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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« June 2007 | In the Garden front page | August 2007 »

July 31, 2007

The Daily Dirt

Each weekday I get an email from the Daily Dirt, a garden blog/email reminder written by Heleigh Bostwick. I don’t know who Bostwick is, or where she gardens. I don’t know what her family is like, or whether she works elsewhere.

But her daily garden email is a gentle reminder for me. Some days it tells me what chores I ought to be doing in the garden. Some days it tells me about new products, or teaches me about new plants, many of them Bostwick’s favorites. One day she might talk about foliage in the garden, then give readers the names of books on the subject. She’s covered edible flowers, her favorite gardening tools, turning hydrangea flowers blue, and summer gardening chores. Sometimes she holds my rapt attention, while other times I look at the subject line and deleted the email. But I always check.

Bostwick is dedicated to making gardens and the world greener and has links to all sorts of interesting sites. If you have room for one more email five days a week that might just inspire you to try a new plant or make you a better gardener, try Bostwick’s garden guide, the Daily Dirt.

Posted by Pat Rubin at 02:55 PM | Comments

July 30, 2007

I'm back!

After being gone from the garden for a couple of weeks, the first thing I noticed when I returned was how much things had grown.

The beans have grown into a tangled tower of foliage. The beans hide inside, and I have to pull back the leaves like I’m opening curtains and peer inside from all sides. No one picked beans while we were gone, so I had pounds of oversize, bulging pods. I split the pods open, and popped out the beans to steam as fresh beans. The corn in a nearby bed is taller than me. The marigolds and petunias are covered in cherry orange or purple flowers.

The eggplant has dark purple fruit and lavender colored flowers dangling from its dark stems. The basil grew leaps and bounds, and needed trimming back. It’s a pleasant job snipping away the flowers and inhaling deeply that sweet basil fragrance.

Next, we picked beefsteak tomatoes, cut them down the center so they opened like a flower, sprinkled them with chives and made a meal of it.

But I’ve decided the best thing about the summer garden is eating cherry tomatoes in the garden in the afternoon. I reach inside the foliage and grab a handful of plump, red tomatoes. That pungent, sharp scent of tomato leaves gets on my skin. I pop the tomatoes into my mouth, and enjoy them warm as the summer day.

Posted by Pat Rubin at 03:46 PM | Comments

July 10, 2007

I'll be back.....

The Bee raised bed vegetable garden will be growing without me for the next couple of weeks.

I’m getting married, and a neighbor will lovingly tend the garden while I’m gone. Of course, there are a few nurseries I’ll want to visit on the honeymoon in Victoria and Vancouver, so I'll have lots to write about and photos to share when I return.

I’ll be back July 30.

Posted by Pat Rubin at 02:53 PM | Comments

July 09, 2007

Readers' thoughts on insects and Bermuda grass

In response to the July 5 posting about fruit worms, Morris “Farmer Morris” Branson emailed his observations about pests in the garden:

"The best protection for any kind of pests is healthy plants and soil. I have not used any insecticide, in my garden, for the past 9 years. Over that time I have noticed that beneficial insects, such as wasps, will naturally come around. Stressed plants will attract the other pests. Not that I have never spotted a tomato horn worm and cut it in half, but even they can be beneficial by reducing the foliage and letting sun in to help the tomatoes ripen. I surmise that nature has a way of winning out over our attempts to control it."

And reader Vivian Johnson called to offer this suggestion for thwarting Bermuda grass and bindweed: She doesn’t plant in the open ground, but instead uses recycled tubs she can move around, control the type of soil. She has an assortment of vegetables growing in tubs, and no Bermuda grass in sight. She grows tomatoes, squash, and cucumbers. She lets her chickens range free, and they take care of any insects like earwigs. And she’s even defeated Bermuda grass. “Geese love Bermuda grass,” she says, “and will eat in down to nothing. It can’t survive.”

Posted by Pat Rubin at 04:04 PM | Comments

July 06, 2007

Bounty

Here’s a sampling of some of the produce we picked from The Bee garden one evening.

There’s basil, chives, cherry tomatoes, regular size tomatoes and green beans. There’s more of the same on the way as well as eggplant, cucumbers and arugula.

It makes me proud to know I can grow healthy, fresh produce for the dinner table. As we sat at dinner and ate a salad last night, I pointed out the tomatoes and chives were from the garden. Just knowing that made them taste even better than they already did!

Posted by Pat Rubin at 12:18 PM | Comments

July 05, 2007

Tomato fruitworms

A reader wrote to report her tomatoes were being overrun by fruitworms. They tumble out of the holes they make in the tomatoes, she wrote.

Also known as corn earworms and boll worms, they’re small, bristly looking, cream or greenish colored worms that feed inside tomatoes and corn, leaving a cavity filled with feces. They can eat their way through tomato after tomato.

According to a fact sheet on tomato fruitworms published by the University of California Statewide Integtrated pest Management Program, fruitworms are the larvae of "medium-sized moths with a wingspan of about 1 to 1.3 inches. They are pale tan to medium brown colored or sometimes have a slight greenish tinge. The front wings are variously marked and usually have an obscure dark spot in the center and a lighter band inside a dark band around the tip. The hind wings are drab white and have a dark gray band around their tip. A diffuse light spot is in the center of the dark band."

The larvae hatch from tiny eggs laid on the leaves. The moths lay their eggs on both the undersides and the tops of the leaves. The eggs are cream colored at first, and then turn a reddish brown.

Recommended control treatments include parasitic wasps and Bacillus thuringiensis. The UC factsheet includes many excellent photographs of the fruitworm moth and larvae.

Posted by Pat Rubin at 10:35 AM | Comments

July 02, 2007

Heat, water and plants

Every July Mother Nature treats Northern California to long patches of blazing hot, intensely sunny weather. Temps can start in the 60s overnight, then shoot up to 90 by 9 a.m., and 100 by 10 a.m., and hit 106 by late afternoon. You can literally cook an egg on the sidewalk.

As usual, we’re in for some hot weather this week. Weather reports show temperatures of 104 and 105 degrees for the first week of July.
Gardeners welcome the extra heat Sacramento streets and building collect during the winter. It keeps freezing temperatures at bay. Come July, it’s no longer a blessing, but the bane of a gardener’s existence. You have to plan ahead if you’re going to save your vegetable garden, your flowers, trees, and lawns.

Here are a few tips:

1. Strong plants can withstand difficulties and stresses (like heat) better than weakened plants. Make sure plants aren’t stressed from lack of water before the extreme temperatures hit. Some plants, like squash, even tomatoes, will wilt in the hottest part of the day. The plant is trying to conserve its resources. If it recovers easily by evening, it’s nothing to worry about. If it’s wilting in the morning when temperatures are mild, it needs more water.

2. Morning is the best time to water plants. Newly planted seedlings or young plants will need to be checked and sprayed several times per day.

3. Check the soil. It may be dry on top, but moist at the root zone. If the plants look healthy and strong, don’t feel like you need to water every day.

4. Potted plants are especially at risk mainly because pots provide little or no insulation and dry out quickly. The soil tends to be warmer than the ground. Black pots absorb heat, so the soil gets really hot in the sun. Group several pots together so they can shade each other. Use large pots - wider is better than taller - and put several plants in a pot. The lower growing ones can shade the soil, much like living mulch. Dunk the pots in a bucket of water to make sure the soil is thoroughly watered. If using a hose, water until water comes out the bottom, and then do it again. Fertilizers will leach out of the soil with the water, too. Use a time-release fertilizer, or fertilize plants with a weakened solution every couple weeks.

5. Put a piece of shade cloth or newspaper over young plants or plants at risk of sunburn. You’d protect plants from frost in the winter, so why not from scorching sun in the summer?

6. Mulch, mulch, mulch. It keeps the ground from drying out and baking.

7. Valley native plants, like blue oaks, manzanita and ceanothus, can survive quite well with little water. Don’t be tempted to over water them.

8. Pay attention. Look at your plants every day. If there’s a problem with drip emitters getting clogged or sprinkler timers not working, you’ll discover any problems before it’s too late to save the plants. Replacing dead plants is expensive.

Posted by Pat Rubin at 12:28 PM | Comments

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