Dear Helen: After reading about pruning tomato plants, I realize that I should have been pruning my small-growing tomatoes in pots on the patio. Is it too late to prune them? If you grow patio tomatoes, do you prefer any particular varieties? I’d appreciate tips on growing healthy, productive plants through the summer.
N.N.
I’ve never pruned my potted patio tomatoes. I do prune side shoots that appear on the open garden’s staked plants, which are best kept to one main stem. This does not apply to the small-growing patio kinds. It’s fine to leave them to grow as bushes.
This year, I am growing the compact Roma tomato Little Napoli, a favourite for several years now, and Inca Jewels, a new variety (for me) and another compact Roma, from Renee’s Garden.
Both are larger than the many smaller-growing patio tomatoes I’ve planted over the years, but I have chosen to keep planting Little Napoli because it is easy-growing and the fruits are delicious.
Little Napoli grows to around 45 cm high. Inca Jewels has grown a little taller, with a slightly later first fruit set than on the Little Napoli plants. I grow the plants in pots around 30 cm wide and deep, set in pot trays kept filled with water during hot weather. The plants can be left to sprawl, or kept upright in wire tomato cages.
I have two plants of each variety. I grew extras for friends with gardens on condo decks, and gave each friend two plants, one of each variety. Kim is especially thrilled with her plants in a large, deep planter. Her Little Napoli formed its first fruits at around the same time as my plants, at the beginning of July.
It will be interesting to compare the two varieties, for plant health, productivity and flavour. Always something new to discover in gardening.
Dear Helen: I have many heathers in my garden. Some have grown large, and occasionally they need to be cut back severely, but my pruning always seems to harm the plants. How can I cut them back without ruining them? Is there a preferred time of year or method for reducing the size of heathers?
A.H.
Heathers are kept as compact and neat as possible by cutting them back after flowering. Remove only the faded flower stems, and any fresh growth tips sticking out enough to detract from a plant’s tidy appearance. Avoid cutting into leafless wood.
Even with annual post-bloom pruning, eventually some heathers become woody and straggly beyond redemption. Then, it is best to dig them out, renovate the soil, and replace them with young transplants. The ones that settle in most easily and flourish best in my garden are very young heathers, purchased in 10-cm wide pots.
Dear Helen: I am puzzled at the disappearance of apple scab on my trees. For many years this disease was very destructive to my crop and I sprayed to counter it. I don’t use pesticides anymore and still I’ve not had scab in any quantity in years. Why not, when it was a problem for so many years?
R.W.
I have made the same observation, and wondered why scab has not occurred on my apples in recent years, when it used to be a constant apple growing issue. The brown spots appearing on the leaves, followed by brown lesions on the fruit, were an annual feature of apple growing. The fruit lesions often became corky looking.
The disease overwinters in infected leaves on the ground, with spores produced in spring as new growth begins on the trees. The spores, discharged during rainy weather, land on new leaves and fruit and germinate to cause infection if the leaves or fruit remain wet long enough. Those first lesions produce secondary spores to further the spread of the disease.
The answer to our mutual question must lie in changing weather. As drought has become a real concern, we are no longer the “wet coast.” Near-constant spring rains no longer occur, and apple scab infection depends on wet weather.
GARDEN EVENT
Plant sales. The Friends of Government House Gardens Society are hosting sales of well-rooted perennials on Tuesday and Thursday mornings from 9 a.m. to 12 p.m. in the Plant Nursery, across from the Tea Room at Government House, 1401 Rockland Ave. in Victoria.
