Fall officially started last week, and cooler temperatures are finally on the way to Southern Nevada. But that comes after a summer of record heat and historic flooding. Has all of that changed the way we garden?
There’s also a mosquito problem in the valley, and you might be wondering what you can plant now to harvest in spring. Maybe you’re starting a garden this fall, or have some houseplants acting strangely.
WHAT TO PLANT NOW?
Leafy greens, spinach and chard, and things like that, do really well ... And the other thing, citrus, I think, is an up-and-coming for produce selection here because it doesn't get as cold as it used to. And so citrus are smaller trees, you can put them by a wall, they eventually get, you know, a little bit taller than the wall but they won't break the wall. So it's a really nice backdrop. They're evergreen, they're dense. So they give you a sense of privacy. And then in the spring, they bloom and they're very fragrant. And then in the fall or winter, you get to eat really delicious organic citrus.
RATS IN YOUR YARD?
Not that I know of [are their plants to deter rats]. No, unfortunately, there's no, I mean yeah, the cat needs to get the rat or you need to trap them. I'd talked to a pest control professional if there's another alternative, but I don't know of any [if you don't want to kill them.]
BAMBOO A GOOD BACKYARD TREE?
So the bamboos break into two groups, there's clumping bamboo and spreading bamboo. The most common spreading bamboo is is called golden bamboo ... it's actually kind of invasive, it'll overtake an area. Now, if you put in root barrier, or if you have a segregated planter, that's okay. But even then, Phyllostachys, golden bamboo, tends to have a lot of brown tips. There's also clumping bamboos, those are bamboos that put up multiple shoots, and they don't spread anywhere near as much. They're not invasive. There's one called Bambusa oldhamii that really does really well here … the canes will reach like 15 feet.
WILL MOVING ONE TREE HURT ANOTHER?
Well, it's actually the first [Mequite] tree that you're going to hurt, the one that you want to transplant. The leafy plants don't transplant well. They make really large pieces of equipment that are designed to basically cut the ground and pick the tree up and move it. But the act of transplanting a tree like that is so damaging to the root system unless it's really, really young. And he said no, it's not because he's already, he's already aware that oh, these are getting too big, right? So it's not going to transplant well. The amount of work that you have to put in, the high probability of failure. And even if it survives, the fact that that tree is going to be set way back makes it a much better option, unfortunately, to take that tree out and to plant the other one where you want to put it.
UNETHICAL TO TAKE PUBLIC LANDS PLANTS?
What would you do? Not admit it? it depends on what the plant is, right? So some things are so ubiquitous, like desert marigolds pop up all over. And he says he's taken a leaf or two, you know, I don't know if he's taking cuttings or what. So if it's a really common plant to bring some seed home, I don't think is such a bad thing. But you know, our ecosystems are tenuous, and they need to be respected. And if everybody goes out there and starts plucking and puking, plucking, I don't know. I think for the most part, he's probably all right, just you know, don't go after the bear poppies or any of the endangered plants.
WHY SO MANY ALLERGEN-PRODUCING TREES?
Some of the stuff that you mentioned are actually native species. People tend to bring in what they know, into their new home, you know, so pivots. Because if I had my way, there would be no pivots in Southern Nevada, because they suck here, they just don't do well. They don't like our soil. So and there's always exceptions, but they tend to decline. People move from other climates and they know the garden that they had there. And so they look for and want to buy what they had there, but it doesn't always work that well here. But that is part of what it is. And then like mulberry was, in a way I think Godsend for Southern Nevada in the late '50s and '60s because there weren't many trees that did well here and our understanding of what trees will grow in a desert climate and our embrace. Remember, everybody had a lawn back then, right? It's just what everybody did. So they brought mulberries in and mulberries are really tough and fruitless mulberries are males, right? And that means they're the ones that produce the pollen. And some pollen is much more irritating because I guess of the shape of the pollen grains themselves. So mulberries did really well here and pretty much everybody had mulberries in their yard. Should we stop planting them now? It's actually illegal to sell them here. You can plant female because they are everywhere.
Hear the full interview in the link above.
Guest: Norm Schilling , owner, Schilling Horticulture
