Fall vegetables can enhance your landscape

Have you ever wanted to get more out of your landscape? You can, by using vibrant fall vegetables. Edible landscaping enhances any yard, garden or landscape.

We don't have any hard fast rules for you to follow, except your creative juices. You will find an amazing number of ways to combine multicolored vegetables and edible flowers along with your ornamental plants.

But first, join Cyndi Dixon and me at 8:30 a.m. Saturday at the Springs Preserve, 333 Valley View Blvd. We have an exciting program planned for you as we go over the ins and outs of planting fall vegetables, herbs and edible flowers. Learn how fall plants can add nutrition, high fiber and zest to your autumn dinner plate. You'll taste a delectable creation prepared from Cyndi's edible flowers list. There will be a charge of $9 for nonmembers $7 for members.

Get away from hiding your vegetables behind the garage and start treating them as first-class plants. Put them out where all can see, feel, touch and taste. Their impact will amaze visitors.

The idea of mixing edible crops with ornamental plantings was once frowned upon. However, placing vegetables among the shrubs and ground covers is now becoming a great way to add interesting textures and colors to the garden.

To go along with "Water Smart" landscaping, roll back part of your lawn and renew the age-old tradition of surrounding a home with a productive landscape. Edible landscaping is a way to growing vegetables that combine colors, textures, smells and sounds, but usually neglects flavors in harmonious groupings. As you nurture your edibles, they will sustain your family with benefits that go far beyond good food and is water conserving.

For your fall planting, seek vegetables with bold colors. Swiss chard, for example, is available in a rainbow of colors; in fact "bright light" and "neon light" varieties produce red, white and pink stalks all coming from the same plant at the same time. They are definitely showstoppers.

Don't let a little shade deter you from adding vegetables to your landscape. Fairly shade-tolerant veggies include beets, Brussels sprouts, cabbage, cauliflower, garlic, leaf lettuce, spinach, turnips and radishes.

Plant vegetables and flowers with flavor in mind. Mix purple cabbages with snowy white cauliflowers in rows or in blocks and clusters for a more decorative effect.

Plant lettuces of various colors, as they make great edging plants, especially those that are deep reds and purples in rows or along the border. Add in some edible violas and then when making a salad, toss in a few petals.

Try purple mustard greens or the red or purple kales with their striking fall color are ideal to fill in containers and along borders for late fall color. Have you tried the feathery kales now available?

How about filling some empty spaces or beds with rhubarb? It has lovely cream-colored flower stalks that fit in nicely with flowering plants. For best results, plant it on the east side of the home.

And don't forget asparagus! Once asparagus stops producing, their feathery foliage will certainly add interest to any border or fence line.

Q: How do I grow a gardenia in Las Vegas?

A: Don Zabler of Plant World said to plant it in a big tub or whiskey barrel with a good potting soil and use an acid-based fertilizer such as Miracle Gro. Keep the plant in partial morning sun and protect it during the winter. Irrigate well, but back off the water when in bloom or the flowers drop.

Q: I have this yellow vine that is swarming my plants. What is it and how do I control it?

A: It is a parasitic weed called dodder or love vine. It does have a pretty side; look through it into the sun and you have a burning bush. There is no chemical available to homeowners to kill it. Remove as much of it as possible, as small sprigs will regrow. When it shows up again, do the same thing until it's controlled.

Q: How do I tell when to harvest gourds?

A: Skin toughness is the signal for harvesting gourds. If you can crease the skin with your thumbnail, they are not ready to harvest. Once harvested, punch a long needle into the area close to stem to allow air inside and hang in a well-ventilated place, such as the garage, until the seeds rattle in the gourds. To make containers, cut them with a sharp saw and scrape out the insides and clean the rind with a pot scrubber. Finally, paint inside and out with several coats of shellac.

Gourds are a true gardening curiosity. Unusual in shape, color and markings, gourds defy predictable results as they cross with one another. Just for fun, keep some seeds from this year's crop and see what you get in the next few years.

Q: Why are the tip ends of my African sumac twigs dying?

A: This is the result of cicadas. Look at twigs in question. It's cicadas if you find small scars on the young twigs. This is where females lay the eggs. Remove the damaged twigs to tidy up tree.

Q: How do you tell when to harvest dates?

A: Dates do not all ripen at the same time. Each fruit must be individually picked over a period of time. They are ripe when they soften and develop their typical brown color. Or you can ripen it off the tree. When clusters are halfway brown, harvest them. Then keep the fruit hot and the humidity down to dry fruit to a slight wrinkling of the skin. You want a soft and pliable stone. Ripening them on the tree is the preferred way. Or dry them indoors, until the flesh of the dates assumes a smooth inner texture. Then complete the drying in the sun.

Cactus fest: Circle Sept. 29 and 30 and come to the fall Cactus Fest at Turner Greenhouse, 4455 Quadrel St. The cross streets are Craig Road and Buffalo Drive. The Cactus and Succulents Society have an exciting agenda lined up for you. Experience wandering through hundreds of different jewels of the desert, along with all kinds of art and craft works. You'll be able to visit many cactus and succulent experts to find out how to incorporate these plants into your landscape or include them in your home or on the patio. See you there!

Linn Mills writes a gardening column each Thursday. You can reach him at linn@reviewjournal.com or at the Gardens at the Springs Preserve at 822-8325.