Help for Home Gardener from the Help Desk
of the UC Master Gardener Program of Contra Costa
For this posting we cover two activities that hopefully could be of interest to you.
Cover Crops
Planting a cover crop is highly recommended, especially for over wintering vegetable gardens. “They protect the soil, feed microbes, build soil structure, add root channels, and support beneficial insects.” That quote comes from a December 21st publication (attached) of Washington State University's Andrew McGuire where he summarizes recent studies which show that single species of cover crops out perform multi-species cover crops. It seems that contrary to the notion that having a “polyculture” (lots of different species) of seed for your cover crop, the use of monoculture (one species) of seed is actually better. Quoting from his paper:
Research thus far has consistently found that cover crop polycultures are not necessarily better than cover crop monocultures. This is now reaffirmed by a large study, done in Pennsylvania, published this year (Finney et al. 2016).”
So now you know… your cover crop can just be a single seed for the garden. Read the paper (4 pages) for more ideas on what you should be doing to get a great cover crop.
Good Gardening Videos
If you are hungry for some visual gardening in the middle of some rainy, dreary non-gardening day this winter, we recommend considering a relatively new web site, goodgardeningvideos.org. While many videos show up on YouTube and various other gardening organizations (e.g., Cooperative Extensions), the people behind GoodGardeningVideos, you'll recognize many of them, is curating gardening videos for quality and accuracy. Try it; you'll like it. Just remember we live in California, and some of the areas where the videos come from are already deep in snow… and probably won't be putting out their tomatoes in late April either. Their current interest is seed starting. We can do that. Only about 60 days till tomato seed starting time.
Help Desk of the UC Master Gardener Program of Contra Costa County (SIM)
Note: The UC Master Gardeners Program of Contra Costa's Help Desk is available year-round to answer your gardening questions. Except for a few holidays, we're open every week, Monday through Thursday for walk-ins from 9:00 am to Noon at 75 Santa Barbara Road, 2d Floor, Pleasant Hill, CA 94523. We can also be reached via telephone: (925) 646-6586, email: ccmg@ucanr.edu, or on the web at http://ccmg.ucanr.edu/Ask_Us/ MGCC Blogs can be found at http://ccmg.ucanr.edu/HortCoCo/ You can also subscribe to the Blog (http://ucanr.edu/blogs/CCMGBlog/).
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cover crop best bet is monoculture not mixture cen
Wishing You a HOrT COCO New Year
It's a slow time of the year for this blog.
The MGCC's Help Desk is closed for the holidays until January 3rd. This means I'm somewhat at a loss for timely new Help Desk problems and responses which are the source of almost all the blog posts. I gratefully thank the Master Gardeners who originally produced those MGCC Help Desk responses. All their original hard work makes my work easy. Occasionally, I do post blogs that are mine. This is one of them. However, even for this blog, most of it is from other blogs. I've gathered some hopefully interesting items for your perusal during this time of the gardening year.
While I personally don't think it's been too bad weather wise so far (maybe because I've been inside scraping popcorn ceilings), I do know that it can and probably will be much colder and wetter (hopefully) over the next several months.
So… while thinking those thoughts, how about this “meme” for the upcoming Spring?
http://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=22874
Wreathes of this type can be used both indoor and outdoors!
And if you are inside looking for some interesting web browsing, how about checking out the many different blogs authored by other UC venues and UC Master Gardeners?... We posted a blog on our phobia “Blog Junkie”. You might find it interesting and subscribe to some of them… Most don't post that frequently and usually not more than a 5 minute read… and can be both interesting and enhance your gardening knowledge.I find the Solano MG blog “Under the Solano Sun”… and UC Davis' “Bug Squad” especially interesting, useful, and entertaining.
Finally, despite the weather, you can always bundle up and put your boots on and maybe under an umbrella (it can get that way sometimes…) get out to the garden and get dirty… Maybe the meme below will show you how and reduce your concerns about how it might look to your neighbors?…
CHEERS
Help Desk of the UC Master Gardener Program of Contra Costa County (SIM)
Note: MGCC's Help Desk will be closed Dec 19th, 2016 through Jan 2, 2017.
However, the UC Master Gardeners Program of Contra Costa's Help Desk is usually available year-round to answer your gardening questions. Except for a few holidays, we're open every week, Monday through Thursday for walk-ins from 9:00 am to Noon at 75 Santa Barbara Road, 2d Floor, Pleasant Hill, CA 94523. We can also be reached via telephone: (925) 646-6586, email: ccmg@ucanr.edu, or on the web at http://ccmg.ucanr.edu/Ask_Us/ MGCC Blogs can be found at http://ccmg.ucanr.edu/HortCoCo/ You can also subscribe to the Blog (http://ucanr.edu/blogs/CCMGBlog/).
Advice for the Home Gardener from the
UC Master Gardener Program of Contra Costa County
Client's Request (via Phone): I'm considering giving my father a Fuyu persimmon tree for Christmas. Could you please give me some guidance on what to look for and/or consider when buying a Persimmon tree for a home garden.
MGCC Help Desk Response: It was nice talking with you this morning. What a nice idea to give your father a Fuyu persimmon tree for Christmas! Persimmons are such beautiful trees.
Persimmons are great trees for our backyard orchards. They are mostly disease- and pest-free trees and give good fall color. At the nursery, you might find two different Fuyu persimmons: Fuyu and Giant Fuyu. They are quite similar, but the Giant Fuyu fruit is larger and a bit sweeter, according to the California Rare Fruit Growers. (CRFG) Despite the name, the Giant Fuyu tree won't grow quite as large as the Fuyu, possibly making this a better choice for a home garden. See more information about persimmons from the CRFG: https://www.crfg.org/pubs/ff/persimmon.html. CRFG is also a great source for information on growing “rare” fruit in our gardens.
Please let us know if you have any more questions.
Happy holidays!
Help Desk of the UC Master Gardener Program of Contra Costa County (SEH)
Note: MGCC's Help Desk will be closed Dec 19th, 2016 through Jan 2, 2017. However, the UC Master Gardeners Program of Contra Costa's Help Desk is usually available year-round to answer your gardening questions. Except for a few holidays, we're open every week, Monday through Thursday for walk-ins from 9:00 am to Noon at 75 Santa Barbara Road, 2d Floor, Pleasant Hill, CA 94523. We can also be reached via telephone: (925) 646-6586, email: ccmg@ucanr.edu, or on the web at http://ccmg.ucanr.edu/Ask_Us/ MGCC Blogs can be found at http://ccmg.ucanr.edu/HortCoCo/ You can also subscribe to the Blog (http://ucanr.edu/blogs/CCMGBlog/).
Advice from the Help Desk of the
UC Master Gardener Program of Contra Costa County
Help Desk Client: I've just bought a home in the County. It has an extensive garden with many different plants. I moved from Southern California where I didn't have to worry about frosts. I have Oleander, Escallonia, Breath of Heaven (Colonema pulchellum), Myrtle (Myrtus communis),
Response from the MGCC's Help Desk:
Thank you for contacting the UC MGCC's Help Desk with you question on frost protection for your landscape plants.
- Oleander can survive in temperatures down to 15-20 degrees, but even a light frost may damage developing buds and leaves which might affect flowering next season.
- Escallonia will suffer damage at 10-15 degrees, but will recover quickly.
- Breath of Heaven will do OK in light frosts, but will need protection from a hard freeze.Pittosporum can withstand brief forays down to 25 degrees.
- Myrtle is good down to 5-15 degrees.
- Lorapetalum should withstand frost, but needs protection from a hard freeze.
I think all of your plants mentioned above should tolerate frosty weather just fine, but newly planted shrubs will be at more of a risk because their root systems have not yet become established.
Some of the tools to protect your tender plants include frost cloth, sheets, blankets, lights and stakes or framework to hold covers off foliage. Frost cloth has the advantage that, because it allows light and air to penetrate, it can lay directly on foliage and can stay on the plants for a few days at a time. You can find frost cloth at a local nurseries, most home/hardware stores or online. Plastic is not usually recommended to cover your plants; plastic is not a good insulator and can cause more damage, especially if it touches the foliage. However, use of plastic over a frame could work; Ruth Bancroft Gardens in Walnut Creek uses such frames to protect their vulnerable plants.
When frosts or freezes are forecast, make sure your plants are well watered (not a worry if we've had rain recently). Cover plants before sunset to capture any heat radiating from the ground. If you use sheets or blankets instead of frost cloth, remove them the next day when the temperature gets above freezing.
Historically, Central County (Walnut Creek) averages a low of 39 degrees, but has gotten down much below that for extended periods in some years. West County usually stays warmer while East County can be similar. However, there are many microclimates throughout the County depending upon elevation, exposure, etc. so you must check out your particular situation. For example, in Walnut Creek in November 1985 it was 25 degrees; December 1990, 19 degrees; and Jan 2007 it dropped to 20 degrees. As you can see, the possibility for real cold exists, but is not likely in any one year.
Here is a link to a publication from the UC Sacramento Master Gardeners about frost protection where you will find even more information and photos of how to cover plants: http://sacmg.ucanr.edu/Frost_Protection/ , Pictures are from SacMG document.
Please let us know if you have any more questions. Stay warm!
Note: MGCC's Help Desk closed Dec 19th, 2016 through Jan 2, 2017. However, the UC Master Gardeners Program of Contra Costa's Help Desk is usually available year-round to answer your gardening questions. Except for a few holidays, we're open every week, Monday through Thursday for walk-ins from 9:00 am to Noon at 75 Santa Barbara Road, 2d Floor, Pleasant Hill, CA 94523. We can also be reached via telephone: (925) 646-6586, email: ccmg@ucanr.edu, or on the web at http://ccmg.ucanr.edu/Ask_Us/ MGCC Blogs can be found at http://ccmg.ucanr.edu/HortCoCo/ You can also subscribe to the Blog (http://ucanr.edu/blogs/CCMGBlog/).
Home Garden Advice From the Help Desk of the
UC Master Gardener Program of Contra Costa County
MGCC's Help Desk Response: Thank you for your request to our Help Desk.
It appears that your pest is a mealybug. Mealybugs (Pseudococcus longispinus) are small, pale insects, related to scales. They are about ⅛ to ¼ inch long and move very sluggishly. The adult females cover themselves and their eggs with a white, waxy material, making them look cottony. Mealybugs are most commonly found on the lower surfaces of leaves and in leaf axils (where the leaf attaches to the stem). They suck plant sap, causing stunted and distorted growth and sometimes plant death.
You will want to immediately separate the affected plants from all your other plants and carefully examine your those plants in case they are also infested to make sure you get rid of the problem!. In some instances, because of the time and effort to rid your plant(s) of mealybugs, you might want to consider destroying and/or disposing of your replaceable plants so that they don't become continuing source of mealybugs.
Here is a link to more information and treatment recommendations for mealybugs:
http://ipm.ucanr.edu/PMG/PESTNOTES/pn74174.html
http://www.ipm.ucdavis.edu/PMG/GARDEN/PLANTS/INVERT/mealybugs.html
Please let us know if you have any additional questions!
Help Desk of the UC Master Gardener Program of Contra Costa County (SLH)
Note: The UC Master Gardeners Program of Contra Costa's Help Desk is available year-round to answer your gardening questions. Except for a few holidays, we're open every week, Monday through Thursday for walk-ins from 9:00 am to Noon at 75 Santa Barbara Road, 2d Floor, Pleasant Hill, CA 94523. We can also be reached via telephone: (925) 646-6586, email: ccmg@ucanr.edu, or on the web at http://ccmg.ucanr.edu/Ask_Us/ MGCC Blogs can be found at http://ccmg.ucanr.edu/HortCoCo/ You can also subscribe to the Blog (http://ucanr.edu/blogs/CCMGBlog/).