a difference.
The reason for rotating crops is straightforward enough. Plants related to each other tend to be prone to the same diseases and insect pests. In my pre-Master Gardener days, I thought I was practicing good crop rotation when I planted tomatoes one summer, followed by potatoes in winter and chilies the following summer. But the chili plants were yellowish-green and produced scraggly, rumpled fruit, so I knew I had a problem.
These plants are all in the Solanaceae, or nightshade, family, so my crop-rotation plan was a failure. To correct my mistake, I had to take these beds out of production for a year and solarize the soil. In a nutshell, this technique involves removing all plant matter, wetting the soil, covering it with a plastic tarp and letting it bake for six to eight weeks in summer. Afterward, I planted a cover crop of fava beans.
Cover crops (also called green manure) are an integral part of crop rotation. They build productive soil, help control pests and diseases, attract beneficial insects, prevent erosion and suppress weeds.
Cover crops include grasses such as barley, oat, wheat and cereal rye; legumes like vetches, bell beans, field peas, clovers, cowpeas; and mustards of various types. All are low maintenance and require little water. To get the maximum benefit, cut the cover crop at the base when it flowers or when the seed heads emerge on grains. You can either incorporate the vegetation into the soil or allow it to decompose on the soil surface.
If growing a cover crop is not your thing, then follow another practice that Master Gardeners recommend: add compost. And we're not talking about just a little. Spreading several inches of compost on vegetable beds before planting should dramatically improve your harvest.
The next time you harvest a tasty ‘Early Girl', ‘Black Krim' or ‘Hawaiian Pineapple' tomato, remember that the soil contributed more to flavor than the variety did. On the other hand, if the tomato is tasteless and mealy, don't blame it solely on the variety. Think about how you managed the soil during the growing season.
Workshop: Napa County Master Gardeners will conduct a workshop on “Pruning Landscape Trees and Shrubs” on Sunday, June 22, from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m., at the Yountville Community Center, 6516 Washington Street, Yountville. Proper pruning enhances the beauty of landscape trees and shrubs while improper pruning can reduce their landscape potential. Learn guidelines for proper pruning. This workshop may include a field trip to observe pruning in a local garden. To register, call the Parks & Recreation Department at 707-944-8712 or visit its web site.
Master Gardeners are volunteers who help the University of California reach the gardening public with home gardening information. Napa County Master Gardeners ( http://ucanr.org/ucmgnapa/) are available to answer gardening questions in person or by phone, Monday, Wednesday and Friday, 9 a.m. to Noon, at the U. C. Cooperative Extension office, 1710 Soscol Avenue, Suite 4, Napa, 707-253-4143, or from outside City of Napa toll-free at 877-279-3065. Or e-mail your garden questions by following the guidelines on our web site. Click on Napa, then on Have Garden Questions? Find us on Facebook under UC Master Gardeners of Napa County.
Napa County Master Gardeners welcome the public to visit their demonstration garden at Connolly Ranch on Thursdays, from 10:00 a.m. until noon, except the last Thursday of the month. Connolly Ranch is at 3141 Browns Valley Road at Thompson Avenue in Napa. Enter on Thompson Avenue.
There are practical reasons for getting your vegetables to grow upward. Vertical gardening saves space, allowing you to have more plants and more produce. Crops like beans and tomatoes are easier to harvest from a trellis. Staking or otherwise supporting plants keeps vegetables out of the dirt, resulting in cleaner produce and less rot and insect damage. And, finally, garden structures simply look good.
Vining plants such as beans and peas are easy to train as these plants naturally cling to sticks or twine as they grow. They can easily climb out of reach, so limit the support you give them to the height you can comfortably reach. Stakes planted in a line and strung with twine allow these plants to climb. Some gardeners use chicken wire fencing or netting in place of twine. Teepee-type structures, with several sticks tied together at the top and spread out in a circle at ground level, also work well.
Tomato plants climb differently from bean plants and may require some training. Wire cages are a good choice. You can make your own cages from wire fencing. Make sure that the spaces in the fencing are large enough for you to reach through and pullout a full-size tomato. Create cylinders about two feet in diameter and five feet tall. To prevent the cages from leaning, secure them to stakes set deeply in the ground. As tomato plants grow, tuck in errant branches.
Nurseries sell tomato cages in a range of prices. I like the square ones that fold flat for storage. Don't buy the small tomato cages that some garden centers sell. They are too small for most tomato varieties and will topple when the plants get large.
Cucumbers and some smaller melons also appreciate support. I've found that a cage or A-frame made of fence wire allows cucumber plants to grow up off the ground. Long cucumbers grow straighter, not to mention cleaner, when the plants have support. If you train melons this way, you may have to add fabric slings for each fruit to prevent the fruit from detaching before it is ripe.
Even some non-vining plants can benefit from support. Years ago, when I was a novice gardener, I purchased tomato cages that were quite small, about two feet tall and less than a foot in diameter. These have proved ideal for peppers and eggplants, which sometimes get top- heavy late in the growing season and topple over without support. I've also used them for broccoli and cauliflower in winter. Tying these plants to a short stake also works well.
Structures for vegetable plants can range from the simple to the elaborate. While garden centers and nurseries can supply everything from stakes and twine to heavy-duty fold-up tomato cages and decorative wrought-iron trellises, think about using materials you have on hand.
A worn-out patio umbrella could be a pole-bean teepee. An old ladder might be perfect for an heirloom tomato plant. Brushy prunings from a hedge or tree could support low-growing peas, and almost any straight stick can become a stake. I tie plants to stakes with strips of cotton fabric from my rag bag. And if you know anyone who still wears panty hose, the nylon makes wonderful slings for heavy melons.
Setting up structures when you are planting takes time, but you'll be grateful for them when harvest comes and you can pick beans without bending over and harvest baskets of unblemished tomatoes.
Workshop: Napa County Master Gardeners will conduct a workshop on “Pruning Landscape Trees and Shrubs” on Sunday, June 22, from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m., at the Yountville Community Center, 6516 Washington Street, Yountville. Proper pruning enhances the beauty of landscape trees and shrubs while improper pruning can reduce their landscape potential. Learn guidelines for proper pruning. This workshop may include a field trip to observe pruning in a local garden. To register, call the Parks & Recreation Department at 707-944-8712 or visit itsweb site.
Master Gardeners are volunteers who help the University of California reach the gardening public with home gardening information. Napa County Master Gardeners ( http://ucanr.org/ucmgnapa/) are available to answer gardening questions in person or by phone, Monday, Wednesday and Friday, 9 a.m. to Noon, at the U. C. Cooperative Extension office, 1710 Soscol Avenue, Suite 4, Napa, 707-253-4143, or from outside City of Napa toll-free at 877-279-3065. Or e-mail your garden questions by following the guidelines on our web site. Click on Napa, then on Have Garden Questions? Find us on Facebook under UC Master Gardeners of Napa County.
Napa County Master Gardeners welcome the public to visit their demonstration garden at Connolly Ranch on Thursdays, from 10:00 a.m. until noon, except the last Thursday of the month. Connolly Ranch is at 3141 Browns Valley Road at Thompson Avenue in Napa. Enter on Thompson Avenue.
Maybe you feel you need professional help for this project, someone who can design a replacement landscape for you and install a drip system. Drip-irrigation systems use less water than sprinklers as you can give each plant just what it needs.Watering deeply encourages deep roots.
I hope this is the year you decide to quit mowing, raking, feeding, weeding, watering, reseeding and being disappointed in your lawn. The drought is a good excuse to quit being a slave to your lawn. I have never regretted removing my lawn and replacing it with an easy-care landscape of drought-tolerant and native plants. Another benefit is that it doesn't look like everyone else's garden.
The United States is the only country with a Mediterranean climate whose people routinely plant lawns. In countries with similar climates, people don't plant lawns because summers are dry. Still, they have beautiful gardens filled with plants that grow well in their climate.
If you live in the City of Napa, you can apply for the “Cash for Grass” turf-replacement rebate. On the City of Napa web site, you can schedule an appointment to apply for the program. You may be eligible for a rebate of up to one dollar per square foot. If you do not qualify, then you can just quit watering and mowing and spend that time researching what you would like your garden to look like.
Take a drive around Napa and look at some of the lawn-free gardens. On the corner of Old Soscol and Soscol Avenue, Riverwood Apartments has a very nice landscape. Something is blooming there most of the time, but when not, leaf color provides contrast and year-round interest. This well-designed landscape offers birds, lizards and beneficial insects with a good place to live.
In the Stonehouse development in Napa, some homes have gardens instead of front lawns. One has a huge redwood tree and a variety of shade plants that bloom seasonally. Another has a landscape of small rocks with interesting plants planted at intervals. More and more of the neighbors are following their lead. All of these landscapes are original and allow the owner or designer to express a unique vision for the front of their home.
There are many possible design themes. Consider a pollinator garden, a butterfly habitat, a desert landscape, a rain garden, or a scheme devoted to native plants. Get some books to help you identify the needs of the plants you want. Sunset's Western Garden Book is a leading reference for California gardeners. One section in the book contains helpful plants lists for many different types of home gardens.
Another book I admire is Plants and Landscapes for Summer-Dry Climates published by East Bay Municipal Utility District. The pictures alone will inspire you.
Fall is the best time to plant a new garden in Napa County. Plants have a chance to settle in and develop root systems as the weather cools, and by spring they are ready to grow. The Napa chapter of the California Native Plant Society has a plant sale in October, where you can find plants that thrive in our climate and soils.
When you garden is new and plants are becoming established, you will need to irrigate. But as time goes on, plants' water needs will plummet. I water much less now than when I had a lawn. The plants are well established and have deep roots. I give my front and back gardens a good cleanup once or twice a year, much less work than the weekly lawn routine.
Workshop: Napa County Master Gardeners are conducting a workshop on “Structures in the Garden” on Saturday, June 7, from9:30 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. Do the beautiful flowers in your garden need extra support? At this workshop you will learn how to make your own support systems for the garden. Workshop location is the Master Gardener Demonstration Garden,Connolly Ranch Education Center, 3141 Browns Valley Road in Napa. Online registration (credit card only); Mail in registration (cash or check only).
Master Gardeners are volunteers who help the University of California reach the gardening public with home gardening information. Napa County Master Gardeners ( http://ucanr.org/ucmgnapa/) are available to answer gardening questions in person or by phone, Monday, Wednesday and Friday, 9 a.m. to Noon, at the U. C. Cooperative Extension office, 1710 Soscol Avenue, Suite 4, Napa, 707-253-4143, or from outside City of Napa toll-free at 877-279-3065. Or e-mail your garden questions by following the guidelines on our web site. Click on Napa, then on Have Garden Questions? Find us on Facebook under UC Master Gardeners of Napa County.
Napa County Master Gardeners welcome the public to visit their demonstration garden at Connolly Ranch on Thursdays, from 10:00 a.m. until noon, except the last Thursday of the month. Connolly Ranch is at 3141 Browns Valley Road at Thompson Avenue in Napa. Enter on Thompson Avenue.
Plant: After you harvest the last of the cool-weather crops, you can still take advantage of Napa's long growing season. Corn, beans, cucumbers, eggplant, melons, peppers, summer squash and tomatoes are all warm-season crops to consider putting into those vacant spots. Pumpkins planted now will ripen in time for Halloween. Green beans require trellising or staking unless you plant bush varieties, which only grow about two feet high. This year my flowering maple (Abutilon hybridum) has taken off. It is blooming profusely, and it needs some sort of support system to keep it from flopping over.
Stake your tomatoes or place wire cages over the vines to keep fruits from resting on the ground and spoiling. Feed tomato plants when the first fruits form. Use a low-nitrogen fertilizer to encourage fruit over leafy growth. As tomatoes ripen, take care not to overwater. Too much water can cause fruits to crack.
Don't forget to plant basil along with your tomatoes. This herb does well in flower beds and in containers. Last year I enjoyed growing Thai basil (Ocimumbasilicum var. thyrsiflora) in addition to the more usual sweet basil (Ocimumbasilicum). Thai basil plants and leaves are smaller than sweet basil, but the flavor is more intense, with a touch of licorice. This is the variety often used in Southeast Asian dishes, such as Thai curries. Pinch off flower heads as they form to prevent plants from going to seed. Initially, after six to eight leaves form on a stem,prune that stem back to two leaves. The plant will be happier and bushier for it.
Water: As we head into our third year of drought conditions, checking sprinkler systems should be at the top of your “to do” list. Mulch your plants to minimize weeds and maintain soil moisture. Water early in the day to prevent fungus and mold problems.
While established native oaks usually need no summer water, other shade trees will have a better canopy if you give them a deep soak in mid-June and again in mid-August. Water enough to moisten the soil to a depth of three feet (usually four to six inches of water). Established shrubs maintain a good appearance without producing too much growth if watered to a depth of three feet once a month.
Most fruit and nut trees need more water to produce good crops. Irrigate to a depth ofthree feet every other week. Bedding plants and lawns, being shallow rooted, require even more water. A minimum of three-quarters of an inch every four days would be normal in June. Days with dry north winds or temperatures above 100°F create the need for more water, especially for shallow-rooted plants. Increase watering frequencywhen those conditions prevail.
Deadhead flowers: On plants that bloom repeatedly, remove withered flowers to encourage re-bloom. Roses, daylilies, geraniums and marigolds all benefit from this practice, known as deadheading. Roses also appreciate a feeding with a balanced fertilizer after that first flush of bloom.
Thin fruit: Thin peaches and nectarines to allowsix to eight inches between fruits. I neglected to do this one year, and I had lots of peaches that were more pit than peach. Also remove any fruits that are joined together.
Prune: Spring-flowering shrubs and vines often bloom the following year on new wood that they produce after bloom. So early summer is a good time to prune back and shape these plants, such as azaleas and rhododendrons, bridal wreath spirea(S.vanhouttei), forsythia (forsythia x intermedia), hawthorn (Crataegus species and cultivars), star jasmine (Trachelospermumjasminoides), magnolia(Magnolia species and cultivars), and mockorange (Philadelphuscoronarius).
Workshop: Napa County Master Gardeners are conducting a workshop on “Structures in the Garden” on Saturday, June 7, from9:30 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. Do the beautiful flowers in your garden need extra support? At this workshop you will learn how to make your own support systems for the garden. Workshop location is the Master Gardener Demonstration Garden,Connolly Ranch Education Center, 3141 Browns Valley Road in Napa. Online registration (credit card only); Mail in registration (cash or check only).
Master Gardeners are volunteers who help the University of California reach the gardening public with home gardening information. Napa County Master Gardeners ( http://ucanr.org/ucmgnapa/) are available to answer gardening questions in person or by phone, Monday, Wednesday and Friday, 9 a.m. to Noon, at the U. C. Cooperative Extension office, 1710 Soscol Avenue, Suite 4, Napa, 707-253-4143, or from outside City of Napa toll-free at 877-279-3065. Or e-mail your garden questions by following the guidelines on our web site. Click on Napa, then on Have Garden Questions? Find us on Facebook under UC Master Gardeners of Napa County.
Napa County Master Gardeners welcome the public to visit their demonstration garden at Connolly Ranch on Thursdays, from 10:00 a.m. until noon, except the last Thursday of the month. Connolly Ranch is at 3141 Browns Valley Road at Thompson Avenue in Napa. Enter on Thompson Avenue.
In areas with harsh winters, container growing allows gardeners to move frost-sensitive plants like citrus to a warm, protected place when chilly weather arrives. When the danger of frost has passed, the sight of blooming, fragrant lemon and orange trees back in their customary garden or patio space announces the arrival of spring.
Plants in containers are easily transportable, across a yard or across country. A new apartment quickly becomes a home with pots of red geraniums on a sunny windowsill. With the addition of drainage holes, old stock pots, buckets or watering cans can be planted with potted chives, basil or sweetly scented flowers to perk up a kitchen or dress up a picnic table.
You can easily move potted plants to redecorate an area, to highlight current bloomers or to protect favorite plants from threatening weather. Plants that are tired or no longer blooming can conveniently be moved out of sight. You can place large containers on casters to roll them from place to place. With the help of container plants in a variety of pots, a small yard can easily become a lush garden.
But even gardeners with plenty of space have reason to plant in containers. As I strolled through a local resort last week, I noted, in addition to the carefully tended beds, other highlights of the landscape. Beautifully shaped and flowering ‘Iceberg' roses in large glazed ceramic pots graced the grounds, while mossy vases of succulents, both upright and trailing, accented exterior walls. Clearly the landscapers resorted to containers not for lack of space, but for an extra touch of interest and elegance.
Container gardening is the epitome of custom gardening. If you know your chosen plants' requirements, you can give each plant just what it needs. Nurseries sell potting mixes designed expressly for orchids, acid-loving plants and citrus. Or you can mix your own to meet a finicky plant's needs, giving you a much greater chance of success.
Some plants actually do better in pots than in the ground. Herbs such as lemon thyme can often become a straggly mat in the garden. In a contained space, lemon thyme grows into an upright mound of attractive, strongly scented, glossy green foliage. By early summer, its lavender flowers drape beautifully over the edges of a pot.
With a properly sized container, the right planting mix, the right location, and sufficient water and nutrients, many plants will be carefree and happy for years. But if you begin to see that your pots are drying out too quickly, or that roots are protruding from drainage holes, or if it takes too long for the water you apply to percolate through the soil, it may be time to repot.
Generally the best time to repot is in the spring or autumn when plants are actively growing. But any time you notice that a plant is too top heavy or that the roots are too dense, it's time to repot.
Container-grown plants are typically fertilized more frequently than plants in beds. If you begin to see a white, crystal-like coating on the exterior of your pots or on the surface of the soil, too much salt has built up in your soil. To avoid salt buildup, always water your plants until liquid runs out the bottom.
Workshop: Have you noticed how popular (and expensive) container succulent gardens are? Do you have a special container you would like to turn into a garden piece? Napa County Master Gardeners will lead a workshop on “Container Gardening and Succulents” on Saturday, May 17, from 9:30 a.m. to 11:30 a.m., at the Senior Multi-Use Center, 2185 Elliott Drive, American Canyon. Grow gardens that are mobile. Discover the best containers, soil and locations for your plants to prosper. Gain confidence to work with unfamiliar types of plants. Online registration (credit card only); Mail in registration (cash or check only).
Master Gardeners are volunteers who help the University of California reach the gardening public with home gardening information. Napa County Master Gardeners ( http://ucanr.org/ucmgnapa/) are available to answer gardening questions in person or by phone, Monday, Wednesday and Friday, 9 a.m. to Noon, at the U. C. Cooperative Extension office, 1710 Soscol Avenue, Suite 4, Napa, 707-253-4143, or from outside City of Napa toll-free at 877-279-3065. Or e-mail your garden questions by following the guidelines on our web site. Click on Napa, then on Have Garden Questions? Find us on Facebook under UC Master Gardeners of Napa County.
Napa County Master Gardeners welcome the public to visit their demonstration garden at Connolly Ranch on Thursdays, from 10:00 a.m. until noon, except the last Thursday of the month. Connolly Ranch is at 3141 Browns Valley Road at Thompson Avenue in Napa. Enter on Thompson Avenue.
