Sanhedrin Nursery – Garden Blog

• Liquidambar and Japanese maple trees can’t be beat for fall color. Choose them now while you can see their bright colors.

• Tree collards are delicious winter vegetables.

• Rake and destroy leaves from fruit trees that were diseased this year.

• Tie red raspberry canes to wires; prune to 1 foot above the top wire or wrap the canes around the top wire.

• There’s still time to plant spring-flowering bulbs, but don’t delay. Daffodils, tulips and hyacinths are still available.

Protect Peaches from Peach Leaf Curl

Probably the most irritating thing about seeing the characteristic warty red leaves of peach leaf curl is realizing that it’s already too late to do anything about the disease.

Peach and nectarine trees generally grow quite well here, but many varieties are prone to a disease called peach leaf curl. When the tree leafs out in the spring, infected leaves quickly become blistered and distorted and turn yellow to reddish in color. Gradually these leaves drop from the tree and are replaced by a new crop of usually healthy leaves.

The production of two sets of leaves decreases the energy the tree can put into new growth and fruit production. If leaf curl is uncontrolled for several years, the tree will decline and need to be removed.

The fungus spores of peach leaf curl live over the winter in microscopic crevices on the tree and are ready to infect young leaves just as the leaf tips are exposed in the spring. Peach leaf curl is worst when we have wet spring weather, so it is always good to apply a preventative spray.

Timing of dormant sprays is very important. In northern California, apply a first spray about November 15, or when at least 90% of the leaves have fallen. The most effective spray for the home orchardist is a fixed copper fungicide, which comes in a powdered form.

A second application should be made in late December or January. The third, and very important spraying should be made just before the buds swell, usually in mid-February.

Full coverage of the tree is essential. Leaves developing from buds that are not covered by fungicide will probably become infected. For maximum control of peach leaf curl, spray trees thoroughly with a copper fungicide three times during the winter.

If you do not already have peaches in your orchard, you might consider planting the newer, curl-resistant varieties. ‘Frost’ peach and ‘Q-1-8 White’ peach are both highly resistant and ‘Indian Free’ peach is also very resistant.

Peach trees are worth growing in this area even if you do not get a crop every year. In a good year, a single tree may give you 200 pounds of luscious, juicy fruit. Take care of your peach and nectarine trees and look forward to bountiful, healthy crops of delicious, home-grown fruit.

• Spray citrus and other tender plants with Cloud Cover to give them some protection from frosts.

• Enjoy birds in your garden by hanging bird feeders around the yard. You’ll see many different kinds as they migrate through this fall.

• Mulch asparagus beds with three inches of well-rotted manure.

• Empty birdbaths and fountains and cover them for the winter, to prevent water freezing and cracking the bowls.

• Cover vegetable plants with bird netting to keep quail and other birds away.

Winterize your Garden
Put your yard and garden to bed for a long winter’s nap.

Chilly mornings, football Friday nights, and falling leaves signal autumn’s arrival. This time of year also calls for end-of-the-season yard work. Wrap up your growing season by tending to tasks such as leaf raking, composting and bulb planting.

Begin your cleanup by clearing leaves from gutters, grass, driveways, and shrubs. To remove freshly fallen leaves, take action with your tool of choice: rake, blower/vac, or mower. You can run over leaves with your lawn mower, and let the chopped leaves lie to give your lawn a free dose of nitrogen. Or use a bag attachment to collect shredded leaves for mulch or composting. Time your leaf work before a rain; wet leaves clump and clog tools.

Start a compost pile with the chopped leaves. Begin by blending a few shovelfuls of topsoil into your leaf pile. Cover the pile with a tarp and let it sit. By spring, you’ll have a nice batch of compost.

Clip stalks on perennials to 3 inches after a hard freeze. Leave stalks with attractive seed heads for winter interest.

Autumn is a great time to dig up plants you know aren’t going to make it through the winter, like geraniums, and plant them in pots. Then bring them indoors for the winter.

This is not the time for pruning or fertilizing, which can stimulate new growth. Plants which are not particularly hardy may be damaged or die during the winter months if pruned now.

Lavenders, sages and other woody herbs will be much happier if you wait until spring. In spring, plants are actively growing and have the strength to readily replace what you trim. You can cut off dead or diseased branches now, as long as it’s not to the point of pruning.

Cover garden beds with several inches of compost before winter to help nutrients absorb into the soil. This will ready your beds for spring planting.

Fragile tubers such as dahlias and begonias should be dug up and put in a plastic bag with vermiculite or peat moss in a dark, cool, dry place. Check the bulbs monthly and if the environment around them is moist, cut slits in the bag to let air in. They’ll be ready and waiting for you to plant next spring.

Autumn is the time when spring-blooming bulbs like tulips, daffodils and hyacinths should be planted. They need to be in the cool ground for several months, to develop roots and prepare for their spring appearance.

This is also a good time to plant trees and evergreens so they can establish their roots over the winter and be ready to take off and grow next spring.

Don’t let the nice days of fall go buy without getting some of these gardening jobs done.

• Tulips can paint the spring garden with almost any color you choose. Plant them now to enjoy their bright flowers next April.

• Compost your leaves as they fall, don’t burn them! Leaves make wonderful compost that breaks down into rich humus by next summer.

• Chrysanthemums can be planted in pots or flower beds for bright and cheerful flowers to enjoy this fall.

• Seed slopes with annual ryegrass to prevent erosion and improve the soil for later plantings.

• Don’t let dahlia bulbs stay in the ground during the winter.  Lift them when the tops have dried.

Fall Color in the Garden

Though many plants pass into winter rather quietly, there are a number of shrubs that end their growing season with a flash of bright colors. Reds, yellows and oranges usher out the last warm days with a cheery farewell.

Japanese barberry is an attractive, red-leaved shrub whose foliage displays a festival of colors before dropping. The leaves turn to yellow, orange and red all on the same plant. It also has bright red berries.

Burning bush is a real eye-catcher. Also known as winged Euonymus, it is a dense, green background shrub that suddenly turns bright red in the fall.

Japanese rose, Kerria japonica, is a graceful large shrub with flowers like small yellow roses in the spring and summer. In autumn, the bright green leaves turn to golden yellow before they fall.

Crape myrtle is well-known for its papery pink, purple or red flowers in the summer. It is also pretty in the fall when the leaves change to yellow, orange and red before they drop.

Heavenly bamboo, Nandina, is a good-looking shrub year-round. In the spring it puts on a lovely display of white flowers that produce berries which turn bright red in the fall. The leaves also take on a reddish hue and both berries and leaves hang on through the winter.

Spiraeas are a large family of shrubs with tiny flowers in clusters. The spring-blooming varieties, like ‘Bridal Wreath’, have long arching branches covered with delicate white flowers. In the fall they are again colorful as the dark green leaves turn to a rich red.

Snowball bush also has lovely fall foliage. This handsome bush is covered with clusters of white flowers that look like snowballs in the spring. In the fall, its leaves become flushed with rosy red before they drop.

Probably the most brilliant red, besides poison oak, comes from Virginia creeper and Boston ivy. These deciduous vines turn a brilliant scarlet when the weather starts to cool. Clinging to a fence, they make a spectacular backdrop to any garden.

Don’t let your garden have the fall blues. Dress it up with the bright reds and yellows of these shrubs and vines.