Temperatures ideal for planting

This is the time of year when so many things can be done due to the weather. It is a narrow window of time, lasting only a few weeks.

As I mentioned in a previous article, this is a great time to fix cool-season lawns like fescue, blue and ryegrass. It is also a great time to seed a new lawn and overseed Bermuda grass.

But it is also a great time to dig perennials, like canna lilies, iris and overgrown ornamental grasses, and divide them. It is also a great time to plant most plants except winter-tender plants and palms. Don't be shy about looking at the nurseries and garden centers now. I know it is not common to be planting now, but the roots of plants love this time of year.

If you have plants that were planted this spring, now is a good time to add some compost or dig in around the roots and mulch the soil surface with organic mulch.

Q: As you know, this past January we had a severe cold spell and the fronds on my two queen palm trees turned brown, all of them. I kept the trees and today I started to dig one of them up. As I pulled some of the bark from around its base, I noticed that the base seems to be alive and green. What should I do?

A: Palm tree growth is from the central bud at the top. You can have a palm survive but show no new growth from the central bud. In essence, if the leaves are brown and you saw no new growth but the trunk is alive, the tree is dead and will not recover.

If you can get to the top of the tree and tug hard on the leaves in the center of the palm, you might get your answer. If the leaves in the center pull from the bud, the bud is dead and then you can feel justified in removing the tree. If they do not, then the decision is not as easy.

It is possible that the central bud was damaged and is trying to recover. It may recover next season and then again it may not. The chances are it won't in this condition. This next winter should give the palm its final blow.

It would be interesting if you let it go and see if it pushes any new growth from the central bud early next summer. Then you can put off taking any action now.

Q: I read your recent article about pomegranates with great interest. Being a Nevada native, I have grown to love the time of the year when all of my neighbors had pomegranate trees ready for harvest. My sons have also carried on this love. We have moved several times since then but now that we're back in town I would love to have a tree of our own.

Where can I get a pomegranate tree? Where is the best place to plant it? Are there any special care instructions? Most of the trees that I'm used to seeing are overgrown and neglected but had beautiful harvests every year.

A: Well, it's about time you had your own tree and shared with your neighbors! I agree with you; pomegranates are a wonderful plant for our climate. They do extremely well here. Our dry and hot summers and cool falls are perfect for their development.

I have seen pomegranates at our local nurseries and online.

If you value the visual appeal from pomegranates, get a variety called Wonderful. Its fruit is the prettiest. This is the variety you see most commonly at food stores.

We grow Sweet at the orchard, which, as the name implies, is a sweeter variety than Wonderful but the fruit is not as eye-appealing since it is typically streaked with yellow. Just about any variety does well here.

Pomegranates prefer desert locations in full sun and can be grown very well under drip irrigation. If you want to minimize blemishes to the fruit, try locating the tree out of strong winds.

Just a suggestion -- if you have a pomegranate tree and don't mind harvesting fruit as it matures, then I would wait for it to split before harvesting. You have to check for splitting daily. Once the fruit splits, it tells you the fruit is usually ready and at its peak. But, in this state the fruit can be ravaged by birds and other local varmints.

Split fruit is the sign of maturity looked for in Middle Eastern and Central Asian markets. We don't look for split fruit because it is not customary here; there is a problem with sanitation due to splitting.

Pomegranate fruits will taste sweeter and be juicier if you leave them in a cool place (about 50 F) for as long as 10 days after picking. If you can keep them in high humidity, they will keep for about eight weeks. They will be damaged in the refrigerator if it is on the cold side (below 41 F).

If you put them in the crisper for fresh eating later, try to keep the crisper moist (90 percent to 95 percent humidity) but with no standing water. If you just want them for decoration, then keep them at room temperature with little humidity, where they normally will dry without much change in appearance.

Don't miss my two electronic newsletters on gardening and growing fruit in Nevada. You can get them by e-mailing me and letting me know which newsletter you would like to receive.

Bob Morris is an associate professor with the University of Nevada Cooperative Extension. Direct gardening questions to the master gardener hot line at 257-5555 or contact Morris by e-mail at extremehort@aol.com.