Fall is for planting!

Most anything can be planted at any time of the year in Tehachapi, but I am often asked what is the best time to plant. Well, for trees, it is fall. Why is this? If you plant before November, or when there are still leaves on the trees, the roots will grow after the leaves fall. Depending on the tree, it can grow 25 percent faster when planted in the fall. I have done this experiment before with Liquid Ambar trees. Use the same size tree and plant one and leave the other in the pot. Guess what? The planted tree grows 25 percent or so faster because the roots are in the ground and not restricted by the pot. So that's the biggest reason.

Another is planting color trees in the fall; maples, ash, smokebush, birch, flowering pear, gingko, oaks and many more. Planting in the fall when the weather is cooler is big, also.

Fall is also a good time to plant perennials. Perennials are flowering plants that die down in the winter and return to glory in the spring. So, same as trees, perennial roots continue to grow so the plant will multiply faster.

This year the perennial of the year is Calamenta, like catmint but with white flowers. It has a low mounding or bushy habit, ideal for the front of borders, rock gardens or perennial beds. Durable and pest free also checks two important boxes for gardeners, plus bees love it and the aromatic foliage is deer resistant. It grows to 18" by 18" and tolerates drought once established.

Finally, what about a fall veggie garden? Gardeners picked up gardening as the pandemic kept us home with nothing to do. Many people had never planted a garden before and they really enjoyed it, so why not keep it going into the fall?

My first order includes artichokes, cabbage, lettuce, peas, chives, English thyme and Italian parsley with more coming every week for awhile!

Also coming are fall flowers: mums, dianthus, calendulas, alyssum, snapdragons, some pansies and violas, English primrose, centranthus, Jupiter's beard, shasta daisies, sedums including Sedum spurium tricolor, hollyhocks, hardy salvia, delphinium, blackeyed Susan, saponaria, Jasminum officinale and many more. Now all you need is mulch and don't forget the frost protectant cloth. Also, something for earwigs, which many people forgot about in the spring, is Monterey Sluggo Plus.

So, get planting and have fun!