Greetings!

The nights are finally staying above 50 degrees F and you may be noticing that absolutely everything is growing rapidly.  I've had to use my hand pruners constantly to fight my way through my backyard.  Grape vines and branches reaching out from my pomegranate and mulberry trees are the major obstacles.  My early apricot (Gold Kist) is ripening right now and is, compared to other years, very early.  We normally get the crop closer to the start of summer.  My Burgundy plum has already broken a fruit laden branch so I severely thinned its crop and that on my Satsuma plum also.   

The onions are bulbing.  The short-day varieties are ready to harvest.  The intermediate varieties will be ready in a month.  I received over 10 e-mails concerning bolting onions (flowering instead of bulbing) and only a few had major problems.  Most had a few bolting plants, the same as me.  This then leads me to believe that either a cultural and/or a environmental problem triggered the excessive bolting seen by a few onion growers.  This could have been a stress due to dryness or untimely exposure to cold or heat.    

I'll be teaching 2 garden classes in the next 6 weeks.  These will be free to attend at Plant Depot in San Juan Capistrano.

Plant Depot (949) 240-2107 

33413 San Juan Creek Road

San Juan Capistrano 92675  

Saturday June 4 at 9am

Soil, The Key to Growing a Better Plant

Saturday July 9 at 9am

Growing Fruit in Orange County 

New This Week

My growing ground is relatively small (my backyard) and so the number of plants I'm currently growing is equally small compared to what we were growing before we closed the store.  There are a number of items that I take to the farmer's markets unannounced because I'm only growing a few of them.  I try to make certain that I have enough to take to both markets.  If I don't, I'll let you know. 

Rosanna Red Raspberry $6 4" pots

This Italian cultivar has performed well in Orange County producing very sweet, medium size berries in mid summer. 

Wonderful Pomegranate 5-gal $30

Pomegranate juice has become a darling among health foods and the trees have become hot sellers.  Pomegranate trees are extremely ornamental and quite suitable for the front yard.  The small tree are normally trained as a large bush or multi-trunk tree with hot orange flowers, ornament-like fruit, an artistic branching pattern and dense green foliage that turns yellow in fall.  The trees are very easy to grow and adapt to just about any soil.  It takes a newly planted tree 3-4 years to get into full production. 

Queen's Wreath Vine $30 5-gallon

This is one of my favorite ornamental vines and was much requested by landscape designers in the last few years.  Even though it can grow 20-40' it is not an overpowering grower and needs relatively little maintenance.  The large green leaves have a characteristic sandpapery surface texture.  It blooms from mid-spring through summer with a stunning display of 1-1/2" wide, star-shaped, purple-blue flowers in hanging, foot-long clusters.  The color is very similar to that of Jacaranda flowers and is much more purple than this photo.  The color is unusually long lasting, because as with Bougainvillea blooms, the main color is not due to flower petals, but to surrounding structures (the calyxes).  We have been surprised by how much shade this vine can bloom in.  It does pretty well on a shaded wall of my home that is very close to facing true north.  It prefers sun and well-drained, moist soil.  This plant is perfect trained on an arbor, pergola, along eaves, or on a high wall.  My plants aren't huge yet (5-7'), but are very well rooted and a few are blooming.  Expect about 5'+ of growth each year. 

Bedding Plant Availability

Our bedding plant growers seem to be at a lull in the availability of edibles.  They have new crops growing, but very few items that we are looking for.  (Doesn't anyone have bell peppers?!)  Our availability for this week is pretty much the same as last week.  Fortunately the weather has been perfect and everything we have looks great.   

Italian Heirloom Tomato $3

We've had this variety for a few weeks and many have asked for more specifics about it.  Italian Heirloom was one of the favorites at the 2008 Carmel Tomatofest tomato tasting.  The fruit is 12-16 oz., slightly pear-shaped, meaty, sweet, with good acidity.  The skin is easy to peel.  It is popular for cooking, canning and fresh eating.  The plant in indeterminate and has been very productive.