From the UC Blogosphere...
Daily Life For Master Gardeners
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Rice planting proceeds despite drought
Water uncertainties delayed planting of the California rice crop, but it finally began the last week of April, reported Tim Hearden in Capital Press. The National Agricultural Statistics Service predicts 408,000 acres to be planted to rice in California in 2015.
“Planting is going full swing right now,” said Luis Espino, UC Agriculture and Natural Resources (UC ANR) rice crop advisor with UC Cooperative Extension in Colusa County. “With the water situation early on, everyone was expecting water deliveries to be a little late — the first week of May. Then it was actually delivered a little earlier than that.”
Planting is about two weeks ahead of schedule in Butte County, said Cass Mutters, a UC ANR CE rice farm advisor.
“This spring was unfortunately so dry and so warm that growers were out working their fields,” Mutters said. “As a result, the planting schedule is accelerated this year.”
Because water deliveries from the Sacramento and Feather rivers have been cut, some land that typically produces rice will be fallowed in 2015.
“It's hard to say how much, but my guess is it's going to be maybe 10 or 15 percent more than last year," Espino said. "Growers might not get surface water but might be able to pump here and there or get water from somewhere else. We'll see at the end what the actual acreage is.”
Water wisdom coming this weekend
Two trained and certified UC Master Gardeners with UC Agriculture and Natural Resources will talk to homeowners about their irrigation systems at a free seminar May 9 called “Planning for Drought," reported Thaddeus Miller of the Merced Sun-Star.
UC Master Gardener Dave Hackney, based in the Merced County UC Cooperative Extension office, said about half of all water used in residential homes goes to the landscape. The seminar will cover products on the market that water the lawn more slowly, which allows for liquid to penetrate the ground without running off sloped lawns.
The seminar also will cover drip irrigation for home gardens. “At this point in the season, we're really concentrating on low-water plants and water efficiency for homeowners,” he said.
In Riverside, UC ANR Cooperative Extension environmental horticulturalist Dennis Pittenger will appear at a local bookstore to discuss the newly published second edition of the California Master Gardener Handbook, reported Stephanie Schulte in the Press-Enterprise.
Pittenger has been traveling around the state promoting the publication and giving tips on being water-wise, the article said. Pittenger said a recurring question keeps cropping up at his bookstore talks.
“People have a hard time knowing if they are under or over watering,” he said.
His advice is simple: “Trim back, many plants don't need as much water as you might think,” he said.
What's Wrong With This Picture?
Take a look at the insect below. "It's a cricket," you say. Correct. It is a cricket. But it doesn't belong there. Why?...
What's wrong with this picture? This is not a field cricket but a house cricket. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
A honey bee and a cricket sharing the same blanket flower. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Edible Gardens In Drought
Edible Drought Gardens By Jutta Thoerner UCCE Master Gardener I am...