Maureen Gilmer is celebrating her 40th year in California horticulture and photojournalism as the most widely published professional in the state. She is the author of 21 books on gardening, design and the environment, is a widely published photographer, and syndicated with Tribune Content Agency. She is the weekly horticultural columnist for the Desert Sun newspaper in Palm Springs and contributes to Desert Magazine, specializing on arid zone plants and practices for a changing climate. She works and lives in the remote high desert for firsthand observations of native species. Her latest book is The Colorful Dry Garden published by Sasquatch Books. When not writing or photographing she is out exploring the desert on her Arabian horse. She lives in Morongo Valley with her husband Jim and two rescue pit bulls. When not writing or photographing she is usually out riding her quarter horse.
Succulents thrive in the crevices and graveled beds of an English rock garden.
All over Pinterest there are pins of the most fabulous outdoor succulent rock gardens from desert climates and the Southern California coast. No rain falls in these areas from May to December, so water content in the soil is minimal, creating a specialty environment for these plants. This makes it tough for eastern succulent gardeners living where rains fall year-round. In moister areas succulents can rot, die out or simply look poor, particularly when planted on level ground with dense fertile soils, so gardeners seeking to grow them need to be smart. Continue reading “Create A Rock Garden For Cacti & Succulents”
Well-planted and maintained bare-root fruit trees will produce good fruit on a couple of years.
Out West, where the bare root season arrives early, February is time for planting fruit trees, and January is the time to prepare. New gardeners often miss this crucial planting time because it falls so early here. Bare root season is the best time to buy fruit trees at their lowest price of the year. Trees grown from bare root stock produce more adventurous roots because they’ve never been hampered by the nursery pot. Instead they’re grown in a field, dug while dormant, then the soil is washed off and shipping ensues.
Buying Bare Root Fruit Trees
Cherries require more winter chilling that other fruit tree types, which are better suited to warmer regions.
There are three ways to buy bare root fruit trees. The first is through mail order. Because bare root trees are so lightweight, they’re perfect for purchasing through catalogs, like Raintree Nursery which offers the widest range of bare root fruit tree varieties available.
Next comes your local independent garden center. These folks will order in bare root stock for varieties that they know are well adapted to the local climate. For example, late-blooming varieties may be chosen in areas where early frosts may damage early blooming trees and diminish fruit set. This kind of regional selection makes choosing garden center fruit trees a no-brainer.
Our garden compost blend will help bare root fruit trees become better established.
National chain home improvement stores tend to stock more standard varieties sold from coast to coast. These may not be ideal for your landscape, so research varieties before you buy. For example, a store may sell bare root cherry trees in a climate that lacks the winter chill necessary to make them produce fruit. You won’t realize this until years later when the tree fails to fruit at all. It’s a risk you can’t afford.
Bare root trees save you big money because they haven’t been potted, so you’re not paying more for pots, or increased shipping costs. And if you get your bare roots fresh and early, you might even be getting a better product. Those bare root trees left over after the season are usually potted up at the nursery and put on sale at higher prices. These may be the poorest trees of the lot, passed over by savvy buyers.
Planting Bare Root Fruit Trees
Once you have your bare root trees selected and have brought them home, be sure not to let the roots dry out. Many even recommend soaking the bare roots for several hours in a bucket of tepid water before planting.
Improve your planting hole soil by mixing in generous quantities of Black Gold amendments, such as compost and garden soil.
The next step is to plant them in enriched landscape soil. Because bare roots do not come with a rootball, they lack feeder roots and have a diminished root zone. Enriching the soil well will give them a better start. Begin by digging a hole that’s twice the width of the root spread and to a depth that will just reach the root flair at the base of the trunk. Next, enrich the extracted soil by blending it with Black Gold Garden Compost Blend or Black Gold Garden Soil. It’s also important to add a starter & transplant fertilizer to help build strong roots and reduce transplant shock.
There’s a line on the bare root tree, below the graft union and just above the root flair, which shows where the soil level should be for planting.
Planting trees correctly is essential for their long term happiness. When planting the tree, tease the roots out, making sure no major roots overlap, and then cover them firmly and completely, making sure the root flair is just covered at the point where it meets the trunk. You also need to be aware of the tree graft near the base of the trunk. The graft is not too hard to spot; just look for a line or mark at the base of the tree where the straight rootstock was grafted with the varietal wood (or “scion”). It’s wise to cover the graft union with protective wrap to protect against summer sunburn or winter sun scald.
Be sure to create a watering basin in the soil around the newly planted tree, and fill it to the top with water to help settle the new soil around the roots. Staking newly planted bare root trees is also wise as they won’t be sure-footed until they set strong, new roots. Continue to give it good care, and watch the bare stick come to life with flowers, leaves and fruits that get bigger and better each year.
Successful vegetable gardening in the high desert takes effort but is rewarding.
Growing food in the high deserts of the American West is a challenge until you learn how to modify your microclimate. Not only is the high desert incredibly dry, it’s often windy, which can be a larger problem than drought. Hot or cold dry winds draw moisture out of leaves faster than the roots can replace it. If you don’t resolve the wind problem, you’ll find little success.
Protect Beds with Straw Bales
Potatoes thriving in high-desert soils boosted with lots of organic-rich amendments.
These dry climates allow bales of straw to remain intact for years. That’s why I use them around the perimeter of my high desert vegetable garden to block ground level winds. They are stable and strong enough to remain in place during our worst storm-driving winds and Santa Anas (strong, dry down-slope winds that originate inland and affect coastal southern and northern California). Bales can also be placed in the growing area to create mini windbreaks for rows or sensitive plants. They can be stacked two or three high into a wall on the windward side of the garden to add even more protection.
While winters are cold in the high desert, there is tremendous UV exposure due to the thin dry air. During the summer this exposure soars to such an extent that some plants just can’t take it. I use wire field fencing rolled into tubes in lieu of tomato towers. They’re perfect for another solution, using shade cloth attached with clothes pins to the west side of each wire tube. This helps plants during July and August when very hot afternoons can be tough on food plants.
Amend Your Soil
Protective fencing is needed to keep plants safe from animal pests.
High desert soils often lack organic matter, and that’s where Black Gold soil amendments can transform sandy gravel into fertile ground. Among the best choices for amending lean soils is Black Gold Compost Blend and Black Gold Garden Soil. These soils also need microbes which can be introduced using Black Gold Earthworm Castings that are naturally rich in these organisms so crucial to plant growth and soil health.
Building fertile ground takes time, so be sure to add more organic matter and nutrients every year at planting time. May 1st is the most universal date of the last frost, then the growing season is fast for the first month or two, until it slows down in the depths of summer. During August your plants may rest in the heat, then take off again in September growing rapidly until frost. Be sure to feed your garden at summer’s end with a tomato and vegetable fertilizer to help them flourish in this “second season”.
Feed Your Vegetables
Finally, select food plant varieties that are desert adapted. I’ve found many great candidates for this tough climate at Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds because they tell you where each variety comes from. That’s where I found ‘Abu Rawan’, a tomato from Iraq that’s adapted to desert conditions. Choose these in lieu of heirlooms developed for ripening in the cool climates of northern Europe. Another great source is Native Seed/SEARCH, a seed vendor dedicated to the preservation of vegetable plants traditionally grown by the Southwest Pueblo Indian tribes.
Gardening in the high desert is easy once you solve the problems of wind, sun and very lean soils. But with a few straw bales and a load of Black Gold soil amendments, you’ll be all set to get started.
Vita Sackville-West’s twin time lawns are shown in the foreground of the beautiful landscape at Sissinghurst Castle.
In Queen Elizabeth’s day, everyone had to bathe at least once a year, whether they needed it or not. Clothing was not washed more frequently either. This period, with its voluminous skirts and skintight corsets, made communal living quite odiferous after awhile. The only solution was to cover up the stink with the scent of garden herbs. Continue reading “Thyme Lawns”
In the garden, these old fashioned violas spread, mound and cascade throughout the cooler seasons.
I once worked for Roger’s Gardens Colorscape, a world famous nursery that installs fabulous annual color gardens for stately homes on the southern California coast. That experience taught me how to grow annuals for two seasons. In early summer, we’d plant the traditional marigolds and petunias that love the heat. Come September, it was time to tear out all those warm season flowers and fortify the beds with compost and fertilizer before installing our cool season annual palette. Violas were a favorite for gracing our gardens with intense color all winter long. Continue reading “Cool It with Violas”
Gorgeous purple hued Echeverias and mint green Sempervivums in a shallow wide pot make a perfect table top feature for autumn outdoor dining.
For parents, back to school season is the happiest time of year. Finally things slow enough to spruce up the garden for fall. But what to do when food plants and flowers are going to seed at summer’s end? Try some experiments with colorful late season succulents in pots to give outdoor living spaces a contemporary feel. When cold nights arrive, just bring them indoors to decorate your home all winter long.
Designing Succulent Pots
You’ve seen them everywhere, those fabulous pots stuffed with vibrant succulents. They look great on tables or arranged on a sunny deck, balcony or window. And, growing and overwintering success is easy. Start by selecting a lightweight pot (with large drainage holes) that is easily carried in or out, and fill with porous Black Gold Cactus Mix potting soil, which provides the ideal root zone environment. Then pick out an array of unique succulents from the garden center, and get planting.
In this composition you can readily see the upright plants, strong rosette forms and cascading edge plants.
To achieve the trendy looks of decorator showrooms, select succulents that represent three different forms. First are upright branching types like Euphorbia ‘Firesticks’ or Portulacaria jade trees. Second are the rosette forms of cold hardy Sempervivum and Echeveria varieties. Third are crawlers, such as Senecio string-of-pearls and cascading groundcover sedums that hang off pot edges.
A pot with a balanced design will have one or more of these three forms, but the actual plants you select will define your personal creation. Shop by foliage color for vivid hues that give your composition punch without flowers. For more subtle effects, select pastel shades for a perfect match to your interior color palette.
Planting Succulent Pots
The best succulent pots are created by packing young plants tightly into the container. Generally speaking, succulents plants don’t resent crowded conditions, so purchase good sized individuals that are in scale with the size of your pots for eye popping effects on day one. Fill tiny gaps between root balls with Black Gold Cactus Mix. It’s best to wait a few days to water them in so that any broken stems or roots can heal over with a waterproof callus. This ensures that exposed tissues are not exposed to waterborne diseases that cause rot. (This is a succulent gardening basic; to protect fresh cuts/breaks during the planting process.) And don’t worry about not watering, succulents won’t wilt if not promptly watered.
This composition at the Proven Winners® trials shows how perfectly succulent hues blend into fall and water color palettes.
Finished pots should be given plenty of light, a cool winter environment and light water. As days grow shorter and cooler, be aware that succulents don’t need much additional moisture because there’s less loss to evaporation. The cooled, drier conditions of fall will demonstrate just how long moisture can remain in the soil. Succulents will truly thrive through winter with little to no supplemental water while excess water can kill them.
If you’ve been dying to jump into succulents for the first time, late summer is a good time and slower season to start. It’s also more affordable because not only will they make your fall garden sizzle, you’ll enjoy them all winter too. This is economy we can all live with, and if well cared for, they’ll be ready to go back outdoors when it warms up again next year.
This perennial statice, Limonium perezii is frost tender but tough as nails in salt air and coastal conditions.
“Where did you get those flowers?” my mother asked suspiciously when I presented her with a bouquet of papery dry blossoms. They were as deep blue as Egyptian lapis stone. The stems still held their heads high after the long walk home that hot summer day.
The moment she learned they had come from the neighbor’s garden Mom was on the phone. I heard mea culpas flooding the kitchen. Then she hung up to announce we would be taking them back because they were “everlastings”, and the neighbor wanted to dry them for her arrangements. Continue reading “Maintaining the ‘Statice’ Quo”
Nothing tastes quite like fresh limes straight from the tree, and they’re easy to grow!
The Cuervo Gold tequila we all swore off of so many times in high school has some big competition these days. There are now over 600 tequila brands on the market and high quality imports elevate this drink from spring break slammers to uptown tasting parties. With tequila coming up in the world at well over $50 a bottle, you’ll want to know a bit more about growing the bartender’s lime to match. Growing limes is easy!
Mexican Lime
Centuries ago, Arab traders brought limes from Asia to the Middle East where Crusaders carried them home to Spain, and later into Mexico. The species Citrus aurantifolia has since split into varietal groups to include larger Key limes and the smaller Mexican “bartender’s” lime. The latter produces the best lime for tequila aficionados.Mexican limes have the thinnest rind of all citrus. This allows the fruit to dehydrate so quickly its cold storage life is severely limited. Store bought limes rarely retain that fresh-picked in flavor, but if you grow your own Mexican limes in a large pot, you’ll enjoy the freshest fruit possible with every tequila tasting.
Beautifully contained lime trees in England.
The Mexican lime variety available from premier citrus growers is Citrus aurantifolia ‘Mexican Thornless.’ This lime tree blooms over spring and summer with small white blossoms that release a heady citrus fragrance. It is very frost tender and best grown in a large pot you can move under cover or indoors for the winter. The container should have not just one, but numerous drain holes in the bottom to ensure there is no over-saturation occurring deeper down.
Growing Mexican Lime
Because all citrus are picky about drainage, use Black Gold Natural & Organic Potting Soil where summers are humid. In the depths of the Southwest, where summers can be very hot and dry, Black Gold Cocoblend Potting Soil will help retain more moisture in the dry heat. For established container-grown limes or other citrus, use Black Gold Citrus, Avocado & Vine fertilizer each year to ensure a plentiful harvest.
Mexican limes are frost-damaged by temperatures below 30 degrees F. Key limes may be slightly more hardy. Either way, plant them in a protected spot or use a large planter with wheels to ensure you can move yours to protection on cold nights or for the entire winter. For those willing to do so, draping a protective blanket or bed sheet over a smaller tree on cold nights is a temporary, yet effective, strategy for overcoming periodic frost.
The biggest challenge is protecting tender citrus tree bark, which is highly vulnerable to sunburn. This is why they are painted white in the orchard; the paint provides the same benefits that zinc oxide provides human sunscreens. You can do the same with watered-down white interior latex on your homegrown citrus too. If not painted, sunburn can result and cause blistering or long cracks in the bark, which cause moisture loss and increase pest and disease vulnerability.
To keep a potted tree to a limited size, thin out interior branches at any time. Time your pruning well by waiting until after fruit harvest to avoid interfering with the flowering process. If you’re growing ‘Mexican Thornless’, any suckers from below the graft union should be promptly removed as they bear large painful barbs.
If memories of tequila shots on the Mexican Riviera seem far more flavorful than those of tequila parties further north, it’s not your imagination. Freshness is everything when you bite into a lime wedge. Why not bring a little bit of Mexico to your own backyard, so whenever life gives you too many lemons, you can always break out the tequila and limes.
Fresh huitlacoche on display at summer market. These ears sell 50 times more than standard ears.
In polite company it’s called the Mexican truffle, but in the American corn belt it’s nothing but common smut (Ustilago maydis). In fact, the USDA has been trying to eradicate it for a century. If you have ever seen a smut infested ear of corn, you’d know why this bizarre sooty looking fungus freaks people out. No doubt backyard gardeners in the Midwest will see it often during rainy summers because the fungus thrives in warm, wet weather.
Huitlacoche
But, in other cultures the fungus is cherished like a select and delicious mushroom truffle. First appreciated by the Aztecs, the Mexican truffle was incorporated into many of their ancient dishes and named huitlacoche (wee-tlah-KOH-cheh). The translation from the Nahuatl language is “crow excrement”, which describes its unsavory appearance. Despite odd looks, this flavorful food is still a big part of Mexican cuisine today. It’s integrated into tamales and soups, or fresh puffed up kernels, called “galls”, are boiled for ten minutes then sautéed until crispy in butter. Cans of the fungus are commonly sold in indigenous marketplaces. Fresh ears can be found in summertime and are easily preserved by freezing.
Harvesting Huitlacoche
A huitlacoche on developing corn.
The traditional time to harvest Mexican truffles is when the infected kernels are puffy and white in their early state. At this time they are like mushrooms before their gills open. Some say they should be as soft as a freshly ripened pear. At peak the flavor is described as sweet corn and smoke. Waiting too long results in a truly smutty flavor because the kernal insides turn from delicious white flesh to masses of black spores. When sporulating kernels split open the spores are released traveling on the wind to nearby corn plants or soil. In the soil they can remain viable for up to three years.
In the wet central highlands of Mexico and Guatemala, small farmers search their crops during the rainy season for signs of the developing fungus. Infected ears are relished in home cooking and add to the sparse early season diet. Early collection of infected ears probably protects later crops from smut infestations as well. It’s profitable too. Farmers sell excess ears at fifty times what a standard ear of corn costs. In the markets of Mexico City over 100 tons of Mexican truffle are sold each season.
Huitlacoche Gains Popularity
An infected ear just beginning to produce smutty kernals.
Interest in pre-Hispanic ingredients has risen among those in the organic gourmet world. One famous dinner held in 1989 by the James Beard Foundation featured huitlacoche in many dishes in an effort to bring this new-yet-old food to light. As a result, the USDA began allowing select farms to intentionally infect corn with the fungus. The irony here is that scientists at the USDA working to eradicate smut discovered new, effective ways to infect corn with the fungus in order to test various cures.
In America, those most interested in huitlacoche cultivation are mushroom farmers who best understand the life cycle of fungi. But this is a unique form that only reproduces on corn ears, so it really falls into the purview of market gardeners. The Aztecs simply scraped the plants on the ground or with dried fungus to infect the kernels. Home gardeners could do the same if they were able to access dry infected ears. Kernel galls appear 10 to 14 days after point of infection.
It’s Just a Mushroom!
Uninfected meal corn ears air drying.
Despite the fact that it’s a delicacy in Mexico, this edible fungus has a hard time catching on in the U.S. and Europe. Perhaps it’s the black juice exuded as they are cooked, or maybe it’s just the idea of eating diseased corn that’s a turn off. Either way, those willing to try it should go fresh. The consensus is that the imported canned Mexican truffles are not nearly as good.
And it may not be difficult to find fresh ears in some parts of the country. For Midwestern gardeners in frequent flood zones, there is little doubt that what sweet corn is not destroyed by flooding will invite the sooty face of smut. Gardeners can always give their corn plants a fighting chance by planting them high in raised beds with well-drained soil amended with Black Gold Earthworm Castings, but under warm, moist conditions little can help against fungal disease. So why not welcome Mexican truffles as a new culinary adventure? Explore recipes on the Internet for preparation of the fungus in traditional Mexican dishes. Heirloom corn is even more prone to infection, for gardeners that are game.
In these years of climatic upheaval and instability, it’s always a comfort to discover interesting and nutritious new food in the wake of disaster. And for home gardeners with the spirit of adventure, corn-turned-mushroom will bring a strange but savory taste to late summer fare.
Are you a failed wildflower grower? Growing California poppies (Eschscholzia californica), lupines, Coreopsis, and five-spot (Nemophila maculata) in the arid West is downright tricky. We sow them, and they refuse to sprout. It’s rare they return for a second season. So, what’s the problem?
First off, these western species are ephemeral annuals, meaning they live for just one season then go to seed before summer. Most of them need the full extent of our brief winter rains to get a head start on completing their life cycle prior to the long drought to come. Therefore they should be sown by Christmas to receive the rain that is essential for early spring bloom. Yet all too often they are sown during the planting frenzy of spring, which is far too late in much of the West. This leaves too short a season for them to become established and finish their life cycle.
