Gardening Q&A

Dear Pat,

I have a pine tree up on a very steep hill in my backyard. It is very hard to reach and to work up on the hill. I have gotten up there and planted some plants, but it seems like the plants die off.  What can I plant under the pine tree that will survive? I have rosemary under it right now, but several of the plants have died already. I was thinking of maybe doing something with hydroseeding due to the difficultly of planting. Any ideas would be helpful. Thanks.

Jan

Hi Jan,


Ceanothus

Hillsides are always tough places to garden. I speak from experience! Whenever I plant something on a slope, I try to make the planting hole as level as possible, and then dig a small trench above the plant that I believe will capture the water and direct it down toward the plant instead of letting it roll down the hillside.

You mentioned rosemary and said it was working out for you. Try similar plants: I'd start with ceanothus or cotoneaster. Ceanothus makes gorgeous blue flowers this time of year, and the leaves are beautiful year-round. Cotoneaster has beautiful fall color—orange or red berries beloved by birds, and shiny, brighter green leaves. Very nice. Choose ones that spread outwards rather than grow upwards. The ceanothus with the small, dark green sort of crinkled leaves are more drought tolerant that those with bigger leaves.

Lastly, add lots of mulch. It will protect the soil, keep it soft and friable, conserve moisture, deter weeds—in a nutshell, mulch is perfect for just about anything that ails a garden! It also gives the beds a clean, manicured look.

Let me know if this helps.

Pat

Dear Pat,

I'm looking for Belgian tomatoes in Sacramento. Any leads on where I could purchase a few plants for my garden? I grew a few years ago and had so much fun with them. Thanks.

Hello!

I don't know of any local nursery that sells Belgian tomatoes, but did find some online seed sources, including Burpee. If you do a search for Belgian tomatoes, you'll get plenty of hits on growing them and on places to buy seed.

Most gardeners start tomato seeds in February so they get a quick, big start on the season. But it isn't too late to order seeds and get them going. We have such a long growing season in the Sacramento area that you won't be too far behind.

The only other suggestion is to call some of the local nurseries and see whether they sell that variety. It is similar to Brandywine, so if you can't find the Belgian, try Brandywine.

Pat 

I just moved to the country where the deer come into the garden. What can I plant besides rosemary and lavender that they won't eat? Help!

When I first moved into an area with lots of deer, I, too, thought I'd have a garden of nothing but rosemary and lavender, but I've discovered many, many plants they don't ever eat. My tried-and-true list includes magnolias, osmanthus, New Zealand flax, hellebores, hardy geraniums, red-hot pokers, daffodils, culinary sage, Santolina, manzanita, miscanthus (and most ornamental grasses) and irises. They also avoid the bamboo. I plant the clumping bamboo in the ground, but keep the varieties that spread in a large pot.

Last year my fruit trees produced a lot of fruit, but the fruits were very small. Do the trees need more water to make larger fruits?
Fruit trees produce plenty of blooms and fruit in the hope some of it will mature and produce seed. That isn't our goal for the tree. We want plump apples, pears and peaches. You need to thin the fruit several times during the early spring. Snip away the smallest fruits in each clump until you've thinned the fruit to one every 4 to 6 inches.

I planted marigolds and the next morning there was nothing left. The leaves looked like they'd been stripped. What happened?
My money is on earwigs. They love newly planted marigolds. In fact, I think it is one of their favorites. Go out in the garden about 10 p.m. and take a look around. Chances are you'll also find them under the lettuce leaves. You can handpick them or use bait specially formulated for killing them. There are pet- and child-safe baits you can use. Check your local nursery. 

About Pat Rubin, California Bountiful's gardening expert


Pat Rubin

For Pat Rubin, gardening is more than just dirt and plants. "It's about history, romance, adventure and people," she says. "And it should be fun."

California Bountiful's gardening columnist has lived and chronicled this fun, hands-in-the-dirt approach for years—and for additional publications including Fine Gardening, Pacific Horticulture, Christian Science Monitor, Family Circle and The Sacramento Bee. Pat has also volunteered as a Master Gardener, speaks to garden clubs and appears regularly on gardening radio shows.

Need gardening advice? Ask the expert!

Send your questions to gardening@californiabountiful.com

As a California Bountiful reader, you have the opportunity to get your seasonal gardening questions answered by gardening expert Pat Rubin. Here are a few questions from other readers.

Sometimes we go long spells without rain. Should I water the garden?
Yes, if the garden goes more than a week or 10 days without water, give it a drink. Potted plants need to be watered more often since the water drains away so quickly, and the only protection the soil and roots have is the thickness of the pot. Don't forget pots under eaves or against the sides of the house probably don't get any water from the rains, so it's up to you to keep them alive.

My ornamental grasses are a gorgeous golden color and I love looking at them, but I already see bits of new green growth coming up. Should I cut them back?
Ornamental grasses really come into their own in fall and winter when their foliage turns a beautiful golden color, and they look amazing against the rain and snow. But when you see green growth, that means it's time to cut away the old growth and let the new take over. If you don't cut it now, you'll be cutting away the tops of the new growth when you prune. Some winter tasks can wait, but this cannot.

I want to get a head start on the vegetable garden and was told to plant tomato seeds now. Isn't it too cold outside for that?
Yes and no. If you've grown tomatoes for any length of time, you know you'll get volunteer seedlings in the garden quite early in the season. I always figure Mother Nature knows what she's doing when that happens. Of course, you don't know if these seeds will be what you had last year; they may have crossed with another tomato, or if they were hybrids, they will revert back to one of the parents used in the cross.

The best way to plant tomato seeds now is indoors. If you don't have lights to put them under, put them on a sunny windowsill once the seeds have germinated. Not enough light causes them to get leggy and spindly. Growers who routinely start tomato seeds in February use heat mats and grow lights to get them off to a good start. It's not imperative you do this, but it makes the job easier.

About Pat Rubin, California Bountiful's gardening expert


Pat Rubin

For Pat Rubin, gardening is more than just dirt and plants. "It's about history, romance, adventure and people," she says. "And it should be fun."

California Bountiful's gardening columnist has lived and chronicled this fun, hands-in-the-dirt approach for years—and for additional publications including Fine Gardening, Pacific Horticulture, Christian Science Monitor, Family Circle and The Sacramento Bee. Pat has also volunteered as a Master Gardener, speaks to garden clubs and appears regularly on gardening radio shows.

Need gardening advice? Ask the expert!

Send your questions to gardening@californiabountiful.com

As a California Bountiful reader, you have the opportunity to get your seasonal gardening questions answered by gardening expert Pat Rubin. What do you want to know, now that fall is in full swing?

Dear Pat,

Would you please tell me when the best time to prune persimmons and cherimoyas is? Thank you very much for your help.

Heddy

Dear Heddy,

Your timing is great: Now is the time to prune both the persimmon and the cherimoya. I don't know whether your trees are young or mature, but the winter dormant season is the best time for pruning.

Persimmons don't need much pruning other than shaping the tree. They are pretty polite growers and make graceful-looking trees for the landscape. I love the yellow leaves in the fall and the way the fruit hangs on the trees in the winter—very decorative!

The main thing to remember about cherimoyas is to cut away the suckers that tend to grow from the base and mature branches of the tree. The suckers grow straight up, a sure hint this is not a typical branch.

For even more information, check online. Just search "pruning cherimoya trees" or "pruning persimmons" and you'll get a wealth of information.

If you have several different fruit and nut trees, I always found it helpful to buy a book on growing and pruning fruit and nut trees. I'd take the book out into the orchard with me and turn to the section for each type of tree and follow the instructions. They all have slightly different requirements. The only common thread among them all is to prune away dead or crossing branches and suckers first, then take a look and decide what to do from there.

Best of luck!

Pat

We just built a raised garden. What vegetables can be planted in December?

In most regions, there's still time to plant bok choy, broccoli and cauliflower. Check your local nursery for starter plants, because you are a bit late to start them from seed. You can plant radishes and lettuce from seed. Now is the time to plant garlic. Just plant the cloves and let them grow until June. Don't forget cool-weather crops like peas, too. I like flowers among the vegetables: Calendulas, pansies and snapdragons are good bets.

Why are there so many acorns some years and so few other years? If we have a lot of acorns, does that mean we are going to have a wet winter? Or is it a dry winter?

There are all sorts of beliefs as to what a bountiful acorn year means, but there is a scientific explanation as to why some years the ground is littered with acorns and other years you can hardly find any at all. When acorns are really plentiful, it's called a mast year.

Getting a mast year is a two-year process. If you look at a year when acorns were really plentiful, you'll see the previous spring was very dry, but the spring the year before was very wet. All the catkins—the male flowers that look like tassels—produced after the wet spring were pollinated. If it had rained as much that previous spring, a lot of the pollen would have been washed off and we'd have fewer acorns. 

My callas are top-heavy with seedpods. I can see yellow seeds inside the green covering. Can I harvest them and grow new plants?

Yes, but wait until the pod splits open. The longer you leave the stem on the plant, the better. Eventually it will start to dry up, and the soft coating on the seeds, which looks like kernels of corn, will get soft and squishy. There's a seed inside each kernel. Some people pop the seeds out, but I simply plant the whole kernel. The big, old-fashioned white callas can produce 25 or 30 seeds per stalk. The dwarf callas produce a dozen or so.

I plant them in 4-inch pots rather than directly in the ground, because it's easier to care for them. Poke the kernels about an inch deep, and 2 to 3 inches apart. Keep the pots watered, but not soggy. Some seeds will germinate right away, while others can take several weeks. Be patient. The seedlings are tough and require little care, but certainly can't be ignored. Once two or three leaves have formed, pot them into a larger pot or into the ground. Again, keep an eye on them. They should bloom the second year. Callas are deer-proof, and for me, that makes them a very desirable plant.

See how Pat answered your questions earlier this year.

About Pat Rubin, California Bountiful's gardening expert


Pat Rubin

For Pat Rubin, gardening is more than just dirt and plants. "It's about history, romance, adventure and people," she says. "And it should be fun."

California Bountiful's gardening columnist has lived and chronicled this fun, hands-in-the-dirt approach for years—and for additional publications including Fine Gardening, Pacific Horticulture, Christian Science Monitor, Family Circle and The Sacramento Bee. Pat has also volunteered as a Master Gardener, speaks to garden clubs and appears regularly on gardening radio shows.

Need gardening advice? Ask the expert!

Send your questions to gardening@californiabountiful.com