GB 098 FFF Scarlet Halo Donut Peach, Drip Irrigation Tips, Cheapskate Salad
28:19 April 30, 2021
SPEAKERS
Debbie Flower, Ed Laivo, Brad Gates, Farmer Fred
Farmer Fred 00:00
Garden Basics with Farmer Fred is brought to you by Smart Pots, the original lightweight, long lasting fabric plant container. it's made in the USA. Visit SmartPots.com slash Fred for more information and a special discount, that's SmartPots.com/Fred.
Farmer Fred 00:20
Welcome to the Garden Basics with Farmer Fred podcast. If you're just a beginning gardener or you want good gardening information, you've come to the right spot. .
Farmer Fred 00:32
Are you familiar with the donut peach? If not, we'll tell you all about it on today's edition of Fabulous Fruit Fridays, and we'll shine the spotlight on one particularly delectable variety, the Scarlet Halo doughnut peach. Fruit tree expert Ed Laivo of Tomorrows Harvest.com tells us all about it. One of the more frequently asked questions we get here is: how long should I run a drip irrigation system? Our resident retired college horticultural Professor, Debbie Flower, answers that question while contemplating another question from a listener about their dying loropetalum shrubs. Say you want to grow salad fixings in a hurry. We talked with Brad Gates from Wild Boar Farms, not about his tomatoes, but about a quick and easy way to grow greens he's experimenting with, even in hot summer climates. It's all on episode 98 of the Garden Basics with Farmer Fred podcast, brought to you by Smart Pots and Tomorrows Harvest dot com, and we'll do it all in under 30 minutes. Let's go.
Farmer Fred 01:32
It's Fabulous Fruit Friday. We're going to be highlighting a piece of fruit that's going to be so tasty. You'll want to grow one of those trees in your backyard for the coming season. And to bring us all the good news about all these great varieties is a guy I've known for about 25 years or so, he knows more about fruit trees than anybody I know. He has worked in the industry for years and years and years. Currently he's with Burchell Nursery. They're the parent company of Tomorrow's Harvest and we're going to be talking about some really great pieces of fruit as well as sharing some of his long held fruit tree growing advice that is going to make it ridiculously easy for you to grow fruit trees, no matter the size of your yard. It's Ed Laivo, and this peach that we're going to be talking about sounds like a winner because it's good for a number of USDA zones, what, six through nine?
Ed Laivo 02:30
Yes, six through nine. Fred. It is a winner. You know, of course, because of being one of the unique donut style peaches,
Farmer Fred 02:40
We should name it.
Ed Laivo 02:41
Well, let's call it Scarlet Halo. How does that sound?
Farmer Fred 02:45
The Scarlet Halo Peach.
Ed Laivo 02:46
Yeah, The Scarlet Halo is exciting. I mean, it's a big, big peach. I mean a big donut style peach. And definitely the uniqueness of this fruit is it's beautiful red skin. It's deep, deep, dark, dark mottled red flesh that sits on a white background. It's an amazing look. Eye candy, if you will. Just wonderful eye candy.
Farmer Fred 03:11
Now if people don't know what a donut style peach is, maybe they think it's covered in glaze or candy sprinkles it's not. But explain what a donut peach is.
Ed Laivo 03:20
Well, it's actually a flat peach you know the end to be exactly the donut peaches being sold now it's a very popular addition to the to the grocery store many grocery stores now you can get the flat donut style peaches, typically they're white but there's yellow varieties as well and tomorrow's harvest, of course, we'll be featuring not only the wonderful peaches that our donut style or flat donut style peaches and but they'll also be introducing many incredibly flavored nectarines, I mean outstanding flavored donut style nectarines as well. There's a whole probably about 10 varieties that nobody's ever known that I've went out and just kind of brought to the forefront and we are going to have a ball introducing these.
Farmer Fred 04:10
If you can grow a peach tree where you live, you can grow the Scarlet Halo peach. If nurseries don't have it. I would imagine that they can get it online.
Ed Laivo 04:18
Oh yeah, tomorrow's harvest is going to be the launching pad for many of these wonderful varieties of peaches that are coming out of the Burchell nursery.
Farmer Fred 04:28
If you want to find out more about the Scarlet Halo peach, visit their website, tomorrow's harvest.com You can also order it from there as well. Now I mentioned earlier the fact that besides being an innovator when it comes to fruit varieties, you are an innovator when it comes to helping people grow fruit trees in spaces people would think are impossible to grow. And I think one of the things we should talk about right off the bat and we're going to be talking about some aspect of fruit tree growing or berry growing throughout this series on fabulous Fruit Friday is the fact that even though these trees can get to a rather large size eventually like the Scarlet Halo peach, if you just let it grow, it could get 25 feet high with a 20 foot spread. That takes up a lot of room. But they don't need to be that tall, do they?
Ed Laivo 05:15
Not at all. And like he said, I've, I've always kept my fruit trees short. And when I first came into the industry, I think it was less exciting, they definitely wasn't accepted at all. I mean, there was farming practice in almost a commercial approach to growing fruit trees. And I was adamant at my young age that this really didn't apply to what the home gardener experienced and what the home gardeners challenges were in terms of limited space. And if you've got plenty of space, grow your fruit tree any to any height you want to but you don't need to grow any fruit tree, any taller than you stand with your hands extended above your head that you know that tall people have tall trees and short people have short trees and my trees are all as tall as I stand with my hands extended above my head. And that gives you plenty of fruit, more fruit than you probably can utilize anyways, you've got an experience keeping it short to begin with starting with when you're initially planting the plant and, and then of course using techniques to keep it small. As you grow the tree as the tree matures.
Farmer Fred 06:25
You can keep a tree at six or seven feet tall and still having a fruit for your family. Like the Scarlet Halo peach. For example. Ed Laivo, we're gonna learn a lot on Fabulous Fruit Fridays. I'm looking forward to this.
Ed Laivo 06:37
I am too, Fred. this is this is unique.
Farmer Fred 06:40
It's Fabulous Fruit Fridays, brought to you by tomorrow's harvest.com check them out.
Farmer Fred 06:49
You've heard me talk about Smart Pots, the award winning fabric planter here on the Garden Basics podcast. They're durable and reusable. I've been using mine for five years now. And once again, they're being pressed into service in my yard. Yeah, I have this problem. I grow too many tomatoes for the amount of allotted sunny space I have for them. So those extra tomato plants go into the Smart Pots. I place them in scattered areas around the yard where I know they'll get enough sun, which is a premium in my yard. And even five years later, I can pick up those Smart Pots, plant and all, and move them around without fear of the Smart Pot tearing or ripping. Smart Pots are made of breathable fabric, which creates a healthy root structure for plants. And, Smart Pots come in a wide variety of sizes and colors. Visit smartpots.com/Fred for more information about the complete line of Smart Pots, the lightweight fabric containers. And don't forget that "slash Fred" part. Because on that page are details of discounts when you buy Smart Pots on Amazon. Okay, now I understand maybe you want to see the Smart Pots before you buy them. That's not a problem. Smart Pots are available at independent garden centers and select Ace and True Value stores nationwide. To find a store near you, visit smartpots.com slash Fred.
Farmer Fred 08:13
We like to answer your garden questions here on the Garden Basics podcast. Debbie Flower is here. I think.
Debbie Flower 08:19
yes, I'm here
Farmer Fred 08:19
you're actually here.
Debbie Flower 08:21
Yes, at Barking Dog studio.
Farmer Fred 08:23
Here in the abutilon jungle in suburban purgatory. I did cut the abutilons way back in late winter but as strong as these flowering maples, the abutilons are, they're springing back.
Debbie Flower 08:37
Yes they are. I even see flower buds.
Farmer Fred 08:39
We like to answer your garden questions here on the Garden Basics podcast and Toby writes us from Lodi, California, which is in our Central Valley, famous for their fine wines. And he writes that: "my Crimson fire loropetalum looks okay in the winter and early spring. But in late spring and summer, they're pitiful, scraggly they appear to be dying. A few years ago, we hired an agricultural specialist who fertilize the shrubs, and told us to cut back on the watering. They improved only slightly for about two months and then returned to their pitiful look. They're on a drip watering system and are getting two days a week, one gallon each day. Last week we cut the watering cycle to one day per week for one hour. I have another loropetalum that's in a different area of the yard that is watered by an area sprinkler. It's thriving. Are the scraggly shrubs suffering from over watering under watering, a drip versus sprinkler poor soil? Thanks for your help." Boy, one gallon per week on drip. That ain't much.
Debbie Flower 09:44
No, that's not much at all. And it's going to occur in just the location where the drip lines are unless the drip has been set up correctly. These are relatively large shrubs. They haven't grown to the height that loropetalum has the potential to grow but they're they Spread out, and they're next to a driveway. And they're yes, in the spring pictures are the winter and early spring pictures. They look beautiful, lots of color, probably in flower. But then in the summer and later pictures, there are many leaves missing. Some are red, but some are green around the veins and yellow between which is the sign of a nutrient deficiency, micronutrient typically, but one has to remember that plants cannot get nutrients unless there's water bringing those nutrients to the roots.
Farmer Fred 10:36
Let's talk a little bit about the loropetalum plant itself. It's a common plant here in California but it is good all the way down to USDA zone seven, you can find them basically south of the Mason Dixon line, and up and through the Mid Atlantic coast states and the loropetalum is famous for its long flowering season. The leaves on varieties like the Crimson fire are gorgeous.
Debbie Flower 10:59
right. there are the red, they would have red leaves and pink flowers. And then there is the species that has green leaves and white flowers, which is a very clean sort of refreshing look. But people really like those those red leafs and pink flowers. They are unusual and it remains red through the summer. If it's healthy,
Farmer Fred 11:17
nice sized shrub to about six to 10 feet tall. Right? The loropetalum took off here in Northern California. In my mind, it's over planted. But the reason for over planting is it succeeds so easily. In your experiment there at the community college growing it, how much water was it getting?
Debbie Flower 11:39
I know it was getting some afternoon shade, which plays into it. And it was probably getting regular water. I was not in charge of that irrigation system there. But everything. There are many plants in the location that got that needed. Pretty regular water.
Farmer Fred 11:54
So probably regular watering,
Debbie Flower 11:56
probably regular watering. So twice, at least a week, maybe three times a week, and enough water to wet the whole root zone right? You know, when it rains? It rains everywhere? Well, yeah, I mean, when you get a storm at your property, it rains on all the land, it's not in a single line, it's not in a single line, right. So when I set up drip systems, I like to set them up. So they wet the whole area, I may only run them once every two weeks, for my very drought tolerant plants. But the whole all of the soil gets wet, that means the roots can go where they want the plant will be stable, the nutrients from all the soil will be available to all of the plants drip in the past has, especially on a new landscape, when they put it in, they tend to put one emitter at the base of the plant. And that has its logic. small plant, it's a small plant, and you have to keep that container medium moist until the plant establishes. But in the six or so weeks that the plant establishes, the roots have moved out of that away from that location. And they need water now. And so you have to continue the drip system all the way out or somehow wet the soil all over under that plant not just at the trunk.
Farmer Fred 13:11
And that's what we don't know about Toby's line of loropetalums, which in this picture sort of line his driveway. We don't know if how many emitters are on each plant. But if you are planting a row of shrubs like that, your best bet is using the half inch inline emitter tubing where the emitters are spaced either every 12 inches or every 18 inches and run them like railroad tracks on either side of the plant, ideally, on a mature plant, maybe halfway between the trunk and the very outer canopy of the plant. But as that plant grows, you need to move those lines a little further out.
Debbie Flower 13:49
right. roots on the plant will grow two to three times the height of the plant away from the trunk. So if the plant is three feet tall, then the roots will grow four and a half to six feet to even nine feet away from that plant and but they'll only go there if there's water. And so we need to provide water for a large swath of the soil underneath the plant.
Farmer Fred 14:14
Yeah, I doubt if there's much water underneath his asphalt driveway next to the loropetalum.
Debbie Flower 14:19
asphalt does breathe but it but it doesn't tend to actually sometimes you have plants growing right along the driveway right at the edge of the asphalt because when water does seep in under there, it doesn't evaporate.
Farmer Fred 14:30
that's right. And what if that driveway is beveled to the point where water is running off towards those plants, that might be its best source of water.
Debbie Flower 14:42
That might be why it looks so good in late winter, early spring because that's when we're getting rain. It is watering those plants.
Farmer Fred 14:48
All right. So Toby, I think you can either move to Seattle where it rains year round and grow them there. Oh, you don't want to do that. Okay, then probably rejigger your drip irrigation systems so that there is consistent water throughout the entire root zone. And then the magical question, how long do I run my drip irrigation system?
Debbie Flower 15:12
Right? And that does not have a single single answer. It's our favorite answer. It depends. Yeah, he mentioned part of his question was is the soil the problem for the plants, we don't know anything about his soil. And that's what you need to know. Also, to understand whether you need to water once a week, if you're in a heavy clay or twice a week, if you're in a, let's say, clay loam or three times a week, if you're in a loam, or every other day, if you're in sand. So it depends on the type of soil you have whether you have a hard pan down there somewhere. And if there's any slope.
Farmer Fred 15:50
So Toby, probably the best advice we could give you would be, okay, turn on your water system the way you normally would. the next day, go out there and dig around those plants towards the outer canopy of the plants dig down eight inches. is the soil moist? Or is the soil dry? do that in several places around each shrub, and come to your own conclusion as far as Is it too wet? Or is it too dry? if there's a line on this at a sports book I'll take too dry.
Debbie Flower 16:20
Yes, I think it will be too dry as well. Especially if it's not near that drip emitter. And you want that water to go eight inches deep because you want your roots down there. So the plant is stable, and you want it moist all around the plant. And that I think is not Toby's not going to find that. So more emitters are going to be needed.
Farmer Fred 16:39
Yep, time to rework the drip system is pretty easy to lay down the new half inch drip lines with the emitters built in you buy a couple of 100 foot rolls probably and put them down there connect them, you may be able to connect them to your current system. And just you're gonna have to figure out on your own just how often to run it. But always think in terms of drip irrigation of running it for hours, not minutes. Yes,
Debbie Flower 17:05
if they're half gallon per hour, then you're going to need to run two hours to get a gallon. And then where is that gallon gonna go if it's 12 inch emitters. If the emitters are 12 inches apart on the line, you want it to meet the water coming from the other emitter, but that also is soil dependent.
Farmer Fred 17:24
All right, so we hope that helps Toby. Get down there and start digging and see how moist that soil is. Thanks for your help on this Debbie.
Debbie Flower 17:32
Always a pleasure, Fred. Thank you.
Farmer Fred 17:43
The warmer weather means that fruit trees and berry bushes will soon spring to life, with the promise of tasty, nutritious fresh fruit for you and your family. What are you waiting for? A website for more information? OK, it’s Tomorrow’s Harvest dot com, your go-to site for a complete line of backyard fruit trees and bushes. Tomorrows harvest fine line of fruit trees is the result of 75 years of developing, testing and growing. For well over 75 years three generations of the Burchell family have been at the forefront of research and development of plants of the highest quality. All of these beautiful, edible plants have been carefully cultivated for your home garden. And they come in Plantable Paper Pots, ready for you to stick directly in the ground, pot and all. Look for Tomorrow’s Harvest fruit trees, including the Scarlet Halo Peach, at better retail nurseries. And If your favorite nursery doesn’t carry any of Tomorrows Harvest fruit, nut and berry varieties, you can order them directly from Tomorrows harvest dot. com. Let the Burchell family’s three generations of experience take root in your home orchard, landscape and garden. Tomorrows Harvest: It’s goodness you can grow. To find out more about their nutritious and delicious fruit and nut varieties, visit tomorrowsharvest.com.
Farmer Fred 19:03
so I was looking at Instagram the other day and up popped Brad Gates's feed from wild boar farms and he was doing an experiment with lettuce and I totally stole the idea. It's called a cheapskate salad bowl. If you want greens in a Hurry, and you want to be able to grow greens in the summertime before they bolt. This is a cheap, easy way to have a year round supply of lettuce and other greens. First of all, Brad Gates. Thanks for joining us and tell us a little bit about Wild Boar Farms. But let me tell everybody that if you like tomatoes if you'd like to grow tomatoes, you need to be familiar with Wild Boar Farms.
Brad Gates 19:44
Yeah, thanks, Fred. Yeah, living and breathing tomatoes for the last 25 ish years. But yeah, I like to grow everything. And that was just something I hadn't done in several years and I thought this would be the perfect time to bring it back and try to share it too because it's such Quick, easy, satisfying training wheels almost method of of growing some food
Farmer Fred 20:06
and it's perfect for kids it's perfect for adults it's it's perfect for if all you have is perhaps a part shade patio, you could do this.
Brad Gates 20:15
Yeah, yeah. And one of the keys to actually just moved them to where they're only getting a few hours of morning sun and then bright sky but no direct sun now that it's in the middle 80s and more or whatever. So that's they grow actually quite well even without without too much sun exposure once it gets warm. So it's kind of one of the things that you can move them around and wherever they're going to be most comfortable.
Farmer Fred 20:39
Let's take people step by step as far as exactly what you did. All you need really is one of these 16 inch by 16 inch nursery trays, maybe some shopping bags or newspaper and some potting soil.
Brad Gates 20:53
Hey, yeah, it really was that easy in about a pinch of let us see this. Maybe what it what it amounted to. Yeah, either put, you can put about a half dozen layers of newspaper or a double layer of brown paper bag on the bottom of those trays, fill them with some quality potting mix, really just took a pinch of lettuce seeds, sprinkled it evenly, and then just took about another two handfuls of dirt and lightly covered the seeds, watered them and waited a few weeks. And my wife and I actually ate half of one of those yesterday and it was delicious. Let us not only was it satisfying, because I grew up my own but the quality was superb. Also, so was a double bonus.
Farmer Fred 21:34
Were you using one variety? Or did you mix up a bunch of varieties?
Brad Gates 21:39
I did two that were just like a romaine style. And I did two that were a mixed green. Just a mix of about a half dozen different types of lettuce.
Farmer Fred 21:49
Yeah, lettuce seed is can be tricky to plant because it's so small, but I imagine in a 16 by 16 inch tray if you just sort of scatter them around. That will be okay, did you have to thin any out,
Brad Gates 22:01
I planned on doing it what originally I was going to let them grow two weeks. And then some of the more crowded areas, I was gonna put some here and put some there even around my yard or in my beds and stuff, and then go from there. But I got busy and missed that window so they can grow well either way, it's a good way. Like I said, you can take and transplant them after about two weeks, take a little spoon and scoop a thing out and transplant them. And I actually left them as is and they just kind of grew together and worked out really good.
Farmer Fred 22:34
How tall did they get after one month of growth?
Brad Gates 22:37
I would say that they're between two and four inches tall. And growing fast right now also so but I did actually scissor trim did half of it. We ate that. And then I'm assuming it will, that one half will actually grow back. But it would also be very simple to just start one of these once a week or something like that get on a pattern also.
Farmer Fred 22:59
Exactly. So to harvest and all you're doing is cutting off the tops and then serving it with dinner and and letting what remains grow again.
Brad Gates 23:07
Yeah, yeah. So you can actually get multiple harvests off of it. It's a cut about two thirds of the tops off, you get all the good part and the plant still has a roof and a little bit of leaves and it'll bounce back and you'll get a second harvest.
Farmer Fred 23:20
Now here in the middle of California, it gets real warm in the summertime. And it's very difficult to grow lettuce here because the heat makes it bolt. But if you're starting it from seed and you're harvesting it when it's one month old, the plant doesn't have time to bolt.
Brad Gates 23:34
Yeah, yeah, exactly. That's actually one of the things because it's that second month of growth, when it's too hot, and just pinned in the sun. Sometimes typically your garden area where you planted them is full sun, and then by the time summer gets going, that's not the happiest place for lettuce. So yeah, there was no bitterness, I mean, the texture, the flavor, everything was so superb. Also, it's, it's a good all around technique.
Farmer Fred 24:00
I'm trying that experiment too. And I can't wait for the results in one month. And I think that's going to be a go to plan we should point out to those who don't know what a nursery tray is it is as I said 16 inches by 16 inches. It's only about one inch deep. And usually if you go to a nursery and buy plants and you're buying a lot of plants, they'll let you take that tray home, and I would suggest that you look for the trays with the smaller holes on the bottom. There are two types of trays. There's one with that have sort of a one inch grid of a bottom, but there are ones that are not necessarily solid but it is perforated there are holes in it but that would I think allow the soil to remain intact better.
Brad Gates 24:46
Yeah, yeah, he could have used them both but the ones like you said the ones that have like 100 little pencil hole sizes, those work a little bit better for sure they contain the dirt and even if you have a bit of a blowout with your paper bag or newspapers, carrying or whatever, you don't have as much of a chance of soil getting all over the place.
Farmer Fred 25:06
Let me ask you about wild boar farms.
Brad Gates 25:16
Um, well I sell plants to the nurseries. So they're definitely they seem to be selling them as fast as they can, they can get them there. They're definitely been a hot seller, the seeds have been a good sell to or just fortunate to be in the right business right now. . So it's a great time to learn how to grow, everybody wants to. My wife and I took a little bike ride this morning. And there was six different houses we saw in the neighborhood that had brand new raised beds in the front yard. I'm not even sure how many people are building them in the backyard. But I couldn't believe how many people are turning a section of their yard into a food plot. And that's a that's a great thing.
Farmer Fred 26:25
You bring up a very good point about front yard gardens in many suburban lot areas. The trees are so tall, the only sunny spot might be in the front yard. But check with your local county zoning ordinances to make sure it's okay. And if it's not okay, pester them to change the rules. So you're allowed to have a vegetable garden in the front yard.
Brad Gates 27:50
And they're still technically time a lot of people you're looking at if you start seeds now you'd be like first your second week in June. It can be hit or miss in this area. Some people a lot of areas that you can do just fine planting in June.
Farmer Fred 28:09
Exactly. Yeah. I mean, there's nothing wrong with starting from seed Now, in order to get it to transplant size like you say in six weeks, maybe even four or five weeks, depending upon how vigorous they grow. In here in California, you're harvesting all the way through Thanksgiving in other parts of the country. Major planting doesn't usually begin in backyard gardens in colder sections until probably after Mother's Day or the first few weeks of June.
Brad Gates 28:34
Yeah, yeah. And spreading out your planting is always good anyway. So he said if you want to have that really nice late harvest, that's usually the plant that you did plant late then no. Commercial plant always planted, you know, a bunch in April a bunch in May and a bunch in June and that was like the best insurance I could have for having a full long harvest season.
Farmer Fred 28:56
Well, I would I would advise people that if you're now curious about wild boar farms tomato seeds and you want to order some you better do it quickly. The website is wild boar farms.com. And grab the seeds while they're still available. Brad Gates of wild boar farms. Thanks so much for telling us about the cheapskate salad garden. And I'm looking forward to that.
Brad Gates 29:19
thanks Fred and thanks for sharing.
Farmer Fred 29:24
Garden Basics comes out every Tuesday and Friday and is brought to you by Smart Pots. It’s available just about anywhere podcasts are handed out. And that includes Apple podcasts, I Heart Radio, Spotify, Stitcher, Overcast, Podcast Addict, CastBox and Google podcasts. And for Northern California gardeners, check out this podcast: the Green Acres Garden Podcast with Farmer Fred, also available wherever you get your podcasts. Thank you for listening, subscribing and leaving comments. We appreciate it. .
