Beyond the Garden Basics

Today’s podcast and newsletter of Beyond the Garden Basics is something a bit different, but very important: what to do around your home, both inside and outside, if a wildfire is in the area, and you have a few hours before an evacuation becomes mandatory.

That was the topic in a Youtube video presented by Todd Lando, a battalion chief and wildfire mitigation specialist for the Central Marin Fire District. Marin County is in northern california, just north of San Francisco, a bucolic area with hills, mountains and forests abutting the Pacific Ocean. As you might imagine, especially with its proximity to San Francisco, it is one of the more heavily populated areas that can be described as the urban-wildland interface, where suburbia meets a very fire prone area. More information can be found at the website fire safe marin dot org.

Among the practical tips that Lando discusses in the video include what should be done to prepare if a wildfire is getting to be an imminent situation. Of course, if you hear the order to evacuate immediately, you do want to leave immediately.

Here’s a summary of his advice.

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 attempt to rid our zinnias of powdery mildew disease, let’s first hear from Debbie Flower, who has plenty of zinnia growing tips for us in today’s podcast. Here’s the quick summary of our chat, which included how to cut outdoor flowers for indoor use. A complete transcript can be found at the bottom of today’s newletter.

* Plant zinnias in full sun. They’re heat and drought tolerant, and bloom most prolifically when days are under 12 hours (expect peak blooms in fall). Planting zinnias where they get full sun, with proper spacing (18”-24” apart) is also great cultural controls for thwarting a powdery mildew breakout.

* Succession-plant every two weeks through early summer for a continuous supply of cut flowers. This is also a good powdery mildew control strategy. Trash (don’t compost) heavily infected zinnia plants. Plant new seeds where you want them to grow!

* Wait until soil is at least 70°F to sow seeds. Germination requires warm soil.

* Cover seeds lightly with vermiculite. It marks where seeds are planted and retains moisture during germination.

* Don’t plant two seeds per spot if using fresh seed. One is enough; double-sowing is only needed to compensate for old/marginal seed.

* Avoid overhead irrigation. It spots flowers and splashes soil onto foliage, promoting disease. Use drip or soaker hoses instead. Another powdery mildew prevention strategy.

* Space plants so they never touch neighboring plants. Good airflow prevents powdery mildew and Alternaria leaf blight.

* Transplant zinnias early. Don’t let nursery starts become root-bound; roots disturbed at that stage cause double-flowered varieties to revert to singles. And don’t buy zinnia plants with powdery white substances on the leaves!

* Pinch young plants (at 4 nodes, remove 1–2) for a bushy, branched plant with more but shorter stems. Skip pinching if you want tall stems for large bouquets.

* Cut flowers in the morning. Plants move carbohydrates (food) into flowers overnight, so blooms are fullest and will last longest when cut early.

* Cut stems at a node, leaving at least one axil bud on the remaining stem. That bud becomes the next flower stalk. More axil buds left = more future stems; fewer = longer current stem.

* Strip leaves that will sit below the waterline and remove side branches from the cut stem before putting in a vase.

* Use floral preservative in vase water, or try hot water. Zinnias last 5–7 days as cut flowers. They will last longer if you do refresher cuts from the bottom of the stem every other day, and add fresh water.

* Use California buckwheat (Eriogonum fasciculatum) as filler in zinnia arrangements. Outdoors, California buckwheat attracts pollinators and has attractive clustered flower heads.

* Support tall varieties in windy or rainy locations with a small tomato/pepper cage. The small cages sold at big-box stores that are useless for tomatoes are well-sized for large zinnias.

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 podcast, Master Gardener Gail Pothour and myself discuss some of the most popular cool season vegetables to grow in the cooler months here in USDA Zone 9 and elsewhere: carrots, lettuce, peas, and beets.

Now’s the time to start the cool season vegetable garden!

Do you want your family to eat healthy year-round? The healthiest, freshest foods are the fruits and vegetables you grow yourself. And in many areas of the West and South, the 365-day vegetable garden is easy to achieve. And now, summer, is the time to be planting the seeds and transplants for the vegetables your family will enjoy throughout the fall, winter and following spring.

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

Paid subscribers to the Beyond The Garden Basics get exclusive newsletters and podcasts each Monday!

In today’s podcast (above), Don Shor from Redwood Barn Nursery in Davis, CA and I discuss common tomato problems and how changing weather is affecting them, especially in hotter summers. We focus first on blossom end rot, which usually appears on the first fruit and is linked to cool temperatures during fruit development and soil that stays too wet.

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

Beyond The Garden Basics is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a paid subscriber.

In today’s podcast, America’s Favorite Retired College Horticulture Professor, Debbie Flower, shows us around her yard and garden. But it’s more than talking about the plants. Debbie also shares her planting and irrigation tips for a thriving garden of natives, perennials, trees and shrubs…most of which have been trained to do well on less water! There’s a human-corrected transcript at the bottom of this newsletter of the podcast if you prefer to use your eyes over your ears.

Plants For Dry Shade

One of the more vexing situations for gardeners: those sun-loving perennials and small shrubs that you put in years ago...when the surrounding trees and shrubs were much smaller...may be rather stressed these days, thanks to all the shade that they now have to tolerate. Add to that the modern requirements for a more water-efficient garden. The new question is: which plants don’t require much water...but can thrive in the shade, especially here in USDA Zone 9 of California?

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

Every Monday, paid subscribers get exclusive, first looks about various garden topics, such as today’s. Just one of the benefits for paid subscribers. Thank you for your support!

When you live in a hot area of USDA Zone 9, where it gets over 100 degrees in the summer, and you want a fresh salad… you can forget about growing lettuce and spinach, at least most of them, because at some point they’re going to bolt. Usually it might be July or August, but eventually most of the cool season greens in USDA Zone 9, by late summer, they just bolt and get bitter. So that brings me to wandering around the yard looking for what else can we use for salad greens here? And that’s a perfect question for vegetable expert and Sacramento County Master Gardener Gail Pothour. Podcast recorded at the Fair Oaks Horticulture Center on an Open Garden Saturday. The topic: edible summertime greens and heat tolerant lettuce varieties.

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 podcast, nurseryman and Japanese maple expert Chris Aycock of El Dorado Nursery provides the basics for Japanese maple care, especially in the summer months.

Chris focuses on growing Japanese maples in different climates, explaining that the main factor is matching varieties to local conditions and caring for them appropriately.

For hot valley areas, he says mulch is very important to keep roots cool, and morning sun with afternoon shade is ideal. He also notes that some varieties can handle full sun, but they should be planted away from hot walls because reflected heat can be harmful.

For coastal areas, he says Japanese maples can grow well as long as they are not hit directly by sea spray. In windy, hot, dry inland areas, he says wind can be more damaging than sun, so some protection from afternoon wind is recommended.

At higher elevations such as Lake Tahoe (6200 ft), he says Japanese maples can be grown but may need protection from heavy snow load. He notes that some varieties do not perform well in intense cold, while others, including laceleaf types and Bloodgood, have been seen there.

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

Thanks for being a paid subscriber to Beyond the Garden Basics!

No time to listen to today’s podcast (above) with Ed Laivo? Here’s a summary. And below that, the actual transcript, with pictures, links, and music!

* Don’t expect a seed-grown peach to match the parent. Genetics are unpredictable. There’s a 70–90% chance the fruit will be disappointing or the tree won’t produce at all.

* Check whether your seedling tree even has a rootstock by looking at the base for a graft bump. A true seedling grows on its own roots, which means no disease resistance or soil adaptation guarantees.

* Plant in well-drained soil. This is the single most important factor for improving a seedling’s odds, since you can’t predict its soil tolerance.

* Give it full sun. It won’t guarantee quality fruit, but it removes one variable.

* Be realistic about your timeline. Seed-grown fruit trees can take 5–7+ years to produce, and may never produce at all.

* If space is limited, skip it. A seedling takes up valuable yard space that a proven variety could fill with reliable fruit.

* Consider tossing it and buying a named variety instead. You’ll get fruit faster, with known flavor and disease resistance.

* If you want to keep the tree, graft a branch of it on a proven variety of peach or nectarine rather than waiting years for the seedling’s unknown fruit. Find a friend with a good local peach tree and bud or graft that variety onto your seedling’s rootstock.

* Use grafting to test the tree before committing space to it. Test blocks, even at home, let you evaluate without betting your whole yard.

* If you do plant the seedling out, cut it back to knee height to encourage a low, manageable canopy (as Ed Laivo recommends).

* Factor in precocity when choosing any fruit tree. Trees that don’t fruit within the first 2–3 years are generally not worth the wait for most home gardeners.

* If you’re young, patient, and have land, go for it. Experimenting with seedlings is a worthwhile pursuit if you can afford the time and space.

* Research the Dave Wilson Nursery catalog for proven interspecific hybrids (pluots, pluerry, aprium, etc.) that have already been tested for precocity, disease resistance, and rootstock compatibility.

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

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 podcast (above), we talk with renowned pepperhead Dave DeWitt, author of several hot pepper books. We talk hot pepper basics, and Dave adds advice on how to overwinter your hot pepper plants for a second year of growth (and heat!). We have a complete, human-corrected transcript of the podcast towards the bottom of today’s newsletter. Short of time? Here are the main points from today’s podcast:

* Start from seed for variety, or order early from pepper catalogs. Super-hot varieties like Bhut Jolokia or Scorpion peppers may be difficult to find as transplants, so grow them from seed.

* Don’t judge peppers by heat alone. Habaneros hit 80,000–200,000 Scoville units but have a fruity, apricot-like flavor, good for both heat and taste. Diluting them (e.g., one habanero in 4 cups of salsa) keeps flavor without overwhelming heat.

* Skip water or beer for pepper burn. Capsaicin isn’t water-soluble, so the relief is temporary and heat returns. Use dairy instead: yogurt, sour cream, heavy cream, whole milk or ice cream (the casein protein strips capsaicin off your mouth).

* Never let pepper roots sit in water-logged soil. Add perlite or pumice (not vermiculite) to potting soil/containers to keep roots well-drained and prevent root rot or Phytophthora fungal disease.

* Give peppers 10–12 hours of full sun daily. They’re unaffected by day length until fall, and stop flowering once they hit their max fruit load.

* Use moderate nitrogen fertilizer. Too much N (especially from urea) produces lots of foliage but few pods. Organic fertilizers (naturally low in salt, under 10% nitrogen) are a safer bet.

* Get your soil tested annually (via a University extension service, e.g., Colorado State, UMass/Amherst, Texas A&M, or Utah St) to catch salt buildup, a common yield-killer from repeated watering/fertilizing in raised beds. If salts build up, flood-irrigate the bed heavily at season’s end to flush them out.

* To overwinter a pepper plant, grow it in a container, bring it indoors (a south-facing window is enough) over winter, and move it back outside in spring. You’re just keeping it alive in the winter, not expecting fruit until summer returns.

* Choose smaller-podded varieties (like pequins) for overwintering success. Pequins retain more vigor in year two, while larger-podded types (like New Mexico chilies) lose vigor and yield less after their first year.

What To Do With All Those Peppers

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

Bullet Points from the Podcast, “The Best Roses for Cut Flowers”

* Always cut long stems, not just the spent bloom. Snipping only 1-2 inches when deadheading causes the plant to push out short, crooked replacement growth; cutting deep into the cane produces another long stem.

* Make cuts just above a five-leaflet leaf (not a three-leaflet one), and choose a node pointing outward from the bush’s center. This improves air circulation and keeps stems growing straight.

* Recut stems underwater every couple of days, trimming about an inch off the bottom to remove air bubbles and keep water moving up the stem so buds continue to open.

* Strip off any foliage that will sit below the waterline submerged leaves decay and foul the water.

* Use flower food, or a sugar-water substitute like regular (non-diet) Sprite or 7Up, to keep water cleaner and nourish cut stems; tap water is otherwise fine.

* For low-thorn, long-stemmed cutting roses, favor hybrid teas and grandifloras like Ring of Fire, Hot Princess, Olympiad, Veteran’s Honor, Gold Medal, and Strike It Rich. Many grandifloras have notably fewer prickles.

* For reliably long-lasting vase life (opening slowly over about a week), pick Olympiad or Veteran’s Honor rather than Mr. Lincoln, which opens quickly once cut.

* For fragrance, choose Mr. Lincoln, Double Delight, or Olivia (an Austin/English shrub rose). But note high-petal-count “cabbage” roses like Olivia and Tamora can shatter petals suddenly (”explode”) on the table.

* For multi-bloom stems that fill a vase in one cut, use sprays/floribundas such as Sally Holmes, Julia Child, Betty Boop, and Daybreaker, or miniatures like Joy and Rainbow Sunblaze.

* Build arrangements with the “thrill, fill, spill” formula: big roses as the focal thrill, small polyanthus/miniature blooms as fill, and trailing foliage (ferns, ivy, nandina) as the spill to soften the vase edge.

* Add a sprig of citrus leaf or rose geranium to boost scent in bouquets from lower-fragrance roses.

* To time blooms for a specific event (wedding, show), prune roses about 6-8 weeks in advance. That’s the typical bloom cycle after a hard cut.

* Fertilize roughly monthly, especially after a deadheading push, and mulch to help with drought tolerance; if cutting back on water, cut back on fertilizer to avoid burning the plant.

* Deadhead regularly and thoroughly; leaving spent blooms on the plant signals it to stop flowering and start forming rose hips instead.

* Roses generally suit USDA zones 6-9, with best performance in low-humidity, low-rain, full-sun-but-not-scorching conditions (east-facing exposure helps colors last longer in hot climates).

Beyond The Garden Basics is a reader-supported publication. To receive exclusive, new posts and support my work, consider becoming a paid subscriber. Thank You!

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