Sanhedrin Nursery – Garden Blog

• Petunias can be planted now. Their bright flowers will bloom all summer in hot, sunny locations and they will take a light frost.

• Plant summer-flowering bulbs now. Glads, dahlias, callas, cannas and lilies will bloom this summer if planted soon.

• Fertilize established roses now and begin spraying them for insect and disease problems. Neem oil is a very effective, less toxic spray that works against both insects and diseases.

• Enjoy the bright yellow colors of goldfinches outside your window by putting up thistle feeders for them.

• When you plant your tomatoes, put a handful of bone meal in the bottom of the hole to help prevent blossom-end rot on the fruit later on.

Delicious, Homegrown Tomatoes

There are still a few things in the world you cannot buy: one of them is the full flavor and juicy texture of a vine-ripened tomato. Perhaps that is why the tomato is the most widely grown vegetable in American gardens.

Mendocino County has many different climate zones. Inland we have areas like the Willits valley where summer nights are generally cool, with temperatures often falling into the 40’s, which slows down the growth of warm-season crops like tomatoes and peppers. We have a short growing season here because spring frosts can occur through May, and a killing frost usually arrives in October.

Ukiah is a different story with warmer summer nights and a longer growing season. By choosing the right varieties for your local climate, you can count on delicious, juicy tomatoes this summer.

Short-season varieties like ‘Early Girl,’ ‘Champion,’ ‘Heartland,’ ‘La Roma,’ and ‘Oregon Spring’ are popular in the Willits area. You can always try a few of the longer-season varieties like ‘Beefsteak,’ ‘Beefmaster,’ ‘Brandywine,’ ‘Cherokee Purple,’ and ‘Giuseppi’s Big Boy’ if you have a good, warm spot for them.

Then there are the midseason favorites like ‘Ace 55,’ ‘Better Boy,’ ‘Big Beef,’ ‘Celebrity’ and ‘Park’s Whopper’. Planting several different types will give you lots of delicious fruit for fresh-eating and canning.

Tomatoes are divided into two types. Determinate varieties grow on strong, stocky bushes that don’t need staking. All the fruits on a plant ripen at about the same time, making these good canning tomatoes. ‘Ace 55,’ ‘Celebrity,’ ‘Homestead,’ ‘Heartland,’ ‘La Roma,’ ‘Patio,’ and ‘Oregon Spring’ are determinate varieties.

Most tomatoes grow on vines, and these varieties are called indeterminate, which means that they would keep growing indefinitely, if frost didn’t kill them. They need strong stakes or cages to hold the plants up off the ground.

For variety, be sure to include yellow and orange tomatoes in your garden. Many of them are low in acid, which some people prefer, and all of them are colorful in salads. ‘Golden Jubilee’ is the standard, low-acid tomato. But try ‘Lemon Boy’ for its bright, lemon-yellow fruit and ‘Hillbilly’ or ‘Pineapple’ for a red-and-yellow slicer that is sweet and fruity. ‘Green Zebra’ is a small green-striped fruit with a tangy flavor.

“Cherry” tomatoes are nice in salads. Try ‘Yellow Pear,’ with small, pear-shaped fruit, and ‘Sungold,’ a bright apricot-orange with tropical flavor. ‘Black Cherry’ is sweet and rich-flavored, and ‘Jelly Bean’ has grape-shaped fruits with sweet flavor. ‘Large Red Cherry’ and ‘Chadwick’s Cherry’ are large cherry tomatoes and ‘Supersweet 100’ bears large clusters of small, sweet red fruit that are disease resistant.

Good paste tomatoes are seedless (or nearly so), meaty, and on the dry side. Look for ‘Roma,’ ‘La Roma,’ ‘San Marzano,’ or ‘Myona’ for sauces and sun-drying.

Many of these varieties are considered heirlooms: open-pollinated varieties that are over 50 years old. These include ‘Black Cherry,’ ‘Brandywine,’ ‘Chadwick’s Cherry,’ ‘Cherokee Purple,’ ‘Giuseppi’s Big Boy,’ ‘Hillbilly,’ ‘Mortgage Lifter,’ ‘Pineapple’ and ‘Yellow Pear.’

Tomatoes are such an important ingredient in so many types of cooking. Don’t be without your home-grown favorites this summer.

• Tomato and pepper plants can be set out with protection. “Season Starter” will protect them down to 20°F and will give them a warm environment during the day.

• Lettuce, cabbages, broccoli, onions and other cool-season vegetables can be set out with no frost protection. They will give you a delicious early harvest.

• Spring feeding of trees and shrubs can begin now. Mulch with manure or apply fish emulsion or commercial fertilizers.

• Last chance to plant asparagus roots this year. This delicious vegetable will keep producing for up to 20 years.

• Attract birds to your yard with bird feeders. Delightful gold finches will be happy to visit your thistle feeders, and rufous-sided tohees will visit seed feeders.

Amazing Artichokes

Artichokedom’s truest and grandest claim to fame is that a young starlet named Marilyn Monroe was crowned the first Queen of the Artichokes in Castroville, California in 1947. The somewhat spontaneous event got both artichokes and her career off to a great start.

California artichokes originally came from Italy. They are actually a thistle plant which is cultivated for its edible flower buds. A full sized plant covers an area four feet in diameter and grows four to five feet tall. The long, arching, spiked leaves are silver-green in color and make the artichoke look like a giant fern. The buds, if allowed to flower, are up to seven inches across and are a beautiful violet-purple color.

The artichoke thrives prefers temperate climates – never too hot or cold. The Salinas Valley of California, where winters are relatively frost-free and summers are cool and moist with fog, is an ideal growing area. It also has deep, fertile, well-drained soils which promote maximum root development for artichokes, which do not like overly saturated soils.

But artichokes are very adaptable and also grow well in Willits. Choose a site that gets full sun or part shade where they won’t shade smaller plants and where you can leave them undisturbed for several years.

They should have rich, well-drained soil so dig a large hole and add a couple of shovelfuls of organic matter and some bone meal. Set plants 3 feet apart, and feed with fish emulsion or other organic fertilizer through the spring.

Artichoke plants need to stay moist during the growing season, so use a thick mulch in the summer to help retain moisture. In the fall, remove the dead leaves then mulch with manure and enjoy their tasty buds the next spring.

The size of the bud depends upon where it is located on the plant. The largest are “terminal” buds produced at the end of the long central stems. The medium buds grow on the sides, and the babies at the base. Harvest artichokes before the buds start to open when they are still green and tight. The harvest season continues until hot weather comes on, in our climate, and you may get a few more in the fall.

Artichokes should be divided and replanted every 5 to 7 years when they become crowded. One plant per artichoke eater will usually produce plenty of tender buds.

The traditional variety of artichoke, grown in Castroville, is called ‘Green Globe.’ It has large green heads with thick fleshy scales. A new variety, ‘Emerald’, is a very productive, thornless variety. It has buttery flavored ’chokes with a large heart and conical shape. It is much more tolerant of both heat and cold, and is adapted to both coastal and inland valley conditions.

Enjoy this tasty delicacy right out of your own garden.

• Tomatoes can be set out with protection. “Season Starter” will protect them down to 20°F and will give them a warm environment during the day.

• Plant sunflowers now from seed or plants. Choose either the multi-stemmed kinds for cut flowers or the giants for edible seeds.

• Gladiolus bulbs come in every color of the rainbow. Plant them this month for summer flowers.

• New rose bushes may have been damaged by the cold weather last week. Prune back dead shoots and new growth will come out to replace it soon.

• Put up hummingbird feeders this month and enjoy these colorful and entertaining birds.

Dazzling Dahlias

Diverse and versatile, dahlias are prized for their bright-colored, summer blooms. They are one of the most varied of the summer flowering “bulbs” and are actually tubers. Although native to Mexico, dahlias are very adaptable.

They come in simple, daisy-like flowers; cactus flowers with rolled petals that give them a spiky look; smaller pompon flowers with many petaled, globe-shaped blooms; and decorative dahlias with large, fluffy blooms of many pointed and twisted petals. Flowers range from 2 inches to more than 8 inches across and come in a rainbow of colors. Plants range from 8 inches to 4½ feet tall, and bloom for months.

‘Harlequin’ Dahlias have small flowers, 2-3 inches across, with a single layer of outer petals and a burst of shorter inner petals that surround the eye. Their long-lasting blooms are bicolored or solid and come in many colors.

Bedding dahlias include ‘Figaro’ Mix with green leaves and ‘Redskin’ Mix with dark foliage. They are compact and uniform with double flowers that are ideal for borders as well as containers.

The larger dahlias are particularly showy in the garden. The cactus dahlia, ‘Playa Blanca,’ produces an endless supply of white, 4 inch flowers all summer long. The cactus dahlia ‘Purple Gem’ produces excellent 4-6″ cut flowers in a rich purple from midsummer to mid-autumn.

‘Kelvin Floodlight’ is a bright yellow dinnerplate dahlia with flowers up to 8”-10” across on a four foot bush. ‘Garden Wonder,’ a bright red dinnerplate dahlia, has huge 8”-10” flowers that create an eye-catching summer show and bloom until the first frost.

‘Rosella’ is a decorative dahlia that has vivid magenta, double blooms on a 3-4 foot bush from July to frost. They are excellent for cut flowers and borders.

Dahlia tubers are planted in spring after the air and soil have warmed. They grow in full sun on the coast but need shade during the hottest part of the day, inland.

Dahlias like well-drained, fertile soil. Space roots of larger dahlias 2 to 2 feet apart, smaller types, 12 inches apart. Mix in some composted manure at planting time.

For tall varieties, drive a 6-foot stake into the hole just off center, then plant the root next to it. Place the root horizontally about 2 inches from the stake with the growth eye pointing up, and cover with 3 inches of soil. Water well to settle the soil. When the sprouts show up, in about three weeks, top-dress with fertilizer. Use as a background screen or hedge plants for a striking accent.

As the plants grow, tie each stalk loosely to the stake with soft tie material. Dahlias begin blooming two to three months from planting and continue until frost. Pinch tall-growing plants at 4 to 6 inches to encourage branching.

Dahlia’s are ideal for cut flowers, borders and containers. Their fancy flowers with their wide variety of shapes and colors will add a burst of color and life to your summer garden and home decor.