The Backyard Gardener

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A Gardening Blog for the East Side

The climate of the Eastern Sierra is very different from most of California and so gardening here is different, too!

In this blog we examine some of the quirks of gardening on the East Side, and cover horticultural issues that are important locally. Note that if you're visiting our site from the outside our little corner of California, you may find this information may not apply to your area.

Articles are written by local UC Master Gardener volunteers or the local Farm Advisor.

And a website...

The Inyo-Mono Master Gardeners also have a website with local gardening and soil information. Visit it to learn more about our program and gardening.

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Black Widow Vendetta

June 1st, 2022

This year appears to have produced a bumper population of Black Widow (Latrodectus) spiders. Having had too many close calls with these arachnids, I decided to eliminate as many as possible before I became a victim.

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A tomato stem with wilted, discolored leaves.

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Late Spring Freezes in the Garden

May 23rd, 2022

By Dustin W Blakey

Recently the Eastern Sierra had some hard freezes that damaged plants. It's not that unusual for it to happen, but no one likes to see zapped foliage.

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Field Bindweed - Take it Seriously!

May 9th, 2022

Although I'm familiar with bindweed from past experience, for some reason it had never put in an appearance in my West Bishop garden until three years ago.

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Wet soil with several small worms present.

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Tubular Invasion

April 15th, 2022

Blessed with good soil, I usually grow all of my vegetables in the ground, but this year I was tempted to create a raised bed for strawberries with space for some vegetables too.

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Labels come in all shapes, sizes and styles.

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New Plants? Hang On To The Labels!

April 12th, 2022

It is important to keep plant labels, preferably inserting them next to where the plant was put. But failing that, at least keep the label in a safe spot a box or envelope or suchlike so that it can readily be accessed for future reference.

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