- Author: Melissa G. Womack
Warm vs. cool season crops
Most vegetables are classified as either a warm season or cool season crop. This designation is based on the temperature range that the plants thrive in. Warm season crops grow best when the days are long and the temperatures are high (between 65°-95°F). In contrast, cool season crops grow and produce the best quality produce when the average temperatures are between 55°-75°F and are typically tolerant of light frosts when mature.
Typical cool season crops include root vegetables such as: beets, carrots, parsnips, and radishes; stems such as asparagus and rhubarb; leafy crops like cabbage, celery, lettuce, spinach and crops that have edible immature flowers like artichokes, cauliflower, and broccoli.
Importance of frost dates
“When deciding what to plant in your edible garden it is important to take into consideration the best months a crop will thrive,” says Missy Gable, statewide director for the UC Master Gardener Program. “Fall can be a very rewarding gardening season. There are a variety of delicious crops that can survive the cooler temps and have a short number of days to maturity.”
Guides for determining the first and last frost dates for a specific area or region are available using historical references from the National Weather Service. Visit the California Garden Web section “When should plant my garden? Frost dates” webpage for detailed information about when to safely plant frost-tender crops.
Cool season vegetable gardening at a glance:
Learn more with the UC Master Gardener Program
Originally published on UC ANR's Food Blog (09/13/2016)
Resources:
Vegetable Gardening Basics, http://anrcatalog.ucanr.edu/pdf/8059.pdf
California Gardening Web, cagardenweb.ucanr.edu/
California Master Gardener Handbook, Home Vegetable Gardening, page 338-339, anrcatalog.ucanr.edu
University of California Cooperative Extension Vegetable Research & Information Center, vric.ucdavis.edu
- Author: Lauren Snowden
Spring-flowering bulbs are easy to grow and pack a punch of color to help usher out winter blues. Order your spring-flowering bulbs, now available for purchase in their dormant state through mail order and at local nurseries. Finding the perfect color, height, blooming time and scent can be very exciting, especially with the wide varieties of bulbs available. When purchasing look for heavy, dense bulbs with no decay, mold, or fungus; they should smell fresh, and be free of cuts and bruises.
Bulbs are very versatile and can be planted in flower beds, raised beds, lawns, around trees, lining walkways, in pots or window boxes. Bulbs generally have very few diseases and insects, but can be disturbed by pests such as gophers, ground squirrels and mice.
Bulbs are low maintenance and any gardener can successfully grow bulbs by following these simple steps:
- Use healthy bulbs (plump, firm, fresh smelling)
- Choose a sunny spot with rich well-drained soil
- Plant correctly
- Planting depth (follow the directions)
- Pointy end up (if you are unsure, plant it on its side)
Landscaping with spring bulbs can create interest in the landscape where there is none and bring pops of color and whimsy to porches and patios. Plant bulbs in formal lines, or free flowing groups, play with color choosing multiple colors or choose a striking monochromatic color palette.
Here are a few design ideas to keep in mind when deciding where to plant bulbs:
- Combine bulbs and perennials such as cranesbill geranium or daylilies for a show stopping flowerbed. Almost any perennial or annual combines well with bulbs and can keep your flowerbed looking perky after the bulb bloom is spent.
- Hillsides, tree lines, meadows and areas that are left undisturbed are great for planting swaths or drifts of naturalizing bulbs. Large bold masses of spring blooming bulbs can be enjoyed year after year as the bulbs multiply and spread.
- Get creative in a container by planting different varieties of bulbs in the same containers to create a colorful spring display.
- Choose bulbs that require different planting depths and have different blooming times. Containers will become a living bouquet of color. This technique is referred to as layering or making “bulb lasagna” and is a fun experiment with different combinations of bulbs.
With California's Mediterranean climate bulbs can stay in the ground year round, but may require replacement or division every three to four years depending on overcrowding or poor bloom quality. After blooming scatter a light feeding of fertilizer (5-10-10) over the area and allow foliage to fade until it has yellowed and withered before removal.
Regardless of how you incorporate bulbs into your landscape, bulbs add a pop of color, interest, depth and character. Happy planting!
Spring flowering bulbs, corms, rhizomes, and tubers: |
||||
Allium | Freesia | Poppy Anemone | ||
Bluebell | Hyacinth (Grape Hyacinth) | Snowdrop | ||
Calla | Iris (Dutch, Bearded) | Spanish Bell | ||
Crocus | Lily (Oriental, Asiatic) | Ranunculus | ||
Cyclamen | Muscari | Tulip | ||
Daffodil |
- Author: Melissa G. Womack
All of the success of the UC Master Gardener Program is due to the hard work and dedication of its volunteers, for this we would like to say a sincere THANK YOU for all you do!
Volunteers make a difference
Volunteer hours focus on services and outreach to the general public, sharing research-based information about water conservation, green waste reduction, pest management, and sustainable gardening practices. UC Master Gardeners are creating healthier communities and gardeners through their love for gardening and hours of volunteer service.
Impacts by the numbers
Last year 6,237 volunteers gave their time and shared their talents, resources and gardening knowledge with communities across California. From July 1, 2015 to June 30, 2016 more than 328,540 hours were donated, a monetary value worth more than $9 million. It is hard to put a value to the service volunteers make for the program, but over the course of our 35 year history more than 5 million volunteer hours have been donated worth more than $137 million to California.
“This year we celebrate hitting the impressive 5 million volunteer hour's milestone,” says Missy Gable, statewide director. “We are so proud of the UC Master Gardener Program and its volunteers and the incredible work they do across the state. This hour milestone represents thousands of volunteers giving their valuable time, horticulture knowledge and sharing their passion about sustainable home gardening with their friends, neighbors and communities.”
Telling our story by reporting
We look forward to reaching our next hour milestone together, a sincere thank you to our incredible group of volunteers, for sharing their passion and valuable time with the UC Master Gardener Program!
- Author: Melissa G. Womack
Since 1987, the Cherry Buckskin Project has been working to prevent the establishment of cherry buckskin disease which can decimate entire orchards. “Cherry buckskin disease is spread by leafhoppers, which acquire the disease when feeding on diseased cherries or other plants that host the disease organism. Diseased trees produce pebbly, leathery-skinned paled fruit that is most evident at harvest,” according to the UC IPM website.
Prevention of cherry buckskin disease is a collaborative effort between UC Cooperative Extension, the Contra Costa County Department of Agriculture and local cherry growers; the Cherry Buckskin Project aims at early detection through education and outreach.
A major component of the Cherry Buckskin Project is the training of UC Master Gardener volunteers and local growers. UC Master Gardener volunteers in Contra Costa County are trained annually by Caprile, who explains the history of the disease, how it is transmitted and what symptoms to be on the lookout for.
UC Master Gardener volunteers serve as early detectors and scout for symptoms of cherry buckskin disease, through an annual survey of cherry orchards in Contra Costa County. Since the beginning of the project UC Master Gardener volunteers donated more than 1,100 volunteer hours surveying cherry orchards!
A huge congratulations to Janet Caprile for the well-deserved IPM Achievement Award, and a thank you to all of the UC Master Gardener volunteers in Contra Costa County that have helped make the Cherry Buckskin Project possible with the hours they have dedicated to its success.
Also attending the award ceremony with Caprile were Matthew Slattengren, Assistant Agricultural Commissioner Sealer of Weights and Measures, Jorge Vargas, Agricultural Biologist Weights and Measures Inspector, and Claire Bernardo, representing UC Master Gardener volunteers. The ceremony took place in the CalEPA headquarters Building in Sacramento, Calif.
Resources:
UC Cooperative Extension, Contra Costa County, cecontracosta.ucanr.edu
UC Master Gardener Program of Contra Costa County, ccmg.ucanr.edu
UC Integrated Pest Management (IPM), ipm.ucanr.edu
- Author: Stephanie Falzone
It's that time of year again. Soon, over 150 UC Master Gardener volunteers will head to plant nurseries throughout the state with clipboards, cameras, and data sheets in hand. In this 8th year of the survey, they will be searching for invasive ornamental plants. But why?
The nursery survey is how PlantRight measures what is happening in California's retail nursery industry, and none of it would happen without the survey volunteers. In 2016, 175 volunteers (many of them UC Master Gardener volunteers) were trained by PlantRight to survey for invasive plants at retail locations throughout the state. If approved by your county, hours spent participating in the survey can count towards certification volunteer hour requirements. Check with your local county program coordinator.
Interested in participating?
- Learn more about the survey and results from past surveys.
- Register to receive updates about the survey and gain access to the online training.
- View either a refresher video for returning volunteersorawebinar for new volunteers that discusses invasive plants, how to conduct the survey, and includes a guest speaker each year.
- The survey starts earlier in Southern California (San Luis Obispo, Kern, San Bernardino counties and south) than it does in north of those counties.
- Southern California: Nurseries are available to claim and the survey begins on February 27th, going through May.
- Northern California: Nurseries are available to claim and the survey begins on April 3rd, going until June 20th.
- This year's webinar includes an Introduction to the Watershed Approach to Landscaping by Pamela Berstler from G3: Green Gardens Group.
- Take a short quiz to demonstrate your newfound knowledge.
- Access to survey materials and claim your survey store (or multiple stores.
- Visit the store/s and record information about any invasive plants or candidate plants being sold.
- Submit information to PlantRight
Why is the survey important?
The information volunteers gather is vital to PlantRight for three main purposes:
1. Tracking the sale of invasive plants currently on the plant list, and retiring those that have been largely phased out of retail.
To keep the list relevant, as plants from the original list are no longer sold, they are “retired.” To retire a plant, it must be found at less than 1% of nurseries surveyed for 3 years in a row. This doesn't mean that they are gone from our landscapes. Plants like Scotch broom (Cystisus scoparius) and arundo (Arundo donax) have already invaded wildlands in California, and there's still much work to be done to control their spread. Since the invasive plant list was first published in 2006, 15 plants have been retired, which is excellent progress. You can help with these retired plants by removing them if they are on your property or volunteering with groups that remove invasive plants.
Three plants were added in 2014: Mexican feathergrass (Stipa/Nassella tenuissima), yellow flag iris (Iris pseudacorus), and water hyacinth (Eichhornia crassipes).
2. Helping PlantRight determine whether or not to add candidate plants to the plant list.
In late 2012, PlantRight recruited several horticultural experts (all volunteers, from diverse sectors of industry, academia and conservation) to establish their Plant List Committee. These individuals engage in the complex, involved, and time-intensive process of working with PlantRight to decide which surveyed plants to add to the invasive plant list and which non-invasive alternatives to suggest. Each fall, PlantRight solicits input from the Plant List Committee and an extended network of experts to see what plants might be hopping the garden fence and escaping into wildlands.
To appear on PlantRight's invasive list, a plant must meet the following criteria:
- When evaluated by PlantRight's Plant Risk Evaluator (PRE), it rates as being “high risk” or is on the Cal-IPC Inventory
- It is found in 3% or more retailers surveyed in the annual Spring Nursery Survey
- Its invasive range is large enough to warrant action, and its inclusion is supported by both the Plant List Committee and Steering Committee
There's one more way PlantRight uses the survey information – helping use their energy and time strategically.
3. Informing industry outreach strategy with information about sales in different regions and store types.
Get an exclusive look at the results of this year's survey (before they go online) by attending the 2017 UC Master Gardener Conference in Long Beach on August 22-25, where PlantRight will be giving a presentation and celebrating the participation of UC Master Gardener volunteers in this effort.
Can't participate in the survey?
You can still help by sharing what you've just read, sharing the Plant List or Mexican feathergrass species spotlight, shopping at PlantRight retail partner locations, and educating your friends and neighbors. You can also participate in their Continuing Education program if you would like to expand your knowledge about invasive garden plants in California. You are welcome to still watch the webinar if you can't participate in the survey. A recording of each webinar will be shared on the PlantRight YouTube channel immediately after it concludes.
Learn more about PlantRight at www.PlantRight.org. Stay up on the latest from PlantRight on Facebook and Twitter, and Instagram. Have a question? Contact us at PlantRight@suscon.org.
Note: this blog post is an updated and abridged version of Where invasive plants are sold in California – and how we know, which was shared by PlantRight in October 2016 and summarized the results of the 2016 survey and plant list update process.