Archived Articles
UC Master Gardeners of El Dorado County Articles
Published weekly in local periodicals, these articles are a treasure trove of advice about gardening in El Dorado County and the surrounding areas. Peruse the archive of articles for valuable information for both novice and expert gardeners. But please remember that at the end of each article there may be out-dated events or hours of operation, and please refer to the current website, not the articles, for current contact and event information.
Vegetables
- A Trove of Advice for the Aspiring Vegetable Gardener
- Cool Season Veggies - Timing is Everything
- Determinate or Indeterminate: Choosing the Best Tomato for Your Garden
- Five Steps to Avoid Becoming THE Problem in YOUR Vegetable Garden
- From Fruit to Spice: The Lowly Pepper
- Get Ready to Grow Garlic!
- Growing Leaf Lettuce
- Growing the Bitter Out of Cucumbers
- Growing the Perfect Eggplant
- Heirlooms!
- Hybrid vs Heirloom
- Kale and Collards
- Oh My Gourd! The Great Pumpkin Phenomenon
- Okra
- One Potato, Two Potato, Three Potato, Four
- Spring (or Cool Season) Vegetable Gardening
- Tips for Hand Pollinating Eggplant
- Vegetables That Give Year After Year
Propagation
- Free Seeds!
- Get Seedy
- Growing Vegetables from Seed
- Make Your Own Plants
- New Plants From Hardwood Cuttings
- Organizing Seeds at Home
- Saving Seeds
- Start Planning Your Spring and Summer Garden Now!
- Starting Seeds Is Fun and Easy!
- The Seedy Side of Gardening
- Two (or three or four) for the Price of One (grafting)
- What Are Patented Plants?
- Your Super Productive Secret Greenhouse
Herbs
- Cut & Dried: Harvesting & Preserving Herbs
- Herbs: Beautiful and Useful Plants
- Not So Famous Herbs and Spices
- Planning Your Herb Garden
- Tea in the Garden - Home Grown Flower and Herbal Teas
- Tips for a Successful Indoor Herb Garden
- Why an Herb's Structure is Important
Soil & Mulch
- A New Approach to Digging
- Bless that Hard Pan
- Cover Crops
- Leave Your Leaves Alone!
- Pine Needles as Mulch
- Protect Your Soil With Mulch
- Soil as your Garden Palette
- Soil is Alive!
- Soil: It's Complex. Be Informed!
- The Benefits of Cover Crops
- The Novice Gardener’s Guide to Bagged Garden Soils and Soil
- To Fertilize or not to Fertilize
- Turning Dirt into Soil: The Benefits of Healthy Soil
- Using Mulch versus Compost in your Garden
- Using Cover Crops
- What’s Going on Beneath the Surface of Your Soil?
Compost
- Backyard Composting Basics
- Composting
- Compost Tea
- Composting Leaves
- Making Worms Work for You
- Mulching Fall Leaves for Compost
- Recycling - With Worms!
- Starting A Vermiculture Program
- Sumptuous Soils: Turning Dirt into Gold
- The Basics of Composting
- Worms, Nature’s Wriggling Recyclers
Trees
- Bareroot plants and why you should be planting them NOW
- Captivating Japanese Maples
- Caring for a Living Christmas Tree
- Citrus
- Citrus in the Foothills
- Citrus in the Home Garden
- Dogwoods of the Sherwood Demonstration Garden
- Fall Color
- Get Ready to Prune
- Identifying Conifers In Your Neighborhood
- Keep Your Christmas Tree Fresh and Safe for the Holidays
- Let’s Plant Some Olives!
- Masting In California Native Oaks
- Native Oaks of El Dorado County
- Native Oaks of El Dorado County
- Oak Galls in California
- Our Beloved Oaks
- Pineapple?...Nope. Guava?...Nope. Amazing?...Yes!
- Plant A Persimmon
- Pruning
- Pruning Tips
- Stone Fruit: From Garden to Table
- Success with Citrus
- Summer Pruning of Fruit Trees
- Summer Tree Care
- The Bones of a Garden: Evergreens
- Trees Not to Plant
- What Tree Should I Plant?
- Why Are My Oaks and Conifers Turning Brown?
- Why Does My Fruit Tree Have No Fruit?
- Why Trees Die
Water & Irrigation
- Don’t Stress Over Water Stress
- Drought Decisions -- Setting Priorities in your Home and Landscape
- Got Lawn?
- Harness the Rain -- Use Your Gray Water
- Helping Plants Through The Heat
- How to Save Water in Your Garden
- Irrigation Basics for the Backyard Garden
- Precious Water, Precious Plants
- Rain: Saving For A Sunny Day
- Stretching Your Water With Rain and Reuse
- Switch To Drip Irrigation
- Switch To Drip Irrigation
- Water Container Gardening
- Water-Saving Drip Irrigation
Pollinator Gardening
- Blooms For Bees
- Bringing Home Pollinators
- Create a Butterfly Haven With Native Plants
- Help Save the Butterflies!
- How to Create a Butterfly Garden
- Please, pamper Our Pollinators!
- Those Beautiful Hummingbirds
- Tips for Keeping Mason Bees
Garden Planning
- A New Look at Water in Your Landscape and Garden
- Creating a Habitat Garden to Sustain Future Generations
- Designing a Garden with Strong Plant Shapes
- Designing Gardens for Small Spaces
- Garden Planning
- Made In the Shade, Planning Your Shady Garden
- Planning this Year’s Veggie Garden
- Re-think Your Gardening Space
- Selecting a Garden Style
- Steps to Good Landscape design
- Sustainable Gardening
- Wintertime: Musing Ahead For Your Gardening Year
Native Plants
- BRINGING NATURE HOME: How You Can Sustain Wildlife with Native Plants
- California Native Plants
- Establishing Native Plants
- Gardening With California Native Plants
- Growing California Native Wildflowers
- Native Plants, Schmative Plants - What’s All the Fuss?
Succulents
- Blooming Succulents?
- Build a Rock and Succulent Garden
- Sherwood Demonstration Garden: Succulent Garden
- Secrets of Success with Succulents
- Succulents
- Succulent Basics
Miscellaneous
- Adding a Frog Pond to Your Landscape
- Autumn Garden Care
- Becoming a Master Gardener
- Bonehead II: The Story Continues
- Children in the Garden
- Cleaning and Caring for Your Garden Tools During Winter
- Do Snails Eat Lunch?
- Dry Your Garden Flowers
- El Dorado County Master Gardeners: At Your Service!
- Fairy Gardens
- Fall Garden Chores
- Garden Myths and the Truth
- Habitations
- Heat Tolerant Plants
- Holiday Gift Plant Care
- House Plants: What Your Grandmother Never Told You
- Internet Tools Master Gardeners Use, And You Can Too
- Ladybug, ladybug…
- Landscaping With Ornamental Grasses
- Lovely Christmas Tree Alternatives
- Making the All-Star Team
- Nesting Boxes for Bluebirds
- Oak Galls in California
- Olives: From Garden To Table
- Ornamental Grasses
- Peanut Butter and Jelly
- Pesticide Poisoning in Pets – Part 1
- Pesticide Poisoning in Pets – Part 2
- Plant a Row for the Hungry–Why It Matters More Than Ever
- Poisonous Plants and Pets
- Poisonous Plants in California
- PUT A PIN IN IT: Coming Soon in the Shade Garden
- Spring garden Chores Checklist
- Storing the Harvest
- Summer Chores Checklist
- Ten Best Gardening Gifts
- The Sherwood Demonstration Garden
- Tradition!
- Turf Battles
- Vacations: What to know before you go!
- Victory Gardens
- What is the Best Gardening Book to Have?
- What to Do When You Can't Garden
- What’s In a Name? - Understanding Scientific Names
- What's In A Name? - Plant name origins
- Why- Ask A Master Gardener?
- Winter Garden Chores
Flowers & Shrubs
- A Geranium for Every Garden
- A Gift That Keeps on Giving
- African Violets: Easy-to-Care-for Flowering Houseplants
- Agapanthus: So Much to Love!
- An Invitation to Garden Beauty -- A Rose Pruning Primer
- An Invitation to Garden Beauty - A Rose Selection and Bare Root Planting Primer
- Blooming Perennials Throughout the Year
- Bob and the Duchess: A Tale of Antique Rose
- Brrrrrr, It’s Cold Outside
- But I Don’t Have a Green Thumb
- Caring For Clematis
- Caring for Poinsettias
- Container Garden for Winter Interest
- Cultivating the Rose—Cultivating Delight
- Cutting Gardens
- Cyclamen - A Pop of Color in Winter
- Daphne Odora
- Edible Flowers
- Enjoy Flowers from your Garden Longer
- Ever-Blooming, Ever-Beautiful Orchids
- Flower of Easter
- Flowering Vines
- Gardenias
- Grasses in the Garden
- Growing Great Mums
- Growing Lilies
- Growing Peonies
- Hellabores
- Hostas: Made for Shade! Growing Hostas in Pots in the Sierra Foothills
- In Praise of the Perfectly Durable Rose
- Incredible Edible ... Flowers!
- Is It Time To Cut Those Grasses Back?
- Late Summer Garden Spruce Ups
- Lavender
- Lavender Is Like A Puppy
- Monarda
- Much Loved Flower
- Orchids In the Home 1
- Orchids in the Home 2
- Ornamental Grasses in the Landscape
- Pineapple?...Nope. Guava?...Nope. Amazing?...Yes!
- Plants for Privacy
- Poinsettias Year Round!
- Poinsettias, Part One
- Poinsettias, Part Two: Selection and Care
- Potted Chrysanthemums
- Pruning
- Quirky Exotic Air Plants- Tillandsias
- Red and Yellow Twig Dogwood
- Redbud and Ceanothus: Native Superstars!
- Rhododendrons in the Gold Country?
- Rosemary
- Roses… I am Tempted
- Salvia
- Say It With Flowers
- Selecting and Caring for Poinsettias
- So Many Hydrangeas
- Summer When It Sizzles - Zinnias
- The Enduring Appeal of Lavender
- The Ultimate Christmas Flower: Poinsettias
- Try Growing a Rugosa Rose
- Year-Round Blossoms for the Garden
Pests & Diseases
- A Tale of Two Troubles: The Asian Citrus Psyllid and Huanglongbing Disease
- All About Rattlesnakes -- Part 1
- All About Rattlesnakes -- Part 2
- Bark Beetles – The Silent Killer Among Us
- Bats - Pest Management for your Garden and Orchard
- Be a Plant Hero! Avoid Invasive Plant Introductions When You Landscape
- Be On The Lookout!
- Brown Recluse Spiders
- Contemplating a Backyard Orchard? Better to think ahead!
- Controlling Codling Moth
- Controlling Peach Leaf Curl
- Controlling Whiteflies
- Deterring Critters from Your Garden
- Don’t Wish Upon This Star! Controlling Yellow Starthistle
- Don't Plant a Pest!
- Dormant Spraying
- Fear Not The Beetle
- Garden Whodunnits: Insect ID on the Web
- Getting to Know Mistletoe
- Gophers and Moles and Voles, Oh My!
- If You Plant It...They Will Come!
- Is That Pesticide Really Necessary?
- Keys to Plant Problems: Do Plants Talk?
- MG Confidential: Startling Revelations of Gardening Folly
- Moist Spring Brings Summer Challenges
- No More Leathery Tomatoes
- Plant Fungal Diseases
- Pocket Gophers: How to Control the Furry Little Root Eaters
- Poison Oak
- Sneaky Weeds
- Sneaky Weeds, Part 2
- The Good, the Bad, and the Bugly
- The Northern Pacific Rattlesnake
- They Come – Those Invasive Plants
- Uninvited Guest That Won’t Leave
- Weed Control without Poison
- Weed Speak: What Our Weeds Are Telling Us
- Weed Wars
- What's Eating the Tomatoes
- What's Wrong With My Plant?
- White Pine Blister Rust
- Whiteflies
- Wildlife Encounters
- Yellow Star Thistle
- Yikes -- Bugs in my Squash!
Gardening Techniques
- A Container Planting Primer
- Bringing Birds To The Garden
- Check the Roots First
- Color and Shade - A Gardeners Challenge
- Deer and Drought – Oh, No! (Oh yes)!
- Easy Row Covers to Protect Your Garden Beds
- Fall Color
- Five Reasons To Try A Straw Bale garden This Year
- “Frozen” -- Not for Your Tender Plants
- Garden Safety
- Garden Wetlands
- Gardening for Wildlife Habitat
- Gardening In A Greenhouse
- Gardening Techniques
- Gardening with a Mediterranean Thumb
- Give Your Garden a “Tune-up” for Spring Planting
- Great Garden Tool: Floating Row Cover
- Grow Bags: An Alternative Way to Grow Vegetables in Small Spaces
- Grow Up!
- Growing Blueberries and Strawberries in Containers
- High Praise for the Raised Garden Bed
- Houseplant Care in the Winter Months
- How To Be A Lazy Gardener
- How to Turn Your Kid’s Thumb Green
- I Love Straw Bale Gardening
- Landscaping Without Lawns
- Lawn Alternatives
- Lawn Gone
- Lazy But Successful Gardening
- Mediterranean Climate Gardening?
- Mediterranean Gardens
- Missing March Miracle Means More Mulch!
- New Garden, Old Garden
- No Bare Soil: The Cottage Garden
- Painful Gardening Mistakes: Master Gardeners Tell All
- Plant A Small Foothills backyard Vineyard
- Planting In Containers
- Plants for Privacy
- Pond Plants
- Protect Your Plants from Frost Damage
- Putting Your Garden To Bed
- Rain Gardens – A New Approach
- Rewards of Shade Gardening
- Rock Gardening in El Dorado County
- Safe and Sane Gardening Until You’re 90
- Saving and Storage of Plant Seeds
- Shade gardening - Some Challenges
- Shade Gardening in a Mediterranean Climate
- So You’re Going on Vacation! What’s Going to Happen to Your Plants?
- So, You’ve Got a Shady Garden Area?
- Square Foot Gardening
- Starting A Backyard Orchard
- Straw Bale Gardens
- Straw Bale Gardening
- Sustainable Gardening
- The Art of Bonsai
- The Bones Of A Garden - Deciduous Trees and Shrubs
- The Perils of Over-Fertilizing Plants and Trees
- The Sensory Garden
- The Ultimate Raised Bed: Hugelkultur
- Three Simple Ways to Attract More Pollinators to Your Garden
- Tips for Success in Small Space Gardening
- Unusual Gardening Spaces
- Using Cover Crops 1
- Using Cover Crops 2
- Vacation: What to Know Before You Go!
- Welcome the Beneficials
- Why Don't You Grow UP???
- Winter Dormancy: Gardening For the Fourth Season
- Your Garden - A Valuable Wildlife Corridor
Firewise and Waterwise Gardening
- Arboretum All-Stars
- Coffee Mug Succulent Garden
- Drought Tolerant California Native Plants
- Electric Safety in Your Yard: Look Up, Look Out and Live!
- Fall, Fires, and the First 5 Feet
- Fire-Resilient Landscapes
- Firewise Landscaping Still Matters
- Gardening in Wildfire Lands
- Hope for Rain, Plan for Drought
- Landscape Design Principles
- Lawn Alternatives
- Native by Design - Landscaping with Native Plant Species
- Put Your Garden to Bed
- Waterwise Gardening
- Water-wise Tips for an Unthirsty Landscape