013 Grow Fruit Bushes Not Fruit Trees. Seed Germination Tips. Zinnias for Mental Health!

Quit growing fruit trees, will you? Grow fruit bushes, instead! We talk with a nursery person who wrote a book advocating keeping all your fruit trees no taller than you can reach from the ground. That way, you can grow more varieties of peaches, plums, apples, oranges and other fruit-bearing plants in your yard, without a need to ever get on a ladder. And you will still harvest enough fruit for you and your family…with plenty left over.

Do you have old packets of seeds around? Are they still viable? Our in-house college horticulture professor has tips for increasing seed germination from those old seed packages.

Why you should start cuttings and fruit pits in soil, not water.

Spring and summer are the colorful seasons for zinnias, an annual flower that attracts hummingbirds, pollinators, and other beneficial insects. And zinnias just might be good for your mental health because of their brightly colored blooms and their multiple uses, both outdoors and indoors.

It’s all in Episode 13 of Garden Basics with Farmer Fred, and we will do it all in under 30 minutes.

Links:
"Grow a Little Fruit Tree" by Ann Ralph
Pepper Seed Germination Tips
Plants That Attract Beneficial Insects
Plants to Attract the Pollinators
Park Seeds Zinnia Collection
Zinnia Seeds from Johnny's Seeds

All About Farmer Fred:
Farmer Fred website: http://farmerfred.com
Daily Garden tips and snark on Twitter
The Farmer Fred Rant! Blog
Facebook:  "Get Growing with Farmer Fred"
Instagram: farmerfredhoffman
Farmer Fred Garden Videos on YouTube
Garden columnist, Lodi News-Sentinel 

Thank you for listening, subscribing and commenting on the Garden Basics with Farmer Fred podcast and the Beyond the Garden Basics Newsletter.

Transcript

Farmer Fred : 0:12

Welcome to the Garden Basics with Farmer Fred podcast. If you're just a beginning gardener or you want good gardening information well you've come to the right spot. Those of you who are familiar with my garden radio shows here in Northern California, which I've been doing since 1982, might be wondering, well, what's the reason for this podcast? Well, even though I'm fond of saying all gardening is local Garden Basics with Farmer Fred will be reaching out to gardeners wherever they may happen to be. With garden tips and growing advice that apply just about anywhere, will strive to explain garden jargon and terms anyone can understand. And we'll be talking to garden experts from throughout the world who will share their vast plant and soil knowledge with us. And we'll be answering your gardening questions. Think of us as your one-room schoolhouse. Growing your backyard garden of fruits, vegetables, and oh yeah flowers that attract the garden good guys, beneficial insects and pollinators. And we'll have some fun too. Let's get started.

Farmer Fred : 1:21

Hey, quit growing fruit trees will you? Grow fruit bushes, instead! We talked with a nursery person who wrote a book advocating keeping all your fruit trees no taller than you can reach from the ground. That way, you can grow more varieties of peaches, plums, apples, oranges, and other fruit-bearing plants in your yard without ever needing to get on a ladder and you're still gonna harvest enough fruit for you and your family with plenty left over. Hey, do you have old packets of seeds around? Are they still viable? Our in house college horticulture professor has tips for increasing seed germination from those old seed packages. Spring and Summer are the colorful seasons for zinnias, an annual flower that attracts hummingbirds, pollinators and other beneficial insects. And Zinnias just might be good for your mental health because of their brightly colored blooms and their multiple uses both outdoors and indoors. It's all in Episode 13 of Garden Basics with Farmer Fred and we're gonna do it all in under 30 minutes. Let's go.

Farmer Fred : 2:25

You've heard me talk for years about backyard orchard culture, about the benefits of keeping your fruit and nut trees small. That way you can have more trees in a smaller sunny spot, but you don't believe me? Maybe you'll believe Ann Ralph. She's written a great book called "Grow a Little Fruit Tree, Simple Pruning Techniques for Small Space, Easy Harvest Fruit Trees". Ann is based in Amador county (CA) and your influences are much the same as mine. Ed Laivo. Tell us how you came across Ed.

Ann Ralph : 2:56

I was working at Scenic Nursery in Modesto, California. We had Jim Rodgers, he was the owner of the nursery and he insisted that we cut the fruit trees short when they went out the door. And I knew that Jim was right about almost everything but I didn't like doing it. And one day Ed came into the nursery, he was our sales representative from Dave Wilson nursery. He came into the nursery with an Arctic Jay Nectarine that I could not forget. So I had to chop a little fruit tree for myself. Jim wouldn't let me out of the nursery without pruning the tree short. I saw what happened to the tree and that's how I came to write the books.

Farmer Fred : 3:38

Let's talk about that because I'm sure you've given public demonstrations as I have during bare roo planting season where you stand in front of a crowd with a six foot stick, basically a bare root fruit tree or nut tree, and you chop it off at the knee and an audible gasp goes up from the crowd and you know right away that a lot of people think you just killed the tree. But in reality, when you cut off that new bare root fruit tree to knee high, what are some of the things that happens to that tree as a result?

Ann Ralph : 4:12

The first and most important thing is that it lowers the scaffold and puts the tree in front of you, instead of, if you don't prune it, it's just going to grow Higher, higher, higher, higher. The second thing it does is it starts building strength into the trees, it does not naturally exist without that prune. It's emotionally difficult. But I would say if you can't do that pruning, then you really are better off not growing the fruit tree,

Farmer Fred : 4:42

as I'm fond of saying, any piece of fruit that's outside of your reach while you stand on the ground is for the birds. And it literally is for the birds so it makes perfect sense to have your fruit trees no taller than you can reach in order to have a healthy tree because one of the benefits of having a six or seven foot or even an eight foot fruit tree. It's easy to net to keep the birds away come harvest time.

Ann Ralph : 5:08

Well and I talked to about how much fruit people really overestimate the amount of fruit they actually use. We want to be growing fruit so that you have the amount of fruit that you can use because too much fruit is a real nightmare scenario. It's all rotting on the ground.

Farmer Fred : 5:26

Exactly that fruit that's rotting. Not only is it for the birds, but it might as well be for the worms as well. Now, speaking of worms, you're a big fan of using worm castings. Yes, I am. Tell us how you use worm castings.

Ann Ralph : 5:40

What I do, I use them I they're they're a little more expensive than other mulches. So I use them like medicine. I put them anywhere where I anticipate a problem. I use them around apple trees for codling moths. They're wonderful around citrus trees for scale. And I can't tell you how this works. I believe that organic gardening magazine, is just starting to do some research. But the anecdotal evidence is really strong. My personal experience is great with this but the fruit, the fruit trees love and they help keep the coddling moth away and they help. Anytime there's an insect problem. I put worm castings at the base of the tree at a half an inch out to the drip line.

Farmer Fred : 6:21

Now you mentioned also when you're talking about worm casting, something I didn't realize about the chitin effect may keep away certain insects.

Ann Ralph : 6:30

That's right. Yeah, insects are made out of chitin. And this is one stipulation. I'm not I'm not a scientist. And this is one thing that earthworm growers have said that the chitinase may be the the ingredient that keeps, keeps the insect... chitin degrades, chitins, and that may keep the insects away. I don't know why it works. But I've been I've had really good experience with it.

Farmer Fred : 6:58

Exactly. And you make that very clear in the book that this is all anecdotal evidence when it comes to worm castings,

Ann Ralph : 7:05

right. But still I would encourage people with scale problems on their citrus, especially. People with codling moth in their apples. That's not all they need to do but it certainly would be a good thing to start with.

Farmer Fred : 7:17

tell us a little bit about your backyard orchard. what is the spacing of your fruit trees? What sort of fruit trees do you have in your yard?

Ann Ralph : 7:24

Okay, I've got about I've got six trees, and they are, I think probably about eight feet apart. I've had something that looks like a mini orchard. Because I have a little bit of space that you can certainly use this technique to grow things against the fence, but mine Mine are. It's a young orchard so they're not very big yet. . They're not taller than I am. So they're about they're about six feet tall. And I've got a Flavor Queen pluot, a French prune, I've got the Sierra Beauty Apple, I've got a Hudson Golden Gem apple, Mericrest nectarine and I've got a mystery peach that I got free from the nursery,

Farmer Fred : 8:07

you pointed out in your book and very rightly so that especially in the world of stone fruits, nothing beats the taste of a homegrown stone fruit. And I bet you and I are both big fans of the pluot, the plum-apricot cross. And you know, you tell people you got to try a pluot. And what happens is they go to the grocery store and buy one of those pluots and they go, yeah, it was okay. Well, you need to grow one at home.

Ann Ralph : 8:34

That's right. That's so right. I was passing around pluots to my neighbors they've never had before. That was a terrific experience for all of us.

Farmer Fred : 8:46

their eyes light up. Yes, it's a big reaction.

Ann Ralph : 8:49

Oh, the Flavor Queen. And they're not you know, it's, it's not what I would call a beautiful fruit. It's just an orange, you know, kind of a yellow-orange plum looking thing. I think that it's tremendous.

Farmer Fred : 9:03

And it's a fairly steady performer to some pluots might have on and off years like the flavor Supreme, one of my favorites, but the flavor Queen that seems to produce very well, year after year. Yeah. Yeah, it is. And I've got the flavor Queen, the flavor supreme and the dapple dandy, and I'm very happy with those three.

Ann Ralph : 9:24

Which one is your favorite?

Farmer Fred : 9:26

Well, I really like the flavor Supreme, that that's usually the first one that matures and I just love the sweet flavor of it. But it seems that with a lack of chilling hours or chilling units, the flavor supreme isn't performing as well as it did 10 years ago.

Ann Ralph : 9:42

Right. And that's a situation that seems to be getting worse. As the climate changes and people need to be aware, I think maybe more aware of chill hours than we used to.

Farmer Fred : 9:52

More and more people are sort of changing the way they look at it instead of talking about chill hours, which are hours at 45 degrees or below, they're thinking of chill units, which takes into consideration the heat during the day, which can actually subtract from the chill hours at night,

Farmer Fred : 10:13

You briefly mentioned about trellising or espalliering. And for people with really small yards, that's a great way to go for fruit trees by basically stringing them along a wall or a fence and you talk about that in your book grow a little fruit tree.

Ann Ralph : 10:28

that's, well there are a couple of ways to do that. There's informal espallier, and that's just making their tree two dimensional. You cut off everything that's growing forward, or you can you can have a fruit tree that has one flat side and and let it grow dimensionally into the yard if you want something that looks more like a tree, or you can make these formal espalliers, the apples and pears, do that very nicely stronger fruits. That's hard to do with apricot. apricots, or stone fruit responds better to an informal espallier.

Farmer Fred : 11:06

And perhaps a tree that that's known for its sprawling nature the fig tree can take well to espallier, can't it?

Ann Ralph : 11:12

There's a beautiful picture in the book of an espallied fig.

Farmer Fred : 11:17

Exactly against a wall.

Ann Ralph : 11:19

Yeah.

Farmer Fred : 11:20

it looked very nice. The name of the book again is "grow a little fruit tree". It's by Ann Ralph. It's available wherever books are sold. Ann Ralph, a pleasure talking with you about fruit trees this morning.

Ann Ralph : 11:32

Same Here. Thank you.

Farmer Fred : 11:33

And if you want more information about the book, grow a little fruit tree. Click on the link in today's show notes at the Garden Basics with Farmer Fred podcast.

Farmer Fred : 11:47

Here on the garden basics podcast, we want to answer your garden questions. a couple of ways you can do that. Give us a call 916-292-8964 that number again. 916 292 8964 you can either leave a message or you can text that number as well be patient. There are a lot of rings before we pick up. another way is email, send your garden questions to Fred at farmer fred.com. That's Fred at farmerfred.com dot com. One benefit of email is you can attach a photo of a bug or a plant that you're trying to identify. We're looking forward to hearing and seeing your questions. And thanks for listening to the Garden Basics with Farmer Fred podcast. I appreciate all your support and all your comments.

Farmer Fred : 12:38

Here on the garden basics podcast, we like to answer your questions you can send them in via email over the phone and through Facebook or Twitter, you well you know that you just heard how you can send your questions and here's email that came in from Dorothy who says that she dug out all my old packages of seeds. I have one bag of potting soil. I heard someone on your show maybe Debbie Flower suggesting soaking seeds in warm water and peroxide. Well, let's ask Debbie, Debbie, why would you soak seeds in warm water and peroxide,

Debbie Flower : 13:12

but I have to tell you the reason this came up was I was teaching and when in teaching, we did a lot of production, we had plant sales. And we grew tomatoes and peppers and flowers and shrubs and trees, many things. And we were having trouble getting our pepper seeds to germinate quickly and sort of all at once. When you're in production, you want things to germinate pretty much at the same time so that when you go to sell them, they're about the same size as each other. And so I looked around for possible solutions to that and one thing I came across it is not a scientific study, it was just that someone did it and it worked for them was to soak the pepper seeds in hydrogen peroxide only and do it for 10 minutes. And so we tried it You know, gardening, in many ways is all about experimentation. Teaching, Learning is about experimentation. So we tried it. And for us it worked. We got better, more even germination of our pepper seeds. So the only thing I've used it on is pepper seeds. And the only time was when I was teaching students in college, so it was 10 minutes pepper seeds, 10 minutes in straight hydrogen peroxide, and then we drained them and planted them.

Farmer Fred : 14:26

So I tried that myself, because as you know, to germinate pepper seeds. Normally it takes two to three weeks for you to see the plant emerge from the soil. And I tried it I soaked it in hydrogen peroxide for 10 minutes, and then I plopped it between two coffee filters kept them moist and on the counter and they germinated in six or seven days. And then I took those little germinated seeds and put them in a seed starting mix, and they came up

Debbie Flower : 14:57

yeah. So it's again anecdotal. Which means no one has done a controlled experiment that I'm aware of on this, but people I know who have used the soaking just in hydrogen peroxide have had success and with germinating pepper seeds,

Farmer Fred : 15:12

but will it help Dorothy and her old packages of seeds,

Debbie Flower : 15:16

all packages of seeds have a life and the seeds and those packages have a life and that life is very much dependent on how she stored those seed packages. Seeds do best if they're stored cool and dry and different seeds last different numbers of years. I really can't tell her if it's going to help her with her getting her seed packages to germinate. What you did by germinating them on the counter, we did that in school. As a germination test. We actually use paper towels, laid the seeds down the middle of the paper towels, folded the towel in half, rolled it up wet it and then stood it up. So the fold Were the seeds were right in the middle of the paper towel is standing up in a jar and put a plastic bag over it to see if the seeds were going to germinate. We used 10 seeds because the math on 10 seeds is pretty easy. If 2 germinate, you're going to have 20% germination if 10 germinates and you're going to have 100% germination. So it's a way to test whether those seeds are gonna germinate

Farmer Fred : 16:22

and that's probably what Dorothy should do with each of her packages of old seeds is lay out 10 on a paper towel or moist coffee filter, and come back in a few days and see if you see any roots poking out,

Debbie Flower : 16:34

right and if they are, they often grow right into that paper towel. You may have experienced that with the coffee filter, but you just cut cut around the keeping the root and the paper towel together and bury that in the media and the seed can grow from there on

Farmer Fred : 16:49

you bet your booties that if you grow seeds in a paper towel, it gets caught in those fibers and that's why I switched over to coffee filters because it's less fibrous and I didn't have any problems. moving them. In my case those pepper seeds after they had germinated into starting soil, but I like your idea too of just cutting out that little piece of wet paper towel and then sticking that in the media

Ann Ralph : 17:12

either. Either way works. Alright, let's teach me something Fred. I didn't know that about the coffee filter. So thank you for that.

Farmer Fred : 17:19

Oh, anytime and Dorothy store your seeds in a place where they have the greatest chance for viability in upcoming years and that would be in a cool dry location. Yeah, not in the garage. All right. All right. Debbie Flower. We germinated Some information today. Thank you for your efforts in this behalf.

Debbie Flower : 17:39

Always love learning something new. Thanks, Fred.

Farmer Fred : 17:45

How many of you have ever taken a fruit pit, stuck a couple of toothpicks in it and suspended it over a glass of water with about half the pits sitting in the water. Pretty soon roots develop. Well, now you might be tempted to take that pit with the roots and stick it in the ground. That may not work. Debbie Flower our in house college horticulture Professor explains why and she explained this back in Episode Five as far as starting cuttings of rosemary in water versus soil.

Debbie Flower : 18:15

When you do some research if you do some research on the internet about propagating rosemary, many people suggest sticking the cuttings in water and you'll find pictures of cuttings with in water in a clear glass and roots coming out the bottom. And it's very true that that will work. But the quality of root that is produced in water is very different from the quality of root that is produced in a media and a media being the soil or soilless mix. And the reason for that is the difference in the amount of oxygen in the two materials. Water has oxygen when it first comes out of the tap but as it sits there, the oxygen leaves and so it becomes very low in oxygen and you get a low oxygen root but if you start Stick the cutting in the mix I suggested half perlite, half vermiculite, or in a seed starting mix. There's much more oxygen in that media and you will get a different root. And if your plan is to ultimately grow the plant to the rosemary on in in a pot of soil, then you want to start your cutting in soil, not in water.

Farmer Fred : 19:30

The Dallas Morning News recently had an editorial about the Coronavirus potential effect on us. the mental effect to us as well as our collective well being. The editorial said while it may not be as obvious as job losses and Coronavirus fatalities. The nation is on the cusp of a spiraling mental health crisis. According to the experts. The article talks about the need for more innovative delivery of mental health services to those in need. Well that just might be all of us. And that leads me back to cite one of those six daily quarantine or shelter in place questions that you should ask yourself every day number six on that list was: what beauty Am I either creating, cultivating or inviting in today? Well how about inviting in the sight of a window box or large pots of zinnias outside your bedroom window? natural beauty such as flowers has a calming effect on us. Wouldn't it be nice and soothing that the first and last thing you see each day out your window are the bright Spring Summer and Fall blooms of zinnias? right now is Zinnia growing season. nurseries have a good stock of zinnias available right now. But if you want an even more dazzling eye catching variety of happiness, plant several of the more unusual zinnias that you will find at the nursery seed rack. There are literally hundreds of Zinnia cultivars available. heights range from six inches to between three and four feet tall, and they come in a wide variety of flower colors. And if you have some trepidation about growing from seed, let me reassure you zinnias are among the easiest of all flowers to grow. You can plant Zinnia seeds where you want them to grow and May and June is the best time to plant them. zinnias do best in full sun but they can put on a colorful show in an area that gets maybe four to six hours of direct sun a day. plant them not too deeply about quarter of an inch deep. Cover them lightly firm the soil and keep moist until the seedlings emerge and that'll just be in a few days, definitely less than a week. Then you want to thin them to stand perhaps nine to 12 inches apart after they're just a few inches tall. And don't let that word thinning scare you either. thinning just involves removing a plant and if you don't want to throw it out, well, don't. Plant it someplace else. The bright blooms of zinnias make them a favorite of hummingbirds and other pollinators as well as beneficial insects such as Bees, hover flies and miniwasps. Don't worry these wasps don't sting they just go after the bad guys in your garden like tomato hornworms. Well after the hummingbirds and beneficial insects have had their fill of the nectar, seeds will develop as the flowers mature and that attracts a whole host of seed loving birds like sparrows and finches. And you know what else is great about zinnias? The wide variety of flower shapes that they have. Recently I planted a wide variety of red Zinnia seeds, several different varieties of red zinnias with different flower shapes and differing heights. Those red varieties that I planted include dreamland red, which gets about 10 to 12 inches tall, Magellan Scarlet 12 to 14 inches tall, and then they start getting taller red spider zinnia gets 18 to 24 inches. Zinderella red is 24 inches. And parks picks is a deep red Zinnia that gets a whopping three to four feet tall. If you go to the notes for today's show, there's a link there to Park seed as well as Johnny seeds that can show you some of the amazing zinnia varieties that are available when you plant from seed. And when you're done enjoying them in the garden or even while you're enjoying them in the garden, bring the flowers indoors. zinnias make wonderful long lasting cut flowers. It's spring and summer happiness for both the outdoors and the indoors. zinnias will bring a smile to your face and everyone else that sees them and you know a smile is a good start to better mental health.

Farmer Fred : 23:39

Thank you for listening to the Garden Basics with Farmer Fred podcast. I appreciate your ears. How about a subscription? you can get the podcast wherever podcasts are given away such as Apple, Spotify, Google, I heart, Stitcher and many more.

Pam Farley : 23:59

So I have a brand new ebook called Get your garden started. It's about vegetable gardening for the very beginningest beginner...

Farmer Fred : 24:07

hold on, hold on, waiting for the dogs to stop barking in the background.

Pam Farley : 24:20

Are you done animal?

Farmer Fred : 24:22

I think they're done. Okay, so why don't you pick it up with what's in the bundle?

Pam Farley : 24:29

Ah, okay. So the ultimate Oh, again Okay,

Farmer Fred : 24:34

hold on. I have to get up and yell

Pam Farley : 24:39

okay

Farmer Fred : 24:43

quiet!

Farmer Fred : 24:48

there. Okay.

Pam Farley : 24:50

Oh, geez I'd be quiet.

Pam Farley : 24:54

That was a Mom voice, that was awesome.

Farmer Fred : 24:56

But that comes from experience of biking a lot in I'm being chased by dogs. And in that same voice saying go home. It's amazing how it slows dogs or even stops them.

Pam Farley : 25:09

That's good to know.

Farmer Fred : 25:12

One rider who was behind me once said, Gee, I almost turned around.

Pam Farley : 25:16

Right. Oh my goodness.