- Author: Betty Victor
A visit to the Grass Valley, Nevada City area a few weeks ago gave us the chance to see the UCCE master gardens of Nevada County demonstration garden in Grass Valley. We had heard about this garden from Sherry Richards, who was a Master Gardener in Grass Valley when she lived in that area. She now is one of our UCCE Master Gardeners- Solano County.
This garden in on an acre of land that the Nevada County Irrigations Department is letting the Master Gardeners use for this garden. Nevada County Irrigation also supplies the water free of charge to them.
As you walk down on a slight hill to the garden, you see different areas of plants, trees and landscaped paths that the Master Gardeners have work in. Each section seemed to me to be devoted to different plants. Most have stakes in front of them with the name of the plant you are looking at.
One garden has a vine covered arbor with a bench; I was surprised to see growing in this garden is a small red Japanese maple tree that grows in the sun according to the tag on it.
There is an orchard with a small fig tree being espaliered and some apple trees growing as well. Also an area of oak trees, I wondered if that was an oak habitat. A large grape vine was growing on a covered structure.
Behind an enclosed screened area which you can walk through. But before you do that-there is a warning at the entrance- a sign- to look but do not take any of the produce or flowers that are growing. Most plants were growing in containers. On this sign it says “the garden is not a public or community garden for harvesting anything other than ideas”. The vegetables that are grown in this area are donated to the local food bank.
On the outside of this screened area, there was a border with a sign that said “Rockery Garden”, inside this border there are small to medium size rocks with succulents and native plants growing- all drought tolerant, needing full sun and deer resistant.
Tucked behind a small building there are 2 chairs and a table for relaxing, maybe after a hard day's work.
A large covered structure with a cement floor featuring a sign on it that says “Nevada County Master Gardeners, U.C. Cooperative Extension Demonstration Garden, Nevada Irrigation District”. You can't miss the inside where there was a long bench that looked to be the ideal place to hold their many garden demonstrations for the public.
From what I saw, it looks to be a real cooperation between Nevada City Irrigation local business's and the Master Gardeners. There is a large shed with individual signs that have the names of all the major donors who have helped this garden.
Because of the time of year we visited, not many things were in bloom. Yet I could see the love and devotion from all who have a part in this to make this garden what it is and what more it will be.
- Author: Lowell Cooper
Being a tourist can be a strange experience, as in some ways it should be. We (my wife and I) just came back from 3 weeks in Madagascar – long enough to have reasonably varied experiences but not long enough to have much perspective on what we were experiencing. The country was quite friendly to our overtures of conversation and interest, and at the same time we weren't there quite long enough to tell if what we were seeing and hearing held true.
For instance, the roads were a complete mess and in places undriveable, even though our driver was quite skilled and we got around without mishap. We did, however, spend several harrowing hours traveling on the notorious ‘chicken' bus – a van for 10 with about 20 people in it including a mountain of stuff tied to the roof, as in chicken coups, tires, and luggage and whatever else could be held down by ropes. It was stifling hot. But it got us where we wanted to go after several hours of fascinating driving through gorgeous mountains and villages, by the end of which we were mainly concentrating on our very full bladders. At one point we witnessed a bus having just gone off a mountainside with many people trying to figure out how to get to the injured. No AAA to call. Was all the road experience just par for life in Madagascar, or were the local people also on edge about how to survive road travel?
On the other side, the mountain driving was quite beautiful. Long expanses of forest, rice fields, no traffic, and small villages along the way. So here was the wonderful side of being in a relatively undeveloped country. In general there were hardly any cars. The tourist spots had some, the cities had a fair share, but the village areas were one main street with vendors lining both sides of the road, and just about everyone on foot. I had the impression that the overall economy was poor. This was confirmed when we talked with people who said that the government couldn't be relied on to provide road repair or much education or much in the way of civic projects. Foreign money had dried up after donors realized that the money was going into bureaucrats' pockets. So village life was subsistence farms. The place was in many ways out of another century.
One of the other rather eerie experiences happened when driving through the countryside. There were fires. Lots of them. Apparently, and we couldn't verify this any more than hearing it from more than one person, that setting fires was a form of social protest against the government for one policy or another. It is also quite possible that the fires were set (also) to foster the growth of new grass. Some of the fires were quite large and looked like they stretched over many acres – especially near the national parks. The parks were apparently a flash point since the government was wanting to move people to protect the parks – flora and fauna. The lemurs lived there and were a joy to see and track. The national parks and the lemurs are a big tourist draw and there was good reason to protect them. We couldn't tell how the government was responding to protest by fire.
We never felt in danger – perhaps foolishly – and went freely where we wanted. We didn't have much time to really take advantage of this privilege, but it was nice to think it was available.
The island-country had the natural biological advantage of isolation. The natural surroundings had some rather unique features – one of which were the lemurs, many species. The flora were also at moments quite extraordinary. The baobabs (Adansonia digitata) were quite numerous in some areas and they are so unusual to look at that they never ceased to attract our attention. They have edible fruit and the bark is used for paper, rope and cloth. Because the canopy is so distinct with no branches coming out of the trunk at a lower level, the tree has the appearance of being upside-down, as if the roots are on top. The smaller varieties grow in the company of other more ordinary looking trees. Some species can apparently grow quite tall, as in the attached picture, and quite old – maybe 950 years.
I believe that 6 of the nine varieties live in Madagascar; all different sized and somewhat different shapes. Most are amongst other plants, but this so-called avenue of the baobobs (in the picture) is almost mystical, especially at sunset, in its other-worldly colors and size. They are a draw for local people as well as foreign tourists and there is a village community nearby the ‘'sacred' street, with goats and other domestic animals grazing in nearby pools. For me, this was as moving as temples in India.
Another spectacular plant, ravenala (Ravenala madagascazriensis)or “travellers palm” is the national symbol of the country. It is very striking; I hope the picture conveys some of this. Very tall and fan-like. There is some controversy about where it belongs botanically, but some put it in the plant family Streliziaceae. It is not really a palm but the fan is striking and the plant is quite wide-spread. It is called ‘travellers palm' because apparently the branches hold water which desperate traveller can access. But this is not advisable, better take bottled water.
I have many other impressions which I could share, but I have to say, that the flora and fauna seem undeniably real, different and special. The various events surrounding the people I feel less confident about. I'll just have to go back and spend more time there, so I can verify or disprove my observations.
- Author: Betty Homer
In September 2015, I attended the Urban Farm Tour organized by the Institute of Urban Homesteading located in Oakland, California. To clarify, these are not farms in the traditional sense, involving large swaths of acreage; but rather, people who try to incorporate agricultural concepts in their backyard by raising livestock, keeping beehives, and growing mostly edible plants rather than ornamentals. Because the sites are private residences, with rare exception, addresses for them will not be disclosed to preserve and protect the privacy interests of the urban farmer-homeowners.
This is the last Urban Farm entry for 2015, as this was the last urban farm I visited this year. I am featuring Green Grrrl Gardens, located in Hayward, California, which is owned by educator and artist, Mimi Dean. The lot size of Green Grrrl Gardens is .67 acre/29,185 square foot of which .2 acres/8,712 square feet is set aside for a vegetable garden and 1,200 square feet is used for urban farming (i.e., 25% of the total lot size). This property is unique in that it has a long-standing history of farming—first farmed in the late 1880s, and again, in the 1940s. Ms. Dean is in the process of lovingly restoring the property to its former glory, including making significant repairs to a historic barn located on-site. She has even created a private yoga studio inside her barn where she and her friends gather to practice.
Like other urban farms, Green Grrrl Gardens has a vegetable and flower garden, fruit trees, a native and drought-resistant habitat intended to attract bees, butterflies and hummingbirds. Ms. Dean maintains a bamboo grove which serves as a source of building material and food.
What sets Green Grrl Gardens apart from other urban farms visited is Ms. Dean's incorporation of recycled art throughout her vegetable gardens and areas where she keeps her livestock (e.g., junk store chairs used as squash trellises). Ms. Dean and her artist friends known as the Trash Sistas, turn junk into works of art with an eye to reduce, reuse and recycle, which they sell to support their endeavors.
Although the aesthetics of Green Grrl Gardens may not be pleasing to everyone, there is a lot of heart, hipness and hospitality to this place such that it was a delight to visit.
- Author: Susan P Croissant
"Mint Edition" is a monthly newsletter from Morningsun Herb Farm in Vacaville. In the November 2015 issue, Rosemary Loveall-writes about the seminar she recently attended at Lake Merritt, Defining a New Northern California Landscape. Ideas to provide healthy, sustainable landscapes by rethinking how to garden in our area. Here's Rosemary's quote on one presentation entitled "Water-Wise Landscapes":
"Now, I use the term ‘water-wise' frequently, generally in terms of what types of plants are used in the landscaping and what kind of irrigation is used, but a watershed wise landscape uses the concept of working with the natural systems of the earth, as well as the man made constructs, to create a balanced sustainable system where you live. I always think of a watershed as something large that I look at on a map, but actually each of us lives in our own ‘watershed'. Our roofs, patios and decks, the amount of non permeable spaces, the slope of our property, all greatly affect our watershed."
How to build a rain garden. Which, of course, companions well with her consistent advocacy of building healthy soils. The new term at the conference was "a living soil sponge."
View her article at http://morningsunherbfarm.com/ssp/article1_nov2015
She provides an excerpt/link from The Drought Tolerant Garden Los Angeles County Handbook that has detailed instructions, including calculating water amounts coming from surfaces around your home. Along with other ideas.
You can access this link via her article or here: http://morningsunherbfarm.com/multimedia/docs/RainGarden.pdf
- Author: Trisha Rose
Monday morning and it has been raining since 6:30 this morning, took out the dogs early while just sprinkling. A guest showed up this morning so I actually had to pull out my umbrella, shook out the cobwebs first. Just thinking about how lovely the roses looked yesterday afternoon, now the weight of rain drops on the petals has quickly weighed down the blossoms and they have fallen over on their spindly stems. I may be imagining things but I don't recall so many roses falling over like this in the past. Could be a combination of our recent rains helping to push out these new blooms after such a long dry year, and the spindly stems most likely a result of so little water since last winter and no fertilizer as I didn't want to encourage growth. So many of the plants have pushed out flowers recently with the flush of rainy days as they try to complete their life cycles. The forecasted temperatures have already projected frost warning, but at least temps have been in the 50's with the rains in the past month.
This past May I decided to move the remaining succulents still in the ground near the front of the yard nearest the street. This area is unprotected from the day long sun which turns many succulents to crispy critters during the summer, then to mush in the winter as they melt with the freeze/frosts. The established Phormiums have done ok in this arid ground but the smaller Phormium transplants look pretty sorry as my friends from the south would say. Even the Echium resembles a Day of the Dead sculpture more than a healthy plant, and these plants are usually so hardy they can survive as edging for municipal parking lots.
For now I will keep my umbrella handy and leave the front drought tolerant plantings alone, it will be interesting to see the changes our rainy winter will bring.
