Question: Thanks to our climate, Iโm doing a postmortem for last seasonโs garden and planning seed starting for next season pretty much simultaneously. About tomatillos: Iโve had rotten luck. Iโve had single plants, mixed varieties, started seeds, bought plants from reputable local nurseries and have tried to appropriately manage watering and soil nitrogen. Tomatoes have done just fine. Tomatillos? Iโve had rotten luck.
Answer: Now is an excellent time to revisit and evaluate your gardening practices in 2015. In theory, growing tomatillos should be easy although they are as sensitive to the heat as tomatoes and there are a few insects to watch for so you donโt lose your crop. Shade cloth can help protect them once the spring heat kicks in and checking for insects once a week should be sufficient to manage pests before they get out of control. Here are some basic guidelines for growing tomatillos. Please let me know if you are already doing all these things.
Tomatillos should be planted in full sun with well-drained soil. Jan. 15 to Feb. 15 is the ideal planting time, although you can wait until March if you are using transplants. Drip irrigation is ideal and should provide an inch of water per week. Multiple plants are required for pollination.
Question: Is it too late for my bougainvilleas? I was out of town during the recent night freezes in Tucson, and I now have two bougainvilleas that are half frozen (they look great where the branches were protected by my awning). What do I do with the dead half? Pinch off the flowers and leaves? Prune it back? Just leave it alone?
Answer: Since you still have live parts itโs not too late to cover them in case we get more frosts. They will likely come back from this damage. The dead parts will protect the living parts somewhat in case we have more frosty temperatures so leave the dead parts on the plant until the spring when the danger of frost has passed.
Question: I live here in Tucson at Villa Catalina condos at Sixth Street and Country Club Road. We have a small rose garden with some beautiful flowers. My problem is some of our larger flowers donโt fully open. I get a very large ball, very tight, but will not open. Then there are flowers next to them, and they open nicely. Any ideas?
Answer: There are a couple possible answers to this problem. If the rose buds that donโt open appear unhealthy, possibly with a browning on the edges, there are known diseases and insects that can affect them. If the buds appear to be healthy, a more likely problem is environmental stress. According to local rose expert and master gardener volunteer, Lauren Kettenbach, this time of year that is a common problem. Before Thanksgiving there was some pretty cold weather, and then it got warm again. So it could be weather-related, and itโs also very late in the season to have any blooms at all. I would not worry unless there is a problem with the spring bloom.
Question: We live in the Tanque Verde area. In the spring I planted a tomato seedling in very good soil in the planter next to the house on the patio. It grew quite tall and produced tomatoes. I missed the weather forecast for our first frost, and the leaves wilted. Since then Iโve hung frost cloth from the eaves every evening, which traps the heat from the house. Last week when it was 26 on the patio it was 40 inside the frost cloth. Since it was wilted I cut the plant down, intending to uproot it, but noticed new green shoots coming from the bottom. Any hope for the plant, or should I start over in the spring?
Answer: As you saw, even if the temperatures are below freezing for a short time, some plants will die back above the soil and still be alive below ground. It is best to cover frost-sensitive plants when possible. In many cases, protecting plants with frost cloth can make the difference between survival and starting over. Your tomato could be fine since you are seeing new growth now. Time will tell for your plant and for many others. Patience is a virtue when determining how much damage your plants suffered. Some plants will not show new life until mid-spring.
