Five things to do in the garden this week:
Fruit. An excellent choice for a small ornamental tree with year-round interest is the kumquat or one of its hybrids, which do not eclipse eight feet in height and, on dwarfing rootstocks, will stay between three and six feet tall. The kumquat is to the orange what the crab apple is to the apple – a small, tart version of the larger fruit. Nagami is the most prolific bearer of fruit among the commonly available kumquat varieties. The limequat – a cross between a kumquat and a lime – has the taste of a lime and the cold tolerance of a kumquat, which is hardy down to 20 degrees. It is laden with soft-skinned yellow fruit during the winter. The calamondin – a cross between a kumquat and a mandarin – is also cold hardy, and when mature, is adorned with hundreds of fruit at all times. Any of these citrus types can be used as an evergreen hedge.
Vegetables. If you have a small backyard garden or no backyard garden at all and are limited to growing vegetables on a sun-splashed balcony or patio, consider the wide selection of baby or mini vegetables. Virtually every vegetable, it seems, has its mini varieties. Consider spoon or red currant tomatoes, about the size of peas, two dozen of which can comfortably nestle on a tablespoon. Or how about one-bite eggplants, personal-sized spaghetti squash, miniature bell peppers (red, orange, and chocolate brown varieties), Tom Thumb lettuce, four-inch diameter cabbages, four-inch long Japanese Hulless ears of corn, pinkie finger sized carrots, and golf ball sized beets. You can find seeds for all of these mini vegetables at seedman.com. Websites of other vendors that stock mini vegetable and other exotic seeds include territorialseed.com, ufseeds.com, rareseeds.com, and seedsavers.org.
Herbs. If you wish to plant herbs that deter cats, consider those with strong foliar pungency such as rosemary, lemon balm, and lavender. Cats tend to avoid these although they do like rolling around in catnip and catmint, which are also notable for making soothing teas. Catnip (Nepeta cataria) stimulates cats far more than catmint (Nepeta x faassenii), but catnip is rarely seen in nurseries because its flowers are not flamboyant whereas the lavender blue floral display of catmint can be spectacular. The effect of catnip and catmint on cats is that of a pheromone or scented sex hormone secreted by a potential mate. Once they have sniiffed these herbs, their manic rolling around in them is similar to what they go through when in heat. Not all cats, especially kittens and older ones, are affected by these herbs in this way.
Flowers. Nearly all red hot poker (Kniphofia spp.) plants bloom in spring, summer or fall, but a few cultivars, such as Christmas Cheer, flower in winter too. Their magnificent, fiery inflorescences always make you stop and take a second look. Although they are in the same family as the aloes, red hot pokers, also known as torch lilies, need more water to thrive. While they can survive in a drought-tolerant garden, expectantly holding out for an injection of winter rain, they will do better when regularly watered in hot weather. Signature red hot poker flowers glow in red, orange and gold, but there are species and cultivars that bear magenta and white, burgundy and green, lime green, and pure butter-yellow torches, too. Eight species and varieties of red hot poker are available at nurseries supplied by smgrowers.com. When you reach the site, click “Retail Locator” on the left side of the home page to find a nursery near you that could special order these plants.
If you tire of the maintenance a lawn requires, consider turning it into a DG (decomposed granite) garden. Remove existing grass to three inches below grade and backfill with DG. Wet it down and then compact it with a sod roller, available at rental yards. Once you have your DG ground cover (a canvas for your work of garden art) in place, you can create a design of specimen trees, shrubs, flowering perennials, and succulents of all types, that can be watered by drip irrigation. Plants that are somewhat tricky to grow in regular soil, such as proteas, grevilleas, and many California natives, will thrive in decomposed granite, as long as the soil below is of above-average drainage. Of course, you can also use DG for hardscape features, from walkways to patios. Keep in mind that you will need to refurbish DG every few years as ruts and cracks may open up from pounding rain and regular wear and tear.