5 things to do in the garden this week:

Fruit crops. Seedless grapes Thompson (green) and Flame (red) varieties are easily grown in Southern California. They need only 100 hours of winter chilling – less than half of what most deciduous fruit trees compatible with warm winters need – to flower and fruit. (Fig trees would be the exception since they require 100 hours of chilling, or less, to produce a crop). Seedless blue-black Concord grapes will also grow well in our climate. And then there’s Thomcord, a blue-black variety that combines the flavors of the Thompson and Concord varieties. This hybrid was developed from a USDA breeding program and was tested for 17 years in California vineyards before being released for public consumption. You can order Thomcord from Stark Bro Nurseries (starkbros.com).

Vegetables. If you want peppery greens to spice up your vegetable garden, consider growing them mustard greens and arugulaalso known as rocket. These relatives of the cabbage family grow like weeds and will happily self-sow after bolting (sending up flower stalks) and going to seed. The seeds are also spicy and can be eaten raw or cooked. You may wonder why rocket is also called rocket, a centuries-old word that has nothing to do with a projectile launched into space. This is “arugula”, the French word for vegetable, derived from the Italian “ruchetta” or small “ruca”. Ruca, meanwhile, comes from the Latin “eruca”, meaning caterpillar or hedgehog or hairs, the connection being the hairs seen on both hedgehogs and some caterpillars – associated with the trichomes or hairs found on the stems of wild rocket and on cultivated arugula when cultivated. about to flower. The word “rocket”, a variation of ruchetta, was only introduced in 1967 by Italian immigrants to the United States and Australia.

Herbs. Chamomile (Matricaria retutita) is a cool season herb and now is the time to plant it. Seeds germinate easily in average soil. The plants grow to two to three feet tall and are covered with small daisy flowers. Tea is made from dried flowers and this can be done by placing them on paper towels. Then store it in an airtight jar or other sealed container.

Ornamental plants. It’s November and my butterfly roses (Rosa x odorata var. Mutabilis) are in full bloom. I didn’t water them once this summer, but they obviously didn’t mind that their soil was dry. Mutabilis is a Chinese rose, a group noted for its drought tolerance. We learn a lot about plants during a scorching summer. Butterfly roses are prone to mold, but having not seen water for several months, they show no signs of this white powdery substance on their leaves. These roses are special because they can be cut almost to the ground and regrow to a height of five feet in less than a year. The variety name “Mutabilis” refers to the mutating or changing color of the flowers which open sulfur yellow before turning apricot orange then pink and finally purple. The flowers have five petals in a single layer. Their appearance is silky and fanciful and they tend to nod their heads on the stem. These roses are not at all stiff or formal like the classic multi-layered roses we have come to expect. Moth roses are thorny so they make a great security fence if you are looking for one.

Use an established tree as support for a vine. This is not only a cute idea, but based on a gardener walking in the woods and observing wild grapes growing in the branches of a tree. Inspired by what he saw, the idea of ​​planting a vine at the foot of an apple tree was born. This gardener then planted a vine a few feet from a mature apple tree and placed a pole between the vine and the tree to guide the vine’s growth. All lateral buds of the shoot that was wrapping around the post were cleared so that there would be no lateral growth away from the post. Once in the tree, the vine sought light and then flowered and fruited in the open spaces around the perimeter of the tree’s canopy. Of course, you can use any type of tree, whether grown for its fruit or for its shade, to support your vine.

If you have any questions or comments you would like to share, please send them to [email protected].