Since you asked … some gardening answers

When to harvest dates, how to plant a garden under oleanders and other questions I encountered this week:

Question: How do you tell when to harvest dates?

Answer: First, a female date palm must be pollinated either by a male palm nearby or by artificially dusting pollen collected from a male palm. If the dates are small, they probably didn't receive enough pollen, but the fruit is still edible.

Homemaker Lynette Sorensen covers hers with bags to keep the birds and insects away from the ripening clusters. They do not ripen evenly, so she makes several pickings. If they come off the clusters easy, she'll harvest them. She places them on cookie trays until they turn dark brown and dry, then in plastic bags that are stored in a cool place.

Q: Our neighbor's oleanders drop their leaves in our yard and we want to plant vegetables. Is it safe because of the oleander toxins?

A: Contrary to popular belief, oleander is not toxic to other plants. Those plants can't grow under or near oleanders, because they can't compete with the thick mat of oleander roots for nutrients.

Studies in California indicate that nearly all oleander toxins break down in the composting process. And regardless of the toxins in oleanders, your edibles do not absorb them.

Q: Why are the seeds on my Wonderful pomegranate white?

A: Wonderful seeds are supposed to be a deep red, but there are a few colorations, depending on whether the bush came from seeds (cross-pollination) or were cloned. Harvesting too early may be the reason they are not coloring. Also, they need some cold temperatures to enhance the taste. The pale colored seeds are usually OK to use, but they do not make nice red grenadine syrup.

Q: What happens if we don't overseed our hybrid Bermuda lawn like we did in Texas?

A: Overseeding is very stressful on hybrid Bermuda lawns. It will actually be stronger and more vigorous next season because the turf is able to store more nutrients longer into the fall. It also won't have to compete next spring with the rye to begin a faster comeback next spring. While Bermuda is dormant, you can spot treat the lawn without damaging it.

Q: Why is my 3-year-old blueberry bush dropping so many leaves?

A: Dennis Swartzell of Horticulture Consultants said sometime through the summer older leaves shed. Check the plant's growing points, and if they are healthy, your plant is doing fine.

Since it's only 3 years old, the bush was pushed to grow by the original nursery and you're seeing those leaves now dropping.

Q: We are trying to grow a garden and common Bermuda is really giving us havoc. How can we stop it organically?

A: Grow your veggies in raised beds. Build rectangular borders, 12 to 16 inches high and up to 4 feet wide. Place something like cardboard on the bottom of the raised bed before filling it with a weed-free vegetable soil mix. It will keep Bermuda at bay because it needs sunlight to grow.

Q: Why didn't my bank's rose bloom this year?

A: A lot depends on how you pruned it. If you removed any new growth after last October, you were removing the growth that produced this spring's flowers.

Also, if it didn't grow much last summer, you didn't have much new wood to develop flower buds. If this is the case, fertilize and water more.

Q: Why do people use rock as mulch rather than covering the ground with bark mulch?

A: Many people don't find bark mulch attractive, but I do. It's amazing what mulch does: It improves our soils, controls weeds and conserves water and softens the sun glare that bounces off rocks.

Q: Can I lower my 10-foot-tall shiny xylosma back to 6 feet?

A: Right now your xylosma is blooming, so enjoy the blooms. Removing that much wood is hard on plants. Remove about a fourth of the growth over a few years until it's reduced to the desired size. From there on continually maintain the bush to keep it at the desired size and shape.

NO-FAIL FRUIT TREES

Fruit trees flourish in the desert, even in postage-stamp lots where every square-foot counts. Don't overlook fruit trees in your landscape: Come learn how fruit trees will provide shade, majestic blooms and best of all, nutritious homegrown fruit. It's at 8:30 a.m. Oct. 13 and 14 at the Springs Preserve, 333 S. Valley View Blvd. Register online or call 822-7700 for more information.

Linn Mills' garden column appears on Sundays. He can be reached him at linnmillslv@gmail.com or 702-526-1495.