Sanhedrin Nursery – Garden Blog

• Bare root fruit trees are now available. Choose one tree or a whole orchard and get them planted while the weather is good for digging.

• Strawberries can be planted any time now. Get them in early, and you’ll be picking strawberries this summer.

• Primroses will give you the most color during this cold weather. Choose some pretty ones now for your boxes and beds.

• Prune fruit trees, grapes, berries, and ornamental trees this month. Take in a pruning class and sharpen your shears before you start.

• Spring flowers and vegetables can be started from seeds now on your window sill. Try pansies and snapdragons, broccoli, cabbage and lettuces.

Mouthwatering Cherries

Cherries are without a doubt one of the most popular summer fruits. It seems like you never get enough of them, and the prices in the stores are so high, why not try growing your own?

There are two types of cherries, sweet ones and sour ones. The sweet ones are found in the markets. Most popular are the large, black, juicy, sweet Bing cherries with top quality flavor and appearance. They account for 60-70% of the cherries grown in California. Van is similar to Bing and is good fresh, cooked, canned or frozen. Black Tartarian has very large heart-shaped fruit and rich, red juicy flesh.

Less known is Lapins Cherry, a dark red cherry with good sweet flavor. It is the latest sweet cherry to ripen, extending the cherry season into mid-July. Utah Giant, considered the best sweet cherry by Utah folks, is large and firm with outstanding flavor. Dark red and sweet, it has good disease resistance.

Stella has large, richly flavored sweet cherries that are nearly black in color. This is an excellent cherry for eating fresh with sweet, juicy flesh.

Craig’s Crimson is a very fine sweet cherry. It is dark red, with a wonderful spicy flavor and very firm texture. It rates very high in taste tests. The tree is naturally semi-dwarf, growing about 2/3 the size of a standard tree.

Then there are the yellow sweet cherries. Best know is Royal Ann, used mainly for canning and to make Maraschino Cherries. But Royal Rainier has replaced Royal Ann as the best yellow cherry for California. It has a very sweet flavor and is large, firm and juicy and its yellow skin has an attractive red blush. It is delicious for out-of-hand eating as well.

The sour cherries aren’t as bad as they sound. In fact they are famous for making outstanding pies and cobblers. Montmorency is the most widely grown with large, light red fruit which have yellow flesh.

Correct pollination is important for cherries. Most sweet cherries require two different trees for cross-pollination. However, Stella, Lapins, and Craig’s Crimson will fruit on their own. Not all sweet cherries will cross pollinate, so check with your nursery to be sure you buy varieties which are compatible. For best pollination, trees should be planted within 50 feet of each other. Sour cherries are self-fruitful and will set fruit alone.

Sweet cherries become large trees, about 30 feet tall. With pruning you can keep them smaller, so it’s easier to pick the fruit and to cover the tree to keep the birds away. Sour cherries grow only 20 feet tall and are more spreading in form.

Cherries require good soil drainage especially through the spring rainy season. They bloom late and usually escape the frost so you get a nice crop most years. Make room for cherries in your yard!

• Living Christmas trees make a fine tradition. Slow-growing Colorado spruce trees can be used for 3 to 5 years before they need to be planted. Water them every other day while indoors.

• Spray for peach leaf curl with copper sulfate. Peach and nectarine trees may suffer from this fungus disease without a protective spray.

• Wind chimes make wonderful gifts that fill the air with music whenever the wind blows.

• Water living Christmas trees frequently while they are indoors, and put them outside after a week or ten days.

Make this Christmas One for the Birds

Watching birds feeding, bathing and playing in your backyard is a joy for almost anyone. The birds are beautiful, of course, but their visits serve an important purpose, reducing plant damage from insect pests. Birds are a welcome addition to the garden.

You can attract birds to your yard with bird feeders, bird houses and bird baths.

There are different types of bird feeders. The best all-around type is the cylindrical plastic feeder. Fill them with a good birdseed mix and they will attract a wide variety of birds, including nuthatches, chickadees, juncos, rufous-sided towhees and sparrows.

Window feeders allow you to watch the birds close-up from inside the house. They stick to the window with suction cups. They are especially nice during bad weather so you can still enjoy the company of your feathered friends.

Niger seed feeders, or thistle feeders, are tubular plastic feeders with very small holes for thistle seed. They are especially popular with goldfinches who will entertain you all day long as they squabble over the perches.

The feeding table attracts larger birds that like to dine together. Robins, finches and evening grosbeaks will gather happily at backyard feeding tables.

Hummingbird feeders are filled with sugar solutions that supplement their diet of flower nectar. Anna’s Hummingbird winters in this area so will come to feeders year-round.

Oriole feeders are bright orange and attract brilliant orange-yellow orioles to the garden, where you can enjoy their distinctive whistle along with their colorful plumage.

Birdbaths will attract birds throughout they year, both to drink and to bathe. Watching the activity at the birdbath can be very entertaining, and there are styles of birdbaths to go with any garden decor.

Birdbaths made out of concrete are very stable and make an attractive addition to the garden as well as providing water for the birds. Hanging birdbaths may work best in some locations. Site your birdbath near trees or bushes where the birds can retreat to dry off and preen in safety.

In addition to food and water, birds need a safe place to raise their young. Nesting boxes, or “bird houses”, will encourage the birds that visit you in the winter to stay. The size and type of the nest box and its entrance will determine which birds use it, because different species are attracted to boxes of different dimensions. Specialty boxes are available at stores which handle bird supplies.

Make this Holiday one “for the birds.”

• Living Christmas trees are now available. The slower growing spruces can be used for several Christmases before you need to plant them.

• Spring bulbs can still be planted now. They make lovely gifts for friends and relatives.

• Clean up the yard and compost dead plants. Replace them with pansies and primroses for winter bloom.

• Check your nursery for stocking stuffers: kids’ gloves, watering cans, bonsai figurines, seeds and bulbs.

• Fruit trees can be planted now from containers while the soil is easy to dig. Many are on sale now!

Gifts for the Gardener

This time of year we are all thinking more about our gift lists than our gardens. But whether it’s decorating your indoor space with houseplants and indoor fountains, or gathering gifts for those who love the garden and outdoor entertaining, there are lots of things to discover at local garden centers.

Indoor spaces are greatly enhanced by the presence of houseplants. The greenery not only softens the corners and adds life to the room, but also improves the air quality. Plants remove air pollutants while adding oxygen to the air, which is especially valuable in the winter when we tend to keep the doors closed most of the time.

Hanging plants, like philodendrons, pothos, or spider plants, can soften the edge of a bookcase, improve the look of an empty corner, or hide areas you don’t want on view. Some upright plants, like weeping figs, rubber plants, or dracaenas, make fine floor plants while prayer plants, peace lilies and Boston ferns are very attractive on tables.

Bright red Holiday Amaryllis, pre-packaged and ready to grow, make a nice gift for any indoor gardener.

Small fountains for the indoors provide the soothing, relaxing and stress-reducing sound of trickling water.

Outdoor fountains are a great enhancement to the patio or garden area. Made of concrete, these large pieces last for many years and can serve as a focal point for a deck or patio. Containers of any size, with or without a plant, are a welcome gift.

Other statuary items include birdbaths and figurines of various sizes and styles to make a statement in the yard, or be tucked into smaller spaces. You’ll find animals, angels, and dragons as well as saints and Asian figurines.

For the bird lover, there are feeders, bird houses and birdbaths. There are many kinds of feeders both for seed-eaters and for hummingbirds and orioles. Bird houses that are designed with the preferences of each type of bird in mind will give a home to the friends you enjoy the most. A birdbath looks lovely in any garden and is a must for the bird enthusiast.

Add music to the garden or patio with beautiful windchimes. Musical chimes range from tropical island sounds to deep Westminster chimes, while the gentle, natural sound of bamboo windchimes is reminiscent of the sound of water bubbling over stones.

On a more serious note, there are tools of all kinds for gardeners and outdoor lovers. Rain gauges and thermometers help you keep track of local weather conditions. And tools run the gamut from pruning shears, loppers and gloves to spades, forks and Grandpa’s Weeder.

There are specialty tools for experienced gardeners. Kneelers make working in the garden a whole lot easier. Use your arm strength to raise and lower yourself to a padded kneeling platform to plant and pull weeds. Special gloves help support arthritic hands and ratchet pruning shears reduce pressure on the hand while getting the job done.

Add a gardening calendar and you and your gardening friends can look forward to another great year of gardening pleasures.