Warm up your tomato harvest

I have great looking tomato plants loaded with green fruits. Will they ripen in this cool weather?

Waiting to harvest the cool weather tomato crop may require considerable patience. Both short days and lower day and night temperatures slow the ripening process. But don’t worry, they will ripen if the fruitladen vines are protected from freezing. Hope for warm winter days that can keep the tomatoes on schedule. Also, provide normal care of monthly fertilizer applications and watering to keep the soil moist but not wet.

My turmeric plants are starting to decline. Is this normal and when is the best time to divide the planting?

Cool fall days start turmeric, with its broad strap-like leaves, on its way to winter dormancy. Temperatures in the 60s are often all it takes to produce the yellow to brown leaves you have noticed. This is one of the gingers that may die back to the ground during winter. Now is the time to harvest the roots and prepare them for culinary uses. Anytime before spring growth begins would also be a good time to divide older plant to expand or share the collection.

I recently bought a year’s worth of vegetable seeds. How should I store them for my spring and fall plantings?

Your question brings back memories of my dad sharing his seed stored in a lower light area of the home at room temperature. Some were a year or two old. Amazingly almost all gave good germination and harvests.

Perhaps the best way to ensure good gemination from saved seed is to store the packets in the vegetable compartment of a refrigerator. The smaller containers of seeds are added to a large sealable plastic bag or jar with an air tight lid. Some gardeners add a desiccant with the seed packets to reduce the moisture levels. Normally seed stored under these conditions remain viable and able to germinate for several years.

My pineapple plants are growing too large for their 3-gallon containers. Should I give them a larger container or plant them in the ground?

Perhaps an equally important question is how cold does it get in your landscape? We have to remember pineapple plants freeze at 32 degrees to cause their yellowing and decline. Continuing the plants in larger containers makes it easier to move them to a warm location when cold warnings are sounded. Plants growing in the ground may be difficult to cover to prevent the cold damage.

Pineapples grow well in containers and in the ground. When plants outgrow their containers, you have to find them a new home to obtain good production. Plants left in small containers only produce small fruits. Unless you can grow the plants in a consistently warm spot, giving them larger containers to move when necessary may be best.

I have read this winter is going to be warmer than normal. Should I still plant the cool-season crops or wait to make the spring warm-season sowings?

Warmer and normal are two variable terms. Some local garden sites have already experienced a frost or brief freeze that can be tolerated by most cool-season crops. Some areas are sure to experience warm temperatures, but they won’t be as consistent or as high as those during mid to late spring. Most cool-season crops should produce good growth and harvests between now and the end of March. Sowing seeds and adding transplants of these crops can continue through the end of January.

Some family members would like starts of a camellia that has been at our parent’s home site a long time. When do I start the cuttings and how?

Obtain the best rooting from 4- to 6-inch camellia cuttings made during late spring or early summer when the new growths have matured. Take the cuttings from the tips of the shoots to root in vermiculite or a similar porous medium. Use a rooting powder to dust the ends of the shoots and stick the base of each about 2 inches deep into shallow containers of moist vermiculite.

Locate the containers in a shady spot and surround them with clear plastic. Mist the containers of cuttings several times a day to maintain high humidity that promotes root growth. Rooting begins in about 12 weeks under warm moist conditions. New plants should be ready for individual containers of potting soil in about eight more weeks.