While skimming a magazine from England called Permaculture, I found an article about mounding. The article described how to build mounds in your garden and what materials to use. Over time, the soil becomes richer from the decaying materials. Also, the sides of the mounds provide more space to plant. I realized that I have already done this in my own garden.

When I removed my back lawn many years ago and replaced it with mounds, i used the dried turf from the lawn. I turned the sod upside down for the base of each bed, then proceeded to build the beds up with mulch from my own yard; branches, bark and trimmings. On top of the whole thing I added compost and some garden soil. 

These beds were created 20 years ago and are still looking good. I have some major plantings on them, such as small maple trees and lily of the Nile (Agapanthus). Annually, I add compost and dried leaves to enrich the soil.

I also created a mound when I gave up on my huge walnut tree. The squirrels were stripping it and dropping unripe walnuts everywhere, including into my fish pond. After much consideration i had the tree removed.  

After the stump was out I started to fill the depression with organic materials from my yard. The first layer was sticks and stumps from small prunings around the yard. Then I added leaves and other garden waste and piled soil on top of the whole thing. Since I planted figs on this area, I call it Fig Hill. It also gets annual composting and other soil added to keep the height. 

The sticks and other organic materials that I put in these mounds act like a sponge, absorbing water and holding it for the plants. If you have soil that does not drain well or is hard to work, mounds will help with both of these problems.

With both of these experiences, the results repaid the work. Now is a good time to start such a project in your own yard as you prune and clean up in your garden.

As I learned from the magazine article, one approach is to dig long trenches and then fill them with logs, branches, leaves, grass clippings, straw, cardboard, black and white newspaper, cured manure, compost or other available materials. Then you top it all with good soil. Water well and let the soil and materials start to decompose and settle. Then you are ready to plant vegetables or flowers in your mounds.

The organic content of the mounds gives off heat as it decays and keeps the soil warmer. And the decomposing wood gives off nutrients for years. Hard woods will take longer to decay than soft woods.

An added benefit of the mound method is that it doesn't require tilling. No-till gardens are better for the creatures that live in the soil, like earthworms, so, ultimately, they are better for soil health.

Mound gardens also mean less bending for the gardener.

The article recommended constructing steep beds to avoid compaction from foot traffic. Steep beds create more surface area in your garden for plants, and the height makes easy harvesting. The greater the mass, the greater the water retention.  

Some of the beds shown in the article had straw on the top and sides to hold the materials in place. Others had wire sides with plants inserted between the wires. One gardener used shipping pallets to hold everything in place with plants planted between the slats.

Next workshop: “Sustainable Vegetable Growing” (Four-Part Series) on Sundays February 23, March 1, March 8 and March 15, from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m., at the University of California Cooperative Extension, 1710 Soscol Avenue, Napa. For more details & online registration go to Online registration (credit card only) or call 707-253-4221.

The UC Master Gardeners of Napa County are volunteers who provide UC research-based information on home gardening and answer your questions. To find out more about upcoming programs or to ask a garden question, visit the Master Gardener website (http://napamg.ucanr.edu) or call (707) 253-4221 between 9 a.m. and noon on Mondays, Wednesdays or Fridays.

By Susanne von Rosenberg, U. C. Master Gardener of Napa County

Regular readers of this column know that it is possible to grow vegetables year-round in Napa County. But did you know that with some strategic planting you can also have fresh fruit almost all year?

Even if you don't intend to have home-grown fresh fruit year-round, it's still a good idea to give some consideration to spreading out your harvest. So many types of fruit ripen from August through October that it's easy to end up with a glut in late summer and early fall. Why not spread out your harvest instead?

With a little planning you can harvest fruit over a six-month period, and with more careful planning and a bit of adventurousness you can have fresh fruit all year. Take inventory of what you're growing now, and then fill gaps in your harvest calendar by selecting the right varieties of plants. Now is a great time to consider what to add.

You can think of fruits as belonging to one of four primary categories: deciduous tree fruit, citrus, perennial vine and cane fruit, or annual fruit. Some gardeners rely mostly on tree fruit; however, annual fruits and perennial vine and cane fruits can extend your harvest. Growing fruit from these different categories will give you the greatest flexibility.

Fruits that store relatively well, like apples and citrus, can extend your fresh-eating season. When you research varieties, look for information on storage quality as well as harvest period.

Deciduous fruit trees can provide a crop from June through late November or early December. These trees include stone fruits (such as peaches, nectarines and plums) and pome fruits (apples, pears and quince). If you plant early, mid-season, and late varieties of some of these types of fruits, you can usually get fresh fruit from June through October.

Figs are also an option. Some types set an early crop (referred to as a breva crop) in June as well as a main crop later in the summer. Pomegranates and persimmons round out the deciduous fruit season. They ripen late in the year, typically late October through early December. Apples and some varieties of persimmons have proven to be my best bet for fruit that stores well.

The period from mid-December through January presents the greatest challenge for the year-round fruit gardener. You've used up your deciduous tree fruit and are still waiting for your citrus to ripen. But by late January or February, depending on where you live, mandarins, navel oranges and kumquats start to ripen. In most areas of Napa County, citrus can be harvested into March and possibly April.

Check the ripening period for the citrus variety you're considering, because some mandarins and sweet oranges ripen in the summer. All sweet citrus needs heat to develop its sweetness; and all citrus is frost sensitive, so make sure you understand the temperature tolerance of the variety you're planting. Kumquats and some mandarins are fairly hardy.

Once your citrus is harvested, there may be another short gap until May when you begin to enjoy strawberries from plants planted in late winter. Some of the newer varieties of raspberries also bear fruit starting in May. Loquat trees are another source of relatively early fruit; in our climate loquats ripen in May. Loquat trees flower in the winter and the flowers are frost sensitive. They may not be suitable for the colder areas of Napa County, but they grow all over the city of Napa.

What if you prefer not to plant fruit trees or don't have much space? Start with everbearing strawberries. They produce fruit from May through October, although the fruit quality declines as the weather cools. If you also plant raspberries, blackberries and boysenberries you'll also be able to harvest fruit from June through October.

Kiwis are good late-season option. They typically ripen in November and December. Kiwi vines are dioecious, meaning there are male and female vines. You need at least one male plant per 10 female plants. A mature kiwi vine can produce up to 50 pounds of kiwis per year, and be up to 30 feet long, so a trellis or other support is essential.

To extend your fruit harvest, it pays to be adventurous. Cape gooseberries (also known as golden berries) are a tender perennial in the tomato family that produces small yellow “berries” in husks. They look a bit like miniature tomatillos and have a sweet-sour taste. Cape gooseberries have approximately the same harvest period as tomatoes and store very well. I still have some on my kitchen counter that I harvested in October.

Or you could grow late-ripening melons, such as Valencia, that can be stored for up to four months after harvest without losing their sweetness and taste. Heirloom seed catalogs can steer you to these and other unusual fruits to try.

It's easy and fun to extend your fruit harvest. Simply start with one new plant. Or give your creativity full reign and plan a mix of different fruit-bearing plants to have a harvest all year.

Next workshop: “Citrus: Preserve It, Serve It” on Thursday, January 16, from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m., at the University of California Cooperative Extension office, 1710 Soscol Avenue, Napa. Presented by UC Master Food Preservers. For more details, contact Robin at 530-621-5538 or rkcleveland@ucanr.edu. REGISTER ONLINE with credit card or check.

The UC Master Gardeners of Napa County are volunteers who provide UC research-based information on home gardening and answer your questions. To find out more about upcoming programs or to ask a garden question, visit the Master Gardener website (http://napamg.ucanr.edu) or call (707) 253-4221 between 9 a.m. and noon on Mondays, Wednesdays or Fridays.

By Penny Pawl, UC Master Gardener of Napa County

Winter is the season of cyclamen. I love the variety of colors these beautiful plants have. To me they look like a gathering of butterflies hovering over bright green leaves.    

In a village in Sicily last November, I saw the biggest cyclamen I had ever seen. The beautiful red blooms were two or more inches across and stood about 12 inches above the leaves. Since my return I have looked for such big ones but have not found them.

Years ago, while walking down a path in rural Greece, I spotted many small cyclamen growing down a hill, all in bloom with small pink flowers. The hill had trees shading all these beautiful little plants. I realized then that cyclamen are native to that area. Later, I did some research and confirmed that cyclamen are native to the Mediterranean and extend as far east as Iran.    

The cyclamen we see in nurseries during this season are all hybrids and are often called “florist cyclamen” (C. persicum). They are grown in many parts of the world. Online, I found planting tips from sources in Australia, England and places in between. Some varieties (C. purpurascens) have a sweet scent. The florist hybrids no longer have any scent.

The leaves and flowers grow from a tuber which sits just above the soil and anchors itself by many roots. During the summer the tuber loses the flowers and leaves and goes dormant. Cyclamen leaves are beautiful unto themselves. Some are all green while others have patterns of white and green that look as if they were drawn on each leaf.  

Years ago, I decided to collect seed from a plant I had purchased. I let the seed pods stay on the plant and ripen. When I harvested the seeds, I was hoping they would produce a duplicate of the parent plant. I should have known better. Hybrid seed does not breed true. The seedlings I grew from these seeds bloomed in pink, just like the small native ones I saw growing in Greece. I planted them in the garden where they are still flowering.

Cyclamen are not pollinated by bees but rather by hoverflies and other small insects. You can also pollinate them by hand using a small paintbrush.  

Cyclamen are winter flowering in their native habitats. With hothouse cultivation and hybridization, the plants have been coaxed to bloom all year. In the garden they are dormant in summer. When the days shorten and the weather cools, they come to life.  

You can divide a dormant tuber to produce more plants identical to the parent. To do so, lift the tuber, cut it into pieces, then replant. Do this in the fall before the plant produces leaves. Put rooting hormone on the cut surfaces to help the bulb heal. Plant in well-drained soil; cyclamen roots do not like to be too wet.

Snails and slugs will eat the tubers of garden-grown cyclamen. Be sure to control for these varmints.

Next workshop: UC Master Gardeners of Napa County will conduct a workshop on “Rose Pruning” on Saturday, January 11, from 10 a.m. to noon at University of California Cooperative Extension, 1710 Soscol Avenue, Napa. For more details and online registration visit http://ucanr.edu/2020rosepruning or call 707-253-4221.

The UC Master Gardeners of Napa County are volunteers who provide UC research-based information on home gardening and answer your questions. To find out more about upcoming programs or to ask a garden question, visit the Master Gardener website (http://napamg.ucanr.edu) or call (707) 253-4221 between 9 a.m. and noon on Mondays, Wednesdays or Fridays.

By Susanne von Rosenberg, UC Master Gardener of Napa County

Have you been thinking about adding a fruit tree or two to your garden? December and January are the best times of year to plant deciduous fruit trees. (Citrus trees are best planted in late spring, after the threat of frost has passed.) In December and January, local nurseries have a wide variety of bare-root fruit trees available. Bare-root fruit trees are less expensive than comparably sized trees in pots, and they are easier to plant. Here are some considerations for choosing the perfect tree or trees for your garden.

The first consideration, always, is what kind of fruit do you enjoy? I have more than 20 fruit trees, but no peaches. I don't like the fuzzy skin so I prefer nectarines.

The next consideration is whether you primarily want fruit for fresh eating, or whether you also intend to preserve a portion of your harvest. How much fruit you want will suggest how large a tree you need. Even a small tree (five feet in height and with a five- to six-foot diameter crown) can easily provide 50 or more fruits several years after planting. That may not sound like a lot, but it's enough for a small household for a month. Depending on the variety, a tree that is only a bit larger can provide as much as 100 fruits.

For most gardeners, it makes sense to keep trees on the small side. You can do that by pruning the tree regularly. Semi-dwarf or dwarf trees will need less pruning than standard size trees. Smaller trees are easier to care for because you won't have to get on a ladder, and they also require less water and fertilizer.

When you keep trees smaller, you have room for more trees. That means you can spread out the harvest period (for example, you can plant early, mid-season and late apples), or you can plant more types of fruit. With proper pruning, you can fit five or six trees into a 30 – by 7-foot space.

It's best to buy your trees from a local nursery. Fruit trees are typically grafted, with the fruit-bearing part (the scion) grafted onto a rootstock that is appropriate for a specific area. Different types of rootstocks are suited to different soils and have different kinds of disease resistance. When you buy a fruit tree locally, it is grafted onto a rootstock suitable for Napa County. Equally important, the trees in our local nurseries have been inspected to make sure that they are not harboring invasive pests.

The third consideration is your location. Different parts of Napa County vary in the number of annual chill hours they get, with Carneros receiving the fewest and the Lake Berryessa and Pope Valley areas having the most. Chill hours are the number of hours each year between 32°F and 45°F. Fruit trees require a minimum number of chill hours to produce well. The number of chill hours varies dramatically by variety. Granny Smith apples require 900 chill hours, while Anna apples require only 200 to 300.

The number of chill hours in all areas is projected to decline with climate change. Your trees will not suffer if they receive more chill hours than required, so look for varieties requiring fewer chill hours. You also need to verify that you have adequate sunlight; fruit trees need at least eight hours per day. If you are in a windy location, make sure that the variety you want to plant isn't sensitive to wind.

Next, find out whether the variety you're considering is self-fertile, semi-self-fertile or requires a pollinizer (another variety of fruit tree that provides pollen to fertilize the flowers). Self-fertile trees do not require a pollinizer. Semi-self-fertile trees will set fruit without a pollinizer but will yield more fruit with one nearby. For trees that require a pollinizer, the label will indicate which varieties will do the job.

If you don't have room for the pollinizer, see if someone in your neighborhood has the correct variety.

Depending on the type of tree, the pollinizer may need to be as close as 70 feet or can be as far away as 250 feet. Some labels provide this information. If not, check with the nursery or investigate online. As an alternative, you can ask someone who has the desired pollinizer to give you a few branches when they flower. Put the branches in a vase and prop them up in your tree. You can also graft the pollinizer variety onto your tree.

Keep these considerations in mind, and you'll be successful in picking the perfect fruit tree or two for your garden.

Up coming events: “An Apple a Day: Choose the Right Apple for You and Your Garden” on Thursday, January 2, from 7 p.m. to 8 p.m., at the Napa Library, 580 Coombs Street, Napa. The talk is free and no RSVP required.

“Rose Pruning and Winter Care” on Saturday, January 11, from 10 a.m. to 12 noon at University of California Cooperative Extension, 1710 Soscol Avenue, Napa. Join the UC Master Gardeners for this interactive forum and workshop. Reserve your spot for only $5 for reservation and more details go to http://ucanr.edu/2020rosepruning or call 707-253-4221.

The UC Master Gardeners of Napa County are volunteers who provide UC research-based information on home gardening and answer your questions. To find out more about upcoming programs or to ask a garden question, visit the Master Gardener website (http://napamg.ucanr.edu) or call (707) 253-4221 between 9 a.m. and noon on Mondays, Wednesdays or Fridays.