Five things to do in the garden this week:
Wildlife. My frustration with urban wildlife reached its peak this week when I went out to look at my Eva’s Pride peach tree one morning to find the dozens of fruit that had been ripening there completely gone. Some tiny fruit that had just begun to grow on my avocado tree had also disappeared, along with a collection of sprouts that I had hoped would grow into bush beans. On the plus side, my asparagus spears keep coming up, and my tomato plants are still intact, both vegetables seemingly of little interest — at least for now — to the nocturnal critters that roam my yard.
Vegetables. Seed Savers (seedsavers.org) is a non-profit organization dedicated to preserving the seeds of heirloom and open-pollinated vegetables, herbs, and flowers. Large packets of seeds are reasonably priced, and there is no shipping charge on orders over $25. A unique feature of Seed Savers is the promotion of seeds grown by backyard gardens, many of which have never been grown commercially. These gardeners have a section to themselves that you can find by clicking “The Exchange” at the top of the home page. The difference between heirloom and open-pollinated seeds is that all heirlooms are open-pollinated, while not all open-pollinated plants are heirlooms. Heirloom crops contain seeds that grow into plants with the same heirloom crops. An open-pollinated variety will do the same as long as it is pollinated by other plants of the same variety; where there is cross-pollination with a different variety, there is no knowing what the crops might be like. Heirlooms are generally at least 50 years old, whereas open-pollinated varieties are often of more recent vintage.
Flowers. If you lack bees to pollinate your vegetables and fruit trees, consider planting Pride of Madeira (Echium candicans) in your orchard or near your patch of vegetables. When you increase the population of bees, you increase pollination, resulting in better crops of fruits and vegetables, not only in quantity but in quality. Pollination is not a one-time event, and it is known that the greater the number of bees that visit a flower, the more robust the fruit or vegetable that develops from that flower will be. Pride of Madeira, with fat, foot-long panicles covered with multitudinous bluish-purple florets, will flower in its second year of growth and continue to flower magnificently for another year or two before going into decline and flowering sporadically, if at all. By then, however, it will have dropped seeds that sprout reliably.
Herbs. Plant basil next to your tomatoes, somewhat in their shadow, since basil can burn up in unobstructed all-day sun. Genovese basil, native to Genoa, Italy, is the gold standard of basil varieties. Common sweet basil has a light and minty aroma, whereas Genovese basil has a more pungent fragrance, a combination of clove and anise with a hint of pepper. Genovese leaves are larger than those of common basil. Even without a garden, you can grow basil in a container on a sunny balcony or patio or in a window box that receives excellent light.
Fertilizer. Daylilies respond well to fertilizer this time of year as they begin to bloom. Nurture them with a complete fertilizer, meaning a product that contains nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium. Look carefully once the initial crop of flowers begins to fade, and you may notice little plantlets forming on the stalks. When autumn arrives, you should see tiny roots begin to form on the baby plants, which can now be planted to increase your daylily delight.