A list of useful weeds comes quickly to mind. Think of dandelions, whose first tender spring greens are delicious in salads or steamed. Later, the cheerful dandelion flowers can be steeped, sweetened and fermented into a mellow wine. That tasty wine is one good reason to harvest the blossoms before they turn into the fluffy puffs that children blow to make wishes come true.
In some gardens, artichoke thistles, cardoon stalks and spring greens such as chickweed and miner's lettuce are considered invasive, but they are welcome volunteers in my garden. The lacy yellow fennel blossoms that adorn Napa Valley roadways and meadows provide pollen to rub on chicken or fish if you are patient enough to collect it. Wild fennel seeds can be chewed, used to flavor biscotti, or crushed and toasted to add to olives and olive oil.
All these plants are weeds when they grow where we don't want them, yet all are considered a culinary treat by people in other parts of the world.
One weed that is prolific in many gardens is common purslane (Portulacaoleracea). It's easy to uproot, and yanking them up is preferable to hoeing or tilling since each little jade finger that breaks off can generate a sprawling new succulent.
Purslane is native to India and Persia and has fleshy stems and small yellow flowers. It was said to be one of Gandhi's favorite foods. The stems lie flat on the ground as they radiate from a single taproot, sometimes forming large mats of leaves. Purslane resembles a small-leaved jade plant. It is closely related to rose moss (Portulaca grandiflora), although grandiflora is a native of South Africa and treasured more for its flowers than its culinary attributes.
According to a University of Illinois web site, viable purslane seed has been found after 40 years. As the site says, you may find that depressing, or exciting.
If you want to eradicate purslane in your garden, do not let it go to seed. Flowers and seeds develop just three weeks after seedlings appear, so be vigilant. And even if you uproot the purslane, your work is not done. Be sure to discard the plants, because pieces simply lying on garden soil can root and take off again. For more information about purslane, go to http://www.turf.uiuc.edu/weed_web/index.htm.
You can sometimes find purslane at farmers markets, or you may find it in your box if you receive a produce delivery from a local farm. It contains a potent package of nutrients. Whether enjoyed raw in salads or cooked in soups and stews, purslane is rich in minerals, including calcium, magnesium, potassium and iron. It is also high in antioxidants, with more heart-healthy omega-3 fatty acids than any other plant.
For adventurous eaters willing to welcome a basket of weeds into the kitchen, purslane provides a lot of inspiration. The web site Epicurious (www.epicurious.com) has 23 recipes for purslane, including a purslane and parsley salad with cherry tomatoes, lemon and olive oil. A slightly more complicated recipe from the site is purslane and avocado tacos with salsa. (Mexicans know purslane as verdolagas.) Or how about a purslane, Meyer lemon and pear salad with kaffir lime vinaigrette?
Cooking purslane mellows its slightly lemony tang and wilts it like spinach so you will need a lot or it for cooked dishes. That tang and sturdy texture are wonderful in salads, pickles and fresh and cooked salsas.
Still not sure what to do with purslane? The most extensive list of ideas I have found is “45 Things to Do with Purslane” (http://chocolateandzucchini.com/ingredients-fine-foods/45-things-to-do-with-purslane). If you decide you want to grow purslane, you can find seeds at http://www.territorialseed.com/category/s?keyword=purslane. But first put on your shoes and go see if you are lucky enough to already have some growing in your garden. Then you won't have to buy it.
Workshop: Napa County Master Gardeners will conduct a workshop on “Cool Season Veggies” on Sunday, August 17, from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m., at the Yountville Community Center, 6516 Washington Street, Yountville.To register for the Yountville workshop call the Parks & Recreation Department at 707-944-8712 or visit their web site.The workshop repeats onSaturday, August 23, at U.C. Cooperative Extension, 1710 Soscol, Napa. Grow your own vegetables even when days are short and nights are cold. Learn which vegetables thrive in cooler temperatures, how to protect them from heat when they are getting started, and how to time planting to ensure months of harvest. To register for the Napa workshop: 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.
As the end of August approaches, we gardeners are savoring our harvest of tomatoes, peppers, zucchini and other summer bounty. Days are getting shorter and the light is starting to change, signals of a shift in the seasons. Cool-season vegetables are just on the horizon.
With autumn approaching, we need to be thinking about amending our gardens and getting them ready for planting the kinds of vegetables that thrive in cool weather.
Many Napa Valley microclimates are conducive to these cool-loving edibles. Depending on the crop, the best planting time for seeds and nursery seedlings ranges from late August to early September.
Vegetables that do well in fall and winter include cole crops (brassicas), root vegetables and leafy greens. Among the brassicas, consider growing cabbage, Brussels sprouts, cauliflower and broccoli. Root vegetables to plant now include turnips, carrots, radishes, parsnips and beets. As for leafy vegetables, late summer is the ideal time to start lettuces, chard, kale and bokchoy. Asparagus and potatoes can also be planted now.
Some of these cool-season vegetables are “two-for-ones,” like beets and turnips. We can (and should) eat both the roots and the nutritious greens. Most of these fall and winter edibles are rich in vitamins and antioxidants.
If you are planting from seed, don't delay. Seeds will sprout quickly in late summer's warm soil, and your seedlings will get off to a good start before the weather cools. You can plant nursery seedlings now and into September; local nurseries have a good selection now.
Napa County Master Gardeners have a useful planting calendar, which you can find at http://ucanr.edu/sites/ucmgnapa/Gardening_Books/.
I grew broccoli, spinach, chard and leeks successfully when I lived in Grass Valley, with its cool nights and warm days. These crops also do well when grown in autumn in Napa Valley.
Companion planting is a great way to use space wisely if you have only a small garden bed or are using containers. I personally have a small space and use containers. Broccoli and baby bokchoy or spinach work well together. You can plant herbs and scallions or leeks together, or beets and radishes with lettuce.
Be sure to amend your soil with compost before planting cool-season vegetables to ensure a bountiful future harvest.
Free workshop: Napa County Master Gardeners will conduct a workshop on “Home Composting” on Saturday, September 6, from 9:00 a.m. to 10:00 a.m. at the Yountville Community Center. Learn how to turn yardwaste and kitchen scraps into rich compost to use as a soil amendment or mulch in your garden. The workshop is free but Pre-registration is required. No phone registrations are accepted. You will receive a confirmation and directions after registering. Questions? Call (707) 257-9200.
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.
The so-called sticky monkey flowers have leaves with a sticky feel to them, and they sort of grab you. These are native to southern Oregon, California and Baja California. Once established, they do well without summer water.
In the midst of a recent heat wave, I walked around to take a look at my plants. I noted lots of dead wood on the monkey flowers but they still had leaves on the tips. They had not had water since the last rain. Perhaps if I had kept them pruned closer to the ground and cut the dead wood back, the heat wave would not have affected them quite as much. I will see how this approach works next year. The ones in the ground have mostly yellow and light-orange flowers.
I also have non-sticky monkeys in pots, and they are all doing well as they receive regular water. They are not drought tolerant. These bloom in a variety of colors, and some are hybrids. One of my favorites is ‘Spunky Monkey' (Mimulusnaiandinus ‘Mega'). The upper petals are violet pink and the lower petal is white with pink dots. This variety dies down during winter but reseeds easily within the confines of the pot.
Another variety that I really like is ‘Pamela.' It is yellow with white trim around each petal. It blooms over a long period and overwinters well in a pot.
Monkey flowers can be propagated from cuttings. Cut off a healthy growing tip 4 to 6 inches long. Strip off the bottom leaves and put the stem in a moist growing medium. The cutting should root in about two months. If you tug gently and feel resistance, your cutting has rooted. After a few months, replant in a larger pot with potting soil and place in part sun.
You can find many images of monkey flowers online and information about each variety.
Monkey flowers form a seed pod when the flowers have finished blooming. You can collect the seed and start seedlings in early spring, or you can buy seed. Seeds need chilling before they will germinate. The chill causes the seed covering to crack.
To germinate seeds, put them on a damp paper towel or dampened planting mix. If you use a paper towel, put it into a plastic bag. You may also press the seeds into the planting mix and seal the pot with a plastic bag. If the seeds need chilling, put them in the plastic bag in the refrigerator for a month or so. When you take them out of the refrigerator, they will think spring has arrived and germinate quickly. If you have them on the paper towel, press the towel into the planting mix and the roots will grow through the towel. Once the seeds have germinated, treat them like any other seedling by keeping them moist and dividing them once they get three to four leaves.
Native monkey flowers are good candidates for drought-tolerant landscapes. Occasional grooming is all they need. So if you are going to monkey around in the garden, give monkey flowers a try.
Free workshop: Napa County Master Gardeners will conduct a workshop on “Home Composting” on Saturday, September 6, from 9:00 a.m. to 10:00 a.m. at the Yountville Community Center. Learn how to turn yard waste and kitchen scraps into rich compost to use as a soil amendment or mulch in your garden. The workshop is free but Pre-registration is required. No phone registrations are accepted. You will receive a confirmation and directions after registering. Questions? Call (707) 257-9200.
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.
If you have lawn, feed with a nitrogen fertilizer from a garden supply store. Read label instructions thoroughly, apply correctly and irrigate immediately. For a lawn that is healthy but not overly vigorous, fertilize once in the fall and again in the spring. Do not apply more fertilizer than you need, and watch the runoff from your turf, too. Overwatering wastes fertilizer and pollutes our waters; use commercial fertilizers carefully and responsibly.
Toward the end of September, lower the blade on your lawnmower. Dethatch and aerate your lawn if it needs rejuvenating.
Feed perennials now, too. They have bloomed or produced all summer and need replenishing for a repeat performance next year. Apply bone meal or 0-10-10 fertilizer to encourage root growth and next year's flower buds. After feeding and watering, plump up the mulch so your soil is completely shaded. No light, no weeds. Be sure to keep mulch away from the plant's stem or base to prevent rot.
Irrigate your fruit trees and shrubs for the final time this year. They are still actively growing but will go dormant soon. Feed them with a 10-10-10 fertilizer in late September or early October. The fall rains will carry nutrients into the soil and prepare the trees for their winter beauty rest.
Camellias and azaleas don't need much nitrogen, but they do appreciate an application of 2-10-10 fertilizer now. The potassium and phosphorous will keep them healthy and help them produce strong buds for next year's display.
Dispose of any rotting vegetables or spent flowers. If they come from healthy plants, you can shred and compost this material. Otherwise, discard it in your green waste bin. Industrial composting temperatures are high enough to kill weed seeds and pathogens.
Re-dig your beds deeply and work in a few inches of well-composted organic matter. Many Master Gardeners use compost from Napa Recycling and Waste Services (http://naparecycling.com/compost/) or Upper Valley Disposal and Recycling (http://www.uvds.com/compostsales.htm.)Both companies produce excellent compost, although the products are a little different. Check the websites to learn about the specific materials and processes used.
If you “just can't wait” for the first strawberries of spring, it is time to plant them now. The same goes for artichokes, too. If you started seeds of cabbage, kale, cauliflower, broccoli, greens or celery last month, you can set the seedlings out in the garden now. And if you did not start seeds, you can purchase seedlings. There's still time to start seeds of cabbage and kale for setting out six weeks from now.
For years I admired gardens that were bursting with poppies, sweet peas, forget-me-nots and violets in early spring, while I was still looking at seed catalogs. It turns out that those gardeners were sowing their winter and spring flowers in September.
Some bulbs can go in the ground now, too. Look for sparaxis and fragrant freesias. Order from catalogs or bring home something new from the nursery. Some bulbs do well in garden beds, and on decks and patios in pots and containers. Others are happier in the ground. Do your homework for best results. Start prepping areas for planting native perennials, too.
If your chrysanthemums are beginning to get leggy or sprawl, gently tie them up. Pinch out all but one bud if you like large blossoms.
For color on your deck and close to the house as the weather cools, pot up pansies, violas, primroses, snapdragons, Icelandic poppies and cyclamen. Remember that if you put them under the roof eaves, they will need watering even after the rains begin.
Propagate frost-sensitive plants by taking softwood cuttings and keeping them in pots indoors for the winter. Dig up rooted side shoots of your favorite flowering shrubs and pot them up so you have duplicates. You have probably harvested most of your fruit trees, but if you are lucky enough to have late-season plums, apples, peaches or figs, it is probably time to harvest those, too.
Workshop: Join Napa County Master Gardeners for a workshop on “Critters in the Garden” on Sunday, September 21, from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m., at the Yountville Community Center, 6516 Washington Street, Yountville. Learn to identify and manage the many critters that invade your garden by air, by land and from underground. Learn techniques for managing gophers, moles, voles, rabbits, squirrels, deer and birds. To register, call the Yountville 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.
Review your landscape from the perspective of earthquake preparedness. Just as you would secure the appliances and electronic equipment in your home, stabilize large garden structures and small buildings. Brace your statues, fountains, trellises , sheds and potting benches so they won't tumble.
Have you secured tall bookshelves or media cabinets to the walls inside your home? You can use the same technique with structures outside. Also, be careful about siting. Do not place structures or statues where they could cause more damage if they fall. Avoid placing tall metal structures next to windows or doorways where they could break glass or block an exit.
In the recent quake, I lost numerous potted plants when poorly secured plant stands tipped over and the contents toppled. The ornamental cover for the gas meter turned into a hazard when we needed to find the wrench to turn off the gas main. I was grateful that I always keep a pair of sturdy shoes near a door, useful if you have to wade through broken glass and debris outside after an earthquake.
If you have an automated irrigation system and lose power during an earthquake, you will need to reset the timers. With fall just around the corner, you may want to readjust the timers because plants require less water in cooler weather. Check your irrigation infrastructure, such as valves, pipes and risers, to find cracks or breaks that could cause leaks and render your system ineffective.
If you lost any trees or shrubs from earthquake damage, consider replacing them with low-water-use plants. Local nurseries have a good selection because of the drought. Autumn is the best time to plant many shrubs and perennials so that they can settle in during the rainy season.
Scientists recently found new evidence pointing to a relationship between groundwater loss and seismic activity (http://www.naturalnews.com/046503_drought_earthquakes_California.html), another reason to use water wisely in the garden. If you are renovating your landscape, consider replacing a high-water area or a thirsty lawn with drought-tolerant native plants. Native plants are adapted to our Mediterranean climate and encourage biodiversity by supporting other native organisms.
Emergency preparedness includes having a readily available food supply. Dried or canned foods have the best shelf life and don't require cooking. An edible garden can be a source of emergency food, but if you preserve your harvest by canning, be sure to store those canned goods in a secure place so they are accessible and edible in an emergency.
I rarely use harmful chemicals in my garden, but I do keep a few herbicides that could create a hazard if spilled. If the crate of chemicals had fallen off of the top of my stacked washer and dryer, where they were stored, they would have soiled my garage floor.
If you do experience a chemical spill, read the label instructions for cleanup to avoid polluting water and soil. In fact, now is a good time to safely dispose of any chemicals you no longer use. Napa Waste and Recycling Services will take fungicides, insecticides, herbicides and pool chemicals, in addition to many other hazardous waste materials, at its South Napa facility. For more information, call 1-800-984-9661 or 707-259-8608 or visit http://naparecycling.com/household-hazardous-waste/.
Store any garden chemicals away from the space where you store emergency gear or where your family would congregate in the event of an earthquake. It is a good idea to store chemical fertilizers and pesticides in a locked cabinet in a side yard or backyard, away from any people, plants or animals the chemicals could harm.
Napa County Master Gardeners welcome any additional tips or lessons you learned in the aftermath of the South Napa Quake. To share suggestions with us, please call or email our Help Desk (information below).
Workshop: Join Napa County Master Gardeners for a workshop on “Critters in the Garden” on Sunday, September 21, from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m., at the Yountville Community Center, 6516 Washington Street, Yountville. Learn to identify and manage the many critters that invade your garden by air, by land and from underground. Learn techniques for managing gophers, moles, voles, rabbits, squirrels, deer and birds. To register, call the Yountville 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.
