This blog will offer information about growing crops, recommend monthly to-do list activities, have a featured plant of the month, and offer some advice about current problems we have received at the UC  Master Gardeners of Napa County help desk. 

About growing those crops... The Field Test committee grows various vegetable and/or fruit crops to learn about their culture and to observe how much success we achieve under Napa County growing conditions.

Grow these crops along with us!

Our fall crop will be French red and French gray shallots. For 2014, radishes will be grown as a spring crop and Asian long beans will be the summer crop. Kale varieties will be grown next fall.

Shallots are available at nurseries and can be planted now to harvest in the spring. Prepare your planting bed with loose soil so the shallots have room to grow. You will need to separate the bulbs into cloves and plant them in rows 10" apart with 6" spacing. The tip of the clove should be even with the top of the soil. Shallots need about 1" of water per week. Mulch lightly as shallots can't push through heavy, compacted material. Shallots are expensive to buy and are easy to grow, making them good use of your plot space.

 Thanks to Sonoma County Master Gardeners for information about shallots.