- Author: Jutta Thoerner
- Editor: Noni Todd
I live in San Miguel and often get frost in March, what can I do in the garden now? Denise F.
By Jutta Thoerner Master Gardener
Living on the Central Coast means different micro climates are a mere 30 minutes apart from one another. A gardener in Los Osos could be enjoying greens and herbs in March, while the North County is not frost free until the first part of April. The average last hard frost dates for our regions are: Paso Robles - April 5th, San Luis Obispo - Feb 15th, Pismo Beach - Feb 15th, Santa Maria - April 5th. If you want to grow salad greens and herbs, folks living north of the grade have to protect their veggie beds during those frosty nights with a winter row cover. March is not too late to start seeds indoors; many veggies need 6 weeks before the last frost date in your region before they are strong enough to be planted in your garden.
To keep our fingers in the dirt, one can rely on the weed, defined as “a plant that grows in an undesirable location.” These plants are best dealt with while still small and hand weeding is economical, a great work out, environmentally correct and gives established plants room to breathe. Many of the weeded areas will benefit from a thick layer of mulch to suppress any further weed growth.
March also gives us an early opportunity to test all our irrigation stations. Winter might have clogged emitters; rodents can chew through your drip line and popup stations might be faulty. It will feel good knowing once we hit triple digits that all your plants will get the water they need. Watch for newly planted bulbs or larger plants which might need extra emitters.
Don’t be surprised if you notice mounds in your garden or lawn, all creatures are feeling spring arrive. This could mean you need to brush up on your trapping skills. Identifying the type of animal is the 1st step to success. Get help from UCCE pest notes, at www.ipm.ucdavis.edu/ and get to work. Catching gophers, moles or squirrels before they reproduce, makes trapping a snap.
- Author: Lee Oliphant
- Editor: Noni Todd
Spring into action. Begin growing leafy greens now!
By Lee Oliphant Master Gardener
Can’t wait to start planting outdoors? You can begin sowing seeds of “spring greens” now, and add them to salads in 4-6 weeks. Yes, it’s time to begin planting seeds of those delicious, crunchy, nutty, spicy, vitamin-rich, gourmet greens, providing exotic flavor and color to your dishes. With a little planning, you can grow them year-around. Look for cool season varieties for planting now, switching to warm season varieties in the warmer regions of the county during the summer.
Some popular cool weather greens that are easy to grow are lettuce, like red and green oakleaf, red sails, tango, and black seeded Simpson. Other cool weather easy-to-grow greens are spinach, arugula, tendergreen mustard spinach,cress, mizuna, mache, escarole, garden cress, chard and kale. Planting mesclun (mesk-LOON or MES-klun) and meaning “mix”,allows you to enjoy a variety of greens in a small space.
Plant seeds every 2-3 weeks to keep them coming. Try the “cut and come again” method of harvesting. Snip the leaves off as they grow or pick leaves from the sides and they will continue to grow from the middle. These harvesting methods allow you to enjoy your greens over a longer period of time.
In colder climates, start seeds indoors in a cold frame or greenhouse. Seed in ground outdoors in warmer areas when the soil temperature is at least 35°F. Germination should take place in 6 to 12 days.Spring greens needs a humus-rich, moisture-retentive, well-drained soil, with plenty of nitrogen.
Learn about how to incorporate edible plants in your home's landscaping. Join the Master Gardeners for a presentation of "Edible Landscaping" taking place on Saturday, February 23rd in the Community Room at Oak Creek Commons, 635 Nicklaus Street, Paso Robles, 93446.
- Author: Noni Todd
Come learn how to worm compost the easy way with the Wiggley Wranch Worm Bin! This is a 2 hour workshop. The cost is $120 and includes the worm bin, worms, workshop and ongoing support. The event is on Saturday March 9, 2013 from 10-noon in the Garden of the Seven Sisters on Sierra Way, San Luis Obispo. So grab the family and come on out to learn a new way to enrich your garden and have fun at the same time!
All proceeds from the event go to fund the garden and related educational events.
Click on the flier below for more information about the workshop.
Worm Composting Flyer
- Author: Steve McDermott
- Editor: Noni Todd
Landscaping with Decorative Plants You Can Eat
By Steve McDermott Master Gardener
When we think about planting home gardens we think of either landscaping with non-edible plants or planting a separate vegetable garden. Why not combine them into a beautiful and useful garden you can eat? Edible plants can provide decoration and give us a healthy food source at the same time.
Incorporating edible plants into your existing landscape can provide interesting and varied displays for every season. They can attract butterflies and birds, reduce chemicals compared to store-bought produce, and yield food that is fresh and just plain taste better than store-bought products.
Herbs, vegetables and even fruit grow well in containers. Mixed into your existing garden, they can give spice and visual variety, provide borders for walkways, be used as hedges and walls, provide striking canopies and shade, and be used as replacements for high maintenance lawns. They can give brilliant shows of seasonal colors and double as fresh food.
If you let seasonal plants grow to maturity, they will show off wonderful flowers that contrast with your everyday green landscape plants. A few of them are Basil, Chamomile, Chives, and Mint. Attractive borders can be achieved with kale, lavender, marjoram, parsley, and shallots. Instead of grass and other traditional ground covers, think about using creeping mint, Alpine strawberry, thyme, and trailing rosemary. Both Nasturtium and mint will cover large areas. Some plants can be started and pruned into hedges, even lemons and limes.
Planting many edible crops is seasonal, so you have to plant warm season crops (the soil should be between 60 and 80 degrees when planted) in spring, and cool season crops in fall. Edible plants normally need at least 6 hours of sunlight a day. Vegetable plants often need plenty of water, so plants that are interspersed with other plants must have compatible water requirements.
To find out more about landscaping with edible plants, the Master Gardeners are giving a free “Advice to Grow By” workshop from 10 a.m. to noon on February 16 in the Garden of the Seven sisters, 2156 Sierra Way, San Luis Obispo.
- Author: Christina Muller
- Editor: Noni Todd
Hybrid and Heirloom Vegetables
By Christina Muller, Master Gardener
What are some differences between hybrid and heirloom vegetables?
~Donna B., Atascadero
Hybrid vegetables result from crossing two different varieties. This F1 generation consists of plants which are uniform and have traits from each parent. A tomato hybrid might get disease resistance from one parent and superior flavor from the other. However, seed grown from F1 hybrids will not breed true, yielding plants with a mish-mash of traits. To grow hybrid vegetables, new seed or plants must be purchased each season.
Hybrid vegetables often outperform their parent varieties due to hybrid vigor, growing larger and stronger with higher yields. They are often very disease resistant. Many hybrid tomatoes withstand verticillium and fusarium, soil pathogens to which tomato plants can fall prey. Hybrids can also offer uniform ripening and harvests, an advantage to the gardener who wishes to pick and preserve the season’s tomatoes all at once rather than canning small batches throughout summer.
‘Heirloom’ generally refers to varieties in existence for 50 years or more and have often arisen from specific regions. The tomato ‘Black From Tula’ has its origins near the city of Tula in Russia. Heirloom vegetables are open-pollinated, producing seed without human intervention. Because heirlooms are stable varieties, seed can be saved and grown the following season.
Many people grow heirlooms because they find the taste superior. Home gardeners can grow varieties with exceptional flavor even if they don’t ship well, ripen after picking or produce, flawless, blemish-free fruit. And certainly, the lore of heirlooms is intriguing to many as well. The tomato ‘Mortgage Lifter’ was so named after the developer paid off his mortgage during the Great Depression with proceeds from the sale of his tomato seedlings.
Deciding whether to grow hybrids, heirlooms or a combination comes down to comparing the traits of individual varieties. Choose those with qualities you desire and which will suit your garden’s conditions. And if your choices don’t work out as you’d hoped, there are countless varieties to choose from next season.
