Napa Master Gardener Column

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Rainier Cherries (Eric Hadley-Ives)
Napa Master Gardener Column: Article

Pruning your fruit trees- sometimes size matters!

February 25, 2023
I had a beautiful cherry tree many years ago that produced a lot of fruit. If I wanted to pick cherries before the birds ate them all I had to use a ladder. This really wasn't safe because I was leaning over the ladder trying to reach the cherries without getting off said ladder.
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Composting human bodies on track to become legal in Colorado (denverpost.com)
Napa Master Gardener Column: Article

A Literal Return to the Earth

February 18, 2023
I strive to be as environmentally responsible as possible. A decade ago, my wife and I had a solar system installed that provides 90 percent of our energy. We farm our small vineyard and olive trees organically.
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Kingsville boxwood (flikr.com -Mike)
Napa Master Gardener Column: Article

Sports that anyone can play!

February 11, 2023
I'll bet you did not know that some of your plants have sports. Not the athletic kind, these sports are chance offshoots that are genetically different from the parent plant.
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Top 10 Best Weeding Tools for a Healthy Garden In 2022 (ramresearch.org)
Napa Master Gardener Column: Article

You may delay, but weeds will not!

February 4, 2023
Procrastination is rarely one's friend, but never is this truer than when dealing with weeds. Some gardeners say, breezily, that a weed is simply a plant in the wrong place. I say that it is something that you didn't plant and don't want.
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photo credit: Pat Hitchcock clockwise from 12 o’clock: Marathon, De Cicco, Apollo, Batavia (similar to Marathon)
Napa Master Gardener Column: Article

The broccoli trials

January 28, 2023
Broccoli is categorized as a cool-season crop, and the best-flavored broccoli forms heads during mild weather. In our Napa Valley climate, we have two prime times to grow it in home gardens: early spring and fall/winter.
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