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Tips for growing healthy container plants in the garden, patio or deck

April 15, 2023

1. If you have a patio or deck, you may be considering adorning it with potted plants. The problem with containerized plants on concrete or wood surfaces is the stains that they create. To prevent such stains, you must elevate your plants above the surfaces involved. You can do this by placing your pots in plant stands or by positioning so-called pot feet under them or their saucers. Saucers present another problem, however, since the water that collects in them may attract mosquitoes. In such cases, if your patio is roofed, you may wish to opt for hanging baskets to house your patio plants. Another solution is to position potted plants on the earth around your patio perimeter. Plants in containers are increasingly finding their way into the garden, especially where the edge of a garden meets the edge of a hardscape feature or driveway. A whole row of container plants just beyond the outside edge of a concrete pool deck or driveway will soften the look and feel of these surfaces.

2. If you are looking for plants suitable for container growing that will bloom from now until the fall, consider these: petunias, although you will need to pinch back growth every now and then to encourage branching; million bells or Calibrachoa, which look like petunias, to which they are related, only with flowers one-third the size; fanflower (Scaevola aemula) in mauve or pink; star clusters (Pentas lanceolata) in red, pink, purple, or white; cannas, which have silky flowers in red, pink, yellow, orange, and white that look like irises and banana leaf foliage that may be striped or variegated in a Joseph’s coat of colors; dragon wing begonias for half day sun. Container plants with non-stop foliar interest include red Abyssiniany banana (Ensete ventricosum var. Rubrum), red African milk bush (Synadenium grantii var. Rubrum), coleus, the otherworldly Persian shield (Strobilanthes dyeriana) with its handsome, lanceolate purplish foliage with silver highlights, and sweet potato vine (Ipomoea batatas), with cascading leaves in lime green or dark purple.

3. It is essential to thin fruit at this time not only so that your remaining fruit reaches their proper size, but also to keep branches from breaking when they are overloaded with a crop. Peach, nectarine, plum, and apricot branches are especially susceptible to such breakage and, with this possibility in mind, thin peaches and nectarines when they are as small as an inch or two in size so that a space of five inches is created between any two fruit on the same branch. Where plums and apricots are concerned, the distance between any two of them should be three inches. If you want to go exotic in your selection of fruit trees, the place to do it is Papaya Tree Nursery (papayatreenursery.com) in Granada Hills. Select from Persian mulberry, cherimoya, litchi, and dozens of other species that you won’t find in your average plant nursery. San Gabriel Nursery and Florist (sgnursery.com), Laguna Hills Nursery (lagunahillsnursery.com), and Otto & Sons Nursery (ottoandsonsnursery.com) are excellent sources for a large variety of more conventional fruit tree types.

4. Plant asparagus for a generation of spears. The plants do last for several decades and the crop they produce is not getting any cheaper. Asparagus thrives in deep, well-drained soil that is rich in organic matter. Preparation for planting involves digging a trench one foot deep and one foot wide in a full sun location. Back-fill the trench with four inches of the original soil mixed with a healthy quantity of aged compost. Now spread a 5-10-10 fertilizer and cover with two more inches of compost-enriched soil. Set asparagus crowns (asparagus stem bases plus roots) 18 inches apart, in rows, and cover the crowns with two more inches of soil. As asparagus shoots emerge, shovel additional soil into the trench. Follow the progress of the shoots with a gradual elevation of the soil level until the trench is filled in completely. Asparagus produces two types of growth: the spears that you see on your dinner plate and frizzy, fernlike shoots. These frizzy shoots turn brown during the winter but should not be cut off until spring, allowing the carbohydrate they manufacture to be completely transported down into the roots where it can be stored for later use by developing spears. You can order asparagus crowns by mail order from Stark Brothers (starkbros.com), Keene Garlic (keeneorganics.com), or Gurney’s Seed and Nursery (gurneys.com).

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5. You can enjoy corn throughout summer and fall by planting early, mid-season, and late varieties now. There should be two and a half to three feet between rows. While the earliest varieties will produce just one ear per plant, later varieties will often yield two ears, especially when spacing between plants is twelve inches or more, although plants can be as little as eight inches apart. As long as the pollination periods of the various varieties do not overlap, there is no danger of producing inferior kernels. To ensure pollination, however, especially if you plant in an enclosed area where not much wind blows, or if only a couple dozen plants are involved, you should probably hand pollinate, too. Each corn plant has both male flowers (tassels) and female flowers (silks) but they are separated on the plant, with the tassels sprouting at the top. In order to hand-pollinate, cut off the tassels when they begin to shed pollen, which you then dust onto the silks. Make sure the soil is prepared to the depth of a shovel blade, around six to eight inches deep, with finished homemade compost or a bagged soil amendment prior to planting. Corn is a heavy feeder so you can apply a low-analysis fertilizer recommended for vegetables when the plants reach heights of 16 and 36 inches. To prevent infestation of corn earworms (moth larvae), apply spinosad, a non-toxic organic insecticide to silks and tassels as soon as they appear and make repeat applications every four to five days until you harvest the corn.

Please send questions, comments, and photos to [email protected].

Orange County Register

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Tips for growing healthy container plants in the garden, patio or deck

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