The Real Dirt

Flowers blooming

The Real Dirt blog covers regional gardening issues from soil health to planting for pollinators; from fire resistant landscaping to attracting wildlife. Read all about it!

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Lemon verbena, bee balm and echinacea growing together are a good example of companion planting. Joyce Hill.jpg
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Spring 2025 Upcoming Master Gardener Workshops

March 16th, 2025
By UC Master Gardeners of Butte County The Master Gardeners Spring Workshop Series is in full swing! The series began in February, but worry not -- there are plenty of topics still to be covered from now into June: fifteen workshops to be exact, seven of them on all-new subjects and eight on tried-and…
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Sweet William
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Dianthus, the “Divine Flower”

March 12th, 2025
References to the plant genus Dianthus go back as far as the Greek botanist Theophrastus.  He named these plants from the Caryophyllaceae family “divine flower” (dios = divine plus anthos = flower). 
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Boysenberries. Joyce Hill
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Growing Boysenberries in the Chico Area

February 28th, 2025
Boysenberries are a delicious, low-sugar treat, appreciated by pie and jam connoisseurs alike. The Boysen berry is classified as a blackberry along with the Olallie berry and the Marion berry.
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Seed packets and catalogs
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It’s Seed-Starting Time!

February 21st, 2025
The beauty and order of the earth's natural rhythm bring us once again to springseedtime-- and the promise of new life embedded within each seed.
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Salvia greggii. Ellen Michels
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Welcome Salvias into Your Garden

February 14th, 2025
If you are starting a list of plants to put in the ground this spring or fall, you might want to add a salvia or two. With just under 1000 varieties, Salvia is the largest genus in the mint family (Lamiaceae). Commonly known as sages, Salvias come in a dizzying variety of forms and colors.
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