Lima Bean

Tips And Hints For Growing Easy-Care Warm-Season Crops Planting months: April, May, June. Spacing: sow seed, thin 11/2 inches apart. Special Tips: grows best inland, but not in desert (high temperatures sabotage bean set.) Bush limas give quicker harvest...

Replacement for Oleanders

Question from Debbie: I live in east Oceanside. My oleanders, which help block the view from my neighbor’s yard, have all died (from a virus I believe). What are some replacement options for them? I want to block the view (6+ feet tall) and have...

French Marigolds Work Against Nematodes

Some, but not all, marigolds suppress root knot nematodes and lesion nematodes. (Don’t use Signet marigolds [Tagetes tenuifolia], for example, since these have the opposite effect and are a host to nematodes, allowing them to proliferate and increase...

Wisteria

Question from Robin: Was reading in your So. Cal. Organic Gardening about Wisteria. You mentioned cutting unwanted young shoots down to two buds from May onward. Is it to late to trim them now? I know Wisteria is a light feeder but yours look so glorious!...

Don’t Thin Out Apple Blossoms

Question from Robin: My Golden Dorsett apple is loaded with blooms but I need clarification on thinning blossoms. I usually wait a week or two, examine the blossom cluster and retain two of the strongest, snipping off all the rest to ensure larger...

Evergreen Tree for a Planter

Question from Ivana: We have a large planter 6ftx6ft in the back of our building and would love to find a good evergreen accent tree. The planter is just next to parking spaces and the building so we need a tree that would not be messy and/or bear fruit...

Making Garden Steps From Bags of Concrete

Question from Arlene: I need to make about 4 steps to go up a small incline to get to my fruit tree…I remember you telling about an easy way to make steps using cement bags….do you have those instructions??? I am also thinking of having...

Multi-media Garden Mural: How to Create

Question from Heidi: I was hoping to speak with you at the Master Gardener Fall Seminar on Oct. 2. Unfortunately, with the room changes & my duties as a “badge checker” in other classes (your’s is always the first to get fully...

Cassia Leptophylla (gold medallion tree)

Question from Frank: Thinking about this tree in Solana Beach, CA – about 4 blocks from the ocean – will get full sun and full exposure to ocean breezes.  Will it work okay? Answer from Pat: Gold medallion tree (Cassia leptophylla) grows...

Pruning for Fortnight Lily (Dietes iridioides, D. bicolor)

Question from Karen: I love the flowers of fortnight lily but after many years in the ground mine have grown large. Not only are the clumps huge but some of the leaves have gotten brown and messy-looking with dead foliage and debris mixed in with fresh...

Sick Olive Tree

Question from Ruth: My olive tree has some kind of blight that is causing welts on the branches and some branches have died. What causes it and what shall I do to control this? I am very worried about my tree! Answer from Pat: Olives are subject to a...

Chryanthemums: How to Grow Year-Round in mild-winter climates

Question from Edward: How long will chrysanthemums last in Southern California I just planted them Answer from Pat: Chrysanthemums will live indefinitely in Southern California if you give them good care and deep fertile, well-drained soil, with regular...

Blueberries with rust and leaf curl

Question from Monty: Blueberries I’ve had for many years in pots have now developed rust, and one with leaf curl. It appears that a branch on one is dead – all brown. I have three total. Soil remains well drained. Perhaps even dry right...

How Do I Thatch A Bermuda Lawn

Question from Suzanne: I once wrote to you before about a question. Now I would like to ask you another. How do I handle the de-thatching of a common Bermuda lawn. My gardener 40 or fifty years ago used to dethatch every year. I even used to mow down...