Garden

Growing Pains

Jan. 6 was a blustery day, followed by an even more blustery night. Winds gusted to nearly 60 mph. We’d been warned by weather reports and thought we had battened down the hatches.
Our climbing roses were pruned and secured to their archways. I’d cut back other long branches that might whip around. My husband cleaned the gutters and storm drains, and put away loose items. Let it blow!

Winter Workout

Even though it’s tempting to cocoon inside, winter is the time for Sacramento gardeners to pick up our tools and go outdoors. The work that we do in the next few months lays the foundation for the rest of the year. Winter is pruning season for roses, grapes and most deciduous fruit trees. Pruning encourages the growth of fruiting or flowering branches and controls a plant’s shape and size. Pruning can also improve a plant’s health by removing dead, diseased and damaged growth.

Second Spring

For much of the world, fall is the time to harvest and put the garden to bed. Gardeners in Sacramento are harvesting, too, but we have to multitask. Autumn is our “second spring,” according to Angela Pratt, owner of The Plant Foundry in Oak Park. Now is the time to plant spring-blooming seeds and cool-season flowering plants, and then enjoy their flowers in the coming months.

Live and Learn

It was our first visit to our son’s new townhouse. Kurt and his girlfriend Shelly had purchased a strawberry pot, filled its little openings with blue lobelia, scarlet salvia and white alyssum, and put it on the front stoop. The plants were drooping woefully in the blazing sunlight. As soon as Kurt and Shelly opened the door, I blurted, “These plants need water now!” I tried, more diplomatically, to explain that their roots needed more soil and space to grow, and it would be very hard to keep them moist enough to survive in that pot. In my heart, I was lamenting that they were making the same mistakes I made when I began gardening. Why didn’t they consult me, the Master Gardener in the family? Does each generation need to repeat the last’s gardening goofs?

Nematode Nemesis

Have your tomatoes or other vegetables started wilting in the middle of the day, even though the soil is moist? Are their leaves yellowing or undersized? Have the plants stopped growing and producing? The problem may be underground. When you remove a puny plant, gently rinse off the soil and examine its roots. If they are thickened, with pearly white nodules growing on them, your soil is probably infested with root-knot nematodes. That’s bad news because it’s virtually impossible to get rid of this lurking menace. You can find ways to grow a good crop, but it will take some strategy and effort.

The Heat Is On

Last July, we had 11 triple-digit days, some topping 105 degrees. Such hot weather makes me want to stay inside, close the shades and sip a cool drink. However, gardeners know that plants need attention now more than ever. July is the peak time for water to evaporate from the soil and transpire from the plants, so we must be vigilant about watering. We also need to protect plants from heat and sun, monitor for pests, remove spent flowers, keep rampant growth in check and harvest regularly.