Is it Spring Yet???

California Humor

This is a question that millions of people in California are asking at the moment. This is especially true if these Californians like to plant vegetable gardens. Which many of them do. By the way, do you like that photo to your immediate right? I sure do, which is why I STOLE it from the Facebook Page of a high school classmate.

Her name is Penelope. Which, as you might be able to guess, is not her real name. I made it up to protect her identity. Penelope, as you might be able to tell, has a wicked sense of humor. She had that in high school. She has it now. In spades. If I run across a Facebook post from Penelope, I'm guaranteed to laugh. She's that good. It's why I've used her name for a character in a book I'm writing. Perhaps, one day, I'll actually get around to publishing it.

Don't give up hope, Penelope!

Pooch Park, Citrus Heights, CA

Truth be told, however, Penelope has a point. Like her, I'm getting tired of waiting for spring to hit the Golden State. Californians are normally spoiled rotten by six month summers. In 2022 however, our normally temperate weather suddenly went south in October. It started to rain and snow in December. It hasn't stopped since and the weather hasn't warmed up either.

While the non-stop rain has stopped some work in the garden, I've been able to "plow" ahead with other work. But, when I say "plow," I don't mean using an actual plow. I'm just working. The mostly clay soil that makes up most of my backyard is very easy to work with at the moment. You can dig a hole two feet deep with a post-hole digger in two or three minutes.

Try doing something like that when clay soil is dry and has the consistency of concrete! It will take a tad longer in two to three minutes! And, if you're lucky, just might result in major back surgery!

Easy Dig Post Hole

But, I digress. I did use our wet weather to indeed dig a hole two feet deep. In fact, I dug two of them. Those two holes are now home to two "sticks." They look like sticks. They are just sticks! At the moment. But soon, those two sticks will take on the names of Himrod and Flame.

Got any ideas of what those might be?

If you guessed the answer of "table grapes," points to you my friend. They are indeed two separate and well known varieties of seedless grapes. These are the types of varieties that I was hoping to pick up when I attended the most recent Scion Exchange hosted by the Sacramento Chaper of the California Rare Fruit Growers. I came away with carefully pruned scions (sticks) for Himrod, Flame and Kish Mish (Thompson Seedless).

Himrod is apparently a close cousin to the Kish Mish,* as is the most popular table grape grown in California today: Thompson Seedless. The Himrod variety is actually a cross between the Thompson and Ontario varieties. It is considered to be the most successful table grape variety released by the Cornell University Breeding Program in 1952.

Emerging Kish Mish

The Himrod is designed to grow well in cold weather regions. In California, where it is just a tad warmer during most years, Himrod also does well. Thanks to California weather conditions, which range from warm to hot, the Himrod is considered to be an early-ripening variety.

Flame Seedless, meanwhile, is pure California. Hybridized and released by the USDA Agricultural Research Station in Fresno in 1973, it caught on quickly. Thousands of acres of Flame table grapes are planted from one end of California to the other. If the table grapes you purchase from your local neighborhood store during the summer are red in color, chances are it's the Flame.

Why plant table grapes? Because I absolutely LOVE table grapes. Is that good enough? No matter how many pounds I purchase from the store, it's never enough. I always run out. I always want more. The best answer to this table grape addiction is to plant your own. Since one single vine can produce as much as 100 lbs. of table grapes, I won't run out until I'm absolutely sick of of them. That sickness is temporary, however. The urge to consume table grapes always returns.

The gardener in me loves to experiment. Rather than amend the soil that came out of both planting holes and use it for growing both table grape varieties, I instead filled both holes with good, old-fashioned, smelly, amended steer manure compost. In other words, cow poop.

Planting Medium

All gardening is local. All gardening can be experimental. What works for me in Northern California may not work as well in other parts of the country, or the world for that matter. The urge to experiment with different growing methods and mediums comes from arborists and others who always advocated for a new approach, rather than the tried and true.

I'm sure Penelope would approve.

Table grapes grow and produce rather quickly in California. That's the reason why so many of them are produced here and shipped to destinations all over the world. The weather, soil and water here are perfect for wine and table grape production. California weather is just about perfect for growing anything and everything under the sun.

Provided the weather warms up. Right, Penelope?

*The Kish Mish table grape is the grandaddy of the table grape industry. Originally believed to have been sourced from Afghanistan, the Kish Mish made its way across Europe and the Mediterranean. Once established in various grape growing regions, it quickly became the table-grape of choice. It is known by a variety of names. These include Sultana, Thompson Seedless, Lady de Coverly and many others. It's believed that early California plant breeder Felix Gillet was the first or among the first nurserymen to bring the Kish Mish to the United States. The Kish Mish adapted well to the California climate and was highly prized because it was one of the first seedless grapes. Today it is known and sold under the name of Thompson Seedless.