In the Garden with Pat Rubin

Bee garden writer Pat Rubin writes about everything that grows, from flowers and trees to vegetables and lawns. Pat volunteered for several years as a Placer County Master Gardener and has written about gardening for many national and regional publications. In addition to gardening, she spends time raising and showing miniature horses and miniature donkeys.

In the Garden will include news, events, advice and other gardening tidbits. Pat will also answer reader questions.

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In the Garden front page | May 2007 »

April 30, 2007

The First Harvest

The tag on my romaine lettuce said it would take 85 days from seed to harvest. It’s been about half that, and the heads are huge--easily 10 or 12 inches across and as high. I was worried the warm weather we’ve been having was going to cause the heads to bolt (start to flower) or turn bitter. Warm weather does that to crops like lettuce, so it’s a fine line between getting them sweet and ripe or big and bitter.

So I decided to jump the gun and cut a couple of heads and turn them into salad. I was shocked at how big and heavy they were when I cut them.

A few hours later one was a dinner salad (they were so big I decided to save the other one for the next day). The taste was exquisite. I used one big head of romaine with arrugula, parsley, shredded Parmesan cheese, dried cranberries, croutons, sugar plum tomatoes and tuna with a topping of Caesar salad dressing to create a wonderful meal. I felt quite smug to be eating fresh, organically grown lettuce from my own garden for dinner.

I know the weather is going to be against me, but I’m going to try another crop of lettuce to see if I can get in just under the wire before the weather turns toasty and forces me to grow other sorts of vegetables. Much of gardening involves taking risks with weather, soil, etc. If it works, great. If not, well, there's always next year.

Posted by Pat Rubin at 12:57 PM | Comments

April 26, 2007

Finally, a bean seed sprouts

Finally it happened! A bean seed is sprouting.

It wasn’t there when I checked the garden last night, but this morning there it was curling out of the ground. Very exciting. I haven’t had a chance to plant the pole bean starts I bought, but will be sure not to disturb this little guy when I do plant them. The weather is much kinder now than it was in March when I planted the first round of seeds seeds, so hopefully there will not be any problems with damping off this time around.

It’s amazingly satisfying to grow vegetables from seed. Just think, you can hold a tiny seed in the palm of your hand, and locked inside that dry, sometimes gnarled, misshapen, beautiful package is life. Just plant, add water, sunshine, and voila! you've got a garden. I shake my head in wonder when I think I could hold an entire vegetable garden in one hand.

Posted by Pat Rubin at 01:54 PM | Comments

April 25, 2007

Determinate vs. indeterminate tomatoes

Another thing about tomato tags: You’ll likely see the word “determinate” or “indeterminate” on the tomato tag. This refers to the way the plant grows.

Determinate tomatoes, also called bush tomatoes, grow to a predetermined size, produce flowers and tomatoes, and then die. It's part of their genetic make-up. Once fruits form, the tomato doesn’t keep growing and flowering and producing more fruit. You don’t need to prune determinate tomato varieties. Most are early producers. Paste tomatoes, like Roma, are determinate.

Indeterminate tomatoes, also called vine tomatoes, continue to grow throughout the season. They keep producing leaves, flowers, fruit, more stems, more leaves, flowers until the weather forces them to stop. Indeterminate tomatoes can produce several stems, and some growers prune some of them away. General consensus is that fewer stems produce fewer, but larger fruits. If not caged or staked, they sprawl. Most cherry tomatoes and heirloom tomatoes are indeterminate, as well as varieties like Big Boy, Beefsteak, Beef Master and Brandywine. For tomatoes all season, choose indeterminate varieties.

There are also semi-determinate tomato varieties. They are somewhere between determinate and indeterminate. The variety Celebrity is sometimes classified as semi-determinate.

It’s all on the tag.

Posted by Pat Rubin at 02:31 PM | Comments

April 24, 2007

Crazy weather & looking forward

Our weather has been a veritable rollercoaster of conditions the past few weeks: rain, wind, ice, sun, and warmth all mixed topsy-turvy and thrown at us. The garden is confused. It now appears we’ll have nice weather for a while.

My chard and arrugula remain unscathed. Even the tomatoes have weathered the storms with no ill effects. The basil is growing slowly, the parsley spreading quickly. The marigolds continue to bloom, and I’ve been diligent about picking off the spent flowers.

The bean seeds didn’t germinate, and I suspect they rotted in the cold ground. I’ve lost three romaine lettuce plants to some sort of fungal condition, I believe. They sort of withered up, and when I picked them up, I saw the root had rotted away. I think the combination of damp weather and cold soil was lethal for the lettuce. The remaining nine plants appear healthy and strong. Now that the weather is warming up, I hope that’s the last I see of those problems.

I’m anxious to plant the pole bean starter plants I bought. I also bought three more types of basil: Thai spicy, purple and lime. They’ll go in another part of the vegetable garden. I also have potatoes growing and doing well in another bed. The flowers - poppies, flowering tobacco, kniphofia, drumstick alliums, and roses - planted in and among the food crops are blooming and thriving. I remain optimistic it will be a great gardening year.

Posted by Pat Rubin at 01:23 PM | Comments

April 23, 2007

Marigolds and Nematodes

For years I’ve heard that planting marigolds in the vegetable garden keeps harmful nematodes from using the vegetable garden as their private cafeteria. The reality is, not exactly.

French marigolds can deter nematodes, but the catch is you have to turn the marigolds into the soil to derive any benefit for the following year. Marigolds work in two ways. Fist they act as a trap crop, luring the nematodes to their roots then essentially keeping them captive. They also release a nematode suppressing substance.

Nematodes are microscopic eel-like worms that feed on other insects, plants or animals. Many of them love the same vegetable plants we do. Tomatoes and peppers seem to be among their favorites. They essentially suck the life out of the plants through the roots. Affected plants don’t grow properly. They can look wilted, stunted, and yellow. The culprit is likely the root knot nematode, although there are scores of others that prefer other plants in the vegetable garden and orchard.

“When you pull the plant up, you’ll see a swelling at the base of the roots,” said Scott Meyer, editor of Organic Gardening. "The nematodes feed and develop within the swellings. They’re more prevalent in some soils than others. They’re definitely more of a problem in sandy soils than in clay soils, but just because you have clay soil doesn’t men you can’t have harmful nematodes.”

Some tomato varieties are nematode resistant - you’ll recognize them by the letter “N” on the plant tag.

Michelle Le Strange, UC Master Gardener adviser, writes in “Maybe Nematodes are Nibbling at Your Roots," “Marigolds have been proven to reduce nematode populations, but all marigolds are NOT alike. Some marigold varieties suppress nematode activity and other marigold varieties foster nematode activity. French marigolds 'Nemagold', 'Petite Blanc', 'Queen Sophia', and 'Tangerine' are effective. Signet marigolds (Tagetes signata or tennifolia) should be avoided. No marigold works well against the northern root knot nematode.

“The effect of marigolds is greatest when grown as a solid planting (like a lawn) for an entire season. When planted with annual vegetables with a row here and a row there, nematode control is not good. Marigold plantings should be mowed before flowers open, so their seed does not become a weed in next year's garden.”

If you sprinkle marigolds in the garden like I do, there's still some benefit. Marigolds also attract beneficial insects to the garden. If you mix marigolds in among the peppers and tomatoes, chances are if you do have pests attacking the plants, they won't get all of them. Plants are less vulnerable if they are spread out among other types of vegetables rather than planted as a monoculture.

Posted by Pat Rubin at 01:18 PM | Comments

April 20, 2007

Pungent, peppery arrugula

Until now, I’ve been buying arrugula in bags at the grocery store. I’ve been disappointed because bagged arrugula doesn't have the hot, tangy taste I remember from years past when I grew my own. That's all changed, now.

The arrugula plants I’m thinning out of the clump in the garden are big enough to put in salads, and when you bite into them, you know it. The leaves are quite pungent and peppery, piquant, even. This arrugula is really powerful.

Arrugula, also called roquette or rocket, is a member of the mustard family. It prefers cool weather, and grows easily from seed. The seed is tiny, so sprinkle it on the soil, then take a handful or two of soil and sprinkle it over the seed. Water gently. The seed will sprout in a few days. Thin seedlings until they are about a foot apart. Harvest the youngest leaves (the older ones can get tough). Avoid any leaves that have turned yellow. As the weather gets hotter, the leaves can get spicier, too. To ensure continuous crops, let some of it go to seed.

Arrugula seems to be an acquired taste. If you don’t like it at first, give it another chance. Add a small amount to salads at first. I think you’ll soon find it as indispensable as I do.

Posted by Pat Rubin at 03:13 PM | Comments

April 18, 2007

VFNTA on tomato tags

Take a look at the plastic tags that come with your tomatoes. In addition to providing information about watering, sun and soil, they often give you clues about the hardiness of a particular variety. Some tags will say “disease resistant,” while others will tell you exactly what diseases a particular variety can resist.

Typically, the tag will say “VFN.” If it says “VFNTA,” you've got a tomato variety that is resistant to some of the main afflictions that plague tomatoes.

V means the variety is resistant to verticillium wilt.
F means the variety shows tolerance to fusarium wilt.
N means nematode resistance.
T means the variety resists the tobacco mosaic virus.
A means it is not susceptible to alterneria root rot.

Posted by Pat Rubin at 11:45 AM | Comments

April 17, 2007

Bean seed failure--damping off

Well, I can report my first failure of the 2007 spring gardening season. Most of the pole bean seeds I planted either didn’t come up at all, or died trying.

I suspect the culprit was damping off, a soil-borne fungi that attacks germinating seeds or young seedlings in the ground. The conditions and symptoms were classic: the weather was cool and the soil not quite warm enough when I planted the beans. Then the weather turned warm, and cool again. The seeds began sprouting - I could see the stems curling out of the ground, but instead of uncurling and standing tall, the stems withered up at ground level.

According to the an Ohio State University Extension article on damping off, “it is not uncommon to lose a crop completely, then reseed and experience no problem.” If I’d waited until the soil temperature was at least 65 degrees (it was 59 degrees when I planted), then likely I never would have had a problem.

I thought about planting seeds again, but while on a nursery tour with the Sacramento Begonia Society, I came across six-packs of rattlesnake pole bean starter plants, decided they sounded interesting and bought them. I’m going to plant them instead of seeds.

Posted by Pat Rubin at 11:47 AM | Comments

April 16, 2007

Controlling whiteflies

Several readers have asked about controlling whiteflies. They're pesky, yet tiny, insects that seem to come in droves. The adults have a white, waxy covering on their bodies. Both the larvae and adults suck plant sap, causing leaves to yellow, dry up and fall off. Further, they excrete honeydew, so the leaves can feel sticky. According to the Sacramento County master gardeners, a multi-pronged attack is the best way to get whiteflies under control.

First, since they like dusty, dry places, hose plants off every morning. Be sure to spray the undersides of the leaves since that’s where whiteflies like to hang out. Insecticidal soap also works, but remember that you have to actually spray the insects.

Also, try something reflective, like aluminum foil, beneath the plant. Ideally, the whiteflies see the reflection of the plant and the sky in the aluminum foil and fly away from it.

Plants like dill, goldenrod, cosmos, alyssum, marigolds and angelica attract beneficial insects (lacewings, ladybugs) that feast on whiteflies.

Finally, be persistent. Don’t give up because it may take a while to knock down the whitefly population.

The master gardeners have an information sheet about whiteflies. You can order it by sending a stamped, self-addressed envelope to PN #7401, UC Cooperative Extension, 4145 Branch Center Road, Sacramento, CA 95827. It’s also available online.

Posted by Pat Rubin at 12:28 PM | Comments

April 13, 2007

Tomato cages using remesh

Reader Al Welborn of El Dorado Hills makes tomato cages from remesh (welded reinforced mesh). It looks like a type of fencing, but it’s used to add stability to concrete. It comes in 50-foot rolls, which is enough to make eight 24-inch diameter cages, he said, and a five-foot tall roll costs about $60. Remesh is available at home improvement stores.

“You need heavy duty wire cutters to cut it. I cut a six-foot piece, bend the (raw) edges on one side over like hooks so I can anchor the ends. It’s easy to bend,” Welborn said. The mesh is large enough to put your hand through for picking tomatoes. If any branches start to grow out one of the holes, Welborn just tucks it back in.

It isn't hard to transport, either. "You could even stick it in the trunk, and tie the trunk lid down."

Posted by Pat Rubin at 12:56 PM | Comments

April 12, 2007

Spittlebug time

It’s spittlebug season.

You’ve seen them. They look like masses of foamy spit held tightly against the stems of plants. In my garden, they seem to love the yarrow, asters and roses. Gently wash the spittle away with the hose, and you’ll find a soft-looking, little greenish-brown insect, only about ¼-inch long, hiding inside. That’s the spittlebug nymph, and, like the spittlebug adult, it sucks plant sap. I’ve never noticed any damage from spittlebugs, but I’ve read that a large infestation could weaken plants. Whenever I see them, I wash them away, and after a few days, that seems to discourage them enough that they don’t come back.

According to “Insect, Disease & Weed I.D. Guide” by Jill Cebenko and Deborah Martin (Rodale Press, 308 pages), they’re also called froghoppers. Adults are brown or green, oval-shaped, with a blunt, frog-like head. Nymphs are wingless. They feed inside the frothy bubbles for as long as seven weeks, then molt to the adult stage. The adults lay their eggs in August and September, and the eggs overwinter until the following spring when the cycle starts again.

If you have spittlebugs, don’t worry; just wash them off the plants.

Posted by Pat Rubin at 08:49 AM | Comments

April 11, 2007

Tomato blossoms

The tomatoes have tripled in size over the last three weeks, and the Sweet 100 cherry tomato is beginning to bloom. Normally I wait until the end of April to plant the summer vegetable garden. But this year I just couldn’t wait.

Sometimes the risk pays off, and I get an early start on the season. Other times, the cold damp soil and chilly temperatures conspire together to form a deadly combination for young, tender plants or emerging seeds. When that happens, I have to start again. Still, it gets me out in the garden doing something, and I believe it’s worth a try. Looks like this year the risk will pay off, and I’ll have tomatoes in another month or two.

Posted by Pat Rubin at 12:40 PM | Comments

April 10, 2007

Keep those comments and questions coming!

I’m pleasantly amazed and happily overwhelmed at the response from readers to my garden blog. I’ve always said gardeners are the most sharing and friendly people in the world, and the messages of encouragement and many questions posed have confirmed that belief. Truly, we gardeners love to trade tips as well as compare notes and plants, and I’m eagerly anticipating chatting with gardeners throughout The Bee’s readership.

The questions you’ve sent for me to answer are as varied as the plants in our gardens. I will try to answer each and every one of them as quickly as I can. But be patient, because it may take me a few days to get through them. Some I can answer quickly, while others may take a bit of research. My plan is to post questions and answers on the garden blog website so others who may have some of the same questions can learn, too.

Thank you to everyone who has responded with comments and questions, and keep them coming!

Posted by Pat Rubin at 03:34 PM | Comments

Thinning arrugula

The arrugula seeds have sprouted and form a pretty green carpet in the garden. Now comes the hard part: I have to thin the seedlings so I have strong, healthy plants rather than a bunch of spindly ones. Each day I carefully pull every third or forth seedling so the others have more room to grow and mature. I’ll keep doing that until I have a half dozen or so plants remaining. As the plants get bigger, and their root systems bigger, I’ll snip them off at ground level rather than pull them so I don’t disturb the roots of nearby arrugula seedlings.

Arrugula, also known as roquette, is known for its pungent, peppery tasting leaves. One of my favorite salads is romaine lettuce, arrugula, shredded fresh Parmesan cheese, whole-wheat croutons, sugar plum tomatoes, dried cranberries and Caesar salad dressing. You can also add tuna to the salad, or top each serving with grilled halibut or salmon.

Packaged arrugula available in bags at grocery stores just doesn’t have quite the spicy punch home grown arrugula has. The trick is to keep picking leaves as needed so the plant keeps producing tender young leaves. Organic Gardening editor Scott Meyer warned me that as summer progresses the hot weather can cause the leaves to be more bitter than peppery. Nichols Garden Nursery recommends several sowings for a continuous crop. According to their catalog, the last crop sown will take the first light frost, so I’m hoping to have fresh arrugula clear into October. By then, some of the plants will have gone to seed, and I’ll collect some seed as well as let some fall where it may for next year’s crop.

Posted by Pat Rubin at 10:25 AM | Comments

April 09, 2007

Chard

The chard has grown quickly, and its bright red stems and red veined leaves give the garden a festive look. I’ve always dismissed it as an ornamental vegetable, pretty to look at, but with few uses, not anything I’d add to my repertoire of favorites. But there it was in the nursery when I was looking for plants to include in the raised bed, and it was so pretty.

I’ve since discovered some things about chard I never knew. It’s in the spinach family, and closely related to beets (its scientific name is Beta vulgaris var. cicla). Also called Swiss chard, leaf beet and spinach beet, it has less oxalic acid and less water in the leaves than spinach, so it doesn’t shrink as much when cooked. Nor does it take calcium from the body like vegetables high in oxalic acid. There's only 18 calories in 3/4 of a cup, and it's high in vitamin A.

Chard is a biennial, so it will flower in its second year, then set seed and die. A tough plant, it can withstand both summer heat and light frosts.
In their book “The Gardener’s Table,” (Ten Speed Press, 2000, 468 pages) authors Richard Merrill and Joe Ortiz write the “young tender leaves can be eaten raw, but older leaves need cooking…Stalks can be prepared by themselves like asparagus. The leaves can be steamed, stir-fried, braised or baked. Use them in soups, pasta dishes, omelets, or as a spinach substitute.”

The book gives this recipe for chard with olive oil, garlic and balsamic vinegar:
Sauté four to six cups chopped wet chard until wilted.
Remove from pan and squeeze out excess liquid.
In the same pan heat one tablespoon each of olive oil, lemon juice, balsamic vinegar and minced garlic.
Add the chard to the pan and sauté a few minutes to combine flavors and slightly cook the garlic.
Add salt and pepper to taste.

So I’ve decided chard isn’t just a pretty face.

Posted by Pat Rubin at 07:31 AM | Comments

April 06, 2007

Welcome to In the Garden

April springs its mild weather on us, and I get excited all over again about gardening. It’s a thrill to go out each morning and see what’s sprouted or bloomed since the previous night. I can’t wait to pull into the driveway after work, and walk through the garden. I look at the vegetable garden, and dream of summer’s bounty. I can already taste the sautéed zucchini slices I prepare with egg and matzo meal for summer dinners. I can almost feel the hairy leaves of the tomato plants against my arms as I reach deep into the vine to pick that perfect, bright red, plump tomato.

Well, those are my plans. As any gardener knows, disaster can be lurking right around the corner. The slugs could feast on my bean seedlings, wiping them out in a single night. Tomato hornworms could munch their way through a lot of tomato foliage before I find them. Or maybe the ever-browsing deer could decide that my garden is worth visiting after all.

Whatever lies ahead, I invite you to garden along with us this spring and summer. The Bee’s raised-bed vegetable garden, pictured here, is a mere 4-feet by 8-feet, but it’s planted it full of vegetables, including tomatoes, beans, romaine lettuce, chard and arrugula. I couldn’t resist adding a few flowers, so this one has marigolds growing around the vegetables like frilly skirts. As one crop matures and is taken out, we’ll plant another, and learn together about fertilizers, pests, crop rotation and more. If you’re new to vegetable gardening, why not build your own raised bed and garden along with us. If you’re an old hand in the vegetable garden, then feel free to offer advice or suggestions. To learn more about how to build a raised bed, where to site it and how to choose fertile soil to fill it, read the entire story at www.sacbee.com/hg and see Florence Low's wonderful photographs of the garden at an earlier stage.

While we all want boatloads of beautiful disease-free, picture-perfect produce, in the end it doesn’t really matter. Gardening is a journey, a process, and a learning experience. It should be fun. I’m hoping this gardening year is a memorable, bountiful one, but even if the garden is a dismal failure, I’ll still get excited when the weather turns to gardening, and I’ll try again next year.

Posted by Pat Rubin at 04:14 PM | Comments

April 05, 2007

Cats in the garden

I shooed the cat out of the garden this morning, put a piece of fencing across the bed so she’d stay out, and thought, too late, of course, that perhaps I shouldn’t have three cats.

They hang out between the barn and the hay shed, so the vegetable garden is part of their territory. When I see them in the beds, I scold them and shoo them away. I hope they remember that when I’m not home.

The garden is a bit of an obstacle course with wire cages and twigs and other sorts of barriers across the beds to keep the cats from thinking it’s their bathroom. After all, what cat could resist all that soft soil?

Fred “Farmer Fred” Hoffman suggests putting chicken wire on top of the soil. Make sure the dirt doesn’t cover it. “You want the cats to feel it when they try to dig,” Hoffman said. “They’ll discover they can’t, and go somewhere else.” As plants come up, snip the wire so they have room to grow, but make sure you bend any sharp edges back or down so they don’t damage the plants.

Sacramento County UC master gardener Bill Pierce suggests using motion sensitive sprinklers so when the cats cross over into the garden, the sprinkler comes on briefly so scare them away. “You’re not supposed to use cat or dog feces in compost,” Pierce said, “since there is a chance of transmitting diseases, so you also don’t want it in the growing beds”

Do you have any suggestions? What works for you? Do those products sold at pet stores you spray on plants work?

Posted by Pat Rubin at 04:19 PM | Comments

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