Wednesday, December 15, 2010

Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day, 15 December 2010

Here it is, the last month of the year, almost-but-not-quite winter. Even though we live in the heart of Silicon Valley, we've already had several nights of freezing temperatures. Many were cold enough to freeze the water in the bird baths, the dripper for the bath (creating quite the inverted icicle), the garden hose, and so on.
Bath-cicle

But still, some things in my yard continue to bloom... even some very confused summer-bloomers! Here's the list.

  • White-flowered Vining Solanum (tends to bloom year-round)
  • White Solanum
  • Chrysanthemum (supposed to bloom in fall)
  • Vining Plumbago (supposed to bloom in summer and fall)
  • Hebe (supposed to bloom in summer)
  • Rosy Buckwheat (supposed to bloom in summer)
  • Nasturtiums (starts blooming in spring till it gets too hot then dies)
  • Penstemon (supposed to bloom spring and summer)
  • Penstemon
  • Tomatoes (supposed to be tropical!)
  • Tomato
  • Impatiens (supposed to be tropical!)
  • Impatiens

Monday, November 15, 2010

Garden Bloggers Bloom Day, 15 November 2010

OK, OK. So I skipped last month. But now it's November and I have another opportunity to survey what's blooming in my yard. Given that it is November and we've had several days here and a week there of very crisp overnight temps and not-very-warm daytime highs, I'm a little surprised at some of the things that are still blooming. Here's November's list:

  • Rose
  • Penstemon (hybrid)
    HybridPenstemon
  • Canna Lily
  • Nasturtium
    Nasturtium
  • Lobelia, trailing blue
  • Impatiens
  • Jade Plant
  • Geranium (barely)
  • White solanum vine
    White Solanum
  • Chrysanthemum (barely)
  • Strawberry
  • Tomato
  • Purple Potato Plant
    Purple Solanum
  • Plumbago, vining
    Plumbago
  • Rosy Buckwheat
    Rosy Buckwheat
One that surprises me is the hybrid penstemon, but the one that really surprises me is the California Native Rosy Buckwheat. The Rosy Buckwheat usually turns brown a month or two after the Sulfur Buckwheat, but the Sulfur has been brown for months and months. And months. Since before July 15.

Of course, being fall, we also have other bright colors available, even if it's not blossoms.
Pepper Tree

Wednesday, September 15, 2010

Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day, 15 September 2010

Another month has gone by. Even though the summer didn't feel very summer-y this year, it's really starting to feel like fall. The orioles are all gone. The morning chill is lasting a little longer. The sun is setting a bit earlier. And the sun is *definitely* coming up quite a bit later. The bean production has all but stopped. The cucumber production has slowed quite remarkably. The zucchini production -- that is, the setting of fruits -- has not only NOT slowed, it has increased. The good news for me is that mostly they aren't turning into actual zucchinis for the table... or bread... or cake. And the ones that do turn into produce are doing so quite slowly.

But we're here to talk about what's blooming today. The zucchini continue to put on some amazing squash blossoms, but the rest of the veggie garden has mostly stopped blooming. Nothing in the way of California natives are blooming, but that doesn't keep them from creating a little garden "interest" such as the Western Virgin's Bower seed heads.
Western Virgins Bower Seeds

So, here's what's blooming in my yard today:

  • Nasturtiums
  • Canna Lilies
  • Coral Bells (huh? They're usually done by summer!)
  • Western Columbine (just a few blossoms)
  • Hybrid Penstemon
    Penstemon
  • Roses
  • California Poppies (a few small ones here and there)
  • Ivy Geraniums
  • Impatiens
  • Trailing Lobelia
  • Chrysanthemums
    Chrysanthemums
  • Some garlic relative (weed)
  • Solanum rattonii (white-flowered vine)
  • Basil
  • Purple Potato Plant
  • Plumbago (both vining and creeping)
  • Sunflowers (there are a few left)
  • Sticky Monkeyflower (just a few blossoms)

Sunday, September 5, 2010

Tomato Tip

The other day Mom picked a tomato off one of her several plants. It was smiling brightly red at her, so she assumed it was ready to go. Well, the back quarter of the tomato that she couldn't see while the tomato was still on the vine was fairly green. What to do?

Put the partially-ripe tomato in a bag with an apple or two and set it out at room temperature for a day or several (you'll want to check on it) and it will ripen for you. Basically, this is the same trick that the big growers and supermarkets do with a fair amount of their produce, only they don't use the apple directly. 

Apples put out a gas called ethylene gas that causes many fruits (e.g., peaches, pears, bananas, apples) to ripen. The growers pick the produce green (so that it will ship with less damage because the green fruit is very solid) and the markets (or middle-man) then gas the fruit with ethylene gas for a while before putting it out on the shelves.

You can use this tip at the end of the growing season when your tomato vines are still covered with partially ripe or unripe tomatoes and extend your tomato-eating season. (Of course, there's always fried green tomatoes, if you can handle the oil.)

The bad news is that the tomato doesn't really continue to develop its sugar content much once the fruit is picked, so tomatoes (and most other fruits) ripened this way tend to taste a little more flat than those picked when fully ripe. (This is one of the reasons that supermarket fruits don't taste as sparkly as the home-grown versions.)

Oh, and that saying about one rotten apple spoiling the barrel? Well, it's true. An overripe/rotten tomato REALLY puts out a LOT of ethylene gas and sends the rest of the barrel into an over-ripening frenzy.

Saturday, August 28, 2010

Experiment in Hanging Tomato Planters

I've been seeing these hanging tomato planters for a number of years now, but have always pooh-poohed them as non-viable solutions for growing tomatoes. Last year I noted that a gardening neighbor had a few of them and they seemed to be producing, so I finally succumbed this year and bought a couple to try.

Actually, Mom and I together bought two each of two different manufacturer's styles. The ones we purchased at Orchard Supply Hardware were made of a woven plastic fabric attached to a wire frame at the top that hung from wires.
OSH Hanging Planter
The planters we bought online from Gardener's Supply (gardeners.com) had a heavy wire cage structure with a heavy fabric lining that zips open and closed with a heavy zipper. The heavy wire cage hangs from chains.
Gardeners Hanging Planter
Both types have an opening at the base where you plant your tomato so that, when the planter is hung, the tomato plant will grow downward... then try to reach up.
OSH Planter Base Gardeners Planter Base
The two different planter types present their own particular advantages and issues in terms of assembly, but we haven't developed a preference of one over the other.

One really big difference between the two planters is that the one from Gardener's comes with a reservoir and a few capillary strips. When you've assembled your fully-planted planter, you lay one of the strips on top of the soil, set the reservoir in on top of the strip, then fold the other end of the strip into the reservoir. The idea is that the combination of reservoir and capillary strip will provide constant moisture to the rootball. But the thing is that it provides such a constant level of moisture that it drips out the bottom continuously, albeit slowly. Side note: you can't put fertilizer in the reservoir or the capillary strip will develop algae and it will quit working.

Both planters instruct you to water daily. This turns out not to be strictly necessary, but you really need to keep an eye on the heat and wind if you don't plan to water daily. Otherwise you get up the next morning and find your plant hanging all limp.

Our Results
As I mentioned above, if you're not very careful about your watering schedule, you're going to end up with a limp plant. The problem I encountered there is that I had a few green Brandywine tomatoes coming on that were a little larger than golfballs. The next thing I know, they've got blossom end rot. The book says that this is caused by low calcium (not bloody likely given the amount of calcium in our soil and city water) or by "uneven watering." I think going dry counts as "uneven." So, while I had tomatoes that looked like this:
Ripening Brandywine Tomatoes
The other side looked like this:
Rotting Brandywine Tomatoes
Happily, after this catastrophe, I watered daily and have plenty of new green Brandywine tomatoes coming on and the Super Sweet 100 (cherry-type) tomatoes never suffered from drought (reservoir and capillary strips) and, therefore, didn't suffer from blossom end rot.

On the other hand, both plants seem a little anemic -- especially the Super Sweet 100 in the OSH planter with the constantly-dripping reservoir. And the fruits of the SS100 are uneven in that some of them act like they are trying to dehydrate on the vine even tho they're not yet ripe and there's plenty of water dripping from the base.

The Issues
For those who haven't raised tomatoes, here are a few rules of thumb about growing them in the ground:

  • Water them minimally once they are established. This forces them to put down deep roots where they can find mineral nutrients they need for blossoming and fruiting.
  • Fertilize them minimally or at least NOT with nitrogen. Nitrogen encourages lots of leaf growth and not roots, blossoms, and fruit.
  • Keep them up, off the ground, or soil microbes will take over and rot your fruit quickly. 
One of the problems of planting in pots and watering daily till water comes out the bottom is that you're flushing out the very nutrients the plant needs. So, you should probably plan on fertilizing these things with a mild, non-nitrogen containing fertilizer.

So, these hanging planters need you to water daily, offer no root room, and need to be carefully fertilized for optimum growth. The one bonus is that, because they are hanging, you don't have to worry about staking or tomato cages. It's also a lot easier to harvest what's there right at shoulder height.

Final Recommendation
Overall, I suppose they're nice for the novelty or if you really don't have any other place to grow tomatoes, but they're awfully fussy and the results aren't all that spectacular. For example, Mom has also planted tomatoes in 5-gallon and 15-gallon pots this year and those are doing better than her hanging tomatoes.

Thursday, August 19, 2010

Orioles Leaving Early

Every year a small flock of Hooded Orioles arrive in the spring and stay for the summer before heading back south for the winter. The first birds to arrive in the spring are the breeding males who start arriving sometime between early March and mid-May. The females and juveniles arrive a few weeks later.

Hooded Oriole, Adult Male

After spending the summer jockeying for position at the oriole feeder and sucking down nectar the males start leaving, usually starting between mid-September and early October, with all birds gone by late October.


Hooded Oriole, Adult Female

Well, this year they split early. I haven't seen a breeding male in almost a week, since 13 August. And the female population also seems to be getting pretty thin. As of the middle of last week I was still seeing up to two adult males at a time in the yard and up to four adult females at a time. As of yesterday, no males and only one female at a time.

Granted, it sure feels like fall. Of course, it's felt like fall most of the summer. My garden is located in San Jose, CA. It's August. We're supposed to have most days in the 80s and many days in the 90s, sometimes climbing into the 100s. We haven't seen a day over 80 since mid-July. More and more mornings the cloud cover doesn't burn off till after 10 AM. Usually it's gone by 9.

So, the orioles have declared it to be the end of summer.

Sunday, August 15, 2010

Garden Bloggers Bloom Day 15 August 2010

Another month has flown past and it's again Bloom Day.  Here's what's blooming in my yard in San Jose today:

  • Western Virgin's Bower
  • Penstemon
  • Love-in-a-Mist
  • Canna Lilly
  • Western Columbine
  • Chrysanthemum
  • Zucchini
  • Cucumber
  • Basil
  • Nasturtium
  • Ivy Geranium
  • Impatiens
  • Solanum rattonii
  • Trailing Blue Lobelia
  • Tomato
  • Wax Beans
  • Hebe
  • Vining Plumbago
  • Creeping Plumbago
  • Rosy Buckwheat
  • Sunflowers
  • Purple Potato Plant
  • Sticky Monkeyflower
  • California Poppies
  • Roses

Thursday, July 15, 2010

Garden Bloggers Bloom Day, 15 July 2010

How the time does fly! It's already the 15th and Garden Bloggers Bloom Day is again upon me.

The berzerk Clarkia are finally fading -- and fast -- but the poppies are trying to make a comeback. The veggies are now blooming -- and producing! Here's what's going on:
  • Nasturtiums -- not many left and they're kind of small and ratty looking
  • Columbine -- both the natives and the hybrids are just about done
  • Penstemon -- the hybrid penstemon is still plugging along
    Penstemon
  • Nandina
  • Canna Lilies
  • Love-in-a-Mist
    Love-in-a-Mist
  • Roses
  • Western Virgin's Bower
  • Chrysanthemum (?!?!?)
    Chrysanthemum
  • Impatiens
  • Lobelia
  • Iron Cross Oxalis
  • Hoya Carnosa (aka Wax Plant)
  • Solanum rattonii
  • Parsley
  • Geraniums
  • Sambucus mexicana (aka Blue Elderberry)
  • Sticky Monkeyflower
  • Clarkia -- but they're fading fast
  • California Poppies -- trying to make a comeback
  • Hebe -- down to one last inflorescence
  • Plumbago (vining) -- going insane!
  • Plumbago (creeping)
  • Purple Potato Plant
  • Rosy Buckwheat -- past its prime
  • Sunflowers
  • Zucchini
    Zucchini Flower
  • Cucumber
  • Tomato
  • Wax Bean

Tuesday, June 15, 2010

Garden Bloggers Bloom Day, 15 June 2010

Wow! Another month has passed and it's GBBD all over again. Here's what's blooming in my yard:

  • Clarkia continue to go nuts!
  • California Poppies are barely hanging on
  • Penstemon 'Margarita BOP'
  • Sticky Monkeyflower
  • Blue Elderberry
  • Sulfur Buckwheat
  • Rosy Buckwheat
  • Hebe (thanks to ELF for ID-ing the purple flowering shrub)
  • Purple Potato Plant
  • Solanum rattonii
  • Geranium, trailing and upright
  • Impatiens
  • Nasturtium
  • Amaryllis
  • Oxalis 'Iron Cross'
  • Roses, upright and climbing
  • Chrysanthemum (?!?!?)
  • Western Columbine
  • Penstemon hybrid
  • Lobelia
  • Love-in-a-Mist
  • Seep Monkeyflower (almost done)
  • Calendula

Monday, May 31, 2010

Summer Veggie Gardening

I haven't been very active in my garden of late, mostly just maintenance -- lawn-mowing because we got so much rain, weed-pulling because we got so much rain, vine- and hedge-hacking because we got so much rain -- but I have started getting some of my summer veggie garden planted.

So far, I have planted:

  • Zucchini -- I planted dark green and yellow, two of each, which are already putting on abundant growth. I planted 4 seeds from last year's seeds and all 4 came up.
  • Tomato -- I have seeded (a little late) some Super Sweet 100 (cherry-type), plus I have a donated Brandywine. The Brandywine is already transplanted into one of those upside-down hanging planters. The SS100 will be transplanted into another style of upside-down hanging planter as soon as it's ready for transplant.
  • Beans -- This year I found a source for pole-type wax beans. These are just like the Kentucky Wonder (green) pole beans except that the pods are yellow (and much easier to find on the stem).
  • Cucumber -- The seeds are a little old (from 2008), so I've sown them rather thickly. But I'll have to be diligent in thinning them out. Last year's harvest of two 6-packs planted in root-knot nematode soil was WAY more than any three people could handle. 

Maybe today I'll get out there and plant some Tall Top Beets for the beet greens this summer.