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Greetings!
This week concerns how to install a container plant.
DON'T RUIN YOUR SOIL
Generally I prefer leaving the native soil as is, especially if you live on a hill in a home built after about 1990. By that time, geologists knew a lot more about how to prevent slides and you don't want to undo what they did. We know that Nature can improve any soil if you keep the surface covered with an organic mulch (dead leaves).
That said, we still recommend modifying your soil to install large plants grown in a container because the root system at least partially suffocate when suddenly surrounded by heavy soil.
In my current neighborhood (built in the early 90's) the geologist, Mike, a good friend, explained to me how my home lot was altered. The soil on my street looked like a beach and is quite sandy, but my back yard is difficult to get a shovel in the ground. My home is on a cul-de-sac and my back yard has a steep downslope on two sides. Mike told me that to prevent slope failure, they do not want the soil near the slope to absorb water. It appears that the last 20'+ of my garden (on two sides) was heavily packed with 2' of clay. The water will pond for many days after a rain. In this situation I have built raised planters that adds about 8" of decent soil above the clay. (Remember that plant roots only grow about a foot deep.) Where I planted Avocado and Citrus I also mounded the soil an additional 8" above the bed for even better drainage/aeration. It would have been better for the plants to remove all the clay and replace with loam or sandy loam, however, that would compromise the stability of my slope and home.
At my first home, built in the 1960's, the neighborhood was flat, but the builders added some soil to raise the lot about 8". The soil that was brought in was heavy and hard packed, but the native, underlying soil was sandy, gravely stuff you'd find near a river. In this case I made certain that all the holes I dug for planting trees were made deep enough for water to escape to the highly permeable, fast draining soil below. I was quite lucky that everything grew in textbook fashion even though I really didn't know much about soil at that time.
I have known several homeowners who owned a jackhammer. Apparently their soil (in Rancho Santa Margarita) is like shale. With soil that is nearly rock, it is better to build raised beds all over the garden. Making any hole and filling it with permeable soil creates a pond/well for the plant. You can remove and replace the shale throughout the entire garden, but you'll need to install a French drain on the low end of each planting bed to remove trapped water. If you build raised beds against your home make certain the soil has no direct contact with the house wall.
If you do replace the soil, or otherwise add soil, remember not to purchase "topsoil" or let your gardener/landscape contractor bring in "topsoil". Topsoil, sold locally, is "sandy loam" mixed with up to 50% compost. Because a significant portion is still rotting, the soil will shrink, smell and sicken or kill many plants installed in it over time. Instead, just get "sandy loam". If you can't find sandy loam substitute "decomposed granite" which is a bit more grainy. All of these materials are available in bulk, ocassionally in bags. This means that you'll need access to a pick-up truck or pay big bucks for delivery. Bulk soil is relatively inexpensive.
INSTALLING CONTAINER PLANTS
Let's now assume your soil is decent and your plants are perfectly grown in containers. (If you read last week's newsletter you might realize that very few plants are perfect when purchased.)
Remove the plant's rootball from its container. With plants up to 2-gallon (8" diameter container) I hold the plant upside-down and tap the edge of its container down onto the edge of a table or block wall and the plant falls out into my hand. For larger containers I hold the plant by its trunk or stems upright and tap the edge of the container with a hammer, 2X4 block of wood, or heavy trowel until it falls off. If the plant is too big (heavy) to hold or refuses to drop out I'll cut the container apart with my pruners or a box cutter.
Most likely there will be roots circling the root ball. For most plants this doesn't bother me. Bushes, vines and fruit trees don't get large enough to cause damage if they fall over from circling roots. Even among trees the only Genus well known to fall over from circling roots is Eucalyptus. Trees do fail when their roots make a tight loop while they are still in a seedling pot, but that is difficult or impossible to detect once the trees get larger. There are special pots that stop roots from circling and I do use them when starting seeds for shade trees.
Dig the hole no deeper than the height of the rootball. It can be as wide as you want (a few inches wider on all sides is perfect) but if you make it deeper, the soil will settle with the first irrigation. There is no rule against making it deeper, but you'll have to compensate for the settling by planting a bit high.
With plants that are 2-gallon or smaller I would just dig a hole and drop the plant in.
For plants that are larger than 2-gallon I would amend the soil that will be put back into the hole to surround the rootball (the backfill) with up to 50% pumice or Laguna Hills Nursery planting mix or potting soils. This zone should extend from the surface to the bottom of the rootball and should contain native soil as well as the amendment. (Pure amendment is not as porous as soil and would remain fairly dry.) This zone, which should be at least several inches thick, will permanently provide airflow to the roots that are deeper than they would otherwise grow. All containers have drain/air holes at the bottom so the roots are used to getting air from the bottom as well as the top.
In small containers the plant's lowest roots are still close to the soil's surface and no amendments are needed. Plants in large containers have roots that will be buried more than 10" deep. In heavy soils these "deep" roots are in danger of suffocation. Growth of such a newly installed plant may be stunted for months while the plant replaces the deep dying roots with new roots closer to the soil surface.
The main ingredient in all of Laguna Hills Nursery planting mixes and potting soils is pumice, the most efficient material to aerate heavy soil. By creating a zone of well-oxygenated soil from the soil surface all around the sides of the rootball, all the roots are kept alive and healthy while new roots form at the correct depth in the surrounding native soil.
Make certain that the top of the original soil rootball is not covered and does not get covered with native soil. The fastest way to kill any plant is to cover the rootball with more than a fraction of an inch of native soil. Native soil is generally more porous than the substrate the plant was grown in and it is very unlikely for irrigation water to move through the native soil to the less porous rootball. Native soil is also less permeable and a buried rootball can also suffocate or rot.
Because the rootball is less porous (unable to absorb water from the surrounding soil) it is critical to create a sizeable dirt wall just out side the rootball to channel irrigation water directily into the rootball. Make it several inches high. We call this the "watering basin". Generally 1" of water will wet the soil about 1' deep. Immediately after installation (within 30 minutes or so) fill the basin with water twice.
A newly installed plant should be kept moist. If the surface of the rootball looks dry it should be watered again. Generally if the daily high temperature is over 75 degrees F or if it is windy I would water every day. If the plant is perfect and the soil is prepared correctly, nothing will happen if you overwater a bit. Underwatering causes problems.
A plant becomes established when it has grown enough new roots into the native soil to supply its water needs. This means that you only have to monitor the moisture of the native soil from that point on. The size of a plant dictates this establishment time period. A plant with a 4" wide rootball may be established within a week if the roots grow a mere half-inch into the surrounding soil. A 24"box tree may require several months for its roots to grow 6-8" out to capture sufficient water.
There is a unique problem with Agonis flexuosa, the Peppermint tree. Although tolerant of drought when established, newly planted trees use water at a tremendous rate and can die of drought even when the rootball is surrounded by wet soil. If these trees are watered daily for at least the first 3 weeks they should have no problem. This is one of three trees (fruiting Loquat and Pineapple Guava are the other two) that do not visibly wilt when dry.
Soon after installation (you can wait until well established) cover the ground with a thick (2-3") layer of an organic mulch. Mulches prevent weed seed germination, prevent irrigation runoff, provide nutrition, and insulate the soil. If you want vigorous growth, first apply a thin layer of organic fertilizer, then a thicker layer of a coarse mulch. Mulches can be purchased in bulk or in bags.
NEXT WEEK I'LL FINISH UP WITH THE IMPORTANCE OF CROP (or soil) ROTATION
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GARDEN NOTES
Powdery Mildew season officially begins in late April. Powdery Mildew is favored by dry weather, mild temperatures and cool humid nights. This is weather we should have from now until July. Of course, this is also the reason we love Orange County, the alternatives being desert heat or high humidity. Powdery Mildew looks like a patch of thin white or gray fuzz. Powdery Mildew is a surface, fungal infection. Although it needs humidity at least during part of the day it doesn't like rain. Old nurserymen remember that the original treatment for mildew on roses was to spray the leaves with water every morning. Another old treatment is a bit more effective and still in use today. Coating the leaves with a horticultural oil kills the mildew. Many types of oil are effective. We carry Neem seed oil in concentrate and ready-to-use. Watch for mildew on roses, European grapes, squash, pumpkins, melons, Hydrangea, Gerbera. There are other things that cause white or gray fuzz (mealybug, whitefly), but oil sprays do a decent job on these pests also.
The tomato variety 'Green Grape' is another request. I haven't grown it before, but it is said to be spicy-sweet as the other "green" varieties are.
We are also pleased to offer a few grafted tomato plants that were grown by a local Master Gardener. Grafted plants generally have bigger leaves and fruit, grow faster, produce earlier and live longer. This is advantageous in small gardens where you don't have room for several plants. The majority of hot house tomato growers use grafted plants. We've had several backyard growers whose grafted plants survived this last winter with virtually no damage.
This week our potting soil distributor failed to deliver, so if you need soil come early to the market as we expect to sell out before the weekend is over.
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AVAILABLE THIS WEEK
EDIBLES
Tomatoes quarts $3
HYBRIDS Better Boy, Big Beef, Champion, Lemon Boy, Momotaro
HEIRLOOMS Black from Tula, Coustralee (few), Green Zebra, Kelloggs Breakfast, Old Time Tasty, Persimmon, Pineapple, San Marzano (few)
SMALL Black Cherry, Green Grape, Sun Gold, Sun Sugar, Super Sweet 100, Sweet Million
Grafted Tomatoes 5" pots $10
Aussie, Brandywine
Peppers quarts $3
SWEET Better Belle, Big Early, Golden Bell, Orange Sun, Red Knight, Roumanian Rainbow
MILD Italian Roaster (few)
HOT Caribbean Red, Jalapeno, Thai
Other Veggies quarts $3
Bean Kentucky Blue pole Cucumber Armenian Cucumber Japanese Suyo Cucumber Sultan Persian Cucumber Tendergreen Burpless Cucumber True Lemon Eggplant Black Beauty Eggplant Long Purple Japanese Squash Zucchini Bush Baby Squash Zuchhini Dark Green Sunflower Titan Tomatillo Toma Verde Beets Bull's Blood (6-pack) $3 ORNAMENTALS
 Cosmos Chocamocha CHOCOLATE COSMOS quarts $4
This is a new cultivar that is supposedly more fragrant with a more compact growth habit. This popular plant native to Mexico can be difficult, but is very popular and a conversation piece.  Dahlia Mystic Illusion quarts $4 This striking perennial has black leaves and bright yellow flowers. It usually blooms from June-November. Dahlia plants overwinter underground as a bulb (tuber). Expect it to reach 2' height.  Lavandula Goodwin Creek Gray LAVENDER quarts $4
This is the easiest lavender to grow and one of the best. The silver gray foliage is quite fragrant and blooms most of the year with spikes of blue flowers. Expect 2-3' tall and wide. Best in sun with good drainage.
More Color quarts $4
Gaura Belleza Dark Pink Gaura Belleza White Evol Salvia Mystic Spires Blue Salvia Ultra Violet (few) Scabiosa Butterfly Blue (few) Larger Plants 1-gallon size
This week we have a large selection in limited numbers. Argyranthemum (Daisies), Athyrium, Carex Evergold, Convolvulus mauritanicus, Fuchsia thymifolia, Loropetalum, Michelia, Ophiopogon, Sedum Brilliant |
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Please visit us at our farmers market locations.
EVERY FRIDAY 9am-1pm
Mission Viejo Farmers Market
Presented by The City of Mission Viejo
Mission Viejo Library
200 Civic Center Drive, Mission Viejo
Exit 5 at La Paz going east, turn right on Marguerite, turn right on Civic Center
EVERY SATURDAY 9am-1pm
Old Towne Orange Farmers & Artisans Market
Presented by Chapman College
Historic Villa Park Orchards PackingHouse at Chapman College
304 N. Cypress, Orange
3 blocks north and 4 blocks west of the traffic circle (Glassell X Chapman)
EVERY SUNDAY 10am-2pm
The Great Park Farmers Market
Presented by the Orange County Farm Bureau
Orange County Great Park, Irvine
Exit 5 at Sand Canyon, turn south on Marine Way (parallels east side of 5) follow the signs
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26285 Verona Place
Mission Viejo, California 92692
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