Inside-Out Gardening

Written by Lynn Pitts

October and November are what some people call “Inside-Out Time.” It’s an odd sub-season in Bakersfield that may last a few weeks or longer. You start the day in a chilly house, but after going outside, you’re still close to summer warmth. Off come the sweaters and on go the sprinklers. There’s a slight chance of frost, which seems to encourage re-seeded lawns into that Oz-like emerald green color.

If you haven’t tried a fall-winter garden, you are missing a great opportunity to have some of the tastiest veggies. Sow lettuce, snow peas, radishes, carrots, Swiss chard, spinach, turnips, and fava beans. For flowers, sweet peas should be planted by Halloween. Poppy, larkspur, lupine, Bachelor Buttons, and alyssum seeds can be scattered now. Garlic cloves, onion sets, and shallots can be planted as well as flats of calendulas, Iceland poppies, primroses, snapdragons, stock, violas, and pansies. Your window for planting a fall-winter garden is between Columbus Day (October 12) and Veterans Day (November 11); say around Will Rogers Day (November 4).

Fall is a gardener’s most-favorite time of year. There’s that crispness in the air, of course, bringing lazy summer doldrums to an end. Fall makes my mind snap to attention and recall lessons learned in the great outdoor school of life. Books and classes are a great way to discover more about gardening, but there is really no substitute for that remarkable teaching team—trial and error. Over time, I’ve learned a few things, some important, others not so, and some lessons are yet to take hold. Gardening is a passion you can fulfill without guilt. It’s not fattening. It’s not bad for your health. It doesn’t lead to a life of crime. I still plant things too close, instant gratification being a powerful force. I still tend to go over the top; just one more pot won’t hurt, will it? And I am still a hypocrite. I told myself no projects next year, but I’m already playing with ideas for a grape arbor. I have, however, learned some lessons through the years and here’s a smattering:

• Plants don’t just grow up...they grow out as well. Most would probably be tossed from an airline seat for being too fat. Pay attention to that horizontal dimension.

• You can have too many garden ornaments, but don’t let that stop you.

• Plants that live over winter but get leggy and/or woody like lavender, santolina, rosemary and sage rarely recover their lush fullness. Toss ‘em.

• Something happens to people’s brains when they get their hands on pruners. They want to reenact the chainsaw massacre, which explains the butchered trees and hedges around town.

• Do not use fish fertilizer in your pots on the day you are having a cocktail party on the patio. Do not spread manure on your lawn just before entertaining outside (or inside with the windows open). And, by all means, do not go off and leave the job to a teenage boy who thinks, if one bag of fertilizer is good, two will be even better.

• The term “dwarf” on a plant tag just means it’s smaller than the species. Maybe only 15 feet high instead of 25.

• You can never dig enough compost into hard clay soil. You can never dig enough compost into hard clay soil. Write this 100 times on the blackboard.

• A good pickax is your new “BFF” when breaking up hard clay soil.

• Don’t use bark chips on paths. It disintegrates into an excellent medium for growing weeds, unless you first lay down weed cloth.

• Someday you will find all your trowels. They’ll be at the end of the rainbow with all those socks that disappeared in the wash.

• Don’t expect flowers you order to have the brilliant color you see in catalogs.

• Don’t move a large plant unless you can afford to lose it. I moved a $250 Japanese maple because I thought it would look better somewhere else. Not a smart move.

• You are not alone. There is rarely such a thing as a water feature that doesn’t have problems.

• Plants that flop aren’t worth it. Staking is a chore and seldom looks natural. I make exceptions for lilies and delphiniums.

• As mentioned last issue, phrases such as “tendency to spread” are euphemisms for “will take over everything.”

• Unless your family is crazy for zucchini bread, you probably don’t need more than one zucchini plant. Ditto for cherry tomato plants.

• Roses continue their love/hate affair with me. Last January I convinced myself I didn’t need so many roses. I tried to give them up but it’s like giving up chocolate. You can only do it for so long. I never made it through Lent. I still have 25 rose bushes.

Before I forget, I’ve got to tell you about a couple of fantastic plant catalogs I’ve recently discovered. Since our “Inside” time is soon arriving, it’s always fun to dog-ear pages on chilly winter days, planning ahead to 2011’s garden. My reputation as a disciplined shopper is toast as I get greedier with each flip of a catalog page. This reminds me of a German saying: “Once your reputation is ruined, you can live quite freely.” But I digress.

The catalogs I mentioned are:

Yucca Do Nursery-Yuccado.com

A southwestern Texas nursery specializing in drought- and heat-tolerant plants that will astound you with all the excellent choices.

Plant Delights Nursery-Plantdelights.com

Can you say “addictive”? I can and I will. More than 1,000 perennials to choose from. It’s dangerous and don’t say I didn’t warn you.

A friend told me that gardening is like spaghetti. Everybody loves it, but everyone makes the sauce differently. And it’s still good. Call garden mistakes “research” and plants that die “opportunities.” I think Will Rogers would approve.

Article appeared in our 27-4 Issue - October 2010