Golden Gate Gardener

A Weed to Watch Out For

My Golden Gate Gardening column in today's SF Chronicle (www.sfgate.com) was about Nothoscordum gracile, a weed to watch out for in your garden. I thought I would put a few photos in this post, for those who wonder if they have it and to help you understand what is going on underground if you do have it. The plant, shown at left, has white flowers that look a little like a brodiaea. It blooms most actively in summer. The leaves are strap-like, gray green, and do not have a midrib. This plant is not edible and does not have any scent of onion or garlic. The plants can be easily overlooked, but the best way to control them is to remove the first one you see, digging carefully to get all of the root and the bulblets, even discarding a handful of soil to be sure you got rid of all the bulblets.

Here is a mature bulb with its many bulblets, each the size of a grain of rice. The youngest ones are white, so they stand out well against the soil, but the older ones turn brown, and are very difficult to see. The bulbs are usually very deep in the soil--as deep as your shovel can reach. Be sure your shovel blade is straight up and down when it enters the soil, or you may cut the stem of the plant, leaving the bulb unmolested in the soil.

The problem with leaving some of the bulblets in the soil is that they will all germinate into small plants. Incompletely digging a Nothoscordum bulb, and then turning the soil in the bed can spread the bulblets all over, so that soon you will practically have a lawn of the plants. I am combating this weed now in a vegetable garden, digging out mature bulbs and also digging the smaller plants carefully to be sure I have removed the attached bulbs, and am ruing the day I tolerated the first plant of it. Don't make the same mistake.

Yacon or Bolivian Sunroot

Want to grow something that isn't the same thing you always grow? If you live in a location with a relatively mild winter, here is an idea. The plant species is Polymnia sonchifolia, common names yacon or Bolivian sunroot. It is a plant featured in the book Lost Crops of the Incas--and in my book Golden Gate Gardening (see cover in column at right). It is relatively uncommon outside of the Andes, but not lost, by any means. I've been growing this plant since the late 80s. The photo at left shows a crown with the rhizomes at the center top, and the tuberous roots hanging off of them. You plant the rhizomes, then in winter or early spring, dig them up, cut off and eat the tuberous roots that have formed under them, then replant the rhizomes.

In summer the plants grow. They have really big, furry leaves, arranged in pairs. The leaf stems (petioles) are winged--that is the leaf blade continues right down the sides of the leaf stems. And the plants are very tall. What I have read about them says they can reach 6 feet, but mine are usually rather taller than that, maybe 8 feet, maybe more.

These aren't quite full grown. In about late October or in November, they are topped with rather small orange daisies. Seems like a lot of plant for those tiny flowers, but of course the real reproduction is going on underground, where the rhizomes are multiplying.

So what does it taste like? The edible tuberous roots are crisp, juicy, and mildly to very sweet. Sort of like jicama, but juicier. I like to eat them raw myself, though there are those who advocate cooking them. Might try it.

To eat them raw, I just take a potato peeler to them, then wash and slice them. They are good just as is (shown on the plate with some also delicious homegrown sugar snap peas) or in a salad in place of jicama. One I like has red onion rings marinated in orange juice vinaigrette, sliced orange, Bolivian sunroot, avocado, dressed with the vinaigrette, served on a bed of lettuce leaves.

You can get starts of this crop through www.nicholsgardennursery.com and also through www.seedsofchange.com.

Golden Gate Gardening Available Now

Due to a snafu with the distributor, my book Golden Gate Gardening (see cover in right column of this blog) has been unavailable for a little while. But now, my publisher says it is back in stock. Bookstores and other retail outlets can order it from the distributor PGW. Individuals who can't find it readily in a store can order it directly from Sasquatch Books, either online at www.sasquatchbooks.com or by calling them at 1(800) 775-0817. (Or tell your bookstore or nursery where to order it.) If you are gardening to grow vegetables, fruits, herbs, or cutting flowers in the Bay Area, this book will definitely help you get more out of your garden all year. 

More on the Chard Leafminer

After a series of posts on really pretty plants, I thought it was time to show something no less important but not as charming. I have written several times about Swiss chard leafminers and their management. These pests are starting to emerge from pupae and lay eggs on the undersides of my chard leaves now. The little brown pupae have been in the soil all winter, either in your garden or one nearby. The adult insects, which are small flies, have emerged from the pupae, flown away, found flies of the same species, but the opposite sex, and mated.

There are the eggs that the females lay on leaves. They are quite tiny and white, elongated, arranged in parallel rows.

And here are the larvae, which, because the insect is a fly, are correctly called maggots. When I opened the leaf, they tried to crawl back betweeh the opened layers.

Yeah, I know, they're kind of disgusting, but now you know. These are not, by the way, the maggots that live in garbage. This insect only lays eggs on Swiss chard, beets, and spinach. They are active between late March and about mid October here in San Francisco.

If you see their damage on your plants, your first defense is to brush off the eggs, or pick off any leaves on which you see the blotches that show they are feeding inside. If you are vigilant, you can prevent them from maturing to pupae and dropping to the soil. If they get ahead of you, they will repeat their life cycle several times a summer. Summer oil sprays (choose one based on an edible oil, such as canola or soy) or a bacterial extract spray that is sold under the brand names Bull's Eye or Spinosad, used according to the directions on the label, can help. However, in my college garden, the critters got ahead of us over the past few years, so my strategy this year is to remove all susceptible crops from the garden during the summer. I will replant chard only in late August or September, and protect it with a row cover (a white polyester sold for this use in gardens) until cool weather has killed any adult flies. I plan to start the plants inside about six weeks before I plant them out, to give them a little bit of a boost, and hope for a good harvest until the following March, when out they will come.

Curious to see the blotches on chard leaves? Use the legit search feature on the right side panel of this blog to search for "chard" and you can see other posts on this subject.

Chayote Report

Early this year I started 4 chayote squash plants in the greenhouse at City College. Three of them grew, and I photographed them. (The photos appear in my blog on February 25th.) The construction class built us a beautiful trellis, and then, several weeks ago, covered two sides with nylon bean trellis mesh for the chayote to climb on. Then I put the chayotes in larger pots and moved them to the lath house, a structure built only with wooden slats, set several inches apart. Since chayote begins to resprout each year from its perennial roots in March, I thought it was time for the plants to begin to get used to life outside of a greenhouse.

I went off to deal with Dad's house for a week, and when I returned, I saw that cold nights and strong winds had burned some of the chayotes' leaves. The trellis is ready, the soil prepared, but alas, the days and nights are too cold for these tropical babies. So it's back to the greenhouse for the time being.

Here is the trellis, all prepared for the chayotes. Looks kind of lonely, eh? (The fence on the left will come out eventually, so that the chayotes won't climb on it. The goal, in preparing a trellis for chayotes is to have defensible space, so the plants can't climb something you don't want them to climb.)

Report from San Diego County

On my last trip to my dad's house in San Diego county while we still are part-owners of the house, I took a few last photos of that wonderful banana tree that Dad loved so much and transplanted when he was 96 or 97. It has fruit set again, and he won't get to enjoy it this time, since he passed away in November of last year. But it makes me happy to see that happy tree growing in the sunlight.

I know it's hard to see the bananas in the shot, since they are in shadow, so I cropped it in on them.

In addition to the bananas, there were the last of the ripe avocados, navel oranges, and Meyer lemons on the tree that I pruned, fertilized, and watered back to health. The Valencia orange has young fruit, and is covered with blossoms so sweet-smelling that they take your breath away when you walk out the back door. (We put a sprig in the car to carry the fragrance with us up the Valley on the drive home.) And the loquat tree was laden with fruit that was just ripening. There was even fruit setting on the little guava tree that he planted in the last decade of his life, and rescued from scale, with my help and advice, using a plastic dish scrubber and a horticultural oil spray. Well, he missed that fruit, but again, the garden is thriving and makes me happy to see.

More blooms, and more on class

I am back from Southern CA once again and will have some photos to share of subtropical and tropical fruit, but wanted to be sure to include a couple more Bay Area spring bloom shots and mention David Goldberg's photography class one more time. 

This tree is an ornamental plum. The double blossoms are so voluptuous against the otherwise bare limbs of the tree.

And this one is a tree peony. I wrote about these in my SF Chronicle column (at SFGate.com) a couple of weeks ago, but didn't have a photo then. This one is blooming in the Asian plant section of the SF Botanical Garden in Golden Gate Park. These plants, which are really shrubs that grow to about 4 feet tall, have the same lovely flowers as the herbaceous peony of colder climates, but can thrive in S.F. and other places that have very mild winters. This one is a single blossom, but there are also double-flowered varieties. There are even yellow and orange tree peonies.

I notice that a number of viewers of this blog have been linking from my blog to the blog about the Garden Photography Class that starts next Saturday. One last plug before it begins. It isn't taught often, so if you think you will want to know how to take better plant or garden photos, this is the moment to jump.

Maybe you still love to shoot film, or maybe you have purchased a good digital camera, or are thinking about going digital. Maybe you have been shooting a bit and wondering how to get better at it. This class will get you into the nitty-gritty of using your camera better and with more confidence, and will get you into gardens that will inspire you to want to shoot more photos. Check it out at www.gardenphotographyclass.typepad,com. There are links there to see photographs by the instructor or to enroll through UC Extension. 

Spring Blooming Trees in San Francisco

  I've been looking at many blooming trees this past week, following my own advice of a couple of weeks ago. They bloom so briefly and are so lovely. Here are a few. This is, I believe, Magnolia x soulangiana.

At the San Francisco Botanical Garden, formerly Strybing Arboretum, I wandered among many beautiful trees. There was a cherry Prunus x yoedenensis, the one that blooms in Washington, D.C. (below, left)

Then, a little farther on, there is a magnificent Michelia doltsopa I know, "Say what?" I don't know that it has a common name, but it is lovely. It's a relative of magnolia that is native to China and the Himalayas. The huge white blossoms of Michelia doltsopa are fragrant.

Finally, I couldn't resist including a dawn redwood just leafing out. One of my favorite trees and this is the very best time to see it. It's a relative of our California redwoods and sequoias that was discovered growing in China in the 20th century, long after it was thought to be extinct. The man who found it growing visited San Francisco a few years ago and saw our trees. Unlike our redwoods and sequoias, it is deciduous. So in spring you get the tiny, delicate leaves budding out, so tender and pale. And of course the trunk is wonderful, looking like it was macramed. There is a grove of these trees, they seem to create their own color of light at this time of year. If you live nearby, visit the garden in the next week and you will see what I mean.

The Gardens on Alcatraz

Because I have been doing some consulting for the Historic Gardens Project on Alcatraz Island, I have been to the island several times recently. I first heard that there were remnants of gardens on Alcatraz several years ago when I was working on my book Wildly Successful Plants. I learned that many of the plants I was writing about had survived from historic gardens that were planted there. Starting with a military base in the mid to late 1800s and continuing throughout the period when the island was the site of the famous federal prison, inhabitants have been gardening. What survived includes succulents, pelargoniums (geraniums), fuchsias, roses, and many more kinds of plants. These days, there is a full-time gardener on the island and teams of volunteers who work on Wednesdays and Saturdays. The gardens are starting to revive.

I took this photo last week in the Officer's Row gardens. In the 1880s there were houses here, with gardens between. After these houses were demolished, in 1941, the places where they once stood became cutting gardens. Here volunteers are tending the renovated gardens while staff is observing their progress.

Even the less tended areas of the island have a wild beauty. There were concrete residences on the south end of the garden, where employees of the prison lived. These were demolished, and succulents like these Aeoniums have begun to cover them, as if they were nothing but a different sort of rocky cliff. This part of the island is off limits in summer and fall, so that the island's many birds can nest undisturbed. In winter, you can wander over more of the area.

Ahd this stone wall is covered with various wild and domestic plants. In summer it is abloom with Centranthus (Jupiter's beard).

And, of course, the views are spectacular. Worth escaping from the big, dark cell block teeming with tourists and heading for the paths. The blackened skeletons of flower stalks of Agave americana spring up picturesquely here and there in front of ruins and the marvelous views of the surrounding bay.

Here is one of the birds of Alcatraz. There are many kinds on the island, including perhaps a few more gulls than most visiting humans would prefer. But these gulls don't seem accustomed to begging for human food, probably because you can only eat in the area near the docks, so they don't get much encouragement. Looking down over the cliffs on the south and west sides of the land, you may see herons, cormorants, and other water birds.

I'll be going out to Alcatraz once a month, and will report on their progress. But already, it is definitely worth a trip to see what is going on in the gardened areas. Or consider becoming a garden volunteer. You can learn more about it at www.parksconservancy.org/calendar/index.asp?event=194 by calling (415) 561-3062 or emailing cashford@gardenconservancy.org.

Garden Photography Class Starts Soon

A few words about David Goldberg's upcoming class on Garden Photography, which is being offered through UC Berkeley Extension. It starts on Saturday, March 29th. It will be held at the Extension's downtown SF campus, with validated parking next door. It includes 3 field trips to Bay Area gardens, where you can practice the skills you are learning in the classroom. And, most importantly, David is an excellent teacher, who will put energy into helping you improve your photography.

The photos in this entry are David's. You can many more of his shots on his web site: www.davidgoldbergphotography.com. You can learn many more details about the class on his typepad blog page: www.gardenphotographyclass.typepad.com. Whether you want to improve your plant and garden shots for personal reasons, or need better shots in order to market your work as a garden professional, this is the class that can get you from here to there. It isn't offered very often, so I encourage you to get it while it is available.