Does it seem like your garden is sprouting weeds everywhere?! While we are always grateful for winter rains in our drought-prone state, an unwanted side effect can be weeds.

What is a Weed?

A weed is basically an undesirable plant growing in an undesirable spot. However, what one person considers to be a weed may be a desirable plant to someone else. One example would be planting Bermuda grass in a ball field. Another would be harvesting nettles to make tea.

I must confess I have a love-hate relationship with dandelions and thistle. Dandelions are wonderful greens in salads. I also love blowing the seeds from dandelions and watching them float on the breeze. Both dandelions and thistles have lovely, bright, colorful flowers that attract honeybees who make delicious honey from those flowers.

Weeds are invasive by producing a lot of seeds, giving them a high reproductive rate. They grow rapidly and can thrive in areas such as dry or waterlogged dirt, nutrient-poor soils, or compacted land. These characteristics allow them to outcompete landscape or native plants. They can also harbor plant pathogens or harmful insects.

Why Control Weeds?

In addition to being invasive, weeds can also harbor plant pathogens or harmful pests. They can be unattractive, trap unsightly trash, break down pavement, hinder vehicle visibility, impact human health due to pollen, and during our hot, dry summers be sites for wildfires.

How to Control Weeds?

Preventing weeds is always the best method. Mulching can help prevent weeds from starting or spreading. Another way to control weeds is by digging out or cutting down the entire weed before they go to seed. Pre-emergent and post-emergent herbicides are other options but be sure you have identified the weed you want to prevent or eliminate and use an herbicide that targets that weed. Always follow directions exactly to have maximum effectiveness with minimal environmental impact.

Learn More About Springtime Weeds at Master Gardener Library Talks

During the month of March, the Stanislaus County UC Master Gardeners will be giving talks about Weed ID and Management at county libraries. Come learn more about what weeds are, some common weeds in our area, how to identify them, and ways to manage them. Classes are free, and you do not need to sign up.

Resources

• UC Integrated Pest Management website: ipm.ucanr.edu
• UC Master Gardener Stanislaus County Help Line: Call (209) 525-6802 or submit a survey with attached photos to http://ucanr.edu/ask/ucmgstanislaus

 Denise Godbout-Avant has been a UCCE Master Gardener with Stanislaus County since 2020.

 

 

 

We are getting close to the typical average last frost date at March 3rd. So now is the time to start some cucumber, squash or melon seeds indoors.

Starting Mix

First, you need some seed starting mix. You can use ready-made mixes, or you can make your own by using potting soil mix you have on hand. Since I always have some potting soil mix on hand for use in containers or up potting starts, I use that. I suggest screening it through a ¼ inch hardware cloth sieve to take out any larger pieces which might block the seeds from poking through the mix.

Once the soil is hydrated, add it to the seed trays. Since cucumber, squash, and melon seeds are larger seeds, they are planted at about twice their size or roughly ½ inch depth.

Next, place your starter tray on a rack or designated place, covering it with a humidity dome. If you have plant-start heating mats, they can be very helpful by warming the soil, but are not absolutely necessary. It is customary to “bottom” water seeds, so add water to the tray your seeds are in. The soil should be moist enough from the initial wetting process described above, thus only a little water should be needed in the tray. Add water only when soil dries out slightly. After about 15 minutes, if any water remains in the tray, drain it. The humidity dome should stay on until the seedlings begin to show.

Seedlings

The Armenian cucumber seeds in these photos germinated over five days from February 17^th through the 22^nd with the humidity dome being removed on February 22^nd.

At this point the seedlings should be placed under grow lights slightly above their height. Adjust the height of the light as the seedlings grow. If the grow lights are too high, the seedlings will likely become “leggy,” because they are stretching to reach more light. This will cause them to be weaker due to the main stem being too long and thin, and likely top heavy. The first set of leaves on the seedlings are the cotyledon leaves. The next set of leaves you will see are the first true leaves and the cotyledon leaves will likely drop off.

Preparing Plants for the Garden

Once the true leaves begin to form and the plants grow more, you can either “up pot,” meaning transferring them to a larger single plant pot such as a 3- or 4-inch-wide pot, or you can begin the “hardening off” process to prepare the plant for their eventual final place in your garden.

Hardening off is the process of acclimating the new seedling to the outdoors. This starts by moving them outdoors the first day for perhaps 2 hours. This continues daily, increasing amount of time of outdoor exposure each day for about 1 week. By then your new starts should be able to handle being transplanted into your outdoor garden.

If you prefer not to jump start your growing season by starting seeds indoors, cucumbers, squash, and melon seeds can be started in the ground in late March. Just be sure to check the long-range weather forecast to see if any possible freezing temperatures might happen.

Tim Long has been a UC Master Gardener in Stanislaus County since 2020. All photos are by the author.

Part one of Planting Peppers from Seed covered planting your pepper seeds and caring for them. After several weeks the seedlings should be outgrowing the trays they were started in. So now is the time to prepare your green “babies” to venture outside to the real world!

Potting the Seedlings

Plant each seedling into individual larger containers with potting soil to give them plenty of room to grow larger. Any type of pot with a drainage hole will do. Continue to keep them warm and watered from the bottom, with adequate light each day, along with the oscillating fan discussed in part one. Keep them in the pots for at least a week.

Pepper plants dislike cold, so they could die if moved outside into your garden too early. It is best to wait until all chances of frost are gone and the soil has warmed up. In our area that is usually between the end-of-March and early April.

“Hardening Off” is an Important Step!

The seedlings are used to an indoor environment where there is no rain, wind, or direct sunlight, so they need to be toughened up prior to transplanting them to your garden outside. This is called “hardening off” and is a crucial step that cannot be skipped if you want to have healthy, producing pepper plants.

Hardening off requires moving the plants back and forth from outside and inside, so is a bit of work and time-consuming, but this will ensure your pepper plants will thrive when transplanted to your garden.

The hardening process can begin when daytime temperatures are consistently above 60°F and 7 – 14 days prior to the day you plan to transplant the seedlings to your garden:

1. During the first couple days move the pots outside to a sheltered, shady spot such as a covered patio. Choose a mild weather day that is not windy or has a storm forecast. Leave them outside for two hours and bring them back inside under the grow lights. Over the next few days, gradually increase the time the plants spend outside in the protected area.
2. Move plants out from the sheltered area. Again, start at just a couple hours per day, then over five – seven days gradually increase the length of time your plants are exposed to the sun. Do this during the morning or evening hours since afternoon sunlight could burn them. Gentle rain and light winds during this time will help the plants get used to the elements but move them back to protected shelter as needed if extreme weather occurs.
3. The plants will dry out faster outside, so check regularly and water as needed, which could be more than once a day. They can get slightly dry, but do not let them dry out to the point of wilt.
4. Once your seedlings have been outdoors all day and the temperatures are consistently above 50°F at night, you can leave them outdoors during nighttime as well. But they will still need to be protected from high winds and storms.

Planting in the Garden!

After about ten days to two weeks, plant the peppers in full sun where they get at least 6-8 hours sunlight each day, in an area with good air circulation and where they are not shaded by other plants. Pepper plants stay relatively compact and do not need a lot of room to grow, so plan to space your seedlings about 12 – 24 inches apart in your garden, depending on how large they are expected to grow. Plant them slightly deeper than they were in the pot, about ½ inch lower.

Do not overfertilize. Peppers are light feeders but will benefit from a regular feeding of a well-balanced organic fertilizer. Avoid high nitrogen fertilizers.

Plant the peppers near flowers. While peppers can self-pollinate with wind, attracting pollinators can ensure their flowers are fertilized. Avoid using pesticides or synthetic fertilizers since peppers are for human consumption, and pesticides can be harmful to beneficial insects.

Peppers are slow to mature, so depending on the pepper variety, when you planted them in your garden, and the weather, you should be able to reap the rewards of your labor between July and September! Enjoy!

 Author: Denise Godbout-Avant, UC Master Gardener since 2020

Hello fellow gardeners, I hope this e-newsletter message finds you well! Have you taken one of our classes, visited our booth at a local event, or spoken to someone about a plant problem on our Help Line?

If so, please fill out this simple, two question survey found at this link: https://ucanr.edu/ucce/mg/survey

Here are the questions you'll see in the survey:

1. Did you gain knowledge?

      Yes     No

1. Will you use the information/knowledge gained? ?

     - Yes, in the next 12 months.

     - Probably, but not in the short term.

    - No, not at all.

Survey Collection

We are collecting data all year long, so you only need to answer these questions once. We truly appreciate the time you take to give feedback to our program. It helps us demonstrate our value to the community by measuring our impact.

Please take a moment and fill out the survey https://ucanr.edu/ucce/mg/survey

Thank you!

Anne Schellman

UC Cooperative Extension Master Gardener Coordinator,
Stanislaus County

 

*Three months after you attend one of our classes, you receive an email survey with questions about the class topic. Its purpose is to find out how much you've learned and apply the information in your home garden, and is not related to the survey above.