HOrT COCO-UC Master Gardener Program of Contra Costa

Evenings are growing dark and maybe it's too cold and wet to work in the garden. What better time for tool care? It's also a great time of year to drop some hints to friends and family for those expensive new pruning shears you've been wanting.

Now that the leaves have fallen, or mostly fallen, from your backyard fruit trees, are you wondering whether you should apply dormant sprays? Dormant sprays or delayed dormant sprays are terms used for the application of pesticides when the tree is dormant or just coming into bud swell.

Christmas cactus will be in bloom soon, available at your local nursery and home and garden store, in many stunning colors to brighten our shorter days. Their bloom time can range from November to January, just when we could use that emotional lift the most.

It's time to get ready for cold winter temperatures and to start preparing protection for citrus trees and other frost-sensitive plants. Depending on where you live in Contra Costa County, your first frost date may be as early as Halloween.

Garlic has been part of agriculture for at least 5000 years and is thought to have been brought to the Americas by Columbus.