Beyond the Garden Basics

If this newsletter podcast sounds familiar, it should. It is also the current (Ep. 341) Garden Basics podcast where myself and America’s Favorite Retired College Horticulture Professor, Debbie Flower, take a late May stroll through my garden, discussing the plants, as well as gardening techniques. But wouldn’t it be nice to see those plants and garden accoutrements? Well, here you go.

But first, a recap of what you may have missed on this week’s two Garden Basics podcasts:

Tuesday, June 4:

Ep. 340 -Q&A Cross Pollination Concerns. What is the Best City or State for Gardening?

• Understanding cross-pollination and its implications for seed saving and plant breeding.

• The importance of local conditions and location-specific knowledge in gardening.

• The impact of climate and weather on gardening success.

• Different perspectives on the best US cities for gardening, highlighting the influence of location on gardening success.

Thank you, AI, for your dry summary. Debbie Flower and I are more warm and endearing than that.

Friday, June 7: Ep. 341 - Fred’s Yard Tour with Debbie.

Or, listen above and scroll below. But we are definitely more entertaining and informative than AI would have you believe:

Takeaways

• The importance of selecting heat-resistant greens for summer gardening

• Strategies for dealing with garden pests like tomato hornworms and cabbage worms

• Tips for growing determinate tomatoes and managing peach trees

• Insights on using raised beds and root cellars for gardening

• The benefits of using vermiculite for seed planting and the use of worm bins for fertilizer

• The significance of providing shade for certain plants and the value of using row covers for protection. SmartPot compost sacks are a convenient and effective way to create rich compost for gardening (golly, AI, thanks for plugging the sponsor!)

• Clover is resistant to dog urine and can be used as a ground cover in areas frequented by pets.

• Fruit trees can be grown in containers, and it's important to control the width and height of the tree to manage root growth.

• Different soil types, such as raised bed soil planter mix and pumice, can be used for gardening in containers.

• Citrus, blueberries, and potatoes can be successfully grown in containers, providing a versatile option for home gardeners.

Again, just punch play above, and begin scrolling here:

Thanks for reading Beyond Basics: The Garden Basics with Farmer Fred Newsletter! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work.

Thank you for also listening to the Garden Basics with Farmer Fred podcast! It’s available wherever you get your podcasts. Please share it with your garden friends.

Fred Hoffman is also a University of California Cooperative Extension Master Gardener in Sacramento County. And he likes to ride his bike(s).

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit gardenbasics.substack.com/subscribe

Before we delve into the soil, fertilizer in hand, a quick review of what was on the Garden Basics with Farmer Fred podcast this past week;

Tuesday, May 28, Ep. 338: Zucchini Sex! Which cherries are best for cooking?

Questions tackled on this episode include answering questions about squash that is slow to produce healthy looking fruit (it’s due to the lousy sex life of male and female squash flowers this time of year: “it’s too hot!”, “it’s too cold!” “I’m hungry!” “I’m too full!” (See? Plants are just like us. Except they don’t get headaches.) And, some kind words about growing tart/sour cherry trees. They’re great in pies!

Takeaways from Ep. 338

• Squash, melons, and cucumbers have male and female flowers on the same plant, and successful pollination requires synchronized flowering.

• Pollinators like bees play a crucial role in transferring pollen between male and female flowers.

• When fertilizing plants, it's important to consider the temperature and nutrient concentration, especially with synthetic fertilizers.

• Organic fertilizers tend to have lower nutrient concentrations and are less likely to cause burning or osmotic problems.

• Cherry trees, particularly tart cherries, require good drainage to prevent root rot.

Friday, May 31 - Ep. 339 How to Water Clay Soil (and more tips for gardening in clay!)

In this episode of Garden Basics with Farmer Fred, the focus is on how to water clay soil and other tips for gardening in clay. Debbie Flower, America’s Favorite Retired College Horticultural Professor, shares valuable insights on the topic. The episode covers the characteristics of clay soil, the importance of organic matter, watering techniques, mulching, and the use of cover crops. The conversation also delves into the impact of soil structure on crop production and the benefits of no-till and cover cropping practices.

Takeaways From Ep. 339

• Understanding the characteristics of clay soil and the importance of organic matter in improving its quality.

• Learning effective watering techniques for clay soil, including surge irrigation and the use of moisture meters.

• Recognizing the benefits of mulching and the use of cover crops to enhance soil structure and promote healthy plant growth.

When Should You Fertilize Your Plants?

From the garden e-mail bag, Danny has been thinking about fertilizing, probably a little bit harder than most of us gardeners: “I am wondering if at a particular temperature, plants can’t feed themselves. Do they just need water if it’s too hot? What time of day is best for feeding the plants: during the day, or at night? Or do they need the sun to eat?”

Those were good questions, which we took up on the Garden Basics podcast. You can hear that segment in today’s newsletter podcast post.

According to retired college horticulture professor Debbie Flower, Danny is on to a very important aspect of correct fertilization techniques in the garden: plants can’t absorb fertilizer, if it’s too hot.

“Research shows that above 86 degrees Fahrenheit, plants don't use fertilizer, don't absorb nutrients,” explains Flower. “They're just pumping water through their system to keep themselves cool, much like a human would sweat in a very hot situation. He asks if they need sun to eat. Plants do need sun to make food. Plants are autotrophs, meaning they feed themselves. ‘Auto’ means self. And they use nutrients which are gathered primarily through the roots and some from the air through the stoma on the leaves to make their own food. And that food would only happen when the plant can collect the energy from the sun or other light source.”

Flower also explains that when we fertilize, that food is being processed and absorbed primarily underground, by the plant roots. “When we fertilize, we are just putting nutrients into the growing media. That growing media, in most cases, is the soil outdoors. It can also be the soilless mix in a container you have for a houseplant. Whatever the roots are growing in, that is the media I'm talking about. And that's where the nutrients need to be, that the plant will then absorb. We can apply those nutrients at pretty much any time of day or night. But we really want to apply the nutrients when it's cooler. All we're doing is loading the root zone with the nutrients that the plant then will collect when it's ready to make its own food. The one caveat is it's recommended we not fertilize at very high temperatures, above 86 degrees. If we get any fertilizer on the leaves of the plant, we might cause burning, especially if we applied too much fertilizer at any one time. We can cause burning, because the plant only has a limited ability to choose what it absorbs. If the growing media is just completely full of nutrients, and it's above 86 degrees and the plant is trying to just pump water through itself, it may not be able to get just water if there's too much of the nutrients in the root zone or too much when applying it. Those are the reasons we don't apply when temperatures are very high. We want the plant to be able to get just water to keep itself cool when it’s hot.”

The source of the fertilizer is also critical. “Plant injury can happen more easily when applying synthetic fertilizers in hot weather,” says Flower. “When we apply organic fertilizer, however, they tend to have a much lower concentration of nutrients in them. And they are in larger molecular sizes and need to be broken down by natural processes before the plant can get them. So, it's a slow release. It happens over time. It happens with the activity of weather as well as microorganisms and macro-organisms like worms, that break down that organic material and release those nutrients more slowly. So, we tend to be safer applying the organic ones. We tend to have less fertilizer burning with organic fertilizers.”

But if you're using lots of mulch, you may not even need to apply any fertilizer at all, says Flower.

“Using organic matter can apply all the nutrients that you need,” says Flower. Remember that the source of the nutrients for the plant is in the growing media. We put the nutrients in, or nature does, by digesting the dropped leaves, for example, creating a natural compost below the plant. Put it in the growing media and then the plant will take that up when the plant needs it.” Good sources of mulch for the garden include chipped/shredded tree parts, straw, fallen and shredded leaves, or aged compost.

Thanks for reading Beyond Basics: The Garden Basics with Farmer Fred Newsletter! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work.

Thank you for also listening to the Garden Basics with Farmer Fred podcast! It’s available wherever you get your podcasts. Please share it with your garden friends.

Fred Hoffman is also a University of California Cooperative Extension Master Gardener in Sacramento County. And he likes to ride his bike(s).

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit gardenbasics.substack.com/subscribe

Composting, Indoors and Out

Today’s newsletter podcast deals with options for indoor food scrap composting equipment, specifically kitchen composters (originally aired in Episode 196 of the Garden Basics with Farmer Fred podcast in May of 2022. In our conversation with America’s Favorite Retired College Horticulture Professor, Debbie Flower, she took a scenic bypass to talk about her outdoor garden kitchen scrap composter device, the Green Cone Composter. More information about that is below.

But before we get to that, let’s recap what you may have missed on this week’s two Garden Basics podcast, which includes another deep dive into the “kitchen scraps in the garden” debate:

Tuesday, May 21: Episode 336 - Q&A Kitchen Scraps in the Garden? When Should You Plant a Flowering Magnolia Tree, Spring or Fall?

Takeaways

• Burying kitchen scraps in the garden can attract scavengers like rats, gophers, voles, and ants, and may affect the quality of the soil microbiology.

• Composting kitchen scraps first or using alternative methods like African keyhole-style gardens or the Green Cone composter are recommended.

• The best time to plant a flowering tree like the Magnolia Genie is in the fall, but it can also be planted in the spring with extra care and regular watering.

• Keeping a tree in a container over the summer requires frequent watering and protection from heat damage.

• Using Smart Pots can help maintain cooler soil temperatures and reduce evaporation in container gardening.

Friday, May 24: Garden Basics Podcast, Episode 337 - How to Choose Nursery Plants. Tips for Starting a School Garden

Takeaways

Choosing Nursery Plants:

• Read the signs and make sure the plant will fit in your garden and take the conditions you have in mind.

• Check the plant for health, including good color, no holes or spots on the leaves, and no stickiness or mushiness.

• Inspect the media the plant is growing in, looking for weeds, the height of the media, and the presence of roots.

• Consider direct seeding certain vegetables like cucumbers and squash, as transplanting them when they have too many leaves can hinder their growth.

• Pot up plants in larger containers if you're not immediately planting them in the ground, especially for tomatoes, peppers, and other summer vegetables.

Tips for Starting a School Garden:

• School gardens can be a valuable educational tool and a source of community involvement.

• Getting the school on board and finding funding can be challenges, but reaching out to the principal and parent groups can help.

• Students play an active role in maintaining the garden and learn valuable gardening skills.

• The garden provides opportunities for hands-on learning, including lessons on composting, integrated pest management, and plant care.

• The garden also serves as a gathering place for the community, hosting farmers markets and lunch pop-ups.

Burying Kitchen Scraps in the Garden: Is That a Good Idea?

Recently, we received a question wondering about the pros and cons of burying kitchen scraps to feed the garden soil.

From the garden e-mail bag, Alice confesses: “I am a lazy composter. What we do is bury our kitchen scraps in different holes, all throughout our raised beds, all winter long. And it ends up making truly beautiful soil over the years. And there's lots of earthworms and other microorganisms I can't even see. Anyway, I'm wondering if there would be any problems with that. We do have raccoons, skunks, and possums because we live in the country. But they don't visit the garden. Apparently, they have resources elsewhere. And except for them, I don't see that there's an issue because the soil looks very nice. But you never mention burying garbage in your columns or podcasts. So, I'm wondering if there's some problem that I'm not aware of.”

Alice, other possible scavengers of kitchen scraps buried in the garden might include rats, gophers, voles and ants. Especially ants, which could create tunnels throughout your raised bed which could siphon the irrigation water away from plant roots and out the bottom of the bed, or wherever their tunnels might lead. However, whatever you're doing seems to be working.

But beware, there are a lot of variables. You want to bury it deep, certainly deeper than 12 inches to keep the four-legged varmints, including the household dogs, away from it. You don’t want to bury meat scraps. Also, avoid any foods soaked in oils, salts or sugars, which can attract smaller pests and possibly effect the quality of your soil.

For even more opinions, and they are just that - opinions - the National Gardening Association has a thread at their website (garden.org) entitled, “Kitchen Waste Buried in Garden Soil?” Many people have weighed in on their experience doing that very thing, and it appears to be evenly divided as to whether they like it or not.

Some of the comments and opinions:

From Florida: “My mother in law (who lived to be 97 years old) had wonderful vegetable and flower gardens and she'd always take kitchen waste out to her garden, dig a hole and bury it. Just be sure to bury it deep enough that night time critters (raccoons, possums) don't dig it up.”

From Nevada: “Short answer: No. Decomposition is an aerobic process, it needs oxygen to happen - that's why we continually turn our composts piles. Well preserved fossils were formed in an anaerobic environment - without oxygen, instead of decomposing, they turned into rocks. You won't really have fossils in your garden, you will have a landfill. Although archeologists do get pretty excited when they find an old dump. If you choose to leave your kitchen waste on the surface of the soil, it will decompose but, the bacteria will be using nitrogen in the process. So, the soil will be low in nitrogen until the decomposing process is completely finished. When the bacteria finish the job and die, the nutrients will be put back into the soil. In the meantime, you will have a messy, rat filled garden.”

And, From Western Massachusetts, my favorite: “I do this. Well, I was doing it, but the dogs drove me insane so I have stopped for now. I was using this method and won't know how it works until I plant that bed in May (it will be tomatoes next year):-Dug a trench 12-18" deep and piled the soil to the right of it. -started keeping a separate wastebasket for kleenex, paper towels ("browns"). It's actually kind of amazing how much garbage is composed of that stuff....toilet paper rolls and so on. -go out and dump the kitchen compost bucket & coffee grounds in the trench, throw on some browns, cover with an inch or so of soil-repeat until the whole mound was about ten inches off the surface of the bed, then dig another trenchThis was great for me and also great for the dogs who were like, 'did someone bury a Kleenex somewhere???? IT IS WAITING FOR ME'And I had to cover the three rows I'd done with chicken wire. If it weren't for those bozos though I would totally have kept it up. I think the freezing and thawing over the winter would have compressed that to a normal soil level and by the time I transplanted tomatoes into it in late May, it would be unrecognizable. Unfortunately I was unable to complete my testing on this theory.”

Many of the other answers were variations of what is known as the African Keyhole Garden, a subject we explored in depth in a previous edition of this newsletter.

The African Keyhole Garden

There is also the African Keyhole Garden, which is another way to incorporate kitchen waste in the garden using a container – with plenty of small holes – to allow worms to go in and out of it, sort of like a real time, secure worm bin where the worms can spread their castings throughout the garden bed. The garden is shaped like a keyhole, to allow you to get to the middle of a six-foot bed to deposit the scraps in a container, which could be as simple as a trash can with a lid, with holes drilled in the sides that are buried in the garden. “The African keyhole garden was designed by CARE in Zimbabwe during the mid-1990’s to encourage people to grow their own food,” explains Napa County Master Gardener Penny Pawl. “The design relied on materials that were close at hand—such as bricks, stones, branches, hay, ashes, manure and soil—to create an easy-care garden for disabled people. The plan became so popular that many Africans began growing kitchen gardens. More than 20,000 of these have been built in Africa.”

An Alternative Way to Bury Kitchen Scraps in the Garden

Another person with experience of burying kitchen waste in the garden is our frequent contributor to the podcast, retired college horticulture professor Debbie Flower. She has a device that is buried in her garden that hold kitchen scraps and keeps the four-legged critters out: the Green Cone Solar Waste Digester/Compost Bin.

“It's tall enough - about three feet tall - that a raccoon, which was my initial fear, cannot get into it,” says Flower. “It has a lid with a hinge and a lock. I have to say I've broken every hinge and lock that has come on them. That's kind of the weak point of the thing, but I just put a rock on top. And only because the lid might blow away. Nothing has tried to get into it. I have lots of worms that go in and out of it. Everything in it just disappears because the worms come to it and take it away to the rest of the garden. I had my last one for 15 or more years.”

I believe the best place to break down those kitchen scraps for use in the garden is in a compost pile or a worm bin, where the worms will make some of the best soil amendments around, worm castings.

Thanks for reading Beyond Basics: The Garden Basics with Farmer Fred Newsletter! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work.

Thank you for also listening to the Garden Basics with Farmer Fred podcast! It’s available wherever you get your podcasts. Please share it with your garden friends.

Fred Hoffman is also a University of California Cooperative Extension Master Gardener in Sacramento County. And he likes to ride his bike(s).

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit gardenbasics.substack.com/subscribe

In today’s newsletter podcast, our America’s Favorite Retired College Horticulture Professor, Debbie Flower, talks about earwigs, a garden scavenger that probably does more damage than you might want a “neutral” garden critter to do. Probably the most famous “neutral” garden insect is the non-selective praying mantis, who doesn’t mind chowing down on your aphids for dinner, with a ladybug for dessert. The big takeaway from that earwig chat? “Don't wear loose clothing in an earwig infested garden.” We also touch on (in a manner of speaking) roly polys (aka, pillbugs).

This Week on the Garden Basics Podcast

Before we delve into the answer to that question posed in the headline, here is what is going on in the Garden Basics with Farmer Fred podcast this week:

Tuesday, May 14: Episode 334 Q&A Rhubarb for Hot Climates? Lights for Seedlings?

In this episode, we answer garden questions from listeners. The first question is about growing rhubarb in hot weather. Master Gardeners Ruth Ostroff and Kathy Morrison (of the Sacramento Digs Gardening newsletter) discuss their experiences with growing rhubarb in Sacramento, which is challenging in a hot climate. (Ruth also names the rhubarb variety she has had success with in the hot Sacramento Valley.) Kathy shares a rhubarb recipe, made as an upside-down cake.

The second question is about grow lights for starting tomato and pepper seeds indoors. Debbie Flower and I explain the importance of using a light system that is big enough to cover all the seedlings equally, as well as mixing different bulb spectrum colors. Of course, Debbie also emphasizes the need for air circulation and movement for young plants. We’re old, so we recommend using fluorescent lights, but we discuss the different options available in the market.

Friday, May 17: Ep. 335 Roof Rat Control Tips. Asparagus-Lemon Recipes

In this episode of the Garden Basics with Farmer Fred podcast, the main topic of discussion with retired UC Cooperative Extension Farm Advisor Rachael Long is roof rats and their impact on gardens and orchards. The conversation covers the behavior and habits of roof rats, their diet, nesting habits, and the damage they can cause to fruit trees. The episode also includes tips for controlling roof rats, such as trapping and using bait stations. Additionally, the episode features a segment on recipes using garden fresh asparagus and lemons, with Master Food Preserver Myrna Undajon-Haskell.

Takeaways:

• Roof rats are nocturnal creatures that can cause significant damage to fruit trees and orchards.

• They have a preference for heights and are known to nest in attics and burrow underground.

• Roof rats can be controlled through trapping and the use of bait stations.

• Recipes using garden fresh asparagus and lemons are provided.

• Preserving lemons and dehydrating citrus are also discussed.

So, Who is Eating Your Seedlings? Controlling Sowbugs, Pillbugs and Earwigs in the Garden…and Indoors

From the garden e-mail bag, Jessica wants to know:

“I have a crazy amount of roly-polys and pincher bugs this year. And the pincher bugs keep making their way into my house, too. Help! Is there anything I can do to drive them away other than bug spray? And can the roly-polys cause damage to my plants? I normally don't have a green thumb but my plants are doing great this year and I'm finally feeling like a good ‘plant mom’ so I don't want anything to mess them up.”

Jessica, generally roly-polys (pillbugs) and sowbugs cause few issues with thriving plants. They prefer the dead organic matter on the ground. But if their favorite foods aren’t around, they will go after your plants.

According to the creepy, crawly experts at the UC Integrated Pest Management Department, sowbugs and pillbugs feed primarily on decaying plant material and are important decomposers of organic matter. However, they occasionally feed on seedlings, new roots, lower leaves, and fruits or vegetables touching the soil. They sometimes come indoors, which can be nuisance.

If pillbugs or sowbugs are a problem, reduce the amount of decaying organic matter on the soil and minimize the wetness of the soil surface. Irrigate early in the day so surfaces are drier by evening. Keep compost and mulch back from plants and building foundations to keep them outdoors. Using raised beds or planting boxes and drip or furrow irrigation instead of sprinklers usually keeps pillbugs and sowbugs from becoming serious problems.

Pincher bugs (earwigs) are also a mixed blessing. They will munch on garden plants, but they also eat aphids!

Despite their ferocious appearance, earwigs generally don’t attack humans, although they are capable of biting if trapped in clothing or sat upon.

Should you be concerned about earwigs in your garden? Yes, and no. If your yard is primarily lawn, trees, woody ornamentals or native plants, let the earwigs do their job, going after aphids.

However, if you are growing vegetables, herbaceous flowering plants, sweet corn or plants with soft fruits such as strawberries or apricots…yes, take action. Earwigs feed at night and hide during the day in dark, cool, moist places in the yard as well as within flowers and vegetables. Your job is to reduce their hiding places and surrounding moist areas, as well as employing vigilant trapping.

Some tips for earwig control from the UC Integrated Pest Management Program:

• Eliminate dense undergrowth of vines, ground cover, and weeds around vegetable and flower gardens.

• Clear weeds away from the base of fruit trees and prune out any fruit tree suckers near the ground that earwigs could use as a ladder. Harvest fruit as soon as it’s ready. Pick up any fallen fruit.

• Remove leaves, boards, boxes, and other debris from the planting areas.

• Move flowerpots and other garden objects that can harbor earwigs.

• Reduce moisture in the area. Use drip irrigation instead of sprinklers.

Indoors, earwigs can be swept or vacuumed up. If earwigs are a regular problem in a building, inspect the area to see how they are getting into the house and seal up cracks and entry points. Remove materials outside the perimeter of the building that could provide hiding places, such as ivy growing up walls, ground cover, bark mulches, debris (especially leaves in gutters), wood piles, leaf litter, piles of newspapers, or other organic matter. 

Also, keep water and moisture away from the structure by repairing drain spouts. Grade the area so water drains away from the structure.

Pillbug and Sowbug Fun Facts!

(courtesy of Butte Co. (CA) Master Gardener Michelle Ramsey)

• It’s hard to believe, but sowbugs and pillbugs are more closely related to lobsters and crayfish than they are to insects.  These soil-dwelling crustaceans belong to the Isopoda order.

• Because they are crustaceans they breathe through plate-like gills located on the underside of the abdomen. 

• These bugs are the only crustaceans that have adapted to living their entire life on land.

• Sowbugs and pillbugs are similar in appearance and their names are sometimes used interchangeably.

• However, the sowbug has a pair of tail-like appendages which project out from the rear of its body.

• The pillbug has no extreme posterior appendages, and can roll up into a tight ball when disturbed. This is why pillbugs are sometimes called “Roly-Poly” bugs

• Females have marsupial-like pouches on the undersides of their bodies that can hold up to 100 developing eggs. 

• The immature isopod can remain in the pouch for up to 2 months after hatching. 

• Full development to an adult takes about 1 year.  During this time, the isopod will molt 4-5 times.  Molting occurs in two stages: first the back half of the exoskeleton molts, then, two to three days later, the front half molts.

• The life span of both pillbugs and sowbugs is about three years.

• Sowbugs and pillbugs are most active at night. They spend daylight hours in moist, dark habitats.

• Because they breathe through gills, they require a very moist environment.  That’s why you will find them hidden underneath rocks, in ground litter, or between the edges of moist grass and sidewalk areas during the day.

• They do not bite, sting or transmit disease. They are harmless to humans.

Thanks for reading Beyond Basics: The Garden Basics with Farmer Fred Newsletter! Thank you for supporting my work with your pledge. I really could use some new handlebar tape.

Thank you for also listening to the Garden Basics with Farmer Fred podcast! It’s available wherever you get your podcasts. Please share it with your garden friends.

Fred Hoffman is also a University of California Cooperative Extension Master Gardener in Sacramento County. And he likes to ride his bike(s).

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit gardenbasics.substack.com/subscribe

If you’re looking to harvest bigger pieces of fruit from your trees and vines this summer, now's the time to get out your hand pruners and thin off the overcrowded fruit. Other good reasons for thinning lots of little fruit from trees now can also thwart bigger problems later this year, such as undersized fruit, excessive fruit drop, and broken fruit tree branches.

Here are some tips for thinning from the fruit tree experts at UCANR:

• For apples, European and Asian pears, apricots, peaches, nectarines, plums, pluots, kiwifruits, and persimmons: Remove some of the fruit. Space fruit evenly along each branch, with perhaps six inches between each piece of fruit. More importantly, be sure to leave the largest sized fruits on the tree or vine. Although the trees might appreciate a light feeding now, the best time to fertilize these crops is in July and August, when the trees are setting their fruit buds for the following year. An exception would be peach and nectarine trees attempting to recover from peach leaf curl. For those varieties, thinning and fertilizing now can help redirect the tree’s energy into producing more leaves to replace the fallen ones.

• For table grapes, remove grape bunches so that there is at least six inches of space between each remaining bunch of table grapes. Cut off the "tails" from the remaining bunches at that same time. This is the lower one-quarter to one third of the bunch, where it begins to taper down in size. This will send more energy to the remaining grapes on the bunch. The book, "The California Master Gardener Handbook" advises that fertilizer can be applied for each grapevine when the berries are about a quarter-inch big, usually in May. The same book advises gardeners to apply about 50 gallons of water per week per vine, during the hottest months (June through August) here in the Central Valley. Apply less (about 35 gallons a week) during May and September. Adding a few inches of mulch to the top of the soil beneath the vines will help preserve soil moisture.

• Because of their small size, cherries are not usually thinned from backyard trees. In addition, nut crops, such as almonds and walnuts, are not thinned.

• What about blueberries? The amount of thinning will depend upon the blueberry variety and fruit load relative to the vegetative area of the plant. Larger plants and branches that are more vigorous can support a heavier fruit load.

• Citrus trees tend to thin themselves, a phenomenon called “June Drop.” However, citrus fruit thinning now can help a tree drop fewer fruit in late spring.

Certain citrus types such as Valencia oranges or some mandarins have tendencies towards alternate bearing. That’s a year with heavy fruit production followed by a year with sparse production. You can reduce the potential of a tree to alternate bear by reducing the fruit load in a heavy fruit set year by thinning out some of the fruit. Pruning the tree will also help to offset alternate bearing. Also, fertilize less in light years and more in heavy years so that the trees needs are met according to the demands of the fruit load. Despite using these strategies, some varieties will just alternate bear.

• Do not allow the old citrus fruit to stay on the tree longer than necessary. This may contribute to a smaller crop and perhaps, more fruit drop, for the next crop. And, as you may have noticed, those oranges and mandarins that usually produce ripe fruit in the winter but still have some left on the branches may taste dry, with little or no flavor. Cleaning up fall fruit now beneath citrus trees can help cut down on future pest and disease issues, as well.

The University of California’s “California Backyard Orchard” website goes into the science of the benefits of thinning deciduous fruits:

Removal of flowers or young, immature fruits early in the spring can lead to increases in fruit size by limiting the number of fruits that continue growing to harvest. It increases the leaf-to-fruit ratio and removes smaller fruit that would never reach optimum size or quality. Apples, European and Asian pears, apricots, peaches, plums, kiwifruits, and persimmons are almost always thinned until the leaf to fruit ratio is favorable for supporting growth of adequately sized fruits. Typically, nut crops and cherries are not thinned.

Large fruit come from strong flower buds that grew in full sunlight, and on trees that have a favorable leaf to fruit ratio; not too many fruit per branch. In order to manipulate the tree into having just the right amount of crop that will size well and develop adequate flower buds for next year’s crop the fruits are hand thinned, removed in the dormant pruning process, or both. Apples, European and Asian pears, apricots, peaches, plums, kiwifruits, and persimmons are almost always thinned. Fruits on non-thinned trees are still edible, just smaller.

The earlier that fruits are thinned and the leaf to fruit ratio is increased, the larger the fruits will be at harvest and the greater the effect on next year’s bloom. The home fruit gardener needs to use judgment regarding spacing of the fruit as well as removal of small and damaged fruit. Spacing fruits evenly along a branch or leaving only one fruit per spur is a good practice, but leaving the largest fruit is more important. The small ones even well spaced will never become as large as the big ones closer together or in clusters. Leave the same number of fruit per branch, but leave the big ones no matter how they are spaced. This will lead to larger fruit. Most home fruit producers do not thin enough fruit off. It hurts to drop all that potential fruit on the ground. It usually takes 2–3 years of experiencing small fruit from inadequate thinning to get it right.

Blossom thinning also increases the leaf to fruit ratio because competition among developing fruits and elongating shoots and roots is relieved early; however, risk can be associated with blossom thinning because bad weather during bloom and postbloom may reduce fruit set even more.

Standard apple and peach cultivars require leaf to fruit ratios between 40:1 and 75:1 (40 to 75 leaves per single fruit) to reach typical size at harvest. Early varieties need a larger ratio of leaves to fruit. Spur-type apple varieties require a smaller leaf to fruit ratio of 25:1 to attain good crop size. This result seems to be related to the fact that photosynthates and stored food reserves are distributed more for fruit growth relative to vegetative growth in trees of this growth habit. Leaves of dwarf trees seem to be more efficient in exporting photosynthates because they are exposed to direct sunlight for more hours of the day than those on standard trees.

Nut crops are not thinned because kernel size is not an important factor.

Thanks for reading Beyond Basics: The Garden Basics with Farmer Fred Newsletter! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work.

Thank you for also listening to the Garden Basics with Farmer Fred podcast! It’s available wherever you get your podcasts. Please share it with your garden friends.

Fred Hoffman is also a University of California Cooperative Extension Master Gardener in Sacramento County. And he likes to ride his bike(s).

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit gardenbasics.substack.com/subscribe

The podcast included with this newsletter features an interview with Rachael Long, University of California Cooperative Extension Farm Advisor Emeritus, and one of the nation’s best sources of information on the benefits of having barn owls prowling over your property to control rodents. Rachael mentions the UC Publication, “Songbird, Bat and Owl Boxes” which is a paid publication. Here’s a link for more information on barn owl boxes; and, another link with specific barn owl box building instructions. This chat originally aired in Episode 40 of the Garden Basics podcast in August of 2020.

Before we continue with our beneficial insect hit parade, here’s what has happened this week on the Garden Basics with Farmer Fred podcast:

Tuesday, April 30: Ep. 330 - Q&A Controlling Bermudagrass; What about using black plastic in the garden?

Gail from California wants to start a vegetable and flower garden in her backyard, which is currently covered in Bermuda grass. Fred and Debbie suggest waiting a year and using soil solarization to kill off the Bermuda grass. They also recommend starting small with container gardening. They discuss the challenges of dealing with Bermuda grass and the benefits of solarization. They also touch on the use of black plastic mulch in the garden.

Friday, May 3: Ep. 331 Cucumber Starting and Training Tips

In this episode, Fred and Debbie Flower discuss cucumber planting advice, including starting cucumbers from seed or nursery transplants, training cucumber growth, and choosing the right cucumber plants. They also cover topics such as soil temperature, soil type, watering, trellising, pollination, and harvesting cucumbers. They provide tips for preventing cucumber diseases and pests, as well as suggestions for different cucumber varieties to try.

Meet the Garden Beneficials, Part 2

Last week, we discussed three of the best beneficial insects to have in your garden: lacewings, ladybugs, and hoverflies. Today, we cover several more garden good guys worth putting to work in your yard to subdue the pests, and the “Welcome Mat” plants they need for extra food and shelter.

Soldier Beetles (leather-winged beetles)

Like many of the beneficials, it is the larval stage of soldier beetles that do most of the munching on the bad bugs. Whereas the adult soldier beetles feed mostly on the pollen and nectar of flowers - as well as the occasional aphid, insect eggs and larvae - young soldier beetles can be found under the bark of the plant or in soil or litter. There, they feed primarily on the eggs and larvae of beetles, butterflies, moths and other insects.

Plants That Attract Soldier Beetles

* Celosia Cockscomb

* Coreopsis

* Daucus carota Queen Anne’s Lace

* Echinacea purpurea Purple Coneflower

* Pycnanthemum Mountain Mint

* Rosa Roses

* Solidago Goldenrod

Parasitic Mini-Wasps

Mini-wasps are parasites of a variety of insects. They do not sting! The stingers have been adapted to allow the females to lay their eggs in the bodies of insect pests. The eggs then hatch, and the young feed on the pests from the inside, killing them. After they have killed the pests, they leave hollow “mummies.” Among the parasitic mini-wasps:

Braconid Wasps

Braconid wasps feed on moth, beetle and fly larvae, moth eggs, various insect pupae and adults. If you see lots of white capsules on the backs of a caterpillar, these are the braconid cocoons. Leave the dying  caterpillar alone!

Ichneumonid wasps control moth, butterfly, beetle and fly larvae and pupae. 

Trichogramma wasps lay their own eggs in moth eggs (hungry caterpillars-to-be), killing them and turning them black.

Plants that attract parasitic mini-wasps:•Achillea filipendulina    Fern-leaf yarrow•Achillea millefolium    Common yarrow•Allium tanguticum    Lavender globe lily•Anethum graveolens    Dill•Anthemis tinctoria    Golden marguerite•Astrantia major    Masterwort•Callirhoe involucrata    Purple poppy mallow•Carum carvi    Caraway•Coriandrum sativum    Coriander•Cosmos bipinnatus    Cosmos white sensation•Daucus carota    Queen Anne’s lace•Foeniculum vulgare   Fennel•Limonium latifolium    Statice•Linaria vulgaris    Butter and eggs•Lobelia erinus    Edging lobelia•Lobularia maritima    Sweet alyssum - white•Melissa officinalis    Lemon balm•Mentha pulegium    Pennyroyal•Petroselinum crispum    Parsley•Potentilla recta ‘warrenii’   Sulfur cinquefoil•Potentilla villosa    Alpine cinquefoil•Sedum kamtschaticum    Orange stonecrop•Sweet alyssum - white•Tagetes tenuifolia  Marigold ‘lemon gem’•Tanacetum vulgare    Tansy•Thymus serpylum coccineus   Crimson thyme•Zinnia elegans    Zinnia - 'liliput'

TACHINID FLIES

Parasites of caterpillars (corn earworm, imported cabbage worm, cabbage loopers, cutworms, armyworms), stink bugs, squash bug nymphs, beetle and fly larvae, some true bugs, and beetles. Adults are 1/3 to 1/2 inch long. White eggs are deposited on foliage or on the body of the host. Larvae are internal parasites, feeding within the body of the host, sucking its body fluids to the point that the pest dies. Plants that attract tachinid flies:•Anthemis tinctoria    Golden marguerite•Eriogonum fasciculatum    California Buckwheat•Melissa officinalis    Lemon balm•Mentha pulegium    Pennyroyal•Petroselinum crispum   Parsley•Phacelia tanacetifolia    Phacelia•Tanacetum vulgare    Tansy•Thymus serpyllum coccineus    Crimson thyme

MINUTE PIRATE BUGS (Orius spp.)

True to their name, minute pirate bugs are tiny (1/20 inch long) bugs that feed on almost any small insect or mite, including thrips, aphids, mites, scales, whiteflies and soft-bodied arthropods, but are particularly attracted to thrips in spring. 

DAMSEL BUGS (Nabis spp.)

Damsel bugs feed on aphids, leafhoppers, plant bugs, and small caterpillars. They are usually dull brown and resemble other plant bugs that are pests. Their heads are usually longer and narrower then most plant feeding species (the better to eat with!).

BIG EYED BUGS (Geocoris spp.)

Big eyed bugs are small (1/4 inch long), grayish-beige, oval shaped) bugs with large eyes that feed on many small insects (e.g., leaf hoppers, spider mites), insect eggs, and mites, as both nymphs and adults. Eggs are football shaped, whitish-gray with red spots. Plants that attract minute pirate bugs, damsel bugs and big eyed bugs:•Carum carvi    Caraway•Cosmos bipinnatus    Cosmos “white sensation”•Foeniculum vulgare    Fennel•Medicago sativa    Alfalfa•Mentha spicata    Spearmint•Solidago virgaurea    Peter Pan goldenrod•Tagetes tenuifolia   Marigold “lemon gem”

Thank you also for listening to the Garden Basics with Farmer Fred podcast. It’s available wherever you get your podcasts. Please share it with your gardening friends.

Fred Hoffman is also a University of California Cooperative Extension Master Gardener in Sacramento County, California. And he likes to ride his bike(s).

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit gardenbasics.substack.com/subscribe

The podcast included with this newsletter features an interview with Rachael Long, University of California Cooperative Extension Farm Advisor Emeritus, and one of the nation’s best sources of information on the benefits of having bats, which are flying mammals (not rodents), in your neighborhood. Originally aired in Episode 180 of the Garden Basics podcast in March of 2022.

Before we begin bug hunting, here’s what has happened this week on the Garden Basics with Farmer Fred podcast:

Ep. 328 Q&A - Should you add fertilizer to a compost pile? Can planting late-ripening peaches thwart peach leaf curl disease?

In this episode of the Garden Basics Podcast, Fred Hoffman and Master Gardener Susan Muckey discuss composting and answer a listener's question about adding nitrogen to a compost pile. They explain that adding nitrogen is not necessary for most compost piles and discuss the ideal carbon-nitrogen ratio. They also provide tips for turning a compost pile and maintaining the right temperature. In the second part of the episode, Quentyn Young, Master Gardener and orchard specialist, joins the conversation to discuss strategies for dealing with peach leaf curl, including planting late ripening peach varieties.

• Adding nitrogen to a compost pile is not necessary for most composting methods.

• The ideal carbon-nitrogen ratio for a compost pile is 30 parts carbon to one part nitrogen.

• Turning a compost pile helps to introduce air and maintain the right temperature.

• Late ripening peach varieties can be a good strategy for preventing peach leaf curl.

=======================================================

Ep. 329 How to Water

In this conversation, Farmer Fred and America’s Favorite Retired College Horticulture Professor (and former nurseryperson), Debbie Flower, discuss various methods of watering plants, including watering seeds, young plants in containers, mature plants in containers, and lawns. They also touch on the use of sprinklers versus drip irrigation, the benefits of rainwater, and the ancient practice of using Oyas for irrigation. The conversation emphasizes the importance of finding a watering system that works best for each individual and regularly checking plants for signs of distress.

• Watering seeds requires keeping the seed bed evenly moist, and watering from the bottom can be an effective method.

• When watering young plants in containers, it's important to water each container individually and ensure that the entire column of soil is wet.

• For mature plants in containers, using a watering wand with a fine breaker can provide a gentle and effective watering method.

• Lawns can be watered using sprinklers or more efficient methods like MP Rotators, and it's important to turn off the water when runoff occurs.

• Drip irrigation is a cost-effective method for irrigating crops, but it requires monitoring for breaks and securing the drip tape to the ground.

• Oyas, an ancient irrigation method, can be used to slowly release water to plants, but their effectiveness depends on soil type and plant needs.

• Regularly checking plants for signs of distress and maintaining irrigation systems is crucial for healthy plant growth.

===============================================================

Meet the Garden Good Guys and Gals

Nature wants to make your job as a gardener as easy as possible; but you have to help.

We've talked about putting in plants that attract insects whose primary job is to pollinate your garden, helping to insure a bountiful harvest of food and flowers. 

But what about attracting those other "good bugs", the crawling and flying creatures whose diet includes pests that are ravaging your garden plants? These beneficial predatory insects do not live on aphid steaks alone. They need other natural sources of food and shelter for their entire life cycle before they call your backyard a permanent home. What are these "Welcome Mat" plants and the beneficial insects they attract? Here is a list of three of those good bugs and some of the plants that they like to visit for shelter and as another source of food for their diet and their children. Next week, we’ll have even more beneficials and plants. For best results, group these plants nearby or along the garden border to attract the garden beneficials.

P.S. Readers with a long memory will recall much of this information from an earlier post here in May 2022.

LADYBUGS (Ladybeetles)

Easily recognized when they are adults by most gardeners. However, the young larvae, black with orange markings, eat more pests than the adults, and they can’t fly. Yellowish eggs are laid in clusters usually on the undersides of leaves.

Plants that attract ladybugs:•Achillea millefolium    Common yarrow•Ajuga reptans    Carpet bugleweed•Alyssum saxatilis    Basket of Gold•Anethum graveolens    Dill•Anthemis tinctoria    Golden marguerite•Asclepias tuberosa    Butterfly weed•Atriplex canescens    Four-wing saltbush•Coriandrum sativum   Coriander•Daucus carota    Queen Anne’s lace•Eriogonum fasciculatum   CA  Buckwheat•Foeniculum vulgare    Fennel•Helianthus maximilianii    Prairie sunflower•Penstemon strictus    Rocky Mt. penstemon•Tagetes tenuifolia    Marigold “lemon gem”•Tanacetum vulgare    Tansy•Taraxacum officinale    Dandelion•Veronica spicata    Spike speedwell•Vicia villosa    Hairy vetch

Another planting tip to keep ladybugs around throughout the year in mild climates: put in ornamental grasses, especially deer grass (Muhlenbergia). Don’t prune it back until spring. You just might witness the newest crop of ladybugs emerging from this winter hideaway on a warm, sunny day!

LACEWINGS

Beautiful, little (3/4”) green or brown insects with large lacy wings. 

Individual white eggs of lacewings are found laid on the ends of inch-long, stiff threads, usually along the undersides of leaves. 

It is the larvae (which look like little alligators) that destroy most of the pests. They are sometimes called “aphid lions” for their habit of dining on aphids. They also feed on mites, other small insects and insect eggs. On spring and summer evenings, lacewings can sometimes be seen clinging to porch lights, screens or windows.

Plants that attract lacewings:•Achillea filipendulina    Fern-leaf yarrow•Anethum graveolens    Dill•Angelica gigas    Angelica•Anthemis tinctoria    Golden marguerite•Atriplex canescens    Four-wing saltbush•Callirhoe involucrata    Purple poppy mallow•Carum carvi    Caraway•Coriandrum sativum    Coriander•Cosmos bipinnatus    Cosmos white sensation•Daucus carota    Queen Anne’s lace•Foeniculum vulgare    Fennel•Helianthus maximilianii    Prairie sunflower•Tanacetum vulgare    Tansy•Taraxacum officinale    Dandelion 

HOVERFLIES (incl. syrphid flies, predatory aphid flies, flower flies)

Also known as syrphid fly, predatory aphid fly or flower fly. Adults look like little bees that hover over and dart quickly away. They don’t sting! They lay eggs (white, oval, laid singly or in groups on leaves) which hatch into green, yellow, brown, orange, or white half-inch maggots that look like caterpillars. They raise up on their hind legs to catch and feed on aphids, mealybugs and others.

Plants that attract hoverflies:•Achillea filipendulina    Fern-leaf yarrow•Achillea millefolium    Common yarrow•Ajuga reptans    Carpet bugleweed•Allium tanguticum    Lavender globe lily•Alyssum saxatilis    Basket of Gold•Anethum graveolens    Dill•Anthemis tinctoria    Golden marguerite•Aster alpinus    Dwarf alpine aster•Astrantia major    Masterwort•Atriplex canescens    Four-wing saltbush•Callirhoe involucrata    Purple poppy mallow•Carum carvi    Caraway•Chrysanthemum parthenium    Feverfew•Coriandrum sativum    Coriander•Cosmos bipinnatus    Cosmos white sensation•Daucus carota    Queen Anne’s lace•Eriogonum fasciculatum    CA Buckwheat•Foeniculum vulgare    Fennel•Lavandula angustifolia    English lavender•Limnanthes douglasii    Poached egg plant•Limonium latifolium    Statice•Linaria vulgaris    Butter and eggs•Lobelia erinus    Edging lobelia•Lobularia maritima    Sweet alyssum white•Melissa officinalis    Lemon balm•Mentha pulegium    Pennyroyal•Mentha spicata    Spearmint•Monarda fistulosa    Wild bergamot•Penstemon strictus    Rocky Mt. penstemon•Petroselinum crispum    Parsley•Potentilla recta ‘warrenii’   Sulfur cinquefoil•Potentilla villosa    Alpine cinquefoil•Rudbeckia•Rudbeckia fulgida    Gloriosa daisy•Sedum kamtschaticum    Orange stonecrop•Sedum spurium    Stonecrops•Solidago virgaurea    Peter Pan goldenrod•Stachys officinalis    Wood betony•Tagetes tenuifolia    Marigold “lemon gem”•Thymus serpylum coccineus    Crimson thyme•Veronica spicata    Spike speedwell•Zinnia elegans    Zinnia "liliput"

In the Next Newsletter: More Beneficial Insects

Including parasitic mini wasps, tachinid flies, minute pirate bugs, damsel bugs, big-eyed bugs - and the plants they need to build a home and raise a family.

Thanks for Subscribing and Spreading the Word About the Garden Basics with Farmer Fred newsletter, I appreciate your support. 

And thank you for listening to the Garden Basics with Farmer Fred podcast! It’s available wherever you get your podcasts. Please share it with your garden friends.

Fred Hoffman is also a University of California Cooperative Extension Master Gardener in Sacramento County.

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit gardenbasics.substack.com/subscribe

Our cohort in all things tomato, Don Shor of Redwood Barn Nursery in Davis, got into a lot of helpful information for tomato gardeners besides just talking about tomato varieties in Episode 317 of the Garden Basics podcast, The 2024 Tomato Preview Show. The mini-podcast (above) highlights four tips we discussed that can make you a more successful gardening tomato-head.

Among Don’s tips:

• The first thing you should do when you when bring that tomato plant home from the nursery.

• And, if you are growing tomato plants from seed, what you need to do before you plant it outdoors.

• How to save tomato seeds from open pollinated varieties for next year.

• How to save your tomatoes when it gets really, really hot.

• How to improve the flavor and texture of supermarket tomatoes.

• Plus, I threw in an extra tip on growing fruit trees in containers for a longer fruit production life in tight quarters.

The Tomatoes of the 2024 Tomato Preview Show (with links for more info)

Rugby

Chef’s Choice Orange

Juliet

Bodacious

New Girl

Tough Boy

Blue Ribbon

Pineapple

Champion

Purple Boy

Bush Early Girl

Itz a Keeper

Super Fantastic

Jet Star

Principe Borghese

Riesetomate tomato

Sungold

Barry’s Crazy Cherry

Sweet Carneros Pink

Pork Chop

Michael Pollan

Gardener’s Delight

Big Beef

4th of July

Sweet Million

Super Sauce

Orange Wellington

Dr. Wyche’s Yellow

Purple Tomato (a GMO variety)

A sampling of our comments of each of those tomato varieties (listen to the full episode for even more tomatoey details)

Fred: the big winner last year for me was Rugby, based on your endorsement of that tomato over the last couple of years. And Rugby is just a wonderful tomato. 

Don: it grows very, very well and a very good producer here. So yes,  you and I definitely agree on Rugby. 

=======================

Don: I still highly recommend the Chef's Choice series and I strongly recommend Chef's Choice Orange based on previous years. That's still in my top ten. 

Fred: Several of the Chef's Choice tomatoes have been All-America Selections winners, as well.

======================

Don: I have to say every year I have one plant that just grows incredibly robust compared to all the others. It's never the same one, of course, and it produces really, really heavily. And in 2023  for me, that was Juliet. Now I recommend Juliet very highly for a lot of reasons. I did a quick count, just trying to figure out how many fruit my Juliet plant produced. It was something close to 400.

====================

Fred: One that you have recommended over the years. And I finally broke down and tried it and it was actually it was successful the second year I tried it. And that's another Don Shor rule about planting tomatoes. Give them three years, plant them for three years and see if you still like it. And Bodacious did quite well for me in 2023. It was the the last plant to give up, and I harvested the remaining green ones in November and I finally finished the green ones as they ripen slowly in the garage. I finished those off in late February. 

Don: Yeah, it's been a very good performer. If you're looking for something in what we sometimes call the beefsteak category, a large slicing tomato with good connective tissue that you could use in a sandwich, Bodacious is probably your best bet here in the Sacramento Valley. Bodacious has great flavor all as well, has taken heat very well for me. Continues to be a good performer for me. 

======================

Fred: Another one of your perennial favorites - and I've been planting it now for like three or four years - well, I finally ran out of the seed. I'm going have to get some fresh seed. The New Girl tomato.

Don: Yes, New Girl has been out yielding Early Girl for me for the last two years.

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Don: There's another one out there called Tough Boy. Some people are doing that one and have had very good results. Tough Boy is another one where they're trying for that same 4 to 6 ounce fruit size, nice round red tomato, good flavor, a good all-purpose tomato. That's another good one.

=============================

Don: There's one that I've been recommending and it's going to be a hard one to find unless the nursery start it themselves. It’s Blue Ribbon. It doesn't crack, it doesn't split. It didn't get blossom and rot. The fruit is always 12 ounces or so, a good size all the way up to a pound. Sometimes it didn't get sunburned. It just performs really well. It's not just attractive. I mean, the Blue Ribbon refers to the fact it's a very, very good looking tomato. It also has really good flavor, and holds well on the vine. 

=========================

Don:  So here's my big surprise from last year. Every year there's one variety that surprises me. Pineapple. The name refers to the rather tangy flavor. This year I got 14 very large fruit on the one plant, each of them about one and a half to two pounds.

Fred: An oldie but a goodie.

Don: I don't usually tell people heirlooms are going to be your highest yield, but the Pineapple really, really surprised me how much it produced. Great quality. I recommend if you have room for four or five tomato plants, try Pineapple.

Fred: You're right, it's beautiful, with sort of a golden orange color. 

Don: And red striations in the flesh. It slices great, it cooks great.

========================

Fred: How did Champion perform for you last year? You seem to plant it every year.

Don: It was just fine, as usual. You know, I got a lot of fruit on it. It's a really good red tomato. 

==========================

Don: There's a whole group of tomatoes I'm getting pretty fed up with, and that is the purple, blue and black tomatoes, Black Beauty, Blue whatever. We're just finding some of them really, really don't soften. And the flavor is, in my opinion, rather astringent. And I don't know what it takes to get them to have good flavor. If someone out there has come up with a new hybrid purple or blue tomato with good flavor. I'd love to know what it is because so far, I'm not impressed. 

Fred: I did ask the Facebook people who follow the Get Growing with Farmer Fred page, “What tomato did you really like from 2023?” And I did get a reply from one follower whose opinion I respect. He's a high school horticulture teacher and he said he loved Purple Boy. Said it was very productive. And that's good enough for me. I'll give that a shot. So I've got some Purple Boy seedlings coming up. 

Don: I'm writing it down as we speak. 

============================

Fred: I have actually picked for 2024 an oldie but a goody container-sized tomato, called Bush Early Girl. It produces fairly good sized tomatoes, but on a plant that only gets 18 inches tall.

Don: The dwarf tomato series varieties are becoming very popular. I have grown some of these. I haven't grown that particular one. You'll find the yields are okay for what they are. This is a small plant. There's a bunch of little miniature tomatoes, Little Napoli, Little Sicily. One of my growers handed me a Mini Marzano. The plant grew 16 inches by 16 inches. Produced about 12 fruit, each of which was about one ounce.  You know, if you're in an apartment and you have a balcony, that's a fun thing to do. Many of these are not going to give you the yields you're expecting. 

Fred: The Bush Early Girl, by the way, is a compact determinant, which means it's going to set most of its crop once and then you can pull it out. But it ripens in only 54 days.

===================

Fred: I think the seed catalogs especially the specialty tomato seed catalogs like Totally Tomatoes are getting wise to me because they're starting to throw packets of other tomato seeds in with my order, things that I didn't order. Because they think, “he'll plant anything, just send it.”

Don: They did that to us, what, two or three years ago? They sent this one out. It was just a number at the time and I remember sending a note to the owner of Seeds ’N Such. “What is this one? We need to know. This is really a great performer. It stayed firm late in the season. It produced well. It was a compact plant.” He goes, Oh yeah, we're going to send that out next year with a name, It’z a Keeper. And that turned out to be an outstanding variety and I really do highly recommend it. It is really firm. It's one of those tomatoes that you just wonder if it's ever going to ripen. It is ripe. It's just very, very solid. The name, “It’z a Keeper” refers to the fact that it can sit on your counter for awhile. Pick it in mid-October, three or four weeks later, it is still just fine and still has very good flavor. Again, you're going to have to find it yourself, because hardly any retailers are going to have that one available as a plant. But It’z a Keeper is an interesting new variety that I think has a lot to recommend for it. 

Fred: I’ve got a couple of those questionable freebies growing now. One is called Super Fantastic and the other is called Jetstar. if you live in Canada, you would like Super Fantastic, even though I’ve started that seed. It produces ten ounce tomatoes, an indeterminate. According to West Coast Seeds, which is based in British Columbia, “Super Fantastic tomato seeds produce hearty, vigorous vines that adapt well to a variety of climates, immensely popular and an excellent producer on the West coast of British Columbia. These rich, meaty beefsteak tomatoes are very versatile.” 

Don: the West Coast of British Columbia is a pretty wet, cool place. Wherever your live, look for particular varieties that are recommended by your local garden centers.

Fred: The Jetstar one that I'm growing that I know nothing about is advertised as being “a prolific producer of big globe shaped fruits that ripen all the way through.”Well, that's good to know. “Excellent flavor with low acidity, nice compact habit, indeterminate. It gets 3 to 5 feet tall.” It does not state the size of the tomatoes though. So I don't know.

===================

Don: We mentioned compact varieties. There is one that I find myself recommending more and more year after year and I think you're going to grow it this year. When I first read about it, it was described as the classic tomato for sun drying and it is very, very good for that. In fact, I started growing it just for that purpose because one of my staff people just loves to take them and cut them in half and dry them. It's Principe Borghese. 

Fred: Yeah, you wore me down on that one. 

Don: It also happens to be very good for sauces and salsas, things like that. And it's a very compact variety. So people who are limited for space that really like a rich flavored, almost gourmet quality tomato, look into Principe Borghese.

====================

Don: Late last year I remember we talked about a very strange tomato that I was growing and I told you, I'll give you a report card on this one again. Riesetomate. It looks like a bunch of grapes. It's a single tomato with numerous lobes. They look like, as I say, a bunch of red grapes, all one fruit with all these lobes on it. It produced at least 80 fruit for me. These are very, very rich flavors. It's the kind of thing where you just break off a piece and eat some fresh. It made amazing salsa and it was one of the strangest looking tomatoes I have actually ever grown. So if you have room in your garden and you want to grow something truly weird, look for the Riesetomate tomato.

Fred: I just went online to see what a Riesetomate looks like and there are all these other Riesetomate types. There's a Riese that I'm looking at from Rare Seeds that looks like a very deep red cluster of grape sized tomatoes. 

========================

Don: Sungold is still the most popular cherry tomato that's out there, beating older more established varieties such as  Sweet 100, Sweet Million, that whole category. Kids seem to really like Sungold.

Don: one group of cherry tomatoes  that you might want to look into are the ones that are being produced by Brad Gates, who you've had on your show many times, from Wild Boar Farms. His cherry tomatoes are phenomenal producers and very, very sweet, including Barry’s Crazy Cherry, which produces hundreds of fruit. I always plant Sweet Carneros Pink. I always plant Pork Chop, that's a very good yellow tomato. Another reliable producer is Michael Pollan, named after the author. It's a very good producer. Very interesting.  I do recommend trying some of his. They're different. 

===================

Don: you mentioned Gardeners Delight. Usually that is a very reliable tomato and I have customers that swear by it. So I want to see a new gardener getting some that we know are going to do well for them.

======================

Don: One that I was reintroduced to a couple of years ago was Big Beef. We talked about not doing beefsteak types. Well, Big Beef can go in early, it sets early, makes a really good size, good quality fruit and seems to be very well adapted. It was an All-America selections winner in the 1990s. So I've added that to my top 20. And I have customers that swear by it now because they've gotten very good large fruit as early as the first week of July. 

======================

Don: Here in Yolo County, UC Davis’  Dr. Robert Norris, who has been advising Master gardeners here for decades, strongly recommends 4th of July as an early ripening, very good fruiting tomato. And that's done very well for a lot of people. So that's a case where it's a local variety that has a lot of people that have tried it. It's a tried and true in our region. Wherever you're listening, there probably is one like that.

=======================

Fred: So to recap, this year I will be planting the Principe Borghese, Rugby, Gardeners Delight, Bodacious, New Girl, Purple Boy, Super Fantastic, Bush Early Girl, Jetstar and one of my favorite cherry tomatoes, Sweet Million. 

Don: We'll have Rugby. I'm doing a second year of one called Super Sauce, which was extremely good producer, bigger than Rugby, very similar. And I'll have my usual red and yellow and orange tomatoes from Chef's Choice series, and I'm going to do Orange Wellington next to Chef's Choice Orange, because I've had both and they're both very good. And I'm curious if Orange Wellington, which I found in the Burpee catalogue, is as good a producer as they say it is, and good flavour as they say it is. 

Fred: I still like Dr. Wyche’s Yellow. It’s one of my favorite yellow-orange beefsteaks to grow. 

==========================

Don: there is one other blue tomato on the horizon you've probably been reading about. It's the Purple Tomato, the first genetically modified plant that the public can buy. It is a purple fleshed tomato. It got a lot of publicity. All you do is Google “purple tomato”, and the information about this will all come up. It costs about two bucks a seed. You're not going to find that a whole lot of garden centers, but some of your friends will probably be growing it. It should be interesting to see what it's like. And my first reaction was, why do they do a purple one? Those are terrible.

Fred: Now wait a minute. It’s a seed.

Don: You can get seed of this purple fleshed tomato, two bucks a piece and they're out there. You can certainly buy them. It is the first in the United States. There was a genetically modified tomato introduced in Japan last year, which has enriched nutrient status. It has higher  something, vitamin A probably. This one is purple, not just purple skin, but vivid purple flesh all the way through. And I can't remember right off the top of my head the name, but you can find it quite easily. Yes, you can buy the seed, as I say, two bucks a seed and you can grow yourself. And so for years I have I have customers who don't want GMOs. They have customers who think they're interesting. Never was an issue. They would say, Are any of these GMOs? I would say there are no GMOs in the nursery industry or in the garden industry. That's no longer true. This one is out there, but you have to buy  direct from the supplier. So this purple fleshed tomato, there is going to be certainly a lot of conversation about it. I would be great if someone would grow it and let us know how the flavor is and who knows? It might actually get into the trade, as the price comes down. But for two bucks a seed, you're not going to see a whole lot of  plant growers jump into that one.

Fred: I just looked it up. It has a very clever name. Purple Tomato. 

Don: Quite interesting looking. And I'm guessing some people have already bought the seed. So we'd like to hear your reports on it. 

Fred: The Purple Tomato, as described by its developer, who is Norfolk Plant Sciences, the Purple Tomato contains high levels of antioxidants and anthocyanins normally found in fruits such as blueberries and blackberries.

Don: Yes. And so far my experience has been that makes them taste pretty astringent. But we'll find out with this one. Maybe they've figured a way around that problem.  

Thanks for reading Beyond Basics: The Garden Basics with Farmer Fred Newsletter! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work.

Thank you for also listening to the Garden Basics with Farmer Fred podcast! It’s available wherever you get your podcasts. Please share it with your garden friends.

Fred Hoffman is also a University of California Cooperative Extension Master Gardener in Sacramento County. And he likes to ride his bike(s).

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit gardenbasics.substack.com/subscribe

Today’s newsletter podcast (recorded in January 2021) features an arborist discussing ways you can spot when your trees may be in danger of falling, especially in a wet, windy winter.

More information about what was discussed in the podcast can be found at the University of California Ag and Natural Resources publication, “Inspect Your Landscape Trees for Hazards”.

Small Trees for Small Yards

In this era of "Big House, Small Yard", choosing the right size tree can not only enhance the beauty of your backyard, it can forestall serious and expensive pavement problems that might force you to crack open your wallet in five to ten years. Planting a tree with a future height and spread of more than 40 feet in a small backyard will eventually make you recall that old TV show title, "Dark Shadows". Even spookier will be the repair bills when the extensive root systems of these larger trees start heaving and cracking your concrete patio, driveway, sidewalk and foundation.

The Sacramento Tree Foundation recommends planting large trees at least 15 feet away from any hardscaping or construction. If the site you've picked out for a new tree can't be situated that far away from any concrete, electrical systems or sewer pipes, here are some good, small trees that need only six feet of planting distance from building foundations, walks and driveways.

Most of these trees will get no taller than 25 feet: Amur maple, Japanese maple, eastern redbud, flowering dogwood, Washington hawthorn, crape myrtle, saucer magnolia and Bechtel crabapple.

Needing only 10 feet of "growing room" from tree to concrete are these medium-sized (25-40 feet) ornamental plants: trident maple, hedge maple, Japanese white birch, goldenrain tree, capital pear and chanticleer pear.

Before your shovel hits the ground, here is an easier way to plant your tree or shrub: instead of digging deep, dig wide. Then, refill that crater with the native soil. Current research from the University of California has shown that digging a hole an inch or two less than the depth of the tree's root ball (the portion in the container) is more beneficial than digging a deeper, narrow planting hole.

The trick to a successful planting also includes loosening the surrounding soil at the planting site. Loosen up the soil (again, to the depth of the root ball) in an area at least twice as wide as the container (for young trees and shrubs) or the entire diameter of the tree canopy. Even better, rototill out to six feet from the location of the tree trunk. A tree that can easily send out its lateral root system will have better access to water and nutrients.

Check the tree for girdled roots before planting. If the roots are encircling the rootball, slice through the length of the root ball on four sides about an inch deep. This will help the roots to spread down and out, not round and round.

Plant the tree so that the top of the root ball rests on solid soil, one to two inches higher that the surrounding soil; this allows for settling and helps avoid crown rot. Avoid soil amendments; by refilling the hole with the original soil, the tree more quickly adapts to the native environment where it will have to reach out in order to be successful.

Staking should only be done if the tree can't stand on its own. And by all means, remove the single stake that comes with the tree from the nursery. Use two stakes, one on either side of the root ball. Tie the tree to the stakes using old nylons or another flat, wide, ribbon-like article. Tie loosely at the lowest point on the trunk where the tree will stand upright. Remove the stakes as soon as the tree will stand on its own, usually not more than one year.

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Lower Your Tree Size Expectations.

Freakish high gusts of wind are becoming more commonplace throughout Northern and Central California, especially with the change of the seasons. Last weekend, a Red Flag warning was posted by the National Weather Service for the danger posed by the combination of high winds and dry landscapes that might ignite wildfires. Sure enough, the high winds swept into several sections of our state. The Bay Area office of the National Weather Service reported high winds exceeding 50 and 60 miles per hour in several coastal areas. In Southern California, wind gusts of 50 miles per hour buffeted high profile vehicle traffic on Interstate 5, north of Los Angeles. And a wildfire broke out in Riverside County, which, at press time, was still only 20% controlled.

A bit closer to home, we nervously look at our neighbors’ huge conifers shedding small branches on windy days throughout the year.

That’s a not so gentle reminder of last January, when one of their 60-foot-tall Atlas cedar giants fell into our yard during a windstorm here in suburbia, a fallen tree that was so large that it caused damage in three different backyards.

If you are considering planting a tree, and you have a typically sized urban or suburban yard, you can minimize future damage from flying tree limbs to your property and your neighbors by choosing a medium sized tree. Generally, these are trees that grow between 25 and 40 feet tall. And November is still an excellent time for planting new trees in our area.

Shop for smaller trees that have minimal invasive roots and have several eye-catching traits such as colorful leaves, flowers, or distinctive bark.

Two trees that are underutilized in current landscapes that have minimal problems include:

• ‘Emerald Sunshine’ Elm (Ulmus propinqua). The ‘Emerald Sunshine’ elm is resistant to many of the problems of older elm varieties while maintaining a more reasonable eventual height: about 35 feet tall, with a spread of 25 feet tall. This elm has deep green leaves that turn yellow in the fall. ‘Emerald Sunshine’ is reportedly tolerant of hot, windy conditions, making it a good candidate for cities in warm summer areas with low humidity.

• ‘Redpointe’ Red Maple (Acer rubrum ‘Redpointe’). There are a lot of new red maple hybrids that have proven themselves in our area, especially the ‘October Glory’ red maple. The ‘Redpointe’ has many positive traits as well, although it does get a bit larger than the Chinese Fringe tree or the “Emerald Sunshine” elm, yet it still is much smaller that the ‘October Glory’ maple, which can get to 50 feet tall. The ‘Redpointe’ is described as a maple that is upright with a broadly pyramidal shape that requires little pruning. ‘Redpointe’ will reach 40 feet with a 20-foot spread. Its deeply lobed leaves are deep green from spring to fall when they turn a brilliant shade of red.

Here are a few more suggestions for trees that fit well in small to medium yards:

• Chinese Fringe Tree (Chionanthus retusus). Perfect for small yards, as it only gets about 20 feet tall with a spread of 10 to 15 feet. UC Master Gardener Cathy Ronk of Tulare County says the Chinese Fringe Tree has clusters of showy, lightly fragrant, fringe-like white blooms. The Chinese Fringe Tree is also one of UC Davis’ “Arboretum All-Stars,” notable for its yellow fall leaves and moderate water needs.

Trees recommended, along with comments, from the Sacramento Tree Foundation:

• Chinese pistache (Pistacia chinensis). 30-45 feet tall and wide. The Sacramento Tree Foundation says this tree has the “Best fall color show in our region. Nice round shape, and a low water user.” Choose a male variety such as the ‘Keith Davey’ to avoid the messy berries.

• Shantung Maple ‘Pacific Sunset’ (Acer truncatum ‘Pacific Sunset’). 25-30 feet tall and wide. “Hearty and fine textured, with larger leaves than regular Shantung maples.”

• Sweet Bay (Laurus nobilis). An evergreen tree or shrub, the Sweet Bay can get 30-40 feet tall, but takes well to pruning. “Dark green, dense form makes a good screen. Small yellow flowers in clusters followed by small black berries. Leaves are bay leaves used in cooking.”

• And again, a very popular tree for its summertime flowers is the crape myrtle (Lagerstroemia indica and its hybrids). This Chinese native gets about 25 feet tall, with a distinctive gray-light brown, exfoliating (peeling) bark that reveals a smooth whitish inner bark in the winter. It blooms best in warm summer climates, and is subject to mildew in moist climates. However, hybrid varieties have been bred for hardiness and mildew resistance. Look for varieties with names of native American tribes such as Arapaho, Hopi, Muskogee, Natchez, and Zuni.

Fred Hoffman is also a University of California Cooperative Extension Master Gardener in Sacramento County.

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit gardenbasics.substack.com/subscribe

Simple instructions from the Placer County (CA) Master Gardeners on proper tree staking:

Q: I just planted a new tree and want to know the best way to stake it.

A: It’s important to know that not all newly planted trees need to be staked. In fact, improper staking can harm rather than help. The more freely a tree can move, the stronger its trunk will become and the more likely it will be to withstand storms.

There are three situations in which staking is necessary: to protect against damage from equipment, vehicles or animals; to anchor trees whose roots cannot support the tree upright in the wind; and to support trunks unable to stand upright by themselves.

Protective stakes only need to be tall enough to be seen and avoided by equipment operators. Three stakes are generally enough and they should not be attached to the tree. Netting or wire fencing can be attached to the stakes to exclude animals.

Anchor stakes should be firmly set in the surrounding soil outside the root ball. Short stakes used for protection can do double duty as anchoring stakes by attaching the lower part of the tree to them with broad, flexible ties. The idea is to restrict root ball movement, while allowing the top of the tree to move in the wind.

Trees trained properly at the nursery should not need support staking. Most reputable tree growers no longer remove lower branches to create top-heavy, “lollipop” trees. They know that leaving these “nurse branches” on the young tree will help it develop a thicker trunk with healthy taper.

To determine if your newly purchased tree requires support staking, remove the stake that came with the tree from the nursery. If the tree stands upright on its own, you should not stake it.

However if the trunk flops over, place two stakes in the ground outside the root ball on opposite sides of the tree so that prevailing winds will blow through the stakes. Starting about 2 feet above the ground, use two fingers, one on either side, to support the trunk. Move your fingers slowly up the trunk until the tree stands upright. Flexible ties that allow movement should go 6 inches above this point. Cut the stakes 2 to 3 inches above the ties so that the trunk and upper branches will not be damaged by blowing into or rubbing on the stakes. Check the ties regularly to make sure they are not constricting the trunk.

Remove stakes and ties as soon as they are no longer needed.

Thanks for reading Beyond Basics: The Garden Basics with Farmer Fred Newsletter! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work.

Thank you for also listening to the Garden Basics with Farmer Fred podcast! It’s available wherever you get your podcasts. Please share it with your garden friends.

Fred Hoffman is also a University of California Cooperative Extension Master Gardener in Sacramento County. And he likes to ride his bike(s).

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit gardenbasics.substack.com/subscribe