Desert Blooms

Southwest Yard & Garden by Dr. Marisa Thompson ~30 second demo video of peach fruit thinning with Valencia County Extension Master Gardener, Carol Bennefield in Bosque Farms on May 27, 2018.     ~45 second video explaining how we started thinning a peach tree in Bosque Farms. Question: Several branches on my peach tree are hanging lower and lower as the peaches get bigger. Is this OK or should I be thinning the fruit? -      Carol B., Los Lunas, NM Answer: On the one hand, you don’t want to thin your peach tree too soon and then lose the fruit you saved to a late frost or the dreaded hail storm. On the other hand, reducing the fruit load on heavily bearing branches has major benefits. First of all, the branches you’re describing that are hanging lower as the peaches develop are in danger of breaking. If the weight of the fruit just bends the branch, a strong gust of wind can be the final straw. And “breaking” is a kind word....

Southwest Yard & Garden by Dr. Marisa Thompson   Leaf wilt can be a sign of underwatering, overwatering, or something else altogether. (photo credit Scot Nelson, flickr.com) Question: The newly installed plants in my garden are wilting and looking terrible even though I’m trying my best to keep them well watered. Suggestions? -       Doug H., Deming, NM Answer: One thing I like about your question is that it sounds like you haven’t given up. Many people who struggle with gardening get discouraged and think anyone who is successful must have a green thumb. That’s not the case at all. As an Extension Master Gardener volunteer in Albuquerque once said, “The best gardeners have killed the most number of plants.” It’s not a contest…but if it were, I might just win. I don’t mean to imply your plants are headed down that road just yet. Let’s look at the possibilities. Although we tend to assume that wilting leaves are a sure sign of too lit...

Southwest Yard & Garden by Dr. Marisa Thompson Figure  1 . New Mexico growing zones, average number of frost-free days, and average date of last frost. Adapted from Climatological Data, Annual Summary—New Mexico 1982, National Weather Service, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, U.S. Department of Commerce. Question: Do you have any tips for growing watermelons and corn? -       Sally C., Albuquerque, NM Answer: The best time to plant watermelon seeds or set transplants depends on which part of the state you live in, according to the NMSU Extension Circular 457-B, “Growing Zones, Recommended Crop Varieties, and Planting and Harvesting Information for Home Vegetable Gardens in New Mexico” ( http://aces.nmsu.edu/pubs/_circulars/CR457B.pdf ). For Albuquerque and other areas with between 150 and 180 frost-free days on average (Figure 1), it is recommended to plant in May. In warmer parts of the state wit...

Southwest Yard & Garden by Dr. Marisa Thompson Cottonwood leaves alongside Tierra Blanca Creek, near Kingston, NM in September (photo credit M. Thompson).   Question: What is your favorite tree species for New Mexico? -       Adan O., Albuquerque, NM Answer: Right now, my favorite tree is the juniper outside my office window in Los Lunas, with sparrows flitting around the branches. My favorite tree when I lived in Las Cruces was the peach tree that yielded 40+ lb of deliciousness each year. With temperatures in the nineties here this week, my favorite tree at home is the huge cottonwood that shades most of my back yard—unless I’m in the front yard, where a green ash does all of the shady work and quickly takes the favorite tree superlative in my book. But would I recommend that people plant cottonwoods in their yards? Or green ash? Or alligator juniper? Not necessarily. I don’t recommend cottonwood species in New Mexico landscapes unle...

Southwest Yard & Garden by Dr. Marisa Thompson Mexican elder tree (photo from  www.desertblooms.nmsu.edu ) Question: What is a safe, non-chemical way of getting rid of this Zotheca tranquila caterpillar that infests my Mexican elder tree every spring? -       Ova L., Sierra County, NM Answer: John White, retired NMSU Extension Agent for Doña Ana County and the current garden curator at the UTEP Centennial Museum and Chihuahuan Desert Gardens in El Paso, TX, calls the Mexican elder ( Sambucus mexicana ) the “state tree of southern New Mexico.” This semi-evergreen is not as common in northern New Mexico, but it can be found in the Albuquerque area. The Mexican elder is native to the Southwest U.S. and Mexico, but more specifically to the regions’ arroyos, so they prefer more water in the home landscape and are not considered as xeric a plant species as, say, prickly pear or yucca. I reached out to NMSU Extensi...