Make and Take Nature Crafts at the Colusa County Fair.

• June 4-7, 6-8pm
• At the new Etchepare garden
• Thursday - Rubber stamped bookmarkers
• Friday - Nature jewelry
• Saturday - Lady Bug fans
• Sunday - Bee fans

Bring your kids and grandkids. Tell your neighbors!

Fun for everyone!

Now that Governor Brown has put his foot down, drawn a line in the sand, I mean signed an executive order for households to save water, how do you get started.

Here is a checklist to get you started. These are proven methods that will save you water.

1. Water during the cool parts of the day. Watering before 8am reduces evaporation and interference from the wind.
2. Don't water the gutter & sidewalk. Position your sprinklers in such a way that water lands on your lawn or garden, not on concrete, where it does no good. Remember sidewalks and gutters do not grow no matter how much you water them.
3. Check for leaks in pipes, hoses, faucets and couplings. Even the smallest drip from a worn washer can waste 50 or more gallons of water a day.
4. Water your lawn only when it needs it. A good way to see if your lawn needs watering is to walk across the lawn, turn around and look for your footprints. If you see them, the lawn needs water.
5. Place a layer of mulch around trees and plants. A layer of mulch will slow the evaporation of moisture.
6. Plant drought-resistant trees and plants. There are many beautiful trees and plants that thrive with far less watering than other species.
7. Use a broom to clean driveways, sidewalks and steps. Using a hose to push around dirt wastes 150 gallons each time you hose off the driveway. Remember concrete does not grow no matter how much you water it.
8. Don't run the hose while washing the car. Use a nozzle on the hose. This will save 150 gallons of water each time you wash your car.
9. Teach your children that your hose and sprinklers are not toys. There are a few things more cheerful than the sound of happy children playing under a hose or sprinkler on a hot day. Unfortunately, there are also few things more wasteful of our precious water.
10. Check sprinkler and drip systems for missing heads, holes, detached lines and for the proper placement of drip emitters. Our 2 and 4 legged family can easily wreck havoc with the sprinkler system.

Please be careful where you get your water saving information this summer. I am sure there will be a lot of misinformation and scams. We are a trusted source of information.

Rose Pruning

Now that it is January, the Sacramento Bee garden section has been full of gardening information!

Rosarian Baldo Villegas and TJ David talk about pruning roses. Baldo goes through why and how to pruning roses. His method is a bit different but the end result is the same. The take home messages is:

1. Identify and remove small, weak, spindly growth.

2. Find larger, older canes which are supporting last year's new growth. Cut canes about 6 to 10 inches long.

3. Find large new canes that have grown from the bud union and cut back about 50%.

4. Cut out all other canes.

The UCCE Master Gardeners of Colusa County will have a pruning workshop on Saturday January 24 from 1-3 at the Colusa County Fairgrounds grandstand area. This will be a hands-on workshop!

Seed Saving

If you are into or want to get into seed saving, then read "Get ready to dig into seed catalogs". The article is actually about the history of seed saving and how to save seeds. It's a good article for beginners and experts alike.

To read this and other articles from the Sacramento Bee garden section, click here.