Cool season vegetables are cool! From gourmet selections to a stir-fry garden, find out about starting and growing vegetables that you can harvest in fall, winter and early spring.

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On Sept. 6, 2016, it happened.

A monarch fluttered into our pollinator garden in Vacaville and touched down on a Mexican sunflower, Tithonia rotundifola.

It wasn't just "any ol' monarch"--if there's ever such a thing as "any ol' monarch."

This one, tagged with my alma mater, Washington State University, came from Ashland, Ore., as part of a migratory monarch research project launched by entomologist David James.

The tag's serial number read  “Monarch@wsu.edu A6093.”  It hung around for about five hours and then left.

James, an associate professor at Washington State University,  studies the migration routes and overwintering sites of the Pacific Northwest Monarch population, which overwinter primarily in coastal California. (Access his Facebook page, Monarch Butterflies in the Pacific Northwest, for his latest research.)

When we emailed him, we learned that citizen scientist Steven Johnson of Ashland tagged and released the monarch on Sunday, Aug. 28. 

"So, assuming it didn't travel much on the day you saw it, it flew 285 miles in 7 days or about 40.7 miles per day," James told us. "Pretty amazing. So, I doubt he broke his journey for much more than the five hours you watched him--he could be 100 miles further south by now."

Repeat: 285 miles in 7 days, or 40.7 miles per day. Incredible.

Fast forward to today. It's the anniversary of the sighting of A6093.

Any sightings today? Not. A. Single. One.

And not a single sighting of a tagged monarch since Sept. 6, 2016. 

Dear Colleagues,

1) USDA NIFA is soliciting pre-applications for the Specialty Crop Research Initiative (SCRI). The purpose of the SCRI program is to address the critical needs of the specialty crop industry by awarding grants to support research and extension that address key challenges of national, regional, and multi-state importance in sustaining all components of food and agriculture, including conventional and organic food production systems.  Projects must address at least one of five focus areas:

1. Research in plant breeding, genetics, genomics, and other methods to improve crop characteristics
2. Efforts to identify and address threats from pests and diseases, including threats to specialty crop pollinators
3. Efforts to improve production efficiency, handling and processing, productivity, and profitability over the long term (including specialty crop policy and marketing)
4. New innovations and technology, including improved mechanization and technologies that delay or inhibit ripening
5. Methods to prevent, detect, monitor, control, and respond to potential food safety hazards in the production efficiency, handling and processing of specialty crops

Visit the program web page at Specialty Crop Research Initiative | NIFA (usda.gov) for more information.
Pre-Applications Due: 2:00 P.M. PT, November 8, 2024 (Full applications by invite only)

Project Types:

Coordinated Agricultural Projects (CAPs)
Project period: Up to 5 years
Normally, Federal funds will not exceed $2,000,000 per year (Median award amount: $5,756,354)

Standard Research and Extension Projects (SREPs)
Project period: Up to 5 years
Normally, Federal funds will not exceed $1,000,000 per year (Median award amount: $2,180,834)

Research and Extension Planning Projects
Project period: One year
Federal funds up to $50,000 per project

2) The Center for Produce Safety research program is directed toanswering critical research questions that fill the gaps in our foundational understanding and systems-based implementation in specific areas of food safety practices for fruit, vegetable, and tree nut production, harvest, post-harvest handling, and distribution. The objective is to provide the produce industry with practical, translatable research data that can be used throughout the supply chain.  

Please refer to the 2025 CPS Research Priorities on the CPS website.

Award Amount: Research projects cannot exceed $200,000 per year; Proof of concept proposals cannot exceed $50,000.
Pre-Applications Due: November 6, 2024 (Full applications by invite only due 02/06/2025)
Visit the Center for Produce Safety web page at for more information.

Thank you.

Kimberly Lamar, Associate Director, ANR Office of Contracts & Grants (OCG)

Have you enjoyed your summer in the garden so far? It is now the first week in September so it's time to start looking forward to the fall.

This week on In the Garden with UC Master Gardeners, join Teena and Katrina around the kitchen table to discuss just what to do out there this month. Now is not a really busy time as it is still hot but know that October will be the time to get a lot of things IN the ground and other things OUT! Now, we can plan a bulb garden.

Seek out the best drought-tolerant or native plant material AND any contractors needed to redesign a patch of your landscape. Deadhead roses and fertilize so you can have beautiful blooms around Thanksgiving! You'll get great design tips for the flower garden. Tall, short, and colorful swaths of blooms. Sweet peas! Seeds. Six-packs. What have you!

Learn more and listen to "In The Garden" radio show podcasts.

Podcast Topic: This Month In The Garden - September 2024

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