Sanhedrin Nursery – Garden Blog

• 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.

• Witch hazels bloom in the middle of winter with their interesting and showy, fragrant yellow or red blooms. One might look good in your garden.

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

• Fruit trees can be pruned this month. If you’re not sure how, take advantage of one of the fine classes being offered this month.

Grapes for the Home Vineyard

An age-old fruit, grapes have been cultivated for over 6000 years and continue to grow in popularity today. Grown for fresh eating, juice, jelly or wine, grapes are widely recognized for their health benefits as well as for the production of fine wines.

Wine grape varieties represent only a small portion of the more than 600 kinds of grapes, and only about 60 varieties are suited to produce fine quality wine. The rest are considered table grapes, which are seeing a surge in popularity with today’s home gardeners.

Seedless table grapes are the most popular and Thompson Seedless and Flame make up the majority of table grapes sold in California. But both of these varieties require a considerable amount of heat to reach their finest quality. The Willits area just doesn’t get the amount of heat that the Central Valley does where these varieties grow to perfection. But there are many delicious grapes that are well suited to our climate.

There are two basic types of grapes, American and European. Our familiar table grapes and most wine grapes are derived from a single European species, Vitis vinifera. They have relatively thin skins that adhere closely to their flesh, and seeds that can be slipped out of the pulp quite easily.

American varieties, Vitis labrusca, are sometimes called slip-skin grapes, as their skins separate readily from the flesh; their seeds are tightly embedded in the pulp. The most familiar American variety is the Concord grape. Our area is suited to American grapes and to selected European varieties with lower heat requirements.

In 1999, several new cultivars were released. Princess is a large green grape that rivals Thompson with berries of excellent eating quality that have a satisfying crunch. Summer Royal grapes are medium-sized, and blue-black in color. These round seedless grapes have a pleasant aroma and a sweet flavor, and are ideal for snacks and salads. Summer Muscat has green, seedless muscat-flavored berries that are excellent for dry-on-the-vine raisins.

Some American grapes that ripen early in the season include these seedless varieties. Himrod is an excellent quality golden yellow grape that bears large clusters of crisp, sweet fruit. This seedless variety is reliable and productive. Canadice is a beautiful rose-colored grape that is sweet with a somewhat spicy flavor. Interlaken has pale green berries that are sweet and crisp.

Suffolk Red is a seedless grape with round, firm, pink to red berries and a pleasing, spicy-sweet flavor. It makes a really delicious table grape. Golden Muscat has pale golden berries with a characteristic muscat flavor. Its large, well filled clusters are juicy and sweet.

The best known purple grape is Concord, whose fruit has a distinctive “foxy” flavor. Used widely for grape juice and jelly, it may be America’s favorite grape.

Several European grapes do well in our area. Perlette is a pale green grape that is sweet and juicy. Black Monukka, which has a deep, purplish-black skin and is very sweet and rich flavored, and Flame, a crisp, sweet red grape, are both excellent for fresh use and for raisins. These varieties do not need the high heat that Thompson does to ripen.

Grapes are so abundant and easy to grow, that no family vineyard should be without them. Plant several varieties to enjoy their distinct flavors and a long harvest.

• Bare-root season is here. Choose and plant your favorite fruit and shade trees now.

• Blueberries are a delicious fruit that can be planted now from potted plants. Give them a rich, acid bed prepared with lots of peat moss.

• 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.

• Primroses will give you the most color during this cold weather. Choose some pretty ones now for your boxes and beds.

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

Flavorful, Fresh Fruits for the Orchard

Each year the list of mouth-watering summer fruits grows longer with new hybrids introduced and sometimes antique varieties making a comeback. Home grown fruit is increasingly popular as we learn the benefits of local food production.

Discovering new flavors and even new fruits can be an exciting taste experience. Here are some varieties that may be new to you.

Apples are one of the best fruits for our region. Our cold winters and warm summers are good for apple-growing and there are dozens of fine varieties to choose from. Some old varieties that are worth considering are Gravenstein, an heirloom apple that is unsurpassed for making delicious applesauce. Famous for its frequently huge size, Wolf River is an heirloom apple was discovered about 1875, near the Wolf River in Wisconsin. Its white flesh is smooth and sweet. Used primarily for cooking, as well as fresh and for drying, it is a hardy, disease-resistant tree.

Asian pears do very well in our area. They are usually round, with brown or yellow skin, and are firm when ripe. A variety that may be new to you is called Seigyoku. It has large fruit of the very best quality, with a smooth skin and crisp, juicy, sweet, flavorful flesh. It bears heavily with attractive yellow fruit.

Cherries are probably the best loved fruit of all. Royal Ann is a long-time favorite sweet cherry known for its yellow skin, dotted with red, and its rich flavor. It is excellent fresh as well as for canning, and is often used to make maraschino cherries because they bleach easily. Once called Napoleon, it dates back to the 1700’s. Most cherry trees require a pollenizer and so does this one. Pollenate with Black Tartarian.

Apricots are not the easiest fruit to grow in this region, but areas with less frost may be successful with them. Puget Gold is a hardy variety from western Washington. It produces large fruit with orange skin and orange flesh and has very good flavor. It is recommended for western climates where spring rains and frosts limit apricot culture. So if you just can’t live without fresh apricots, it’s a good one to try.

Who can resist a new peach? Suncrest is a fine-flavored, yellow freestone with bright red skin over yellow. It has frost hardy blossoms, and is a consistent producer of large, firm fruit. It is also an heirloom that “tastes like the sun and summer.”

Figs are a sub-tropical fruit, but some varieties are hardier than others. Chicago Hardy is light reddish brown fig with very good flavor. It even grows well in Canada.

Kiwi fruit need a long, frost-free season to set and ripen fruit. The “hardy kiwis” produce a smaller fruit, but are easier to grow here. Ken’s Red produces bright red fruit with a sweet, mild flavor. Its fruit is among the largest of the hardy kiwi varieties and they should ripen here in July.

Now is the time to plant fruit trees of all kinds from bare-root trees available at local nurseries. Be sure to add some of these tasty varieties to your orchard.

• Choose living Christmas trees now. Most will be able to be kept in their containers and used for one or two more years as a Christmas tree before planting them.

• Stop peach leaf curl by spraying now with copper to help prevent this disfiguring disease from attacking your peach and nectarine trees next spring.

• Clean up rose bushes by removing spent flowers and raking up old leaves, but wait until February for heavy pruning.

• Plant Paperwhite narcissus in pots this weekend for holiday gifts.

• Primroses and pansies will add color to your flower beds and containers all winter.

The Blueberry Family

Blueberries, known botanically as the Vaccinium, are one of relatively few native American fruits. This large family of plants has edible berries, most of them are very tasty and healthy as well. They are known by their common names like cranberries, lingonberries, blueberries, huckleberries and others.

Vaccinium plants can be found in nearly all climate zones, but they all require acidic soil. Our native Huckleberry grows wild in the local redwood forests. Other California natives include California red huckleberry, grouse whortleberry and bilberry.

From the Ohelo berry, native to Hawaii, to the lingonberry, native to the northern states, Canada, Scandanavia and Finland, berries in the Vaccinium family are so acidic themselves that they are easy to preserve. They don’t need added pectin to jell, so it is very easy to make jelly and preserves out of them.

Cranberries are low, creeping shrubs or vines with slender, wiry stems and evergreen leaves. They were first used by Native Americans, who discovered the wild berry’s versatility as a food, fabric dye and healing agent. Today, cranberries are commercially grown throughout the northern part of the United States and are available in both fresh and processed forms.

Blueberries are the most popular of the Vacciniums. They are renowned for their health benefits and delicious fruit. The three general types of blueberries are Northern highbush, Southern highbush, and Southern rabbiteye.

Northern highbush blueberries grow 4 to 6 feet tall and have clusters of white bell-shaped flowers in spring, rich green foliage that turns deep red in the fall, and abundant crops of sweet blue berries in midsummer. They are the best known and the largest, sweetest and juiciest blueberries you can grow. These varieties, however, are native to Canada, Michigan and other northern climes. They prefer cool summers, where they have the best fruit quality, but are worth growing in our area in partial shade.

Southern highbush blueberries have an earlier ripening season and grow 5 to 8 feet tall by 5 feet wide. They are all self-pollinating, although the yields are higher with cross pollination. These varieties are suitable for areas from Florida to California because of their low chill requirement and heat tolerance. They grow in full sun or partial shade, and are grown commercially in the Central Valley.

Rabbiteye blueberries are native to the South. They are large bushes growing 6-12 feet tall. They are very tolerant to heat and drought, but need more than one variety for pollination and fruit set.

Blueberries need mostly sun and rich, acid soil that is high in organic matter. A pH of 4.8 to 5.0 is ideal. When planting, add lots of peat moss, equal to 50% of the planting mix. Dig a wide hole and add a couple of cups of soil sulfur per plant.

Blueberry roots are shallow and should not be disturbed. Mulch the plants with 4 to 6 inches of sawdust or compost, but keep it away from the base of the plant. This will keep down weeds and retain moisture. Keep replenishing the mulch all summer. Plants should be kept moist throughout the growing season.

Berries possess a high proportion of antioxidants and vitamin-packed flavinoids, and are among the healthiest fruits you can eat. Blueberries are a wonderful addition to your diet as well as your garden.