Ground Breaking Banter - Rick
Sprout it from the rooftops! There’s no shortage of gimmicks and gadgets out there claiming to help you grow your own food indoors, but the reality is not so simple. Just like you wouldn’t want to live in the type of facility where you can successfully grow tomatoes, lettuce, or basil indoors, tomatoes, lettuce, and basil don’t want to grow in the type of facility where you can successfully live. But there is one way to easily, quickly, and (relatively) inexpensively grow your own food indoors, and that’s by growing sprouts and microgreens. These low-tech, space-saving methods of growing nutritious fresh produce are way too under-utilized these days, and that’s why we invite Gil Frishman from SproutPeople.org to join us in segment four to share his 30+ years of knowledge on sprouting and growing microgreens.
Join us at the YouTube link above or on your favorite podcast platform to learn more about the 2025 Proven Winners Annual and Caladium of the Year – they will be waiting for you at your local garden center this spring!
Trying to tie a Proven Winners ColorChoice Shrub into today’s theme of growing something to eat indoors was…impossible. Of course, of the few shrubs we offer that can potentially be grown indoors in winter, none of them produce anything edible, and of the shrubs we offer that do produce an edible component, we’ve mostly already covered them. So we’re left with names, and fortunately, I did find the perfect plant: Soft Serve false cypress, Chamaecyparis pisifera. There are lots and lots of plants out there called “cypress,” and some are “true cypress,” the genus Cupressus. Chamaecyparis is known as false cypress despite the fact that it is indeed in the cypress family, Cupressaceae, and to make things even more confusing, the word chamaecyparis translates in ancient Greek to “dwarf cypress” which is true, given that chamaecyparis are generally dwarf compared to the famous Italian cypress, C. sempervirens, but they still tend to be rather large evergreens. The “pisifera” part of the name translates to the Latin for “pea-bearing,” referring to the small round cone-like fruits which are definitely not peas. Confused? Yeah, so am I. So it goes.
But let’s talk about what’s obvious about this plant, and that is that it’s one of those structural evergreens that gives you that beautiful formal look with no effort. As you might guess from the name Soft Serve, its shape is very much that of a well-made soft serve ice cream cone, a handsome pyramid of green foliage. When you look at the individual branches, they have a very pretty almost fern-like structure. And on the underside, you’ll see another characteristic that defines chamaecyparis – small white lines through the scales. It has a resinous, rather than fruit smell, like arborvitae, with which it is often confused.
Its ice cream cone like shape also makes it an ideal alternative to the ubiquitous dwarf Alberta spruce. Alberta spruce is a pretty polarizing plant – like many evergreens, people find that tight conical shape virtually irresistible. As such, it has become one of the most widely planted evergreens in North American history. But it has some substantial liabilities: one, it’s often sold small and people find it difficult to believe that it will indeed reach 7-10’ wide and 10-13’ tall, causing them to site it improperly. Due to the dense branching of dwarf Alberta spruce, it’s already extremely susceptible to mites, and being planted in a front yard with poor spacing near a home just exacerbates that and the plants turn brown and ugly. They are also extremely susceptible to reversion, causing a huge – and I do mean huge – tree, the original white spruce, to start emerging from within the tree.
Soft Serve chamaecyparis has none of those issues, and is much more tolerant of a wide range of conditions. It’s more drought tolerant, looks good even in part shade, and is much more heat tolerant. Of course, it still needs to be sited properly to accommodate its 6-10’ height and 5-6’ spread, but it results in a more elegant natural look, at least to my eye. It is deer resistant and keeps its lush green color all year round.
If you’d like to add Soft Serve false cypress – or any of the 320+ Proven Winners ColorChoice Shrubs – to your garden or landscape, you’ll find a list of local retailers here.
Gardening Mail Bag - Stacey
Sandy writes about how she’s using a dead red cedar (Juniperus virginiana) covered in some chicken wire to provide space for the vines to climb and grow. She sends two photos, one of it in winter so you can see the bones, and one of it blooming in summer so you can see it in practice.
Hello Gardening Simplified team! Watching from Italy (35km north of Venice, USDA Zone equivalente 8 maybe). Love the show! I have a small urban garden. This autumn had a 9 metre Chanticleer Callery pear removed as it had outgrown the space and suffered from sooty mold that covered everything from the terraces, blinds and all plants beneath. (Trying to be organic) Will be planting Lagerstroemia indica "Cardinale" locally grown. How can I help the new tree and plants I'll be putting back into my "Blue Border" thrive as the soil is trampled, super washed out by heavy rainfall and bare now in winter? Even weeds have stopped growing there! Also, if you have time, how to help my Acer Osakazuki (15yrs, 6x4m) suffering iron deficiency? Smaller plants like Hydrangeas respond well to Iron Chelate but not enough for this guy. - Patrizia
The key to restoring the soil in an area where it has been damaged is organic matter – that could mean compost, composted manure, or mulch, or a combination. Adding organic matter into the soil increases nutrient content and improves soil texture. Mulch is also a key component, because as it breaks down, it adds organic matter to the soil and functions to protect the soil from further erosion from wind and water. Perhaps an inch or so of compost, lightly scratched into the soil, and a good 2-3″ layer of mulch, should do the trick.
As for your question about your maple, the key to correcting the issue is determining the cause of the chlorosis in the first place. The most common cause of iron chlorosis is high, or alkaline, pH, usually 7.5 or higher. This ties up iron in the soil, making it difficult for plants to take up. Other possible reasons include high calcium (this can be natural or due to repeated use of soil amendments), high salt (this can be due to salt in the soil, irrigation water, or from flooding), or excessive leaching due to flooding, heavy rainfall, or high irrigation. If the issue is soil pH, add iron sulfate to the soil to lower it and add iron and the problem will go away on its own over time. The other issues are less clear cut as to solutions, I’m afraid. However, this excellent resource offers a range of solutions for dealing with iron chlorosis.
This week my area, south eastern Ohio, has had about 6 to 8 inches of accumulated snow. Lot of time to be inside and be bored. A rumor has been spreading. That is this is a good time to throw out some wildflower seed. Being bored, and thought, what can it hurt? So, I went out to the shed. Found some wildflower seed and threw it out in a flower bed that full of snow. Am I going to have wildflowers? Or, should I have found something else to cure my boredom? - Neil
Now is definitely a great time to sow seed for wildflowers and native perennials – the snow helps to penetrate the seed coat and slowly nestles the seed in the soil. In fact, winter is such a good time to grow seed for wildflowers and native perennials that there’s a whole movement dedicated to it, known as winter sown. In this practice, you sow seeds in plastic milk jugs that you’ve cut open with a razor blade, filled with soil, added seed, and watered. You then replace the top, seal with duct tape, and place in the garden until the seeds germinate in spring. This method is used for cool-season vegetables as well as some annuals, in addition to native plants and perennials. The only issue with the way that you’ve done it is that there are still several weeks of winter remaining, which means that birds, squirrels, chipmunks, possum, raccoons, etc., are all hungry and scavenging around for food, and are likely to find your seeds and eat them since they are exposed. Some seeds will, of course, make it, but for the best results, opt for the winter sown method or wait a few more weeks into March when you can put the seed directly on the soil and make it less easy for hungry creatures to find.
Do you have a question for us? We’re happy to help! E-mail us or use the contact tab above. Due to high volume, we may not get to your question, so if you need an answer quickly, please reach out via the Proven Winners website.
Branching News - Rick
When Adriana and Stacey decided to start sprouting this year, they turned to SproutPeople.org as their source for all things sprouts and microgreens. Their site is super informative, their sprout mixes super delicious, and that’s why we invited one of the owners of SproutPeople.org, Gil Frishman, to join us and share the basics of growing sprouts and microgreens. Join us on your favorite podcast platform or at the YouTube link above to hear our whole conversation about sprouting.
