Five things to do in the garden this week:
Fruits. Dragon fruit is ready to pick from July through October, 30-50 days after flowering. It ripens on the vine and is ready for harvest when the green skin turns yellow, pink, or red, depending on the variety. Fruit is ripe when it begins to feel soft like a ripe avocado. If you have a crowded garden with little room for more plants, situate your dragon fruit at the base of a tree so it can climb its way up the adjacent trunk. Palm trees are especially suited to accommodating the vining growth of both dragon fruit and passion fruit.
Vegetables. There is a wide variety of radishes that will bring unusual colors to your vegetable plate or salad. Watermelon radishes are green on the outside and brilliant pink to red on the inside. Black radishes have virtually black skin with a white inside and a taste more pungent than typical radishes. For giant radishes, plant daikon Japanese or Korean varieties whose roots can extend to more than one foot. What’s nice about radishes is that they can be planted throughout the year in our area. Most varieties mature in as little as one month, while daikons mature in 45 120 days, depending on how large they get.
Herbs. Vietnamese balm (Elsholtzia ciliata) is also known as late summer mint and may be planted now. It grows quickly to a height of three feet and displays scads of attractive pinkish purple flowers on three-inch spikes. Its flavor combines citrus with mint. Give this annual full sun to light shade and keep soil moderately moist. Seeds are tiny, so they only need to be pressed into moist soil, covered with a bit of compost, and kept hydrated until germination, which should occur in a week or two.
Flowers. Rangoon creeper (Combretum indicum) is a seldom-seen vine in our area even though it should grow well in the San Fernando Valley and anywhere east, west, and south of there. Its five-petaled flowers are held at the end of arching stems and change from white to pink and finally to red as they age. Flowers are borne in clusters of 10-30. The display is unforgettable and, for a bonus, flowers are fragrant, especially at night, so as to attract pollinating hawk moths.
Indoor plants. String of nickels (Dischidia nummularia) is a carefree plant that trails out of its pot in rapid fashion as long as it is given a modicum of water so that its soil does not dry out. Succulent, coin-shaped, pale green leaves form dense 2-3 foot pendulous chains. This is an easy species to grow and will provide an uninterrupted waterfall of foliage to your unending delight.