Gardening Q&A

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


Pistacia chinensis

I live in Northern California along Interstate 80, and I see a lot of brilliant red trees along the freeway. What are they?

Anyone who has driven along Interstate 80 between Sacramento and Auburn in autumn can't miss the scarlet foliage planted along many of the on and off ramps. The color is screaming red. On a cloudy day, it's positively luminous. It's the Chinese pistache (Pistacia chinensis), and while it is related to the pistachio, it doesn't produce nuts. The tree grows to 25 or 30 feet tall.

It's very adaptable and settles just as happily in a yard with regular water and decent soil as it does in places where it gets no care at all. The female Chinese pistache trees bear small green and red berries. They can reseed, but I've never found them to be invasive. Choose pistache trees in the fall so you can see their beautiful colors.

I want to save tomato seeds this year. How do I do it?

The heirloom tomatoes in my garden are perfect for saving seed. Tomatoes are self-pollinating, so I don't have to worry about them being pollinated from the neighbor's tomatoes.

There are two schools of thought for saving tomato seeds:  

  • Traditionally, you wait until the tomato is really ripe, past its prime for eating—soft, squishy and splitting. Scoop out the seeds and put them in a container for a few days to ferment. They'll get a frothy, scummy covering on the top. Next step is to rinse that off, getting the seeds clean, and spread them on a paper towel to dry. Once dry, package them, label them and store them in a cool, dark place until next year.
  • Then there are the tomato-seed savers who simply scoop out the ripe seeds, clean them, spread them on a paper towel and write down the variety, let it dry, put it in a plastic bag and that's it.

Both sides say their method works well, allowing you to grow your own starts next year. If you try it, please let me know how it goes!

See how Pat answered your questions earlier this year.

 

I do enjoy sunflowers and need a tip on how to keep bugs and/or rabbits from eating the seedlings before they become mature enough to grow large. I live in the Inland Empire in Southern California.

Pam

Dear Pam,

Thanks for writing. Seeds started directly in the ground where you want them to grow are certainly subject to insects and browsing animals. One giant pumpkin grower I know in the Sacramento area has trouble with rabbits nibbling his seedlings. He fashioned cages out of remesh (in essence, made a circular cage), and put one around each plant. Then he wrapped plastic around the bottom 6 or 8 inches of the outside of the cage. Problem solved.

We had skunks coming in the garden at night digging in the beds looking for grubs. They'd disturb all of the seedlings and vegetable plants, and after a few days of being dug up every night, the plants died. We finally put a small picket fence around the vegetable garden.

You can also protect each seedling with something as simple as two sticks with a piece of sunshade over them.

I'd also suggest starting your seedlings in pots or flats and letting them get a bit bigger before putting them out. Older seedlings are less susceptible to cutworms, earwigs, etc. Chances are that earwigs or slugs are eating the seedlings. If the problem is slugs or snails, you can sprinkle diatomaceous earth around them (has sharp edges and the slugs won't crawl over it). There is a product called Sluggo Plus that kills slugs, snails and earwigs, and is nontoxic to people and pets. I've used it with great success.

Good luck, and let me know what works!

Pat

How can I protect young plants and seedlings from the sun?

I put inexpensive tomato cages around a few of the plants, then put a black plastic nursery flat on top. The shade moves around the bed as the sun changes position, so all of the young plants and seedlings get some protection, but also get plenty of sun so they grow strong.


What's the best way to make sure potted plants get enough water?

Sometimes during the hottest days, if the pots are in the sun, you might have to water twice daily. I use a soft-rain nozzle, and I water until the water comes out the bottom of the pot, then I water the plant again. Too many people think if they sprinkle the plants, they are giving them enough water. They are not. Remember, plants in pots are more exposed to sun than those in the ground: The pots heat up, and there really isn't enough soil, unless the pot is huge, to protect and insulate the roots. So you may have to water pots in the sun more than once a day.

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