286 Bulb Planting Basics. Young Fruit Tree Care.

Show Transcript

GB 286 transcript REV

Farmer Fred

Garden Basics with Farmer Fred is brought to you by Smart Pots, the original lightweight, long lasting fabric plant container. It's made in the USA. Visit SmartPots.com slash Fred for more information and a special discount, that's SmartPots.com/Fred.

Welcome to the Garden Basics with Farmer Fred podcast. If you're just a beginning gardener or you want good gardening information, you've come to the right spot.

Farmer Fred

Today, we dive into the Garden Basics mailbag to answer some fall related questions. This is the time of year to plant spring blooming flower bulbs. And your young fruit trees may need some training right now. And not just any fruit trees, but fruit trees grown from seed. Hmmmm. We have many scenic bypasses based on those two topics. We, being myself and America’s Favorite retired college horticultural professor Debbie Flower. Today. Planting flower bulbs, and will you get fruit from a tree grown from seed? Maybe a better question would be, will you get edible fruit?

We’re podcasting from Barking Dog Studios here in the beautiful Abutilon Jungle in Suburban Purgatory. It’s the Garden Basics with Farmer Fred podcast, brought to you today by Smart Pots, and Dave Wilson Nursery. Let’s go!

BULB PLANTING BASICS

Farmer Fred

We're answering your garden questions here on the Garden Basics with Farmer Fred podcast. Debbie Flower is here, America's favorite retired college horticultural professor. Yes, fall is when it's time to plant spring blooming bulbs. Go figure. Well, we get a question from Tanya here in the Sacramento area. And she says, “We killed our lawn years ago. And we have what we call now our front forest. Over the past few years, I've been planting various bulbs. And this spring, the front forest looked amazing. We would look out the window and see people taking videos of our front yard, which was pretty sweet. It was a showstopper. Now I'm seeing a bunch of those bulbs popping up out of the mulch and the soil. Is this just a sign to take them out, divide them, and replant? I've been taking them out. And now I have a lot of bulbs, like maybe 50 of them, in various sizes. Just want to make sure I'm doing the right thing by these bulbs to keep up the spring blooms. Any advice you and Debbie Flower can give us is much appreciated.” Thank you, Tanya, for that question.

Debbie Flower

Yeah, well, I would guess that number one, the bulbs were not planted deep enough. Bulbs, like seeds, are supposed to be planted two to three times deeper than they are across, or tall in the case of a bulb. So, if a bulb was two inches tall, you want to cover it with four to six inches of soil. That's a lot of digging to do. And so they may not have been planted as deep as they should have been. Another way to think about this involves knowing the lifecycle of a bulb. There are many kinds of bulbs, there's the true bulb, an onion is a true bulb. If you do any cooking and you kind of open an onion, it has a bottom base plate that the roots are coming out of, then it has a very compressed stem. Sometimes people call that the core. And we cut it out, we don't put it into the recipe. And then attached to that stem are leaves that are modified to store food and water. That's the part that we put into our food. On that compressed stem is where you would find the bud that would grow. And it has to go up through those modified leaves and then up into the light in order to make food for the plant. Then when the plant blooms and onions do bloom on the plant, blooms that use up a good portion, if not all of the food that is stored in those modified leafs and it makes seeds. Seed takes a lot of energy out of the plant. A lot of the foods used for that the seed does what it does, the flower does what it does, it makes the seed, etc. Then it all dies down. The leaves you have to leave on the plant, they need to be left green, those green leaves are making food, plant food, that is going back into the bulb and restocking the bulb. If it's a healthy happy bulb, it gets to go through its whole lifecycle and the leaves remain on it for a long time. The next bulb will potentially be bigger. So the bulbs get bigger over time. The other thing they do: on that base plate where the roots are coming out right on the edge, they'll make baby bulbs. So the time that you really want to dig into  bulbs is when there are so many bulbs made that they stopped flowering. It's becomes a very dense population. And it limits the ability of daffodils, tulips, gladiolus -which are corms, I believe - to bloom, but that's a true bulb. And there's a corm. A corm looks a lot like a true bulb, in that it's a swollen sort of whitish looking thing. It has buds on one side and roots on the other. So again, it has a base plate, has the bud on the top. But  instead of having the modified leaves attached to the stem, it's just a piece of swollen stem and it has lots of food in it. Gladiolas are corms, freesias are corms, watsonia, crocus are corms. Again, when it flowers, it goes through the whole process, at least come up with the stem, comes up with flowers, that makes seed. And those processes of flowering making seed use up the stored food in the corm and it shrinks. In the case of a corm, when it restocks and makes food in the leaves that remain after flowering and it puts that food back underground, it makes another corm and it sits on top of the deflated corm. So over time, corms naturally rise in the soil. So I wonder how many of the bulbs she's finding are actually corms that have risen, they don't rise a lot and over time, the old corm decomposes like organic matter does in soil.

Farmer Fred

Your definition of a corm sounds like it's a rhizome, but rhizomes are separate. There's a lot of bulb-like creatures that are rhizomes, like Canna lilies.

Debbie Flower

Right. Rhizomes travel underground, horizontally. Corms are just individual stems underground. So the stem of that bulb is underground. Rhizomes are stems that are modified for storage of food and water, and they travel horizontally underground. A good example of that is the Bearded Iris, and they need to be near the surface, in fact, exposed at the surface in order for the plant to flower. If the rhizome is planted too deeply, which I tend to do when I first get one because all I have is a little piece of of rhizome, it doesn't have roots on it yet. And I put it in the ground, and I'm trying to make it stable, cover it with soil and so it won't bloom the first year. What it does instead is it grows more rhizomes and it grows it up towards the surface of the soil. And then once it gets enough rhizome at the surface of the soil, it will flower. So if you're finding those, they need to be at the surface.

Farmer Fred

Anybody who ever asked me, “Oh, Fred, what do you think of irises?” You shouldn't ask me that question.

Debbie Flower

Not a fan.

Farmer Fred

Not a fan. I grew irises because back at the ranch in Herals, we lived on 10 acres, so  I grew everything people were calling and complaining about or talking about, so why not have a little bit of iris? I discovered I wasn't fond of the flower, and the plant is just sort of a boring green. So I grew it along the middle of my horseshoe pitch.

Debbie Flower

Where you had to get over it in order to score.

Farmer Fred

Yeah, you had to get over it to get to the opposite stake. And if I watered it, it was just as an afterthought. So that means it got watered maybe twice a summer or so. It lived for years.  Never died. Amazing.

Debbie Flower

They  are quite drought tolerant. And if you're very kind to them, and fertilize them, I have a friend who loves irises and I've gone to Iris farms with her and I have purchased Iris rhizomes and I, I need to stop. Because they get bigger and bigger and bigger. They take over more and more and more space. She was really kind to them. She fertilizes them and everything. I don't do that. I just let them do their thing. So yeah, they can take over your garden. And they only have that one bloom. Well, some of them are rebloomers now, but they only have that one season of flower.

Farmer Fred

I would think that whether it is a bulb, rhizome, corm or tuber, it would be important not to be too quick with the nippers. Don’t take the leaves off at the end of the flowering season. Let the leaves remain so they send that energy back to whatever that body is beneath the soil. Right?

Debbie Flower

Right. They've got to restock whatever that bulb - and I'm using the term bulb loosely now -  in order for you to have a plant, much less a flower the next season. As we mentioned, they will stop blooming when they're too crowded. And then you have to dig and divide. And the season of digging and dividing depends on the plant. And so there's a great list of that for the Sacramento area called the Sacramento bulb planting guide.

Farmer Fred

I'll put the link to that in the show notes. It’s put out by the Sacramento County Master Gardeners. It would have applications I would think in USDA zone nine.

Debbie Flower

Right. The season is going to vary depending on the zone. So, if you're not in USDA zone nine, you’ll want to talk to your local Cooperative Extension. Or, Google your local bulb planting guide.

Farmer Fred

But to get back to Tanya's question, and she's waiting for an answer. Well, you've already started lifting the bulbs. It sounds like you’re taking them out. She now has a lot of bulbs of various sizes. I'd like to know what they are. Because that could help us out in definitively answer whether to keep them in the ground or take them out and separate them. As far as separating them, when they get too crowded, that's a good idea. But I know that in the case of gladiolas, you do that, or even irises. And you’d separate them every what, three or five years maybe?

Debbie Flower

Yeah, you don't do it every year. No, not every two, even.

Farmer Fred

Exactly. And then you have to cut them too, right?

Debbie Flower

Yeah. The rhizomes, for sure you have to cut the bulbs, and the corms do the same thing, create little babies around the base, and you just sort of knock them off with your fingers. And they will take years before they are a flowering size. So in general, you dig and divide the spring blooming ones, the tulips and the daffodils. You dig and divide them in the fall, while you can still work your soil. But remember that they have to be done making food with their leaves. So their leaves will have turned yellow, shriveled, and fallen down. Then you dig and divide, then replant. And  if it's for things that are going to bloom in the summer, like Canna lilies, you do that in the spring.

Farmer Fred

And again, you're only going to be separating them if you notice that the bloom is lagging from the previous spring, if it's a spring blooming bulb, if you see the bloom start looking not as vibrant as they used to look and there are not as many, then that summer or early fall, you get in there and you dig and separate. And then you would replant immediately. Tonya mentioned she's got all these bulbs, I would do something with them.

Debbie Flower

Right. They decline over time. If they're still firm, well, if they're not slimy, they don't have fungus on them. If they're slimy or have fungus on them, throw them out. But if they're firm, or they sometimes can be so dried out that they're squishy a little bit, they're shriveled. If they're firm, or they just begun to shrivel you can replant them basically, at any time. Just don't expect flowers the next year, they have to have leaves to build up that bulb to a size that can produce enough food that the plant can produce a flower.

Farmer Fred

Here in USDA zone nine after you separate you could probably replant them immediately.

Debbie Flower

Yes, we would do that.

Farmer Fred

Now. If you live in a colder climate and you're growing bulbs, obviously you're lifting it because of the weather.

Debbie Flower

And some things you do have to lift and take inside for the winter. Such as dahlias.

Farmer Fred

What would you put them in?

Farmer Fred

Well,  clean off all the dirt with a brush of some sort, not with water. And then I put them in peat moss, because peat moss is acidic. And it can't be completely dry. People use sawdust also. Let them stay in a cool dark place.

Farmer Fred

Okay, you put it in something without drainage?

Debbie Flower

Well, you're not going to be watering it over the dormant season.

Farmer Fred

So you said that it should be somewhat moist.

Debbie Flower

Just a hair. Yeah.

Farmer Fred

So that isn't that critical, then.

Debbie Flower

No. Sawdust is always dry or close to it.

Farmer Fred

Alright, so maybe pre moisten it, let it dry out a little bit, and then use that as your packing material.

Debbie Flower

If you add too much water, they're gonna rot. And if it's not enough water, they're gonna dry out and be less vigorous during the next spring. But probably depending how big they are, how healthy they are, when you put them in, they probably won't die. The other thing is you don't want them touching each other because they have moisture in them. And when they touch each other, they can rob each other.

Farmer Fred

Well, there goes my idea of putting them all in a bucket. Right?

Debbie Flower

I have some in my garage which got dug up, incidentally, because I was putting in a post. I've had them the garage for two years. I did not do anything. I didn't clean them. I didn't put them in any kind of packing. They're daffodils. They're still there. They're not rotten. I was looking at them the other day thinking, you know, I really ought to plant these things. Daffodils are pretty prolific. Some of them not the specialized ones, but some of the common ones and they can get into big clumps pretty quickly. So I guess I just don't care that much.

Farmer Fred

You're a gardener that believes in benign neglect.

Debbie Flower

Yes, that's it makes life easy.

Farmer Fred

Well, it's amazing how hearty some bulbs are. There's a guy down the street and he was widening his driveway. He had to take out his bed of gladiolas. And he just put them in this trough next to the driveway he was building and they were in that trough. I didn't see any soil in there. It was just, you know, a big pile of Gladiola bulbs. Corms? Yeah. And they sat there for like two years. And then he finally got around to planting them. They're all blooming. It’s amazing how hardy they can be.

Debbie Flower

We live in a very dry climate. The bigger enemy of bulbs is too much water  and rotting. And so they need to be planted in a place that gets good drainage, wherever you are in the world.

Farmer Fred

And in a lot of situations, especially if you live in a colder climate, and you don't want to go through the hassle of digging out the bulbs every year, would be to plant them in containers. And then move the containers to a warmer spot right in the garage or whatever I got. I think another thing to talk about ,too, is the fact that you don't want to put it into a heated room. You'd want to either put it in a basement that's unheated or If you have a garage that's unheated.

Debbie Flower

Put it there, but where it’s not going to get superduper cold, like not zero degrees, because that's going to permeate the bulbs.

Farmer Fred

Yeah. If you need to put a heater on your battery to start your car in the morning, probably don’t make that your bulb room.  Anyway, how about some tips for planting bulbs or actually choosing bulbs? Because right now, late summer, early fall, nurseries are getting in a wide selection of spring blooming bulbs and corms and rhizomes and tubers that worth planting. And I guess, basically, you want to choose the biggest ones.

Debbie Flower

The biggest ones, or the prime ones. They are going to be the most expensive ones.

Farmer Fred

Yeah. But again, they're  worth it. They're good. You're gonna get a bloom the first year,

Debbie Flower

Right. But if they're smaller…I bought some once from  a grocery store.

Farmer Fred

Oh, a good place to shop for bulbs.

Debbie Flower

Yes, yes. And the entrance as you walk in, they were tiny. I was buying them for teaching. You know, this is what a corm looks like. This is what a bulb looks like. Not  for my garden. But I did plant them when I was done with that set of lectures. And they grew, but they limped along, and then they died.

Farmer Fred

So much for that.  So buy from a reputable dealer. And if all that's left in the box are small or softer, shriveled bulbs, probably walk away,

Debbie Flower

Right. Or ones with fungus on them, or are slimy and moist.

Farmer Fred

Now, many of us live in areas where you might have squirrels or gophers, or rats or things that like to dig and chew on things. So I guess if you really want a bulb garden, you better invest in wire cages.

Debbie Flower

Right. But not for Daffodils, you don't need that. They don't like eating daffodils around here. They have a place called Daffodil Hill because they survive so many things. They're easy to take care of.

Farmer Fred

Yeah, it talks about how mice avoid daffodils and other narcissus, because of their bitter taste. I've never eaten one.

Debbie Flower

Me neither. I wouldn't suggest it. Daffodils are a type of narcissisus. Paperwhites are a type of narcissisus.

Farmer Fred

Another option if you don't want to buy individual wire cages would be to plant them in a raised bed that has been lined with hardware cloth. And make sure that the sides of the hardware cloth go up the sides of whatever comprises your raised bed to avoid anybody trying to just sneak in between the hardware cloth and the bottom of your raised bed siding. So have that sheet of hardware cloth extend up halfway, maybe a third or a halfway up, the sides of a wooden raised bed and fasten it to there so they can't sneak in.

Debbie Flower

But you'd need some protection from squirrels. You need something covering the top.

Farmer Fred

No, you have to move.

Debbie Flower

Oh, okay.

Farmer Fred

Well, you could if you needed to. If the squirrels are that bad.

Debbie Flower

And you really want the bulbs.  I've never lived anywhere where the squirrels did that. Well, I've never been a huge bulb gardener, either. So maybe I'm not a good example. But I've never lived in an area where the squirrels destroyed them.

Farmer Fred

We’ll see what the e-mail says about that.

Debbie Flower

They'll tell us, Yes.

Farmer Fred

Send your garden questions to Fred at farmerfred.com. Or you can fill out the question link at GardenBasics.net. You can call us and yell at us. We have a number for you to reach us. It is 916-292-8964, 916-292-8964. Or you can yell at us on the computer. Just go to your computer, go to speakpipe.com/garden basics. And you can leave us a question via your laptop computer with the little built-in microphone there. And that would be fine as well. Bulbs. They're fun. They're not much work either.

Debbie Flower

They're part of an easy care garden, once they get settled in.

Farmer Fred

So Tanya, I hope that helps out. Maybe you'll tell us what kind of bulbs you have.

Debbie Flower

And how deep you planted them.

Farmer Fred

Good luck. Thank you, Debbie.

Debbie Flower

Yeah, you're welcome.

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BEYOND THE GARDEN BASICS NEWSLETTER

Farmer Fred

In the October 6, 2023 edition of the Beyond the Garden Basics newsletter and podcast, we have tips for planting cover crops and wildflowers, both of which benefit from sowing in the garden during the fall.

In today’s newsletter podcast, an expert from organic farm and garden specialist, Peaceful Valley Farm Supply  explains fall cover cropping, and how to improve your soil using cool season grasses, legumes, and grains.

Also, in the newsletter portion, we have tips for sowing wildflowers, how to determine your USDA Planting Zone, and the timing of planting cover crops and wildflowers. Should you plant before it rains, or afterwards? We hear from all sides of that question.

If you are already a Beyond the Garden Basics newsletter subscriber, it’s probably in your email, waiting for you right now. Or, you can start a subscription, it’s free! Find the link to the Beyond the Garden Basics newsletter and podcast in today’s show notes, or on the Substack app. Or, you can sign up at the newsletter link at our homepage, gardenbasics dot net.

CARING FOR YOUNG FRUIT TREES

Farmer Fred

Here on the Garden Basics podcast, we like to answer your garden questions. And we get one from Katie who lives in Northwest Arkansas. She says she loves the podcast. Thank you Katie. She says she's “a newbie gardener and loves learning all from you and all your guests”. Well, I guess that would especially mean who we're talking to today, which would be retired college horticultural professor, Debbie Flower.

Debbie Flower

Yeah, that's me.

Farmer Fred

And Katie says, “My son and I had a lot of fun this summer playing around and trying to grow things completely by accident. We have grown a couple of lemon trees and an apple tree from seed. We stuck some seeds in the soil without expecting them to grow. But they did.”

Being that she lives in Northwest Arkansas, probably USDA zone six or seven, when you look at the map, it's hard to say exactly where. Katie, you would know if you're in a cold zone or a slightly warmer zone.

And she says, “I know that I need to move them in for the winter and I have a perfectly good sunny spot in the garage.”

But she's wondering what she should do. Aside from that , also to keep them as healthy trees. They're both roughly 20 inches tall. And Katie is wondering, “Should I prune them to create a stronger tree and root system?”

Well, certainly on this show, we’ve talked about pruning fruit trees, especially. And Katie would like some advice. So Debbie, I tell you what, let's play good cop-bad cop. Can I be the good cop?

Debbie Flower

Okay.

Farmer Fred

All right, Katie, congratulations. It's always fun when you're a gardener to take seed from some food you bought or acquired from somewhere and stick it in the ground and what do you know? Something grows! That should encourage you to keep gardening. I don't know. You have the knack Katie, congratulations. And now here's Debbie Flower, our bad cop, with maybe some more sobering news for Katie.

Debbie Flower

Katie, it's a wonderful thing that you grew both of those plants from seed and you and your son are going to treasure those plants for a long time because you grew them from seed. And I agree with Fred, you've got the green thumb going on. The problem is, we don't know what that plant is going to become. We know you've got an apple, we know you've got a citrus. But we don't know what kind of fruit they're going to bear. Because they are the seeds, they are the baby of the plant and they might produce something that's different from the parent plant. It might be great, it might be awful. The other thing is that it will take them years to become fruitful. If you've got patience, hang on to them and they'll grow. But if you don't, just be aware that it could be frustrating. There will be a lot of manipulating of the plant, going indoors and outdoors, fertilizing, watering, especially since it's in the container. And before you get your reward - the fruit - which will be yours in three, five, maybe even seven years down the road. So if you've got the patience, and you're willing to put the work in, you can grow the plant. And eventually you'll find out what you've got.

Farmer Fred

There isn't too much in the way of citrus that grows on its own roots, and the only one I can think of is the Meyer lemon. So  Katie, if it was a Meyer lemon, then there is a chance you might get Meyer lemons. But you never know about bees, and where they've been. And if they landed on your plant, or will land on your plant,  you don’t know what you might end up with.

Debbie Flower

Right. They could potentially bring pollen from other types of citrus, and you could get offspring that are something strange, something not desirable. Maybe not juicy, maybe not big, maybe not sweet, maybe not flavorful. But that's a chance you're taking by growing it from seed. So if you're in it for the long haul, stay with it. Number one, I would say plant your apple outdoors, in in USDA zone six B, which is between six and seven. According to the University of Arkansas Cooperative Extension, they say plant an apple in the fall, preferably when it's dormant. And start with a one year old plant that's between one and two feet tall and about a half inch diameter. And from the pictures you  sent, that's exactly what your tree looks like, and it is not dormant yet. But the size is absolutely correct, for planting in the garden. Since you don't know what you're getting, and it's on its own roots. There could be issues with disease or size, it could get to be a very, very big tree. But you can control size by pruning, so I wouldn't let that dissuade you, I personally would prefer to put the apple in the ground because  it's less work to grow it. If I were going to plant it in the ground, I would knock it out of the pot and prune those roots, because they're likely growing, circling around and around and around inside of that pot before you plant it in the ground. Dig a hole wide enough that you can spread the roots out, as far as they will go. And just deep enough that the stem will be at the same level it was when you had it in the pot. Or even that stem mark can be a little bit higher than when you had it in the pot. Because it will sink over time. The apple tree will need an area with good drainage, full sun, preferably some morning sun, so that any dew will dry off the plant to help prevent fungal and bacterial diseases. And you're off to the races with that apple planted outdoors.

Farmer Fred

And we are only talking about the apple here. And is there a need to prune it, if it's only two feet tall at this point?

Debbie Flower

Well, when you first plant the apple in the ground, you want to start to prune it to shape,  to be the tree you want it to be. The trend now, which I enjoy for a variety of reasons, is to keep the plants short. And so the pruning done at planting time is to take the top off , keeping  that tree only about at knee height. That will force it to produce branches below that cut. And it will keep the plant small. The things I like about that are it's easy to care for, it's easy to harvest the fruit,  it's easy to do any pest management to observe the pests. ecause as the plant grows, it's only going to be as about as tall as you are. And so you're going to see any problems, you're going to be able to fix them without getting on a ladder, you're gonna be able to harvest without getting on a ladder. If you need to net the plant to keep critters from eating your apples, then you can do that from the ground. So it's a much safer and easier way to grow the plant. So yes, you prune at planting time.

Farmer Fred

And how far back would you prune a two foot tall apple tree?

Debbie Flower

That's a problem, isn't it? You could wait. I don't know how high off the ground  your knees are. I'm guessing 18 inches, 15 inches, so it's probably going to be about that high. So if it's two feet tall, you're not gonna be taking much off, but it will still have the same result of stimulating branching below that cut.

Farmer Fred

And because the leaves are going to fall off - it's a deciduous tree for the winter - you may want to put something out there, maybe a traffic cone or something, next to it to remind you that there's a stick there that's going to be an apple tree. That way you don't accidentally mow over it or run over it or let the dog play fetch with it.

Debbie Flower

Right. Good point. And if you have things like rabbits - if you get snow and you have rabbits that chew on it - maybe even a little fence around at least the base of it to keep them out. There's an excellent publication. Apple Production in the Home Garden, from the  U. of Arkansas, an excellent publication. It's number 6058. And it it has very good diagrams about planting the apple tree of the size that you have and pruning it at planting time.

Farmer Fred

Now the citrus tree is a different question. Absolutely. Because it is citrus and it is frost sensitive and being a lemon tree, most lemons can suffer fairly significant damage if temperatures fall into the mid 20s, and stay there for a number of hours. And I would imagine, in northwestern Arkansas, the temperatures do get down into the mid 20s.

Debbie Flower

I would think so as well. So yes, it’s gonna need to go in the garage. And it sounds like there's a window there. So there's a sunny spot. But I would still encourage you to add lights.The cheapest method that I'm aware of at the moment, I have not been pricing LEDs, but it is a two bulb fluorescent fixture, a shop light, which you hang so it's just a few inches over the top of the tree. Fred, you know more about LED lighting than I do.

Farmer Fred

Yeah, LED’s are actually probably more available out now than fluorescent fixtures, and especially adjustable sizes of LEDs as far as racks that they might be in, that might just be ideal for your situation, you can raise or lower the light as needed very easily. Whereas going to the big home store and buying a fluorescent fixture, you're going to need some sort of support system and chains to raise and lower it to keep it a few inches away. And yeah, even with LEDs six inches away from the plant, it would be ideal. And it would be on for a number of hours a day.

Debbie Flower

Yeah, at least  eight to 12 hours a day. And it's going to be providing the light necessary to keep the plant alive. Basically, it will be going from outdoors into your garage. And even though you have a window, it is going to be a big adjustment for the plant. And temperature wise and wind wise and water wise, all those conditions are going to change. And so, you're going to need to visit it regularly, clean up any leaves that fall off. Don't panic, when they fall off, they'll adjust to their new environment and put on new leaves that are more adapted to the level of light they're getting in the garage. They'll get less wind, they'll dry out probably less frequently than when they were outdoors. And so you want to be sure that you water only when the soil is dry,  an inch or two down in the soil. So you're going to take your finger and actually stick it down into the media up to the first or second knuckle. And if it's dry at the tip of your finger, then you water thoroughly, I would put the pot in a very large container, such as  a kitty litter box, maybe a large kitty litter box that has a couple of inches of gravel on the bottom. And when I water it, I want the water to exit go through all the media. And that is something you often have to check. That the water is going through the media and not around the media down into the gravel. You don't want the pot sitting in the water, you just want the pot sitting on the gravel over the water. And then that water will evaporate and act as a nice humidity tray for the plant. Any fertilizers that have washed out of the pot will just stay in the gravel and will not build up in the media of the plant. So it's way easier than watering and then picking up this pretty big pot, you've got it in there that's now saturated and weighs a lot and emptying the bin underneath and then putting it back. Instead, if you just put a couple of inches of gravel under that pot and then let  any water that's exiting the container go into that gravel, you don't have to empty it. And it adds to the humidity around the plant.

Farmer Fred

You mentioned, Katie, in your letter that it's in a five gallon pot. And I'm wondering if it might not be a good idea to saturate the soil in the pot. By the way media is just a fancy word for soil.

Debbie Flower

Sort of, right. Because it's not real soil.

Farmer Fred

Well, now  this is something we didn't bring up with Katie, and in that pot right now, it might be soil out of her garden that the tree is growing in. And there's the old saw of if it isn't broke, don't fix it.

Debbie Flower

Yeah, that would be it. Typically, we do not use soil from the garden from the ground outside in containers, because it holds too much moisture and has the potential to have weeds and pests in it. But if it's already in there, boy, that's a whole other set of issues.

Farmer Fred

Well, what I what I was getting at was that whatever is in there, if you saturate it, and then pop the plant - soil and all - out of the container, take a look at the roots and make sure they're not going round and round. Otherwise, you might need to go up to the next size pot. But I'm wondering if this is the time of the year to do that.

Debbie Flower

Yeah, good question with citrus. I know the growers here in California handle their plants all the time, fertilize them all every month and to move them up a pot size a variety of times, but you're not in California and your garage, I'm assuming it's not a heated garage. It's just protection from the very coldest temperatures that are experienced outdoors in your area. So it's not going to lead to a lot of growth. The easiest handling of citrus is to do any transplanting in spring as you start to see new growth.

Farmer Fred

It's your call, Katie. How much time do you want to spend with this citrus tree that may end up breaking your heart?

Debbie Flower

Oh, but it may end up being the best thing in the world.

Farmer Fred

Exactly. As every gardener knows, just give it a shot.

Debbie Flower

Right. If you get tired of it next year, you forget about it over the winter, and it dies. Oh, well. You tried.

Farmer Fred

Have fun. I mean, that's, that's the whole point of gardening is to have fun, try new things. And let it be a learning experience.

Debbie Flower

Yes. Before you do take the plant into the garage, you should examine it for any pests that are living on it. I don't know if you have slugs and snails in Arkansas. I know in New York, they were rare, few and far between. Whereas here in California, they're everywhere. Check the drain holes for any pests that might be living in there. So if you pop it out of the pot, like Fred suggested, examine those locations where the water exits the pot, locations in the root zone where they match up with the drain holes, and that's where some pests hang out. Get rid of them. Look at the leaves, top to bottom, look at the stems. Is there anything sticking to the stems? It might be scale, it might be mealy bugs on the leaves, you might see aphids. Give the plant a good wash, with a stream of water. You can use insecticidal soap if you find some pest problems on the plant itself and get it all cleaned up before you move it indoors. Because indoors there won't be any beneficials,  beneficial insects I mean. And the bad bugs could continue to live on your plant and take over and that that could be a real problem.

Farmer Fred

If you've got a garden question, send it into us. Send it to Fred at farmerfred.com. And it might just be selected to be up here on the Garden Basics with Farmer Fred podcast. Debbie Flower, thanks again for doing the research and helping us and Katie out.

Debbie Flower

Oh, it's my pleasure to research gardening, and talk about it.

DAVE WILSON NURSERY

Farmer Fred

You have a small yard and you think you don't have the room for fruit trees? Well, maybe you better think again. Because Dave Wilson Nursery wants to show you how to grow great tasting fruits: peaches, apples, pluots, and nut trees. Plus, they have potted fruits, such as blueberries, blackberries, raspberries, boysenberries, figs, grapes, hops, kiwifruit, olives and pomegranates. All plants, that you can grow in small areas. You could even grow many of them in containers on patios, as well. It's called backyard orchard culture. And you can get step by step information via their You Tube videos. Where do you find those? Just go to dave wilson dot com, click on the Home Garden tab at the top of the page. Also in that home garden tab, you’ll find a link to their fruit and nut harvest chart, so you can be picking delicious, healthy fruits from your own yard from May to December here in USDA Zone 9.  Also in that home garden tab? You're going to find the closest nursery to you that carries Dave Wilson's quality fruit trees. They are in nurseries from coast to coast. So start the backyard orchard of your dreams at DaveWilson.com.

FLASHBACK EPISODE OF THE WEEK: #56 GREENHOUSE BASICS

Farmer Fred

If you’ve been bit by the gardening bug, it won’t be long before you’ll be craving a hobby greenhouse. With a greenhouse, you can get a jump on spring planting, keep tender plants from freezing in the winter, and, perhaps most fun of all, starting all sorts of delicious fruit and vegetable varieties from seed or cuttings, varieties you possibly wouldn’t find at a nursery. And there’s no reason why you can’t be growing tomatoes, peppers, greens, strawberries and lots more anytime of the year…if you have a properly outfitted greenhouse, even if you live in snow country. Today’s Flashback Episode of the Week is Episode 56. It’s about Green House Basics and how to grow tomatoes in a greenhouse in the winter. There are special considerations when doing that.

Give it a listen, episode 56, from October of 2020: “Cold Climate Greenhouse Basics. and Growing Winter Tomatoes.”  Find a link to it in today’s show notes, or at the podcast player of your choice. And you can find it at our home page, garden basics dot net.

Farmer Fred

The Garden Basics With Farmer Fred podcast comes out once a week, on Fridays. Plus the newsletter podcast, that comes with the Beyond the Garden Basics newsletter, continues, also released on Fridays. Both are free and are brought to you by Smart Pots and Dave Wilson Nursery. The Garden Basics podcast is available wherever podcasts are handed out, and that includes our home page, Garden Basics dot net. , where you can also sign up for the Beyond the Garden Basics newsletter and podcast. That’s Garden Basics dot net. or use the links in today’s show notes.  And thank you so much for listening.