Pat Welsh Southwest Garden Advice, plus garden ideas for everyone » Gardening Tip

How to Prevent Blossom End Rot on Tomatoes, and Best Temperatures for Setting Fruit on Pepper Plants

Pat — Tue, 27 Jul 2010 08:13:27 +0000

Question from Ramon:
I am new to gardening and this is only my second year. My first year was hot peppers and tomatoes. The hot peppers did great that year but the tomatoes, I found out later, that I was over watering. This year I went to deep watering every other day and the tomatoes are doing ok but the chilies are slow going. I did start late this year because my mom got very sick and I didn’t plant when I thought I was going to. I went ahead with the garden anyway to see what would happen. I will get a soil tester and pull a plant to see how the roots are doing.

Answer from Pat:
Sorry your mom was sick and I hope she is better now. It’s always best to plant with the seasons, but sometimes circumstances make it impossible. Every year is different and it just means one gets to learn even more. Years ago when things went wrong in the vegetable garden I always felt maybe this was happening so I could gradually find out all the answers. But it turns out there is always more to learn! If you do winter vegetables next fall, however, be sure to plant at the right time. If not planting winter veggies, take the opportunity to put in a cover crop such as scarlet clover and dig it into the ground the following spring prior to planting in order to improve the soil.

It’s difficult to grow good tomatoes with a drip system. I prefer digging a watering basin around each tomato and then soaking the soil deeply once a week or once every week and a half, depending on the type of soil and how well it retains moisture. Sometimes I allow one watering basin to spill into the next one so that one can put the hose down at one end of the row and let it run until it fills up all the basins in the whole row. By watering slowly but deeply, fruit is less likely to get blossom end rot then when plants are watered shallowly and often. One of the farm advisors once told me that commercial growers have a lot of problems with tomato blossom end rot because they water with drip systems. They add calcium to try to prevent it, but it doesn’t work. Blossom end rot comes from uneven moisture in the soil and drip systems seem to encourage that condition, not prevent it.

With peppers you might find the blossoms fall off if the weather gets too hot. Peppers set fruit best when nighttime temperatures are between 60 and 75 degrees Fahrenheit and daytime temperatures around 75 degrees Fahrenheit. Temperatures above 90 degrees Fahrenheit can cause blossom drop.

When to plant tomatoes for fall/early winter harvest

Pat — Mon, 26 Jul 2010 08:09:21 +0000

Question from Lewis:
I wanted to know when to plant tomatoes and what kind of tomatoes for a late fall, early winter harvest.

Answer from Pat:
The best time to plant tomatoes for summer use is in March, but this year our temperatures have been cool along the coast and cool temperatures can lead to bud drop so use a tomato-blossom set and grow cold-resistant varieties when planting early.

When planting tomatoes for tomatoes for fall harvest, choose early or cold-resistant tomatoes and count the days to harvest backwards from the time you want to be picking fruit to when to plant. For example if you choose a plant that bears in 58 days, you will want to plant in early August if you want to begin harvesting in late September. My guess is that most often you will want to plant in late July or early August for fall picking.

Some of early and cold-resistant varieties include Early Girl Improved VFNT, Champion 11 VFNT, Grushovka #4717, Jetsetter VFFNTA Hybrid #4519, and Oregon Spring V #2712, and Siberian #2908. Tomato Growers Exchange lists a whole page of cold-resistant varieties, and other catalogues have a few too, but beware of those which may also need long days, since our days in fall are growing shorter. Use blossom-set spray to keep the blossoms from dropping off when nights are cold or days too hot.

Root Rot and Wisterias

Pat — Thu, 22 Jul 2010 08:58:18 +0000

Question from Judy:
My Wisteria – 9.5 years old — just stopped growing and leaves began yellowing and drying. I cut back some wood that had not leafed out and it was dead. When I looked up these conditions, it said it could be Cotton Root Rot. Have you ever seen or experienced this? The article also stated that it was usually fatal. Yikes! Am I going to lose my beautiful Wisteria? Is there anything I can do? It’s actually happening on both front yard and backyard Wisterias.

Answer from Pat:
I’m sorry your wisterias are dying from root rot. They are perhaps already dead. There may be nothing you can do to save them, but don’t become discouraged! You will just have to find a spot with better drainage and replant. That’s what I did at my house. See the story Chapter 7, “The Wisteria That Would Not Give Up,” in my first memoir: “All My Edens: A Gardeners Memoir,” published by Chronicle Books in 1996. (Long out of print but you can find used copies on the Internet.)

Not sure where you live but in Southern California where I live rains were heavy this winter. Yes, a wisteria could certainly die from root rot. This does not need to be Cotton Root Rot, but any root rot. Wisterias need good drainage. When I planted my first wisteria 50 years ago I knew that, but I didn’t know the correct way to provide it. I built a sump instead of a drain. A sump consists of a narrower hole dug on the bottom of a planting hole and filled with rocks. Years ago it was mistakenly thought to help drainage but of course it did not. Instead, it simply filled up with water thus provlding an underground swimming pool for roots. Roots went in there and soon rotted. This killed my first wisteria. (The full story is told in the chapter mentioned above and I don’t want to spoil it by telling you the ending.)

But I can tell you this: A better way to improve drainage in poorly drained soil is to build a raised bed. The raised bed doesn’t need to be very high. Just 4 inches will suffice. Fill the raised bed with top soil mixed with the native soil and then dig your hole through the raised bed and into the soil below and plant into the ground that way. Also if drainage is poor due to the alkalinity of clay soil, then dig as much as half a coffee can of gypsum into the bottom of the hole before planting.

Bearded Iris

Pat — Tue, 29 Jun 2010 08:24:54 +0000

Question from Kathy:
I have is relative to the bearded iris. I have some lovely gold ones and I just reread what to do after they bloom in your book. Do they require much water and also do you ever fertilize them? I usually put down the organic fertilizer three times a year and just wondered if that is enough or too much for them. I have one bunch of gold ones that only bloomed twice and not this year so I guess I will dig them up at the end of June and try doing what you said in your book.

Anyway, you were wonderful to reply to me and my problem and I will later on let you know how I make out.
Regards, Kathy

Answer from Pat:
Bearded iris are not drought-resistant plants. They need regular irrigation and full sun. Sometimes when iris stop blooming it is because they have insufficient water or fertilizer, but nine times out of ten it is because they were once in full sun and now are in full shade or have not been divided for many years. See the June chapter of my book for instructions on how to divide and replant bearded iris.

No related posts.

Granulated Sulfur

Pat — Fri, 25 Jun 2010 08:26:02 +0000

Question from Robin:
Hi. I have a problem and I need some advice.

I spread granulated sulfur on the top of heavy clay soil. Hindsight shows me this is not optimum, and I would like your opinion on my options. I want to establish vegetables on the site. And I had wanted to do it ASAP.

The garden is 10 x 15 feet and I spread most of a 5 lb box of sulfur “lentils.”

The following is a list of options I have thought through. I would like your opinion and suggestions.

Scrape it off and start over. (e.g. Amend with gypsum and compost.) -Removal poses safety and disposal problems. I would need advice on the best way to go about this

Till it in

I worry that this might throw sulfur out of the garden area, endangering the dogs. (I’ve never used a tiller) I burned my hand on the dust so I’m a bit nervous.
It will burn any earthworms under there.
It may burn the roots of garden plants

Till it in, cover with 6” Agromend, and plant my veggies.

any chance I can get away with this? It will still probably kill earthworms, but would the plants survive?

Scrape it off, save it, till the soil and apply properly at appropriate depth. After tilling in the sulfur, cover with 6” agromend and plant veggies.

I feel this would be the best way if I want to grow veggies this summer, but I wouldn’t know what to save it in. Again I would need some safety advice.

The most sensible and least desirable option that I have come up with:

Till it in, leave it till fall or next year, then establish my garden. I’m unemployed and this was my chance to make a break from the office retrace. I want to sell at farmer’s markets to get myself known, and eventually open a nursery. This is a long time dream. I don’t want to go back to an office.

Corollary question:

Green humb carries an adorable garden boot, but will I need industrial type chemical resistant boots if I walk in this stuff? I haven’t yet stepped into the garden.

Answer from Pat:
As explained below, I don’t advocate that gardeners use soil sulfur but despite that, a five-pound box of granulated sulfur spread over a space that is ten by fifteen feet in size and then dug into the ground is not going to do any huge amount of harm. The correct proportion of soil sulfur to garden soil (if one were to add it) is 5 pounds for 1,000 square feet twice a year. (This is supposed to bring down the base of calcium in the soil and raise magnesium.) It would do more harm to the environment for you to scrape it off and dump it. I doubt also that it is going to kill earthworms since you are digging it into soil that I presume you already know is alkaline. Add plenty of organic matter into the ground and as mulch on top and you’ll get any number of earthworms. Also, once you have combined the sulfur with the soil, the alkalinity in the soil will neutralize the acid in the sulfur. That is a backwards way of saying the whole point of adding soil sulfur is to create a less alkaline condition in the soil. Your best option since you’ve already spread the sulfur is to dig it into the top foot or more of the ground. It will gradually combine with the soil over the years as you dig and amend your garden soil with organic matter twice a year prior to seasonal planting spring and fall. You could, however, rake it up and dig it into the ground in another part of the garden where you are not planning to plant seeds, but I really don’t think this is necessary.

You mention that you don’t use a tiller but amending the soil includes first spreading on the amendments and then using a garden fork or a garden spade and turning the soil over to combine ingredients into it. One does not need a tiller to do this, one just needs a sharp spade or garden fork and strength like I once had and don’t have any longer. Or you need a willing workman to do the job for you. Either that or become a “No Dig” gardener, but in that case never use anything like soil sulfur that has to be combined with soil in order to work.

Companies make granulated sulfur because it is considered safer for the environment than liquid sulfur which is a by product of some industries. Soil sulfur is a mined product, a natural mined element that comes from the earth. Sulfur is acid, not alkaline, and sometimes farmers add it to soil to try to correct problems with alkalinity. Soil sulfur differs from dusting sulfur. Dusting sulfur is one of the most ancient garden products. It has been used by mankind for thousands of years for dusting onto plants to kill some insects and plant diseases, such as mildew and blight. (American Indians dusted sulfur onto plants long before the white man discovered the New World.) Soil sulfur is sold by some nurseries as an acidifier for alkaline soils.

Despite all this, I do not advocate the use of soil sulfur by the home gardener for the purpose of acidifying soil. Instead, I have always felt the best way to acidify garden soil when necessary is to work in acid organic soil amendments, such as wood shavings. The main reason that I don’t recommend the use of soil sulfur for soil acidification is not so much because it’s dangerous, but more because it doesn’t work. In order to have soil sulfur work one would have to work it into the soil so that it is evenly distributed and so each grain of sulfur actually contacts individual particles of alkaline soil and then it also takes time to work, so you would have to keep it up twice a year. For example, simply spreading sulfur on top of the ground around camellias and azaleas and hydrangeas and then watering it in, as some gardeners have done, won’t work because sulfur doesn’t water into the ground that way.

You should also be careful not to breath sulfur into your lungs and you should use protected clothing, including gloves, when handling it. Also, soil sulfur can sometimes inhibit seeds from sprouting rather like corn gluten meal does but this action won’t last forever. It’s temporary.

Please refer to the pages at the beginning of my book for ways to treat alkaline soil, such as clay and for ways in which you can improve clay soil and make it drain better. Yes, gypsum is a harmless and helpful addition if your clay soil is compacted due to its alkalinity. (Please refer to other discussions about gypsum on this site.) Also, there is no better way to make clay soil drain than mixing in a layer of well-composted organic matter and keeping it up throughout the years.

Gardenias and What They Need

Pat — Tue, 01 Jun 2010 08:01:15 +0000

Gardenias need acid soil, good drainage, ample water, full sun along coast, part shade inland, and regular fertilizing. If buds fall off it’s not from disease as often supposed, but because plants didn’t get 20 degrees difference between day and night temperatures during spring and early summer. Patios are often too warm at night. Insist on a grafted plant. ‘Aimée’, ‘Belmont’, ‘Mystery’ or cold-tolerant ‘Chuck Hayes’, are good varieties. (Heat-tolerant ‘Kleim’s Hardy’ with single, star-shaped flowers doesn’t need grafting.)

Romancing the Garden: A philosophy of gardening Pt 3

Pat — Sat, 29 May 2010 08:44:39 +0000

The next step is: How do you carry it out?

Mine in a nutshell is:

“Create a romantic garden and then live in it.”
A Paradise Garden
The Garden of Eden

Dictionary definition of romance:

“Imagination, love, idealization, wafting one to another time or place excitement, love, and adventure of the kind found in romantic literature. A romantic quality or spirit. To be fanciful or imaginative in thinking or talking.”

“Having some aspects of the imagined, though unseen reality. Adventurous, idealistic, Passionate, visionary, Emphasis on feeling and originality, A suitable setting for love.”

So it is something one feels
And that gives delight
And that one cannot put one’s finger on.

One cannot analyze it exactly:

1. When you create a garden, you are not creating nature but a man-made (woman-made) copy of nature

A figment of our imagination,
Not exactly nature but pretending to be.
Creates an amazing feeling
People become passionate about gardening
Like falling in love
Projects one’s feelings onto someone else
One’s own love is reflected back

But gardening is also very practical. How do you carry out this desire in a practical way? So how does one create a romantic atmosphere?

Techniques to achieve it:

Go up in the air -

Build pergolas to walk through,
Arbors to sit under
(Not everything down flat on the ground)

Grow climbing plants -

Climbing roses
Wisteria
Hang baskets from trees or overhangs
- Install drip system
- Hide the drip lines.
(unnatural materials and plastic destroy romance.)

Think of your garden as having walls, roof, and rooms

Change the level of the ground -

If you live on a hill,
Or have a bank
Add terraces and steps,
Even if you live on a flat area build:
Planter boxes
Raised boxes,
Earth berms, banks
Make steps up, down
Level areas for plants, sitting
A structure for shade.
Excavating earth for a swimming pool?
Use to create a higher area held up by a retaining wall.
Chinese gardens with their hills
“The Floating Life” (translated by Lin Yutang in his book: The American Library “The Philosophy of Ancient China”)

Aim for a full garden, though not a cluttered garden -

allow spaces so you can reach plants
Patios, but not gaps in beds
A messy, cluttered garden is like a cluttered house
Groomed plants are like dusted furniture
An ideal to consider is to have plants filling beds, spilling over paths, but always clean and largely deadheaded.
No bare ground.
Mulch, mulch, mulch!
Bare ground in a garden is like a mouth missing some teeth.

Have 2 patios, one for winter, one for summer

Make many places to sit -

1. Long table for entertaining under a pergola with 14 chairs, enough for whole family.
2. Comfortable chairs here and there in many places for small groups and large
3. Round tables with benches.
4. Chaise lounges for relaxing
5. Set ups for easy entertaining that suits you.
? Could include having many umbrellas in summer
? Could be well-placed trees:
Painting ladies, like living in a French movie
? Voices wafting, laughter from a distance
? Good food, easy to prepare.
? So you create a stage and then you bring in the groups you love, whether family or friends
? Lunches with one’s mate together down in some special nook or secluded patio,
? Very special times for good conversation or just watching the birds and enjoying the beauty.

Don’t have all space so it can be seen at one glance -

Could be a garden of rooms
Even on a small patio or porch you can make them go round a corner to see what is there.
Great gardens have:
Hidden spots to sit,
Secret places to visit

Every path should lead you somewhere -

A statue
Seat
Gate
Fountain
Unique permanent plant or container

Have some formal aspects, not just paths wandering around without end (makes you feel you are lost)

An overgrown garden with nothing but wandering paths is depressing —even spooky
Some gardens are sad
Strive to create a happy atmosphere
Follow some good rules of feng shui
Covered bench facing the entry
Space for sitting under an arbor

Formality is cheerful

A straight path
Axial paths
A small herbal parterre
A large parterre

Make sure your garden appeals to the sensual side of human nature. The best gardens appeal to all five senses:

1. The sense of hearing: sound: attract birds.

Birds are the music of the garden
Create a stage (water, plants, bird feeders, houses),
Birds are the musicians
Butterflies are the ballerinas
A garden without birds and butterflies is a dead space

2 .The sense of hearing water:

Wind chimes chosen with care for artistic value, placed in correct spot
Could be a bird bath with dripper
Moving water is best such as a raised fountain to bring birds.
Recirculating water on timer
Keep clean, and in good working order
good feng shui)
Worth getting a good setup, something that works.

3.The sense of smell:

Fragrant plants so you will have fragrance in every season
Fragrance adds mystery and magic to a garden
Where is that coming from?

4. The sense of sight: use color schemes.

Spring: pink white, blue, yellow, and lavender,
South of border: shocking pink, fuchsia, orange, chartreuse, royal blue, purple, bright yellow
Sun colors: orange red, blue, white all the colors of sunshine
You would not fail to do that in your house.

5. The sense of touch:

Textures of plants
Soft fuzzy leaves
Smooth surfaces
Rocks and pottery
Sculptures

6. The sense of taste:

something you can eat
a lemon tree
vegetables
fruits
herbs

Plant Zinnias Seeds

Pat — Sat, 01 May 2010 08:42:16 +0000

Plant seeds of zinnias now. “Benary’s Giants” (sold as “Parks Picks” by the Park Seeds) is immune to mildew. Choose a spot in full sun, till the ground to spade depth, work in organic soil amendment and balanced fertilizer into the top six inches. Soak the soil, let settle overnight. Plant seeds one by one, barely covered, just where you want them to grow. (Don’t bury too deeply; they need light to germinate!) Sprinkle daily until germinated; irrigate regularly.

Feed camellias and azaleas now.

Planting Macadamias

Pat — Fri, 30 Apr 2010 08:33:40 +0000

From Dave: Pat, quick report – planted 2 Beaumont Macadamias from 10 gallon containers into ground 2 weeks ago. Each was planted in clay soil amended with 1 cubic foot of chicken manure mix from Armstrong. Tress are very happy and have new growth on them. Trees were purchased at Bonita Creek Nursery in San Diego.

Reply by Pat: Sounds good, though chicken manure is a little strong for planting medium. Usual instructions are for planting out of containers straight into un-amended native soil. However, when planting in clay it’s always a good idea to work some gypsum in the bottom of the hole to increase drainage under the root ball. Any fertilizer can be added later on top of the soil. You will probably be okay but keep in touch. I hope the roots won’t be burned by direct contact with chicken manure.

Beaumont trees are good for home growing but all nuts should be picked off the tree once a year, whether or not they fall off naturally, at the time and in the way as described in my book. Emptying the tree of nuts this way prevents them from getting smaller and smaller each year. Other varieties fall off naturally.

How to Do a Stawberry Test

Pat — Wed, 07 Apr 2010 08:24:25 +0000

Question from Bonnie: I heard you say in a speaking engagement that the “Chandler” strawberry is your favorite. Is this correct? I really like Chandler strawberries, too. I decided to plant four types, and compare them. Chandler is hard to find sometimes, but I got some plants this spring.

Answer from Pat:Yes Chandler is really good. ‘Driscoll Camarillo’ – Patent PP14771 is good too. Chandler is a mid-season type and tastes much better than Sequoia. Camarillo is a later variety and has an excellent flavor also.

It is a fine idea to plant several varieties of strawberry and do a taste test. Also try a timing test, when they bear best. But in general this is not the optimum time to plant strawberries since they need prechilling and certain specific timing in order to bear well. It is best in Southern California to purchase pre-chilled plants and plant during the first week in November. This triggers growth first, followed by a season of fruiting.

If you plant your varieties at various times of year and if some are chilled and others not this won’t count as a fair test in some ways, but nonetheless it would be fun and worth doing but you sort of have to realize it’s like a horse race where some of the horses are handicapped.

See my book in the November chapter (pp.362, 363) for basic explanation of chilling requirements etc. Also my book tells earlier in the year on pp. 251, 282 how to let the runners root and then remove these, throwing the old plants away and how to chill the new bare-rooted plants. This home method of growing one’s own fresh plants every year and pre-chilling them prior to planting, gives a much greater harvest. It triggers vegetative growth at the right time of year, followed by an abundant fruiting season.