Dear Helen: Can you tell me why my zucchinis grow to a couple of inches in length and then rot?
B.I.
Dear B.I.: The reason for this disappointing situation is that the flowers were not pollinated. A female flower is easily identified by a little bulge (a squash-in-waiting) on the stem behind it. After the flower fades and drops away, the starter squash may develop just a little, even if the flower was not pollinated, before turning yellow and sometimes rotting.
This is a common issue with zucchini, especially in conditions that are not congenial for the usual activity of pollinating insects. We’ve certainly seen unexpectedly variable conditions this summer.
Zucchini plants have both male and female flowers on one plant. The females have shorter stems and the characteristic fruit-to-be swelling behind. The males have longer stems, no miniature fruit behind the flower, and yellow, dust-like pollen at the bloom centres.
You can hand pollinate, preferably in the morning while the flowers are fresh and perky. Find a male flower, carefully peel back the petals and dab its pollen onto the centres of several female flowers before finding another male flower for a fresh supply of pollen.
Dear Helen: Some of the lower leaves on my potted tomatoes are yellowing and drying. What do you think is the problem? And is it true that Epsom salts are good for tomatoes?
K.G.
Dear K.G.: It is normal for lower leaves to die off as the plants age. Snapping off thoroughly yellowed or dried leaves will clean up the appearance of the plants and improve the circulation of air at their bases.
Some varieties are more prone to rapid yellowing and drying than others. Among my 15 staked tomato plants in the open garden this summer, I see one that has noticeably more discoloured leaves than the others. It’s always a valuable exercise to take note of how well different varieties grow and produce each year. That information suggests which to drop and which to grow again in the following year.
Epsom salts (magnesium sulphate) are useful where magnesium levels are deficient in the soil. Tomatoes require ample amounts of magnesium. A deficiency shows in yellowing between the leaf veins on older leaves and some upward curling along leaf margins. A remedy is to apply one tablespoon of Epsom salts dissolved in one gallon of water as a foliar spray. The spray may need repeating.
Growing tomatoes in the confines of pots demands care in watering and maintaining nutrient supplies. Water often enough to keep the soil moist throughout but not wet. Unless slow-release fertilizer had been incorporated into the planting mix, water with a fertilizer solution every two weeks.
Dear Helen: Among the easy-care container plants on our sunny town house patio in Sidney is a New Zealand flax whose pot has somehow become host to a white pansy that appeared out of nowhere and won’t stop blooming. Is this sort of floral gift a common occurrence on the Island?
M.C.
Dear M.C.: I'm not sure how common this particular phenomenon is, but it has happened in my container garden. Several years ago, a pale-coloured pansy turned up in a potted rosemary on my patio, and every spring since I've noticed a few pansy seedlings in the pot as I’ve cleaned the old pansies out and trimmed the rosemary.
The colours have evolved somewhat from year to year. This year, they are more vivid than ever in two-toned blue on white.
A stray seed could have dropped into our pots via a bird or a chance brush with a pansy plant bearing mature seed. Your plant could have harboured the seed in its soil when you bought it. If you like the pansy embellishment to your main plant, let it self-sow onto the pot’s soil.
Vancouver Island’s benign climate does make it a “volunteer” plant paradise. Calendula, borage, larkspur, poppies, kale, snapdragon and rose campion self-sow regularly in my garden.
My patio, like yours, is in sun. This makes it particularly surprising that the pansies in the clay rosemary pot stay perky and full of flowers all summer, while pansy bowls that I’ve planted need to be moved to the cooler, north side of the house as the weather warms. The self-sown pansies seem entirely heat-proof -- an impressive adaptation.
I’ll be taking time off from writing a Saturday column this week. See you in this space next Wednesday. Enjoy the long holiday weekend.
