Smaller fruit trees can deal with caliche

Thanks to everyone who has supported my journey into journalism by reading my gardening column over the years and contributing questions.

When native pine trees are grown on their own they will develop taproots or sinker roots for stability and to secure enough water.

It is important not to water these plants too often and to repot them when the soil is worn out and the water is not draining properly.

To make sure it doesn’t return you have to interrupt the seed-to-flowering-plant cycle at least for a couple of years and fill the voids with something competitive.

Some of the leaves on my 2-year-old Thompson Seedless grapes have started to curl at harvest.

We planted what we thought was a lime tree around 10 years ago. Now we have a 20-foot-tall, nicely shaped tree bearing an unknown fruit.

Recently, one of my walls of star jasmine has been struggling with dry and dull green leaves.

They were in bloom when we planted them five or six years ago, and they bloomed the following year as well. But they have not bloomed again.

A tree in my front yard was damaged by the wind a couple of weeks ago, and I need to have a new tree planted.

Are there any chestnut trees that can grow well in our hot climate and produce edible chestnuts? What kind of upkeep would it require?