Sanhedrin Nursery – Garden Blog

• Delicious raspberries, blackberries, loganberries, boysenberries and blueberries are all available now for early planting.

• Check the watering of outdoor container plants especially if they’re located under the eaves or porch where rain can’t reach them.

• Onion plants can be set out now for early summer harvest.

• Start an asparagus bed so you can enjoy their young, tender shoots straight from the garden.

• It’s bare root season, which means you can save money on fruit trees and berries by planting them now. A wide selection is now available.

Walnuts for Beauty and Health

Nut trees are an important part of American culture. Grown since colonial times, nut trees are truly a multi-purpose crop, providing shade, beauty, edible nuts, building materials and wildlife habitats.

The black walnut is native to North America. Its brown-black, diamond-patterned bark is especially beautiful. Normally growing 50 to 75 feet tall, black walnut occasionally reaches more than 100 feet.

Black walnut trees are especially prized for their exceptional, beautifully grained lumber. Their natural beauty is enhanced by the abundance of wildlife that makes full use of their generous crops.

The Persian or English walnut grows to only 40 to 60 feet tall. The nuts of English walnut are more easily freed from their shells than those of black walnut. They are widely grown for commercial production in California.

English walnuts are always grafted to black walnut rootstock, which leaves a noticeable change in the bark on the trunk of the tree. There are over 30 varieties of walnuts grown in California, but two varieties—Chandler and Hartley—account for over 50 percent of total production. California walnuts account for 99% of the commercial US supply and two-thirds of world supply.

‘Hartley’ has been widely grown walnut in California for a long time. It has a large, thin-shelled, light-colored nut that is very flavorful. It bears as a young tree and is a dependable producer.

‘Franquette’ is the last English walnut to leaf out in the spring, making it less susceptible to spring frost damage. It also produces high quality nuts and makes a good pollenizer for ‘Hartley.’ The large tree grows to 60 feet tall and wide, making an excellent large shade tree.

‘Chandler’ bears nuts all through the tree, not just at the ends of the branches, making it less susceptible to frost damage. It makes a small tree and is late-blooming. It is self-fruitful, but will produce larger crops when planted near a ‘Hartley’ or a ‘Franquette.’ It begins bearing 2-3 years after planting.

‘Pedro’ is a fine flavored nut that grows on a very small tree, about 60% of the size of other walnut trees. It is self-fruitful and an excellent choice for home planting.

One of the most surprising recent introductions is the ‘Robert Livermore’ walnut. The trees and the whole nuts look like conventional walnuts, but the thin seedcoat covering the kernel is vivid scarlet. In all other respects, this walnut is similar to ‘Chandler’ harvesting a week earlier.

Walnut trees have a deep taproot, making them drought tolerant and unsuited to shallow soil. They requires deep watering and well-drained soil. Very few plants grow under walnut trees because their black walnut roots produce a substance that inhibits growth of other plants.

Walnuts are wind pollinated and partly self-fruitful. For best pollination and production plant two different varieties.

With new studies showing more and more health benefits, including heart health and some anti-cancer benefits, it’s a good time to incorporate walnuts into your diet.

• Asparagus, whose delectable spears are even sweeter when home-grown, are available now for planting. Prepare a fertile bed for these long-lived vegetables.

• Start seeds of broccoli, cabbage, cauliflower and other cool season crops indoors for planting outside in March.

• Spray fruit trees with a dormant oil spray. Spray from the bottom up, including the undersides of limbs and the ground around the tree, to prevent early spring insect infestations.

• Pansies will brighten your flower beds with their happy faces. They will bloom all through the spring.

• If you’re short on space in your orchard, you can plant 2 or 3 varieties of the same fruit in one large hole. This will allow cross-pollination among apples, pears, plums, cherries and Asian pears.

Marvelous Mulberry Trees

What a surprise it is to first discover a blackberry growing on a tree! Mulberries, these are, and what an interesting family.

The White Mulberry, (Morus alba), is native to China where the ancient silk culture developed using their leaves are the primary food source for silkworm larvae. It was transported to Turkey and then to Europe where it became naturalized centuries ago.

It was introduced into America for silkworm culture in early colonial times. First sold to farmers, it has spread unchecked throughout much of the country. It’s fruit varies from white to pink and is sweet but mild-flavored.

In California, a fruitless cultivar is widely grown as an ornamental tree. The familiar “Fruitless Mulberry” is a male hybrid that makes catkins but no fruit.

Teas Weeping Fruiting Mulberry (Morus alba ‘Pendula’) is a beautiful weeping tree. It mounds up slowly to 10’ – 12’, and produces large quantities of juicy fruit. Its slender, weeping branches cascade down to the ground, making the red fruit easy to pick and a favorite with children. Its leaves are also tasty to silkworms.

The red or American mulberry is native to eastern United States, from New England to the Gulf coast. Although native, it is a threatened species because it hybridizes readily with the invasive White Mulberry. It has dark purple fruit with very sweet flavor.

A century ago, every farmer in the U.S had mulberry trees planted at his farm garden. They grew rapidly and made excellent shade and, planted near the hog lot or over the chicken coop, they were an excellent food staple for the farm animals.

Persian Black Mulberry (Morus nigra) is native to southwestern Asia and has been grown in Europe since before Roman times for its flavorful, purplish-black fruit. The tree grows 20-30 feet tall and spreads about 20 feet wide. It is very long lived, and develops gnarled, picturesque branches with age.

Black mulberries are also available in bush form. This plant is popular in England where the nursery song originated: “Here we go ‘round the mulberry bush…”

Mulberries are greatly loved by birds. Plant one to feed the birds, and or to attract birds away from other fruit trees. The fruit can stain patio areas and decks, so it should be planted away from outdoor living areas. Plant one next to a chicken pen!

A good place for a Mulberry tree is in a lawn. This makes harvesting easy: just spread a sheet below the tree, shake the branches gently and the fruits drops onto the sheet for easy gathering. The fruits can be eaten fresh or used for making jam, jellies, pies, tarts, syrups or cordials. Dried fruits are used for snacks and in puddings, cookies, muffins and confections.

Mulberry trees have very attractive, dark green leaves. Although somewhat drought-resistant, they need to be watered in dry seasons, or the fruit is likely to drop before it has fully ripened. They are easy to grow and fun to eat.

• Apples and pears are the easiest fruits to grow in our area. Choose early, mid-season and late varieties for a continuous harvest from late summer into winter.

• Fill your winter garden with color from primroses and pansies.

• Roses should be pruned in February near the end of the dormant season. You can clean them up now, however, by removing all the old leaves on and around the plants.

• Start seeds of perennial flowers like columbine, coreopsis and echinacea.

Protecting Plants from Freezing Weather

Plants vary in the amount of cold that they can take in the winter time. Where zinnias are completely killed by a frost, pansies thrive in the cold and will even bloom underneath the snow. Some evergreen shrubs, like jasmine vines, fuchsias, citrus and fragrant rhododendrons, are damaged by severe winter cold, but there are measures you can take to protect these plants.

Keeping plants well-watered is very important in freezing weather. While we’ve had enough rainfall for plants in the ground, container plants are especially vulnerable to the desiccating (drying out) effects of freezing.

There are several ways you can provide winter protection including mulching, covering the plants, moving them, spraying them with an anti-transpirant, or taking advantage of a light snow covering.

Once the soil is moist, mulching is one of the best ways to protect plant roots. A two-inch mulch will keep the soil from freezing and allow the roots to continue to pull up water as needed. The combination of dry soil and cold temperatures can cause serious freeze damage to evergreen trees and shrubs.

Covering plants will protect them from frost damage by trapping the heat that is rising up from the ground. Covering with a plastic tent or ‘Harvest-Guard’ (a lightweight fabric) can make a big difference. If plastic touches the leaves, each point of contact will freeze, so it’s better to make a light frame and staple the plastic to it. ‘Harvest-Guard’ is light enough that you can simply drape it over the plant, but it will need to be secured against winds.

You can also move tender plants to a sheltered location on a porch or underneath an eave or patio cover. It is also less cold underneath trees, so that is a good spot for more tender plants. Be sure to keep these plants watered if they will not receive rain water.

You can also spray tender plants with an anti-transpirant spray, such as ‘Cloud Cover’, which is made from an acrylic polymer. When sprayed on a plant, it forms a clear, colorless, flexible, glossy film that doesn’t interfere with the plant’s growth. This protective coating stops water from escaping from the foliage and stems, substantially reducing water loss due to drying winds and frozen ground. It is best to spray when the temperature is above 40 degrees. The spray will gradually break down in about four months under cold weather conditions.

Mother Nature actually provides the best blanket of protection in the form of a light snow. Up to two or three inches of snow not only insulates the ground around your plants it also provides a blanket of protection over the leaves. On the other hand, a heavy, wet snow can cause considerable damage as it tends to place too much weight on the leaves and branches, often causing them to break. So if the snowfall is wet and heavy, you should make it a point to shake-off the excess snow before any damage occurs. Try to do this carefully so some snow remains as a winter protection.

Each measure gives a few degrees of protection, so try them all on tender plants that you value.