Fruits, Vegetables, Herbs and More You Can Grow and Plant in Your Garden – Orange County Register

5 things to do in the garden this week:

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

Vegetables. If you want some spicy greens to brighten up your 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 once they have spread (put out flower stalks) and produced seeds. The seeds themselves are also spicy and can be eaten raw or cooked. You might wonder why arugula is also called a rocket, a centuries-old word that has nothing to do with a projectile being launched into space. It is related to “roquette,” the French word for vegetable, which comes from the Italian “ruchetta,” or small “hand.” Hand, in turn, comes from the Latin word “eruca”, which means caterpillar, hedgehog or bristle. This connection is that bristles are observed in both hedgehogs and some caterpillars, which is associated with trichomes or hairs found on the stems of wild and cultivated arugula when it is about to flower. The word “arugula”, a variant of ruchetta, was only introduced in 1967 by Italian immigrants to the US and Australia.

Herbs. Chamomile (Matricaria retutita) This is a cool season grass and now is the time to plant it. The seeds germinate easily in average soil. The plants grow to a height of two to three feet and are covered with small daisy-like flowers. The tea is made from dried flowers and can be done by spreading them out on paper towels. Then store in an airtight jar or other airtight container.

Ornaments. It’s November and my butterfly roses (Rosa x odorata var. mutabilis) are at peak bloom. I haven’t watered them once this summer, but they clearly didn’t mind letting their soil dry out to the bone. Mutabilis is a Chinese rose, a group with a reputation for drought tolerance. In the hot summer you will learn a lot about plants. Butterfly roses are prone to mildew, but having not seen water for many 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 grow to a height of five feet in less than a year. The cultivar name “Mutabilis” refers to the mutation or color change of the flowers, which first turn sulfur yellow and then become apricot-orange, then pink and finally crimson. The flowers have five petals arranged in a single layer. Their appearance is silky and fancy, and they tend to nod on the stem. These roses are not stiff or formal at all like the classic layered roses we have come to expect. Butterfly roses are thorny, so they make a great security fence if you want to buy one.

Use an established tree to support the vine. It’s not just a cute idea, it’s based on a gardener walking through the woods and watching wild grapes grow on the branches of a tree. Inspired by what he saw, he came up with the idea of ​​planting a grapevine at the foot of an apple tree. This gardener then planted a grapevine 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 climbing towards the pole were erased so that there would be no lateral growth away from the pole. Once on 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 tree grown for both fruit and shade to support your vine.

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