Posted on by tonytomeo

San Francisco Flower & Garden Show

(This is an old recycled article that includes very outdated information, some of which was omitted, but the website for the San Francisco Flower & Garden Show is the same.)

Bonsai, composting, palms, flower arranging and lawn alternatives, as well as rare, edible and drought tolerant plants; there will be seminars for almost every horticultural topic imaginable at “Life in the California Garden”, the 26th annual San Francisco Flower and Garden Show. Xeriscapes, contemporary garden design and water conservation; there will be something for anyone who enjoys any kind of gardening. A schedule of seminars and any other information can be found at www.sfgardenshow.com.

The most spectacular display will be the twenty gardens created by some of the most innovative local, and perhaps not so local, landscape designers and horticultural professionals. There will be everything from contemporary to traditional and functional to ‘artistic’ landscapes. Anyone who has been to a San Francisco Flower and Garden Show knows what ‘artistic’ can mean, but will be surprised nonetheless. 

Just about anything that can be done in the garden will be done at “Life in the California Garden”. Bee keeping, practical pest control and water management will all be there. “The Modern Homestead” designed by Star Apple Edible Gardens of Oakland will be a 6,000 square foot exhibit featuring aesthetic vegetable plantings and an elegant chicken coop, as well as beer and jam making demonstrations.

The Marketplace will include more than 200 vendors with all sorts of seeds, plants, tools, gifts, patio furniture, pottery and garden sculpture. Plants will range from orchids, dahlias, epiphytes, vegetable plants, cacti and succulents, to name a few. The Farmers’ Market will have flowers and produce available. Sproutopia will feature interactive gardening experiences and demonstrations for children.

Many very impressive bonsai will be exhibited by the prestigious Bonsai Society of San Francisco. Many of the bonsai subjects that are decades old have been returning to the San Francisco Flower and Garden Show for many years. There will also be bonsai demonstrations.

Horticulturists of the Western Horticultural Society will be available to discuss rare and recently introduced plants, as well as more traditional plants that are regaining popularity. Some recent introductions are not yet available in nurseries. California Garden Clubs will have representatives from many of the various horticultural associations, with information about membership.

Posted on by tonytomeo

Winter Vegetables Start In Summer

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There are vegetables for every season.

It seems to be much too early for cool season vegetables while the weather is still so warm. Summer vegetables, which are also known as warm season vegetables, are still at their best. Most will continue perhaps until frost. Yet, months ago, they also started prior to their growing season. At that time, cool season vegetables, which are also known as winter vegetables, were still producing.

Although it really is too early for winter vegetables to grow in the garden, it is time to plan for them. Those of us who prefer to grow varieties of winter vegetables that are not likely to be available in nurseries should get their seed now. In only a few weeks, it will be time to sow the first phase of seed for carrots and beets directly into the garden. By October, it will be time to sow seed for peas.

Broccoli grows slowly from seed. Whether it goes directly into the garden, or into flats for later transplant, broccoli seed should get sown by about now. If the preferred gardening style allows for it, seed for winter vegetables can be sown below old summer vegetable plants. The seed for winter vegetables can germinate and start to grow as summer vegetables finish and vacate the garden.

Cauliflower and cabbage seed want to germinate and start growing shortly after broccoli, within the next few weeks. However, seedlings of the more popular varieties of cauliflower and cabbage, as well as broccoli, will be available in nurseries for later planting. Lettuce, spinach and kale do well from late seedlings, or seed sown after cauliflower and cabbage, along with carrots and beets.

Root vegetables, like carrot, beet, radish, turnip, rutabaga and parsnip, grow from seed, sown directly.

Eventually, some of the warm season or summer vegetables will need to relinquish their space to winter vegetables. Most will finish by that time anyway. Those that stay long enough will succumb to frost. Summer vegetables can stay latest where subsequent phases of winter vegetables will later (not yet) replace an early phase. Subsequent phases begin production as early phases finish.

Posted on by tonytomeo · 2 Comments

Onion

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Onions are weirdly bulbous foliar vegetables.

Although it is the most cultivated species of its genus, no one knows the origins of domestic onion, Allium cepa. Leek, shallot, garlic, chive, and a few other species are also popular vegetables. Most common bulbing onions produce familiar distended bulbs that are ready for harvest after defoliating and initiating dormancy in autumn. Green onions are leaves and attached juvenile bulbs.

Onions are probably easiest to grow locally from small juvenile onions known as ‘sets’, that grew from seed during the previous summer. Alternatively, seed sown during summer grows into small plants that go dormant to overwinter, and then resume growth the following spring. Mature onions should go completely dormant in autumn before storage, but are usable directly from the garden.

Yellow or brown onions are the most popular for cooking. Red or purple onions are milder and more colorful for fresh use, and are also popular for stir fry. White onions, whether fresh or cooked, are even milder, and are the traditional onions for salsa. All onions produce distinctively bluish foliage that stands about a foot high. The hollow leaves flop over and shrivel for dormancy in autumn.

Posted on by tonytomeo · 18 Comments

Cool Vegetable Gardening Goes Warm

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Warm season vegetables enjoy warming weather.

The weather agrees with the calendar this year. It is time to start replacing remaining cool season vegetable plants with fresh warm season vegetable plants. In fact, according to how the weather has been through February, the process could have begun quite some time ago. Frost, which is the limiting factor for warm season vegetables, is very unlikely this late, even if wintry rain resumes.

The past month of springy weather makes it easier to replace aging cool season vegetable plants with those that are now in season. Cool season vegetable plants obviously perform best through the cool weather of autumn and winter. They perform into spring where winters are cooler. Unseasonable warmth here accelerated their maturation. They deteriorate if not harvested soon enough.

Most of the the cool season vegetable plants produce vegetables that truly are vegetative. Most individual plants produce only once. For example, one cabbage plant produces only one cabbage. Conversely, most warm season vegetable plants actually produce fruit. Some produce many fruits through their season. Even some warm season vegetative leafy greens can produce repeatedly.

Tomato, pepper, eggplant pole beans and the various summer squash can get planted early to produce until they succumb to frost at the end of the season. Cucumber and pea do not produce for such an extensive season, so might be grown only in spring or the end of summer. Corn and root vegetables produce only once, so their seed get sown in multiple phases to prolong their season.

Corn, root vegetables and most greens grow best from seed sown directly into a garden. There is no need to start them inside here. Confinement can disfigure root vegetables anyway. Because so many individual plants are grown, it is impractical to purchase seedlings.

However, purchasing a few seedlings of tomato, pepper, zucchini and most other warm season vegetable plants is not as impractical. If only a few are desired, they are not much more expensive than seed. They are conducive to transplant, and will continue to produce through the season.