5 things to do in the garden this week:
Fruit crops. Seedless grapes of Thompson (green) and Flame (red) varieties are easily grown in Southern California. They require only 100 hours of winter chilling — less than half of what most warm-winter compatible deciduous fruit trees require — to flower and fruit. (Fig trees would be the exception since they require 100 hours of chilling or even less to yield a crop). Blue-black Concord seedless grapes will also grow well in our climate. And then there’s Thomcord, a blue-black variety that combines the flavors of Thompson and Concord varieties. This hybrid was developed from a USDA breeding program and was tested for 17 years in California vineyards before being released for public consumption. You can order Thomcord from Stark Bro’s Nurseries (starkbros.com).
Vegetables. If you want peppery greens to spice up your vegetable garden consider growing mustard greens and arugula, also known as rocket. These cabbage family relatives grow like weeds and will gladly self-sow after they bolt (send up flower stalks) and go to seed. The seeds are also spicy in their own right and may be consumed raw or cooked. You may wonder why arugula is also called rocket, a centuries-old word which has nothing to do with a projectile launched into space. It has to do with “roquette,” the French word for the vegetable, which was derived from the Italian “ruchetta,” or little “ruca.” Ruca, in turn, came from the Latin “eruca,” meaning caterpillar or hedgehog or bristles, the connection being the bristles seen on both hedgehogs and certain caterpillars — associated with the trichomes or hairs found on wild arugula stems and on cultivated arugula when it’s about to flower. The word “arugula,” a variant of ruchetta, was only introduced in 1967 by Italian immigrants to the US and Australia.
Herbs. Chamomile (Matricaria retutita) is a cool-season herb and now is the time to plant it. Seeds germinate easily in average soil. Plants grow to a height of two to three feet and are covered with small daisy blooms. Tea is made from dried flowers and this can be done by laying them on paper towels. Afterward, store in an air-tight jar or other sealed container.
Ornamentals. It’s November and my butterfly roses (Rosa x odorata var. Mutabilis) are at peak bloom. I did not water them once this summer but they obviously did not mind having their soil go bone dry. Mutabilis is a China rose, a group that has a reputation for drought tolerance. You learn a lot about plants during a sizzling summer. Butterfly roses are prone to mildew but having seen no water for many months, they do not show any signs of that white powdery substance on their leaves. These roses are special since they can be cut back virtually to the ground and regrow to a height of five feet in less than a year. The variety name “Mutabilis” references the mutating or changing color of the flowers that open sulfur yellow before turning apricot orange and then pink and finally crimson. Flowers have five petals in a single layer. Their appearance is silky and whimsical and they tend to nod on the stem. These roses are not at all stiff or formal like the classic multilayered roses we have come to expect. Butterfly roses are thorny and so they make an excellent security fence should you be in the market for one.
Use an established tree as a support for a grapevine. This is not just a cute idea but based on a gardener walking through the woods and observing wild grapes growing up into the branches of a tree. Inspired by what he saw, the idea of planting a grapevine at the base of an apple tree was hatched. This gardener then planted a grapevine a few feet away from a mature apple tree and leaned a pole between vine and tree that would guide the vine’s growth. All side buds of the shoot winding up the pole were rubbed off so there would be no side growth away from the pole. Once into the tree, the vine searched for light and then flowered and fruited in open spaces on the perimeter of the tree canopy. Of course, you could use any kind of tree, whether grown for fruit or shade, to support your vine.
If you have questions or comments you would like to share, please send it along to joshua@perfectplants.com.