If you just bought a fruit tree in a container, do this right away

5 things to do in the garden this week:

Fruits. Bare-root deciduous fruit trees are now arriving in nurseries and home improvement centers. In order to squeeze these trees into containers, their roots have been pruned, a practice that will diminish their growth in the coming year if they remain in their containers. Therefore, upon purchase of such a tree, it is advisable to immediately remove it from its container and plant it directly in the garden. This will give it the opportunity to adjust to the surrounding soil prior to next year and it will grow much more vigorously than if confined to its pot and not planted until next spring. An advantage of buying bare-root trees (and roses for that matter) is price as they are considerably less expensive than specimens whose roots fill their containers. Bare-root trees are also easier to plant since there are no roots to untangle as with densely-rooted containerized trees.

Vegetables. Now is the time to plant spinach. It can germinate in soil as cold as 35 degrees so you can sprout it from seeds or just bring home starter plants available in six packs at the nursery.  Starter plants may be ready for harvest in as soon as a month. Pluck a few outer leaves at a time and that way you extend spinach longevity in the garden. This leaf by leaf harvesting strategy is used with lettuce, kale, cabbage, and collard greens as well. There are other crops whose leaves are edible that you might not know about. Cauliflower and broccoli leaves taste like a cross between kale and collard greens and sweet potato shoots are fine for eating as well.

Flowers.. At Nuccio’s Nursery, there is a Gardenia x daruma grafted onto a Gardenia thunbergia that is growing in full sun as a small tree. Gardenia x daruma is an obscure dwarf hybrid that is hardy down to 20 degrees and, planted on its own, grows no more than three feet tall with small flowers and leaves. For an even more dwarf species with similar cold tolerance, plant Gardenia jasminoides var. Radicans which does not reach more than 12 inches tall and is especially desirable when grown in containers or hanging baskets. Speaking of gardenias, I received an email from Marian Merrill of Palos Verdes who described “a plant that does bloom all year round,” a two-in-one, grafted gardenia that sports flowers of both Gardenia thunbergia and the Mystery variety of Gardenia jasminoides.

Herbs. Mint cuttings and lemongrass stalks are easily rooted in water.  With mint, detach three-inch terminal pieces and, in the case of lemongrass, entire stalks may be used, whether store bought or procured from a friend’s garden.  Place mint cuttings and lemongrass stalks in one to two inches of water, change the water daily, and you should begin to see roots within two weeks.  At this point, you can transplant your herbs into containers filled with your favorite potting soil. Basil shoots, taken from store-bought clumps, can also be propagated in this manner. All of the above procedures can be carried out on a sunny window sill.

Pests and diseases. Jim Nuccio occasionally encounters mites on his camellias which he readily dispatches with fine horticultural oil. As for petal blight, a condition expressed in the browning of camellia flower petals, the disease develops on fallen flowers and so he recommends discarding them soon after they drop. Where camellia bud drop is concerned, Nuccio says this can result either from lack of water or moisture resting on the buds, which can be especially problematic on the coast. Another factor could be too many buds clustered on a shoot where removal of all but one of them will ensure that the remaining bud will open.