A recent study* found that seeing or hearing birds can improve your mood and mental wellbeing for up to eight hours! Instead of heading out to bird watch, why not attract them to your own backyard or apartment patio?
This presentation was put together by Denise Godbout-Avant, one of our UC Cooperative Extension Master Gardeners. She did a lot of research to learn about local birds in Stanislaus County. You will be amazed when you see the colorful birds that live and migrate through our area!
Learn more at The Backyard is for the Birds classes at a local Stanislaus County Library near you during October of 2023. You don't need to sign up to attend the classes.
Visit our Calendar at
If you have a backyard*, you could be growing your own fruit trees!
Did you know? Fruit trees can be kept under 6' tall so you can easily access the fruit. Surprisingly, although the trees are small, you will still get plenty of fruit!
UCCE Stanislaus County Master Gardeners hope to see you at a local Stanislaus County library branch to learn more.
- Tuesday, December 6, 2022 at 6:00 p.m. – Salida Library
- Monday, December 12, 2022 at 6:00 p.m. - Ceres Library
- Wednesday, December 14, 2022 at 2:30 p.m. - Patterson Library
- Wednesday, December 28, 2022 at 6:00 p.m. - Turlock Library
Backyard Orchard:Growing...
- Author: Amy Murillo
- Posted by: Elaine Lander
Backyard chickens are increasingly being raised as pets, for egg production, and for youth development and science projects. While raising chickens can be an interesting and economically beneficial activity, chickens and other fowl may also have pest problems. Chickens are natural hosts to a variety of arthropod pests (called ectoparasites), including mites, lice, and fleas which feed on chickens and use chicken coops as habitats. These pests may cause discomfort to birds and decrease their egg production. This article aims to help people who keep chickens understand and learn treatment options for the common ectoparasites that can affect their animals.
Lice
The most common pests found on backyard chickens include...
/h2>- Author: Ben Faber
It's so nice to be able to find a way to rapidly answer homeowner questions. Once one questions has been addressed, invariably another one pops up. There are mysteries to plants and they can go on and on forever. The University of California Cooperative Extension has locally trained volunteers to answer the questions that local homeowners are going to ask about local plant problems. You can find Master Gardener contacts by going to the map to find a local office and the local MG Helpline: http://ceventura.ucanr.edu/Offices/
Recently I got an email from a homeowner that had a burning question about the name of an avocado found in a picture. ...
- Author: Anne E Schellman
Last week, someone called our helpline about a strange phenomenon happening on her backyard plants. She described the symptoms as “big, white, masses of fluffy cotton.” I asked her to email some photos our helpline address (ucmgstanislaus@ucanr.edu).
When I opened her email, I was surprised to see images of what appeared to be giant whiteflies. This pest invaded California in the early 1990's and was until recently only found in Southern California and along the coast. The Stanislaus County Agricultural Commissioner's Office confirmed that giant whiteflies are present in our County.
If you've heard of whiteflies or dealt with them in your landscape, you...