Holiday Madness vs. Gardening

Once again I want to remind you that this is a great month to get back some of what you put into your garden. Open space, the glint of light on a drop of water, the sound of the breeze or a hummingbird, a shiny orange berry; these are nature's stress healers. Holidays are filled with the great expectations that are ideal for stress whether they lead to fulfillment or disappointment. Don't let those great expectations derail you from enjoying the gift of life, moment by moment.

If working in the garden is your therapy, then enjoy December's opportunities to clean up dried leaves (especially after these winds), plant hardy perennials, bulbs, mulch flowerbeds, turn the compost heap and prune back roses, shrubs and trees. Soil is easier to dig when moist, but try to avoid working in wet mud. Walking on wet soil tends to compress it and can squeeze out the air spaces between soil particles already in short supply with clay soils. Mixing in compost and peat as well as manure will help add the organic matter soils in the Santa Clarita area are lacking. Chose to dig your soil a few days after rain showers so the soil is moist but not wet (assuming the weather cooperates). Watering a day or two ahead in dry weather will serve as well. If you plan to grow edible root crops, skip the manure, as it tends to make the roots fork. Peat will add texture, moisture retention and acid to your soil. Azaleas and Camellias, Gardenias and Astilbes really love that acid soil, as do blueberries. Many shade loving plants prefer a more acidic soil as their natural habitats are usually woodlands (hence the love of shade) where falling foliage forms a natural acidic compost. The trick to successful plant growth is to imitate the natural environment as closely as possible. Although most plants tolerate conditions beyond the ideal, the closer you come to supplying a plant's native needs, the more that plant will thrive. It's logical. So, as you amend your soil, think of what you plan to grow. A lime loving plant will not be happy with acid soil. Most of our full sun natives prefer a calcareous (lime) soil since that is what is most prevalent in this area. If you think about it, most acidic soil comes from the breakdown of organic matter so you are likely to find such soils where lush growth has taken place in the past. Looking at the limestone and rocky, semi-barren hillsides of the canyons, you can understand why the soil is ideal for plants liking quick drainage and calcareous soil. You can chose to amend the site to the plants you want, or plant the type of plants ideal for the site. It depends on your taste and the amount of effort and money you want to expend.

If this year continues to gift us with rains, planting can get underway in earnest with an extra boost. Planting bushes, trees and perennials before the frosts become regular nocturnal visitors will allow roots a chance to establish themselves in their new home. It is really important to mulch around the base of newly planted material to give the roots protection while they branch out. (I recommend mulch for most plants --, new, established or delicate. It will hold in moisture yet protect roots from dry winds and winter cold.) I'll discuss more about mulching a little later in this page.

Planting bulbs now will give you an early display of flowers. If they are inter-planted with bushes and larger flowering plants, they will probably bloom first and you can hide their browning foliage as the other plants grow up around the bulbs. Never cut that foliage off when the flowers finish. The foliage needs to die back, funneling all the energy into healthy bulbs for next year. If you cut off the foliage while it is still green, the bulbs will be small and weak at best, and not survive at all at worst.

Although some experts recommend planting California natives in the autumn, there are an equal number of experts who feel the winter is the best planting time, rather than allowing for vulnerable growth started in the last warmth of autumn to be caught by winter frosts. I've had successes and failures at both times, so I recommend trying a little of both and see what works best for your lot of land. (Of course, the difference between autumn and winter weather can be a bit confusing in this area.) Some of showiest perennial natives, in my opinion, are the yellow flowered California Buckwheat, Wooley Blue Curls, the Matilija Poppy, Clevelandii Sage, and Carpenteria. As for showy annuals, you can plant seeds of California Poppies (sometimes lasting as short-lived perennials), Clarkia, Phacelia, "Shooting Star" (Mentzelia), or "Tidy Tips" (Layia). This is a good time to plant them on a cleanly cut (and ideally, raked) sunny hillside. Plan on losing a good percentage of California flora (and your seeds) to California fauna (birds, rodents, insects, etc.) But if the rains are cooperative, you could get a hillside ablaze with California annual natives in the spring. And if they like the location, they'll self-seed themselves for years to come. Other good plants to seed on your hillside are Lupins, Galliardias, Nemophilas ("Baby blue eyes"- plant with some shade), and low native grasses. Stick to low growers wherever possible keeping fire safety in mind. Larger shrubs or even trees can be safely planted on hillsides if they are grouped with large clear areas in between groupings that would act as firebreaks. Keep groupings away from the house and do this only if you have a large area so you can cluster the groups in a natural design. Otherwise you will dot your hillside with plant groupings that look more like wallpaper than a flowing natural picture. If you have that much space, you can even work dry riverbeds, stairways or paths into the design creating not only a beautiful landscape, but adding more fire breaks.

 If your compost has become an even brown color with no stickiness or smell, you can hand pick or screen out any larger pieces of material and spread it in flowerbeds and vegetable gardens. All areas like homemade compost and it works as great mulch for plants exposed to cold or drying winds. It also protects plant roots from hot sun. In fact, the stuff's great to use all year 'round. Just make sure the mulch stays a couple of inches away from stems and trunks. (That goes for all mulches, not just compost!) Ideally it should extend to the outer tips of the plants' branches. You can also mulch whole flower or vegetable beds. Organic mulches eventually break down and are incorporated into the soil by worms and insects adding helpful organic matter to our hungry soils. You can also buy protective mulches in the form of bark, straw, compost, cocoanut hulls, and more. Sawdust and shavings from woodworking are better composted first as they will rob your soil of precious nitrogen as they break down. Decorative stones and other non-organic matter can also function as a protective mulch. These last longer, but add no organic material to your soil. Make sure the material is small enough to allow the soil to 'breathe', in other words, don't cement over plant roots! If the mulch isn't sufficiently porous, it will barricade essential air and water from the roots. Apart from that, it's hard to go wrong by mulching and there is a wonderful choice of materials to add color and design to your garden, not to mention the benefit of no mud splashing or gummy footprints following your feet into the house!

Plant of the Month: (Ruby) Swiss Chard   

This month I'm praising an edible. Chard comes in leaves of green and red. There are also varieties (and mixes) of red, pink, white, green, yellow and orange stems. These plants can be grown easily in your vegetable garden for practical purposes or for decoration. I feel that the red leafed varieties or bright red, pink, yellow or orange-stemed varieties are so colorful that they can find a useful position in the flower garden. They tend to grow into large beet like roots with leaves that can billow out 2 feet long. You can cook the leaves like spinach (and I consider the taste fuller and sweeter) and the stems like celery. Soups, stews, and eggs can all be enhanced with Swiss chard. The plants can grow to 3 feet or more with a similar width, as they will often send out side shoots. My bird loves to nibble on the young leaves, which are richer in vitamins and minerals than lettuce. Swiss Chard likes average water and full sun. Sometimes a plant will send up a straggly flower stalk at the cost of making leaves, and I find it is easier to replace than to dissuade. Spring planted plants will start producing edible sized leaves by mid summer and can sometimes flourish for almost two years before going to seed (putting energy into flowering rather than leaves). Late summer planting starts cropping in a few months. Winter planting can be either seed or 6-packs and will be ready to start cropping in spring. In other words, this plant can go into the ground any time of the year (though the hot summer is not the best choice). I do find that aphids can infest Swiss Chard once the ants start encouraging them in summer dryness. Hosing with a strong stream of water knocks most of them off, but a bad infestation might require an insecticidal soap. I do not recommend chemicals on edibles. Otherwise, Swiss Chard -- in any color -- is an easy, tasty, nourishing plant pretty enough to use as an ornamental.

Insect of the Month: Spider mites

These are actually not insects at all, but arachnids, that is to say, spiders. They are tiny little fiends that multiply to huge numbers covering stems and leaves (particularly the undersides) with their fine webbing. There are red ones, black ones, green ones, yellow ones, two-spotted ones and lots of other colorful and designed ones. All are too small to see well. All are bad news for your plants. They suck out the healthy sap and can even carry disease. Because they are so small, they are often overlooked. You are more likely to see pale, sickly leaves with a fine light stippling effect before noticing anything else. If you look closely at the underside of infected leaves you will just see tiny dots, considerably smaller than a pinhead moving ever so slightly over a surface of almost invisible webbing. When infestations are strong, the stems can be wrapped with the webbing as well. Insecticides will not work on arachnids For lighter infestations, blast the leaves clean with hose water. Natural predators already exist in the form of lacewings, ladybugs and microscopic predators. Mites often attack indoor plants. They like it dry and warm. Adding humidity disturbs them. Washing the leaves really disturbs them. If the temperature is over 60' outside, I often take infested plants outdoors for a week or two, and between hosing and natural enemies, the mites disappear. For serious infestations, you need to use a mitacide. Insecticides won't work on arachnids. I've found systemics with miticides applied to the soil and taken into the sap where they become poisonous to sucking pests are the most efficient. Horticultural oils will suffocate them when applied correctly. Check with your local nursery for recommended brands. Spider mites tend to attack individual host plants rather than spreading to all the plants in the area. That makes them easier to treat with hosed water or systemics (but never use systemics on edibles) rather than sprays which drift chemicals all around.

Some gardens require little work at this time of year. More ornate and larger gardens require more work. Hopefully, you've given thought to yours when you designed it so the amount of work is commensurate with the enjoyment you have in gardening. Either way, make sure to take some time to appreciate your garden this month, whatever work it may require. If you need a little rest and healing time outdoors, that's why your garden is there. Don't forget to use it. It is an extension of your house -- a part of your home. Regenerate. Breathe. Appreciate all the amazing gifts of nature. Remember you are a part of this awesome creation. Then you can go back in and deal with the holidays and whatever they may bring. Let the year 2004 close with a sigh of thanks. Another year gone by, filled with joyful gifts and challenging lessons. And you are a little wiser, a little more experienced. You have your needs, but you have gifts to give as well. Just like your garden. Happy Holidays!

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