Five things to do in the garden this week:
1. March is a great time to plant just about anything. Before our long hot summer begins, which can happen as early as April, get your annuals and perennials into the ground so that they have time to form a strong root system that can search far and wide for water once the heat comes. Planting now is especially recommended for plants that will bloom more in full than in half-day sun and yet, if planted in full sun once the weather heats up, may struggle. Examples of plants that can be located in full sun now but in the half-day sun later would include petunia, dianthus, lobelia, and columbine (Aquiegia spp.)
2. Now is a good time to transplant shrubs and trees if they are located in too much shade, for example, and need to be moved. If they are young, you might be able to do this yourself, but if they are too big to handle alone enlist extended family members, friends, or hired hands to help out. Almost any tree can be moved, included oak trees hundreds of years old. Your greatest concern should be the integrity of the rootball. Dig the deepest and especially widest rootball you can. Slide a large piece of burlap under the rootball while it is still in the ground, then wrap and tie it tightly around the rootball so that it is completely bundled up in the burlap and the soil holding the roots together cannot crumble away. Transplant as soon as possible, having dug a hole twice as wide and the same depth as the rootball before it was detached from the earth. Place the plant with the burlap in the planting hole, but remove the burlap before filling in the hole. Timing is important. Deciduous trees are best moved no later than late winter, at around this time.
3. This is an excellent time to plant California natives. Ceanothus or California lilac is a worthy ornamental that blooms at this time in every shade of blue, the rarest flower color. Ceanothus will need occasional attention to its water needs the first year or two in the ground but should be completely self-sufficient after that. Ceanothus enriches the soil due to its symbiotic relationship with Frankia bacteria that live in its roots and transform atmospheric nitrogen into a form that can be taken up by plants. A similar symbiosis is observed in the case of Casuarina trees. You see this tree, known commonly as weeping she-oak, planted on the edges of old landscapes for privacy or as a windbreak. In Kenya, Casuarina seedlings are interplanted with crops to provide them with a ready source of nitrate fertilizer. Crops such as sweet potatoes, peppers, peanuts, onions, and watermelon are planted under or around mature Casuarinas so they can benefit from the enriched soil. It might be worth planting edibles around a ceanothus plants to see if they would benefit from such an association, too.
4. This is the intermediate period between cool and warm season vegetable planting. But there are some crops you can plant any time of the year, especially root crops such as radishes, carrots, and beets since the edible portion grows underground and will eventually develop regardless of the elements. Although potatoes are best planted In late winter or late summer, they can be planted in a grow bag at any time. No, they do not like hot summer weather, but you can move the grow bag around so that the taters don’t get more than half-day sun, which is sufficient for tubers to develop yet will keep the plants from getting overly stressed. Lettuce can also be planted at almost any time as long as you give it more shade once warmer weather arrives.
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5. Make the most our of your green onions, also known as shallots. As soon as you bring them home from the grocery store, put them in a shallow glass of water so their roots alone are submerged. You can then cut the green shoots as needed. Even if you cut the shoots all the way down to their white base, there will be regrowth for up to four weeks. However, if you want to have onions year-round and never ever run out, plant Egyptian walking onions. Their taste replicates that of regular green onions but Egyptian onions are perennial. They have a remarkable growth habit where they continually produce onion bulblets in clusters above ground on their shoots. Just plant the bulblets an inch deep and new plants will grow from them. Egyptian walking onions are widely available through Internet vendors.
Send questions, comments and tips to joshua@perfectplants.com.