- Author: Barbra Braaten
Water is essential for any garden, but it's crucial to use water wisely in a place like California, where droughts are common. Effective water management can help home gardeners keep their plants healthy while conserving this precious resource. Thoughtful water management uses resources efficiently and sustainably to meet current and future needs. It involves planning, developing, distributing, and managing the optimum use of water to ensure plants survive and look good. By conserving water, home gardeners contribute to the preservation of local ecosystems and the sustainability of the environment.
Plant Water Use
Understanding how much water your plants need is the first step in effective water management. Different plants have different water requirements. For instance, succulents and cacti need less water than vegetables or fruit trees. It's important to group plants with similar water needs together. This way, you can avoid overwatering or underwatering specific plants. You can learn about plant water needs from plant labels, gardening books, or by reaching out to your local UC Master Gardener volunteers for support. Additionally, observing your plants and learning their symptoms of water stress, such as wilting or drooping leaves, can also help inform water management.
Watering Systems
Several watering systems can help manage water use in a garden. Drip irrigation is one of the most efficient methods. It delivers water directly to the roots of plants, minimizing evaporation and runoff. Soaker hoses, porous hoses that seep water along their length, are another good option for watering garden beds. Traditional sprinklers can be used, but they are less efficient because they tend to waste water through evaporation and runoff. Newer, more advanced systems include weather-based controllers that adjust watering schedules based on weather conditions, ensuring plants get the right amount of water without waste.
Irrigation Best Practices
Take a proactive role in water conservation by adopting best practices for irrigation. Watering early in the morning or late in the evening reduces evaporation, ensuring more water reaches the plants. Mulching the garden helps retain soil moisture and reduces the need for frequent watering. Regularly checking for leaks in the irrigation system and repairing them promptly can prevent water loss. Adjusting the watering schedule based on the season and weather conditions is also essential. During cooler months or after rainfall, plants need less water; in the hot summer, they may need more frequent watering.
Use Drought Tolerant Plants
One of the most environmentally responsible ways to conserve water in a garden is to use drought-tolerant and/or native plants. Drought tolerance reflects the ability of a plant to withstand less than optimal water supplies due to adaptive or avoidance mechanisms. While many native plants possess drought-tolerant traits and require less supplemental irrigation once established, many non-native plants Mediterranean-adapted plants also thrive on relatively lower water. It is important to remember that these plants require water regularly until their root structure is well established in landscape soil. Maintaining these plants with deep and infrequent irrigation once established is a great way to reduce landscape water use. By incorporating these plants into your garden, you're also providing habitat for local wildlife. This creates a beautiful, low-maintenance landscape that thrives with less irrigation.
Best Practices for Keeping Plants Alive During a Drought
During a drought or under water restrictions, it's essential to prioritize how you use water in the garden. Focus on watering the most valuable and vulnerable plants first, such as shade trees and young trees. Slow, deep watering is more effective than frequent shallow watering. This involves watering to a depth slightly below the plant root zone which encourages roots to grow deeper into the soil, making plants more drought-tolerant. Reducing the size of your lawn or replacing it with drought-tolerant ground covers can also save significant amounts of water. Additionally, using shade cloth or temporary shading can help reduce water loss by protecting plants from intense sunlight.
By understanding plant water use, choosing suitable watering systems, adopting best irrigation practices, using drought-tolerant plants, and implementing drought survival strategies, California home gardeners can maintain a healthy and beautiful garden while conserving water. Water management is beneficial for your garden and the environment, and is an especially important practice for Californians. Your conscious efforts in water management contribute to the sustainability of our environment.
To learn more please reach out to your local UC Master Gardeners Program.
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- Author: Help Desk Team
Are you a gardener with questions? Are you a beginning gardener just getting started? Do you want to know more about how to troubleshoot problems in your garden? Some of the topics addressed in our classes and material cover what, when, and how to plant, how to prepare the soil, and maintenance of your plants, including pruning.
The Contra Costa Master Gardener website (https://ccmg.ucanr.edu/) has links to information about both edible gardening and landscape gardening. We also offer a program called Vegetable Gardening for Beginners if you are interested in growing vegetables: https://ccmg.ucanr.edu/GrowingGardeners/
This is the handbook for this class: https://ucanr.edu/sites/ccmg/files/292083.pdf
There are many resources online through the University of California that can provide you with good information about specific pests and diseases, including the following:
• Home, garden, turf, and landscape pests: https://ipm.ucanr.edu/PMG/menu.homegarden.html
• UC California Garden Web: https://cagardenweb.ucanr.edu/
These are the books the Master Gardeners use for training and reference:
• The California Master Gardener Handbook: https://anrcatalog.ucanr.edu/Details.aspx?itemNo=3382
• Abiotic Disorders of Landscape Plants: https://anrcatalog.ucanr.edu/Items.aspx?search=abiotic%20disorders%20of%20landscape%20plants
• Pests of Landscape Trees and Shrubs: https://anrcatalog.ucanr.edu/Items.aspx?search=pests%20of%20landscape%20trees%20and%20shrubs
• Pests of Garden and Small Farm: https://anrcatalog.ucanr.edu/Items.aspx?search=pests%20of%20the%20garden%20and%20small%20farm
The UC Master Gardener volunteers of Contra Costa County are actively involved in bringing you educational programming. We partner with the Contra Costa County Library to present topics that will help you grow a healthy, thriving and sustainable garden. See the upcoming and past webinars here: https://ccmg.ucanr.edu/Webinars_and_Programming_/
You can find a schedule of in-person talks at libraries, at our Walnut Creek demonstration garden, and when Master Gardeners will have tables at Farmers Markets where you can ask questions at this link:
https://ccmg.ucanr.edu/Find_Us/Find_Us_by_Location/
You can also find past webinars as well as short, single-topic videos on a wide range of gardening topics on the Contra Costa Master Gardener Program YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/@CoCoMGUC
Still have questions? Send an email to the Contra Costa Master Gardener Program Help Desk: ccmg@ucanr.edu
• Include your name, phone number, and city.
• A description of the problem, including the name of the plant, when the problem began, and cultural history such as water, fertilizing, pruning, pesticides, etc.
• Photographs are very helpful. Include photos of the problem parts, but also photos of the whole plant.
Help Desk of the UC Master Gardeners of Contra Costa County (SEH)
- Author: Anne Schellman
Called or visited the Stanislaus County UC Cooperative Extension Master Gardener Help Line and gotten information on what to do about a pest or gardening problem.
Learned something new from a class at a Garden Club, local Stanislaus County Library, Workshop at the Ag Center, or one of our online classes from our YouTube Channel.
Attended an event such as the Stanislaus County Fair, A Wellness Fair for county employees, the Pollinator Garden Event, Earth Day, or a Farmers Market booth and spoken with a Master Gardener.
Read our newsletter, The Stanislaus Sprout and gained helpful gardening and pest management information.
Are a current Master Gardener and would like to give to support the program.
All funds go DIRECTLY to our program.
Prize Challenge Awards
Online gifts made between noon on May 19 and 11:59 a.m. on May 20 may help programs qualify for prize challenge awards! Donations can be made at http://donate.ucanr.edu/givingday.
Checks Accepted
If you prefer sending a check instead of donating online, please make checks payable to “UC Regents” and specify “Stanislaus County Master Gardener Program” in the check memo. Then mail or drop off to our office: UC Master Gardeners, 3800 Cornucopia Way, Ste A, Modesto, CA 95358.
Your Support
Donations directly benefit the program to help provide scholarships to volunteers that want to enroll in our training program and people who can't afford our workshops. They also help replace computers, create prize wheels for fairs, purchase seeds to give away at events, and pay for other materials needed for outreach and education. We thank you for your support!
Anne and the Classes of 2019, 2020, 2022, and soon-to-be 2024 UC Cooperative Extension Master Gardeners of Stanislaus County.
Anne Schellman has been the coordinator for the program since 2018.
/h3>/h3>/h3>- Author: Saoimanu Sope
Although training is required to become a University of California Master Gardener, the benefits of gardening can be experienced by anyone and everyone.
“As long as you're willing to get your hands dirty,” said Laurie Menosky, a UC Master Gardener volunteer in Orange County, “you can learn to grow all sorts of things.”
In early April, Menosky partnered with ETN Medical Infusion (a clinic in Orange County) and the Sustainability Program for Student Housing at UC Irvine to teach students how to grow tomatoes. Menosky welcomed all in attendance, including families with toddlers who seemed fascinated by the 60 tomato plants atop one of the tables in the room.
The UC Master Gardener Program is a part of UC Agriculture and Natural Resources. During her presentation, Menosky taught participants how to choose varieties that fit their taste and growing environment, how to cultivate a thriving environment, and how to control pests and diseases using integrated pest management practices.
“We have 16,000 residents at UCI and sustainability is one of our values. One of the ways we engage students is through on-campus gardens,” said Rachel Harvey, sustainability program manager for UCI Student Housing and a UC Master Gardener volunteer in Orange County.
UC Irvine has one teaching garden reserved for undergraduate learning, and three gardens operated and maintained by graduate students. “I was on the waiting list for a garden plot for a while, but it was totally worth the wait,” said Johanna Rinaman, a fifth-year Ph.D. student studying physical chemistry.
While the highlight of the event for many people was the opportunity to take a tomato plant home, another important takeaway was how gardening can be a good activity for your mental health. Sarah Nghiem, family medicine specialist at ETN Medical Infusion, who worked closely with Menosky, was instrumental in developing the mental health content for the day, encouraging attendees to attempt gardening with a mental health perspective.
Nghiem and her team received funding from the Orange County Health Care Agency through the Mental Health Services Act to work with transitional aged students (15-24 years-old) on understanding the importance of mental health, which led to the collaboration between UC Irvine, her alma mater, and the UC Master Gardeners of Orange County.
“I didn't do any gardening during the winter, and I felt a lot more anxious and depressed during that time,” Rinaman said. “I know gardening improves mental health because I've immediately felt a difference whenever I spend time with plants.”
Rinaman, whose father taught her a lot of what she knows about gardening, said that having access to a 4 feet by 6 feet plot to grow her own food is one of the many things she loves about UC Irvine.
Like Rinaman, Menosky turns to gardening to decompress, especially during the long days of summer. Teaching others about the physical and mental benefits of gardening gives her an opportunity to share her experience and, hopefully, help others find new ways to manage stress.
“We often have attendees come back years later telling us how our information has helped them and how much more they are enjoying their time in their gardens,” she said.
To conclude her presentation, Menosky instructed participants to line up for their own tomato plant. Attendees took their plants outside to transfer them from a small pot to a grow bag – a type of container that helps root structure development.
Cassie Ekwego, a third-year transfer student studying civil engineering, couldn't hide her excitement after carefully lifting her plant. “I don't think I realized how attentive you need to be when working with plants,” said Ekwego, reflecting on what she learned from Menosky's presentation.
Now that she has her own plant to care for in her own home, Ekwego is eager to put her new knowledge to the test. “I love tomatoes, but this is going to be a huge responsibility for me,” she said.
Randy Musser, UC Master Gardener program coordinator for Orange County, said that while he enjoys talking to avid gardeners, bringing gardening to new people in the community is special to him. “This tomato workshop is particularly exciting for me because it is an opportunity for the UC Master Gardeners to grow our connection to UCI and young people just starting off on their gardening journey,” said Musser.
With a generous contribution from UC Master Gardener volunteer Sheila Peterson, Musser was able to purchase enough supplies to help attendees, like Ekwego, jumpstart their gardening experience.
Students, whose stress levels can skyrocket throughout the school year, value opportunities to be outdoors, try something new and be in community. “The garden is a different type of classroom. It's a place where students can learn and experiment, hopefully in a way that reduces stress,” said Harvey of UCI Student Housing.
Ekwego, who tried gardening for the first time while volunteering at UC Irvine's teaching garden, is just one of the many students inspired by their experiences. “Gardening reminds me that it's OK to get my hands dirty,” Ekwego said.
- Author: Christine Casey
It's simple: the Haven wouldn't be here today without volunteers. Their hard work of pruning, weeding, mulching, and assorted other tasks has made the Haven what it is today. Volunteers are also essential to our outreach events. Since 2014, volunteers have contributed 2813 hours of service, which has a value of $94,207.
Volunteers who have contributed at least 25 hours are listed here. I've enjoyed working with these fantastic people. Thank you to all of them!