Category: gardening

Deciduous Magnolias

The various deciduous magnolia hybrids are commonly referred to as tulip trees. They display an abundance of large, tulip-shaped flowers in early spring. The flowers can be up to 12 inches in diameter, depending on the variety.

Deciduous magnolias drop all their leaves by December, revealing their large silvery buds. Even in the darkest days of winter, the budded magnolias are ripe with the promise of spectacular early spring bloom.

Deciduous Magnolias would be happiest when planted in an area that gets a mid-afternoon shade break. E. B. Stone Acid Planting Mix is a worthwhile addition to our soil.

The next month is the best time to see the Magnolias in bloom. Shop early for the best selection, and you will find that Yes — Tulips do grow on trees!

Dormant Spray for Fruit Trees

Clean Up Your Garden

Debris will harbor insects and diseases. A good general garden clean-up, removing leaves, spent flower heads, old fruits, nuts, dead and broken branches eliminates insect and disease hiding places. Although a potential problem in the garden, these materials are perfect candidates for the compost pile as long as your compost pile generates sufficient heat to kill insects, their eggs, and diseases. For more information, visit www.stopwaste.org

February into Spring (About Valentines)

coppersoapsm[1]Apply Bonide Copper Fungicide. The timing of spring sprayings for various fruit trees can be crucial.

Leaf curl on nectarines and peaches is controlled with another application of Bonide Liquid Copper Fungicide or Monterey Liqui-Cop when flower buds swell but before they show any color.

To control brown rot and shot hole fungus on stone fruits, spray with Bonide Liquid Copper Fungicide or Monterey Liqui-Cop when the buds crack and show color, then again 2 weeks later.

dormant-control

Sweet Winter Daphne – A Fragrant Winter Bloomer

Daphne odora or Sweet Winter Daphne is a prize in the winter landscape.  It’s the sweetest smelling plant you will find in the garden this month. Fragrant and also lovely looking; forming a shrub to about 3′ high, it requires bright shade and excellent drainage. Daphne is a great container plant – use our Master Nursery Professional Potting Soil.

Daphne comes in a few different forms, but the Daphne odora, “Aureo-marginata” is a favorite. Its leaves are delicately edged in cream. The leaves do a nice job of framing the dark pink buds. 

Daphne needs perfect drainage, but it should not go dry. This may seem an impossible combination. Let’s just say it needs both air and water. Experienced gardeners say it’s not as finicky as gardenias. One plant was observed suffering when it transitioned from hand watering “as needed” to automatic sprinklers that water all the time whether needed or not.  It’s better to water by hand.

Daphne is rewarding and a shade garden must have. Come smell for yourself.  It’s on display now.

Have you Tried Growing Potatoes?

Did you know that home grown potatoes taste different than store bought? They have amazing flavor and are so easy to grow! Potatoes grow under ground – it is fun to dig for buried treasure. The whole family will enjoy growing and eating home grown potatoes.

Normally arriving in January. Our first potatoes have arrived very early!

Potatoes are planted mid-February in a sunny location. Follow these simple instructions for success with this culinary favorite.

  • Alegria are a good yielding variety known for its yellow flesh with a rich, buttery flavor. They keep their shape well making them an excellent choice for many cooking applications.
  • Cecile are a red-skinned potato with a creamy white interior. They have a nutty flavor and are another firm option for many dishes.
  • Red La Soda Potato has a rosy skin and waxy white flesh which is tasty baked, boiled or fried. Red La Soda keeps well and withstands our heat and drought.
  • Russian Blue Potato is purple-blue inside and out with a delicious mild flavor.  The color remains – imagine purple potato salad.

Planting Tips

Storing Before Planting
Potatoes can be stored for months before eating or planting. If you are purchasing potatoes before planting time, store them in a cool, dry place. Keep the potatoes in a cardboard box or brown paper bag during their hibernation period. Keep in mind that they require ventilation, so do not stack or pile the potatoes too high. 

Preparing the Soil
Potatoes prefer a loose, well-drained soil. Our native soil is not ideal and must be amended. We recommend mixing at least 3″ of MASTER NURSERY BUMPER CROP into the top 6″-12″ of soil; you’ll need 3 bags for each 50 square feet of planting area. In addition, incorporate two pounds of MASTER NURSERY 0-10-10 to encourage root and stem growth and 2 pounds Iron Sulfate to neutralize the soil pH. Or plant your potatoes in fabric “potato bags”. Talk about an easy harvest – just dump them out. No digging required.

Choose “Certified Potatoes”
Our potatoes have been inspected to assure they are disease-free and are ready to be planted in your garden. Potatoes purchased from the supermarket have been treated with a sprouting retardant making them marginal for use in the garden. Choose from our improved selection which includes many of the popular new colored varieties.

Cut and Dry the Potatoes
Cut the potatoes into chunks 1 ½” square with at least two eyes. Spread them in a single layer (cut side up) and allow to air dry at least overnight. Cut surfaces should be dry to the touch. The air-dried cut pieces are less likely to rot in the cool, wet soil. Dusting with sulfur before planting will further decrease the chance of disease infection. If potatoes are small, simply plant the whole thing.

Plant
Form rows that are 4″ deep and 2′ apart. Set the seed potato pieces in rows, cut side down, 12″ – 18″ apart. Do not plant if the soil is very wet, but be sure to water thoroughly after planting. Or plant in our fabric bags with professional MASTER NURSERY POTTING SOIL and some EB STONE TOMATO AND VEGETABLE FOOD. Fabric bags are great to grow in, and harvesting is easy. In a bag pieces can be set about 4″ apart.

Hilling Up
The potatoes will form above, not below, the planted pieces. When the plants reach 5″ – 6″ tall, draw up loose soil (or a soil/straw mix) around the plants so that only 2″ of the stem is exposed. Hill soil up again in 2-3 weeks. Hilling up gives the potatoes a light soil to expand into as they grow.

Water & Feed
After growth begins, give the plants regular deep watering (once per week). Feed potatoes monthly with EB STONE TOMATO AND VEGETABLE FOOD, a balanced fertilizer. This along with the MASTER NURSERY 0-10-10 and Iron Sulfate incorporated at planting completes the nutritional requirements.

Harvest
Dig early or “new” potatoes when plant tops begin to flower (around June), dig mature potatoes when tops die down (late summer). Dig carefully to avoid bruising or cutting them. Store in a dark place at approximately 40 degrees.

What you will need:
  • Master Nursery Bumper Crop
  • EB Stone Tomato & Vegetable Food
  • Iron Sulfate

January Pruning – What to Prune When

pruning[1]We have officially entered pruning season. Most leafless plants are fair game for pruning right now. Exceptions include ornamental flowering cherries, plums, and lilacs that bloom once a year in spring and are leafless now. Prune these just after they bloom otherwise you will be cutting off next spring’s blooms. Most other plants, including fruit trees and shade trees “can” as opposed to “must” be pruned because many plants are happy with little or no pruning.

Feel free to visit us for additional information.

For additional reading, the University of California has produced an in-depth article. Click Here For Handout

January Garden Checklist

checkbox Brighten the garden with colorful bedding plants. Refresh your garden beds and containers with primroses, pansies, Iceland poppies and more. Check with the staff for helpful advice and ideas.

checkbox Feed camellias, azaleas, rhododendrons monthly with Master Bloom through March.

checkbox Prevent crabgrass before it starts. Apply Bonide Crabgrass & Weed Preventer (with fertilizer) now to keep crabgrass seeds from sprouting in your lawn. Apply Bonide Crabgrass & Weed Preventer (without fertilizer) to ornamental landscape. Use Corn Gluten around edibles.

checkbox Spray Your Roses Now. An application of dormant oil just after winter pruning will help reduce pest populations by smothering over-wintering eggs. Spraying copper fungicides, as well, will halt diseases such as rust, blackspot and powdery mildew. Bonide All Seasons Spray Oil and copper are listed for use on organic gardens.

checkbox Protect tender plants when frosts are expected. If it hasn’t been raining, make sure to water plants ahead of a cold snap. Cover with drawstring frost bags or drape with protective frost blanket. String non-LED Christmas tree lights on your frost-tender plants when a freeze is expected. The warmth from the bulbs will provide another measure of protection.

checkbox Keep up your New Year’s Resolution . . . join the Livermore-Amador Valley Garden Club (lavgc.org) and the Mt. Diablo Rose Society (mtdiablorosesociety.org), Northern California Daffodil Society (daffodil.org), Iris Society (MtDiabloIris@gmail.com) and Valley Bonsai Society (valleybonsaisociety.com).

It’s Not too Late – Plant Your Fall Bulbs

Think spring now! It is not too late to plant your spring bulbs.

Consider planting bulbs in containers. This is a great way to accent your porch or patio. When they are finished blooming you can then relocate them to a side yard where they can continue to be watered and nurtured allowing them to dry down naturally. It’s important that the bulb is allowed to reabsorb all the energy of the leaves before they rest in summer.

Add another dimension to your bulb pot or garden by planting a blooming blanket of flowers over the top. Here are some great double deck combinations: yellow daffodils and dark blue/purple pansies; peach tulips and light blue forget-me-nots; white tulips and pastel yellow pansies; red tulips, white paludosum daisies with blue pansies.

Most bulbs are planted point up, but when in doubt, plant sideways! Our nursery professionals will show you what’s up and what’s down.

Choose bulbs that will provide a succession of bloom. There are varieties of tulips, daffodils, narcissus, and iris that will provide early, mid, or late spring bloom. 

The layered look not only works in fashion but in the garden too. In a pot or garden bed plant bulbs in layers to produce a mixed bouquet look. Bulbs are planted 2½ times their diameter deep. So plant the larger bulbs, like daffodils deep. Over the top of daffodils plant tulips, then freesia and finally grape hyacinths.

You can even layer the same kind of bulb. For instance plant all daffodils some at the recommended depth of 6-8″ and another layer at 4″.  The shallower ones will bloom first and the deeper later.

December Garden Checklist

Things to do this month

checkbox[1] Indoor Bulbs – Start paperwhites, hyacinth or amaryllis now for showy blooms in the weeks ahead. They bloom indoors and make an ideal housewarming gift. We have instructions along with an assortment of bulbs suitable for forcing at https://www.aldenlane.com/paperwhites

checkbox[1] Come on by the nursery and pick up a gift card for your favorite gardening pal, the postal carrier or the babysitter. It’s a gift sure to please anybody and everybody on your shopping list.

checkbox[1] Prevent Peach Leaf Curl! Protect fruit trees and deciduous shade trees from overwintering diseases and pests. Use Monterey Liqui-Cop, or Bonide Liquid Copper Spray now if you haven’t already. For more details, to go https://www.aldenlane.com/dormant-spray.

checkbox[1] Protect frost tender plants when frosts are expected. For added protection cover with “Fleece Bags” or drape plants with plant blanket fabric. String ­non-LED Christmas tree lights on your frost-tender plants when a freeze is expected. The warmth from the bulbs will provide another measure of protection. Click on https://www.aldenlane.com/winter-proof.

checkbox[1] Poinsettias and cyclamen make wonderful hostess gifts and thank you’s to work associates. And don’t forget to treat yourself and decorate the home too.

checkbox[1] Take care of gift plants by placing them in a comfortable, well-lit area of the home. Punch a hole in the foil covering for drainage. Place away from drafts.

checkbox[1] Prune most fruit trees, roses, and other leafless trees and shrubs from December through January. WARNING: Do not prune spring-blooming shrubs and trees such as magnolia, quince, flowering cherry, etc. until the blooming period is over.

checkbox[1] Keep up your New Year’s Resolution . . . Join the Livermore-Amador Valley Garden Club (www.lavgc.org), Mt. Diablo Rose Society (mtdiablorosesociety.org), Valley Bonsai Society (valleybonsaisociety.com), Mt. Diablo Iris Society, Northern California Daffodil Society (Daffodil.org).

checkbox[1] Think Summer pies and jams! By mid-month we’ll have all the perennial vegetables and fruits. Currently, we have rhubarb, raspberry, blackberry, and many other cane fruits.

checkbox[1] Set out winter blooming annuals for a garden filled with color. Choose primroses, pansies, Iceland poppies, ornamental cabbage, and kale. Check with the staff.

Alternatives to the Traditional Christmas Tree

Consider a living tree to decorate this holiday season — Colorado and Alberta spruce are two great traditional choices.  If you want to be daring here are some fun alternatives:

  • Citrus already decorated with fruit
  • Japanese maple with stunning branches
  • Holly plant
  • A blooming Yuletide camellia whose bright red single flowers may well be decoration enough, or
  • A fruitless or fruiting olive
  • Bay Laurel makes a beautiful container plant. They can be trained to form a small tree, cone, or remain as a bush. (Not currently in stock).
vertcitrus[1]
Meyer Lemons

All of these possibilities would make great landscape plants at the season’s end. If there’s no room in your garden, consider donating your plant to the garden of a local school, park or church? What a great way to green our communities.

Here are some helpful hints to keep your living Christmas tree healthy and happy.

This is a hard one – try to minimize its indoor time. A week to ten days is a good maximum to be in the house. Choose a well-lit area away from the heat of a fireplace or furnace. Protect the floor with a cork trivet topped with a large saucer to catch the watering water. In between deep waterings water your plant with ice cubes that slowly melt (helpful hint: use a turkey baster to relieve excess water from the saucer after the plant has had an hour or so to absorb it).

Decorate with small lights and light-weight ornaments.

Herb Gardening in Winter

As the temperatures drop and the desire to garden remains high, cold hardy herbs can fill a need to grow something edible.  Herb gardening can be enjoyed in a kitchen window, a container on the deck or out in the garden bed, and they are perfect for Thanksgiving Stuffing, winter stews, salads and more. 

So take a few minutes and add herbs to the vegetable or kitchen garden. You‘ll find that their magic can add a savory taste to all your cooking!

chives Chives
This spiky plant looks like a cluster of onions. In late May, it is crowned with lavender flowers. Clip and chop handfuls of it to season salads, dressings, potato & egg dishes and soups. It is one of the most versatile kitchen herbs. You can flavor white vinegar with a few stems of this herb and enjoy it splashed over garden ripened tomatoes.
lav-250
Lavender
The addition of culinary grade English or French lavender in tiny amounts can jazz up dishes as diverse as grilled pork chops, to scones, cakes, and even candy.
mint150
Mint
The flavor of mint is refreshing, cool and sweet, especially good in iced drinks and teas, with lamb or in salad dressings. Remember to grow mint in pots as it spreads rapidly by runners and will come up in the “living room” if left unimpeded. 
parsley150
Parsley
For a clean sharp and peppery taste, add to vegetables and salads as a garnish. Include in sauces, soups, stews, and stuffing. Special tips: Parsley is high in Vitamins A, C, and B.
rosemary150 Rosemary
Wonderful flavoring for chicken or any barbeque. Evergreen, woody shrub has aromatic foliage (It’s related to mint.) The flavor of rosemary is bold and piney.  Use it in pickles, jams, preserves, and sauces, as well as meats and soups. Special tips: Use a branch of rosemary as a basting brush at your next barbeque or put some on the coals for nice aroma. Plant in full sun.
sage150 Sage
Warm, slightly bitter, this flavor is a must for turkey stuffing, as well as pork, duck and sausage seasoning — special tips: Dried sage leaves are used as a substitute for coffee or tea.