Beyond the Garden Basics

In today’s podcast, Master Gardener and vegetable expert Gail Pothour talks about cool season greens to grow in your backyard garden during the fall and winter. There’s a human-corrected transcript at the bottom of this newsletter. Among the main points in our conversation:* Cool season vegetable gardening works especially well in USDA zones 7, 8, 9, and 10; but in colder areas you can grow food nearly year round if you plan for it.* Late summer into early fall is the time to pull tired summer crops, work in some compost and fertilizer, and get cool season seeds or transplants in the ground while the soil is still warm.* Most cool season crops mature fast, often in 40 to 60 days, so you can have a real harvest within about two months.* A cold frame, basically a raised bed with a hinged translucent lid, protects plants from frost and heavy rain, and doubles as an insect barrier when you stretch screen across the open top during the day. A must for colder climates.* Floating row covers are one of the most useful tools this time of year. It keeps cabbage loopers and imported cabbage worms from laying eggs on brassicas like kale, broccoli, cauliflower and radishes, and it can even help slow down snails and slugs.* Row covers also help slow-to-germinate seeds like carrots and beets by keeping the soil consistently moist while they sprout.* Beginners are usually better off buying transplants than starting from seed, since crops like lettuce and carrots can be tricky to germinate from seed.* When buying transplants, choose smaller, sturdy, healthy looking plants rather than tall or root-bound ones, since cool season crops don’t love having their roots disturbed.* If you can’t plant right away, move six pack transplants into their own four inch pots with fresh potting soil first. It gives them a chance to build stronger roots before they go in the ground.* For lettuce, stick with loose leaf types like romaine and butter lettuce rather than Iceberg, which struggles to head up properly in home gardens in the warmer areas of USDA Zone 9. Favorites mentioned include Salanova red butter, Pomegranate Crunch, Lola Rossa and the heirloom Forellenschluss (also known as “speckled trout” or “flashy trout back”).* Swiss chard, especially “Bright Lights” with its multicolored stems, is easy to grow, good looking enough for a flower bed, and often overwinters into the next summer.* For kale, go with edible types like Lacinato (dinosaur kale), Tuscan baby leaf, Red Bor, and Red Russian rather than the tough, purely ornamental kales.* Asian greens like Pak Choi and Bok Choy, including a fast growing All America Selection called Asian Delight, are quick to harvest and tend to have fewer pest problems because they’re in the ground for such a short time.* Once brassicas bolt in late winter, the flowers are a magnet for bees and other beneficial insects, and the young flower shoots on kale can be cut and cooked just like broccolini.* For spinach, look for less crinkled varieties like Tyee, which are easier to clean, and treat it as a fast, short lived crop worth succession planting rather than one you let linger in the garden. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit gardenbasics.substack.com/subscribe

In today’s podcast, we talk with Sacramento County Master Gardener Michael Stinson about the when, how and why of pruning blackberry vines. Don’t want to listen? Here’s a summary. A complete transcript is at the bottom of this newsletter.Pruning Blackberries: Key PointsFrom a conversation with Sacramento County Master Gardener Michael Stinson• Blackberry plants are perennials that can live 15 to 20 years, but each individual cane only last around two seasons, with a notable exception.• First year canes are called primocanes. Second year canes, the ones that flower and fruit, are floricanes. Fall pruning is all about removing the floricanes. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit gardenbasics.substack.com/subscribe

We tackle two prickly topics: the spiky, caltrop-like seed balls of puncturevine weed and the “sputniks” of liquidambar (sweet gum) trees. Yes, those sharply pointed spheres that fly in the autumn breeze do resemble Eisenhower-era, low-earth orbiting Russian weapons of no destruction. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit gardenbasics.substack.com/subscribe

Collecting, Storing and Using Home-Saved Tomato SeedsIf you want to save seeds of a particular tomato variety, remember that many varieties are hybrids; they may not necessarily come back with the same traits as the tomato you enjoyed last season. According to Penn State Extension, the result of these crosses usually only lasts one generation, so the seeds harvested from hybrids may produce disappointing results.Or, may not be a disappointment. Tomato flowers are primarily wind-pollinated. So, those plants grown in isolation or covered with insect netting during their flowering period may provide satisfactory results. Experiment! One tip: note the tastiest varieties in your garden right now, in September. Save those seeds. Then, next year, put the plant that germinates far away from your other tomato varieties.Open pollinated or heirloom tomato seeds are fine for saving, as long as they are grown 10-30 feet away from any other varieties. For best results: save the seeds from tomatoes that are overly ripe; rinse off as much of the flesh and protective gelatinous coating from the seeds as is possible. Then, soak the seeds in a jar of water for a couple of days to remove the rest of the coating. The seeds will sink to the bottom, the gel will float. Discard the gel, remove the seeds and let dry on a paper towel. Then, store in an airtight container in a cool, dry location.Tomato seed saving techniques can vary. Here’s a sampling of methods from across the country.From Penn State: This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit gardenbasics.substack.com/subscribe

“Of all flowers, methinks rose is best”. Shakespeare said that. He lived in Stratford-upon-Avon, about halfway between London and Birmingham, England. However, the roses he saw 600 years ago never endured 100 degree heat…until recently.Although roses were found originally in Central Asia, they spread quickly throughout the Northern Hemisphere between the 12th and 18th centuries.Those old roses wouldn’t stand a chance in the heatwaves of the 21st century, succumbing to scorched flowers, leaves, and buds…as well as dying off due to a lack of regular watering in drought-effected areas.Of course, hybridization of roses in the 19th, 20th and 21st centuries has created varieties that can withstand a number of modern ailments, including air pollution.So, what are the modern roses that can take the heat, when temperatures hit 100 degrees for several days in a row? What are the traits of a heat-tolerant rose?Master Rosarian Debbie Arrington of the Sacramento Rose Society (and the Sacramento Digs Gardening blog) enumerated several in the podcast at the top of this page. Sacramento (City Motto: “At Least It’s a Dry Heat”) is no stranger to prolonged, triple digit heat waves, which can occur anytime from May through September. So, the area is a good testing ground for roses that maintain their color, health and vigor throughout spring, summer - and sometimes fall - heatwaves. One trait many of these have in common: these rose bushes produce light-colored blooms of white, pink or yellow. Most red roses, Arrington explains, absorb more of the heat, and will be among the first to scorch. Sorry about that, Bobby Darin.Among the roses on Debbie Arrington’s list of heat-tolerant roses: This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit gardenbasics.substack.com/subscribe