By Susanne von Rosenberg, UC Master Gardener of Napa County
Can you believe it's already almost the end of July? We've very been fortunate this summer that temperatures have largely been moderate.
By now, your summer garden is in its full (drought-conscious) glory. Everything is blooming and your vegetable garden is producing a bounty. It's time to relax and enjoy everything you've accomplished this year, and time for a midsummer garden checkup to make sure that everything will continue to do well.
First on my checkup list is irrigation. I want to make sure that all the emitters are working properly and that no leaks have developed. This review is particularly important for areas that are farther from the house, where you may not be checking as frequently. When it is as dry as it has been this year, it's even possible for critters to chew irrigation lines as they try to find water.
If you are using microsprinklers, check where the spray is landing. If you have automated sprinklers, mark your calendar to adjust the watering frequency or duration as the season progresses. By mid-August, the shorter days mean that you can reduce your watering by 15 to 20 percent compared to the early summer maximum. By mid-September, you can reduce irrigation by 30 percent.
If you are irrigating a lawn or similar wide area, check the amount of water your sprinklers are actually putting out by setting out old tuna cans or other shallow, straight-sided containers and measuring how many inches of water the cans collect during a watering cycle.
I also do a fire-preparedness check. I make sure that dry vegetation is no more than four inches tall, look for tree limbs that may have grown too close to the house, check that my gutters are clear of dry vegetation and trim out dead branches and other dead vegetation.
Next, I take a good look at the annuals in my garden. Are any not thriving? In my vegetable beds, I'm already mentally making room for the first cool-season vegetables, which I'll plant in mid-August, and also looking for opportunities to get in one last crop of fast-growing summer vegetables such as bush beans. Any plants that are not thriving, or whose flavor or color disappointed me, I view as opportunities to plant something new.
Young trees and shrubs (and other juicy plants) may now need protection from deer. As the area's natural vegetation dries out, more deer visit my yard. More than once I've thought of a plant as not being particularly appealing to deer because they've left it alone until now, only to find the telltale branch and leaf damage.
I also inspect my fruit trees. Although I thin the fruit in the spring, I still find that sometimes a tree produces more fruit than a branch can support. In that case, I may remove some ripening fruit to keep a branch from breaking.
Remember to summer-prune your fruit trees after you've harvested the fruit. This practice helps keep your fruit trees at a manageable size. As you prune, focus on air circulation and structural balance. If you're fortunate enough to have more ripe fruit or veggies than you can use, consider donating produce in good condition to Community Action Napa Valley's food bank, or share it with your neighbors.
Birds can also be major pests this time of year. I don't mind sharing, but for the first time ever, I've had to completely cover my blackberries and raspberries with bird netting or the berries will be gone before they're ripe enough for me to eat.
I also like to note where shade is on my property at various times of day. Are there areas where I could plant a tree or vine to increase the shade on hot summer days? Have any of my shrubs or trees grown to the point that they are now shading a sun-loving plant?
Weeds tend to slow down at this time of year, except in irrigated areas, but some keep thriving against all odds. When the ground is too dry to pull or hoe them, you can still reduce their spread by removing any flowers and seed heads that form.
Finally, I plan for the fall. I think about plants I would like to add to my garden, which plants will need fertilizing, and how I can make my garden even more drought tolerant and Bay friendly. I love that gardening gives me the opportunity to keep creating a better place every year.
More from the University of California:
Comprehensive guide to lawn/turf care: http://ipm.ucanr.edu/TOOLS/TURF/
Summer fruit tree pruning: https://anrcatalog.ucanr.edu/pdf/8057.pdf
Napa Library Talk: Napa County Master Gardeners will give a talk on “Planning a Moon Garden” on Thursday, August 5, from 7 p.m. to 8 p.m. via Zoom. Learn about this ancient nocturnal garden theme and pick up some design tips. Register at http://ucanr.edu/2021AugMoonGarden.
Food Growing Forum: Napa County Master Gardeners will present a discussion of “Herbs and Starting Winter Vegetables by Seed” on Sunday, August 8, from 3 p.m. to 4 p.m., via Zoom. Register to receive the Zoom link: http://ucanr.edu/2021/FoodForumAug
Free Guided Tree Walk: Join Master Gardeners of Napa County for a tree walk in Fuller Park in Napa on Tuesday, August 10, from 10 a.m. to noon. Limited to 12 people per walk. COVID safety protocols will be followed. You will be asked health questions and asked to sign in. Face masks and social distancing are required. Register here.
Got Garden Questions? Contact our Help Desk. The team is working remotely so please submit your questions through our diagnosis form, sending any photos to mastergardeners@countyofnapa.org or leave a detailed message at 707- 253-4143. A Master Gardener will get back to you by phone or email.
For more information visit http://napamg.ucanr.edu or find us on Facebook or Instagram, UC Master Gardeners of Napa County.
By Penny Pawl, UC Master Gardener of Napa County
Ceanothus is ideal for use in our Napa Valley gardens. The plant is native to California and very drought-tolerant once established. There are almost 50 species in our state and most are evergreen. It blooms all summer with lilac-like blossoms. Among the many types of Ceanothus, also called California lilac, are ground covers and bushes, with both white and blue blooms.
After the first year, Ceanothus does not need to be watered. More Ceanothus have been killed by too much water than not enough. This plant does not need to be loved to death. I was given a Ceanothus sonomensis by a friend on Atlas Peak and I knew it was rare and I did love it to death. After the fire on Atlas Peak in 2017, many seedlings of this species sprouted and there is hope it will survive. It occurs in only one place in Napa County.
Ceanothus is a Greek word meaning “spiny plant.” While most of the species are in California, Ceanothus are also found throughout the West all the way to the Rocky Mountains and as far south as Guatemala. In California they grow from near sea level to an elevation of 9000 feet.
If you decide to include Ceanothus in your landscape, learn what keeps this plant happy and what type of plants make good companions. Ceanothus want a sunny location with well-draining soil. Do you want a ground cover or a tall bush or even a small tree? Most Ceanothus appreciate mulch around the root area and some fertilizer occasionally. If possible, provide a sheltered spot away from harsh winds.
I found excellent information on Ceanothus in Gardening in Summer-Dry Climates by Nora Harlow and Saxon Holt. The book tells you where each type originated and the zone where it does best. I recommend this book to everyone who wants a drought-tolerant garden. Napa Valley's USDA Zone is 9 and our Sunset Zone is 14.
Like legumes, Ceanothus are nitrogen-fixing plants. They pull nitrogen out of the air and transfer it to their roots. A bacterium then transfers this nitrogen to the soil. In contrast, many crops take nitrogen out of the soil and the nitrogen has to be replenished with fertilizer. Nitrogen-fixing plants like clovers, lupines, beans and peas are planted in late fall to help keep the soil healthy.
Companion plants for Ceanothus should have the same care requirements. Consider drought-tolerant California natives such as lamb's ears (Stachys byzantina), lavender, and any of the many varieties of sage and sedum. Even if we get a reprieve from the drought with a wet winter, lack of rain is a long-term issue in our area. So plan your garden carefully, wait for autumn to plant and then hope for rain.
Free Guided Tree Walk: Join Master Gardeners of Napa County for a tree walk in Fuller Park in Napa on Tuesday, July 13, from 10 a.m. to noon. Limited to 12 people per walk. COVID safety protocols will be followed. You will be asked health questions and asked to sign in. Face masks and social distancing are required. Register here.
Workshop: Napa County Master Gardeners will conduct a workshop on “The Art of Growing Succulents” on Saturday, July 17, from 9:30 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. via Zoom. Learn how to care for these unique, colorful and unthirsty members of the plant community. Register here: http://ucanr.edu/2021SucculentsJuly
Napa Library Talk: Napa County Master Gardeners will give a talk on “Planning a Moon Garden” on Thursday, August 5, from 7 p.m. to 8 p.m. via Zoom. Learn about this ancient nocturnal garden theme and pick up some design tips. Register at http://ucanr.edu/2021AugMoonGarden.
Food Growing Forum: Napa CountyMaster Gardeners will present a discussion of “Herbs and Starting Winter Vegetables by Seed” on Sunday, August 8, from 3 p.m. to 4 p.m., via Zoom. Register to receive the Zoom link: http://ucanr.edu/2021/FoodForumAug
Got Garden Questions? Contact our Help Desk. The team is working remotely so please submit your questions through our diagnosis form, sending any photos to mastergardeners@countyofnapa.org or leave a detailed message at 707- 253-4143. A Master Gardener will get back to you by phone or email.
For more information visit http://napamg.ucanr.edu or find us on Facebook or Instagram, UC Master Gardeners of Napa County.
by Penny Pawl, UC Master Gardener of Napa County
Because of the drought, I am trying French intensive gardening (also known as small-space gardening or square-foot gardening) this year. Rather than spread my vegetables out, I am using the French intensive method to save water.
When I first became a Master Gardener, one of the veteran members was using this method and it seemed to work well for her. She had laid out a grid in her garden and placed different plants within each grid. I have not been that precise, but I have reduced the space between the plants.
If you learn a little about these methods, you may be interested in trying them, too.
French intensive gardening originated around five centuries ago in Paris. It was known as “market gardening” then, a term for growing a variety of marketable crops in small plots. The gardeners would take their crops to the local market to sell them. They practiced companion planting—growing synergistic plants together to improve yield or pest resistance.
They also understood that they could warm the soil by adding fermented manure. Two French gardeners wrote a book on this method in 1845. Titled Manuel pratique de la culture maraîchère de Paris, it is still available on Amazon, updated for modern times.
The French intensive method was popular in England by 1900. Books about it were written in English and the ideas became popular in the late 1960s in the United States. A demonstration garden showcasing French intensive methods was built at UC Santa Cruz.
One advantage of such close-spaced planting is that the leaves of large plants will eventually touch, and more tender plants can be cultivated underneath them. My neighbor has planted lettuce between his tomatoes.
I found online a list of reasons to consider French intensive methods. The one I like best is that it uses less space for a given yield than many other methods. I hope I can confirm that by the end of this growing season.
In my garden this year, I planted tomatoes in square cages, leaving the width of a cage between them. In those areas, I planted broccoli and marigolds. I planted cucumbers inside the tomato cages so they could climb. As they grow, the tomatoes will produce a shady area behind them that I can plant to crops that don't need as much light.
On the recommendation of the owner of Sonoma Worm Farm, I added a couple of tablespoons of worm compost to each hole prior to planting. Most store-bought compost is primarily a soil conditioner; worm compost is a mild fertilizer. I also sprinkle it around the plants and find it benefits all of them.
Many French-intensive gardeners use a technique called intercropping—planting together two plants with different needs. For example, you might group a deep-rooted plant with a shallow-rooted crop. To do intercropping successfully, you must study the needs of the plants and create a plan. Prior to planting this year, I spent a great deal of time just planning the bed and figuring out where I would place the plants.
Marigolds can do great things for a garden. They have a strong fragrance that attracts insects that might attack your edible crops instead. I have used them as a decoy successfully for a few years. This method is called trap cropping or companion planting.
If you would like to know more about French intensive gardening techniques, you can find many books online about it.
Food Growing Forum: Napa CountyMaster Gardeners will present a discussion of “Pests in the Summer Garden” on Sunday, July 11, from 3 p.m. to 4 p.m., via Zoom. Register here to receive the Zoom link: http://ucanr.edu/2021FoodForumJuly
Free Guided Tree Walk: Join Master Gardeners of Napa County for a tree walk in Fuller Park in Napa on Tuesday, July 13, from 10 a.m. to noon. Limited to 12 people per walk. COVID safety protocols will be followed. You will be asked health questions and asked to sign in. Face masks and social distancing are required. Register here.
Workshop: Napa County Master Gardeners will conduct a workshop on “The Art of Growing Succulents” on Saturday, July 17, from 10 a.m to noon, via Zoom. Learn how to care for these unique, colorful and unthirsty members of the plant community. Reserve here: http://ucanr.edu/2021SucculentsJuly
Got Garden Questions? Contact our Help Desk. The team is working remotely so please submit your questions through our diagnosis form, sending any photos to mastergardeners@countyofnapa.org or leave a detailed message at 707- 253-4143. A Master Gardener will get back to you by phone or email.
For more information visit http://napamg.ucanr.edu or find us on Facebook or Instagram, UC Master Gardeners of Napa County.
By Carrie Strohl, UC Master Gardener of Napa County
Gardening has always been a great way to grow food, connect with nature and stay physically active, and these benefits are no different for children. Nonetheless, kids don't have the same abilities and attention span as adults, so keep the following tips in mind if you're gardening with young people or designing a garden for them.
Remember that kids are not adults! This is the most important takeaway from the book Gardening with Emma, Grow and Have Fun: A Kid-to-Kid Guide (Storey, 2019). The author, Emma Biggs, is just 13 years old. In this book, she confidently compares the features that adults value in a garden with the ways kids prefer to interact.
Whereas adults mostly want their gardens to look nice for other adults, kids want to “paint themselves with mud” and “pick unripe fruit.” Children will feel invited to engage and explore if the garden offers features that align with their perspectives. Three simple tips from Emma are: plant the right plants, do fun projects, and make spaces to play.
Kids of all ages love flowers. I could make an A-to-Z list of flowering plants, but let's just start with the ABCs: alyssum (Lobularia maritima), borage (Borago officinalis) and calendula (Calendula officinalis).
These three cool-season annual crops are all self-sowing; they drop seeds that produce plants the following year. Alyssum is a low-growing spreader with small white and purple flowers. Borage makes a blue-purple star-shaped flower, and its fuzzy leaves smell like cucumber. Calendula, a relative of sunflowers, makes orange and yellow daisy-like flowers with C-shaped seeds. Edible crops to plant in a children's garden alongside these three flowering plants include beans, peas, carrots, potatoes, popcorn and pumpkins, as well as annual herbs like basil and chives.
Kids love many perennial plants, too. Plants with common names related to animals come to mind, such as lamb's ear (Stachys byzantina), kangaroo paw (Anigozanthos manglesii) and lion's tail (Leonotis leonurus). All these plants have interesting form and foliage.
Sages of all types are easy to grow, but pineapple sage (Salvia elegans) or Jerusalem sage (Phlomis fruticosa) is a must-have for its scented leaves or nectar-filled flowers.
No matter which plants you choose for your children's garden, make sure they are safe, neither poisonous nor too prickly.
Perennial herbs such as lavender and rosemary can be used for projects like making lavender wands or rosemary cuttings. Re-use or re-purpose boxes, bottles and scraps of wood to create bird feeders, bug hotels and bee houses. These structures and other play areas are inviting to children.
A team of Master Gardeners has been keeping these ideas and design tips in mind lately because we hope to transform a 2,500-square-foot lawn into an interactive learning space for our community's youngest gardeners. As part of a larger collaboration between UC Master Gardeners of Napa County and the City of Napa Parks and Recreation, we are hopeful that theLas Flores Learning Garden (http://napamg.ucanr.edu/DemoGarden/) will include drought-tolerant plantings, food gardening and a dedicated children's area.
Drawing on our kid-tested or teacher-approved experience to refine our vision, the team keeps the end user in mind. Not only are we considering how children's needs differ from our adult ideas, but we are also trying to identify which children might use the space and how.
We've made a list of the most common features of children's gardens, inspired by botanical gardens and living museums we've visited, as well as from online photo galleries. We also ask the kids directly. Among the features they tell us they like: messy paths, interesting edible plants, a living wall, vines, places to sit, a fairy garden and succulents.
Although children are not the primary audience for the community work that UC Master Gardeners do (most horticultural research is a bit too advanced for youngsters), we do have access to substantial research on engaging children in outdoor spaces. We regularly consult these well-respected resources, including KidsGardening (https://bit.ly/3jjPlAI) which has a step-by-step design guide and numerous other resources.
You, too, can design a garden for children, whether it be in a backyard, at a daycare center or preschool, or in a public or private school setting. You can also keep up with our progress for the Las Flores Learning Garden on Napa. Visit usat: http://napamg.ucanr.edu/DemoGarden/.
Food Growing Forum: Napa CountyMaster Gardeners will present a discussion of “Pests in the Summer Garden” on Sunday, July 11, from 3 p.m. to 4 p.m., via Zoom. Register here to receive the Zoom link: http://ucanr.edu/2021FoodForumJuly
Free Guided Tree Walk: Join Master Gardeners of Napa County for a tree walk in Fuller Park in Napa on Tuesday, July 13, from 10 a.m. to noon. Limited to 12 people per walk. COVID safety protocols will be followed. You will be asked health questions and asked to sign in. Face masks and social distancing are required. Register here.
Workshop: Napa County Master Gardeners will conduct a workshop on “The Art of Growing Succulents” on Saturday, July 17, from 10 a.m to noon, via Zoom. Learn how to care for these unique, colorful and unthirsty members of the plant community. Reserve here: http://ucanr.edu/2021SucculentsJuly
Got Garden Questions? Contact our Help Desk. The team is working remotely so please submit your questions through our diagnosis form, sending any photos to mastergardeners@countyofnapa.org or leave a detailed message at 707- 253-4143. A Master Gardener will get back to you by phone or email.
For more information visit http://napamg.ucanr.edu or find us on Facebook or Instagram, UC Master Gardeners of Napa County.
By Susanne von Rosenberg, UC Master Gardener of Napa County
I still remember my first fresh figs. My family was traveling in Southern Europe and my dad stopped at a roadside stand. He was so happy that they had figs. Looking at the dark brown, lumpy fruits, I didn't exactly share his excitement…until I tried one. That sweet, colorful flesh was a wonderful surprise, and I've been hooked on figs ever since.
Figs are an ancient fruit. There are descriptions of them in Sumerian writings, and archeological evidence of figs dates back to 5000 BCE. Fruit that has been cultivated for that long is usually tasty and the trees are tough. What more could a gardener want?
There are hundreds, if not thousands, of fig varieties. No matter where you live in Napa County, you'll be able to find a variety that's right for your microclimate.
All these varieties belong to one of two types: common figs, which do not require pollination to set good fruit; and Smyrna figs, which require pollination. Smyrna figs are pollinated by caprifigs, which provide pollen but are considered inedible. For the backyard gardener, it's easier to plant common figs, and they are also the most readily available.
Figs are propagated from cuttings and grow on their own roots. You can get cuttings from friends or at scion exchanges and start trees of varieties that you like.
The best time to collect cuttings is during the dormant season. Keep them in a plastic bag in your fridge until the weather has warmed up a little. I like to plant two or three cuttings, six to eight inches each, in a 1-gallon pot. Usually at least two of the three will root.
That success can get addictive. (I have 14 fig trees!) Self-seeded fig trees hardly ever produce good fruit. According to the fig expert at the UC Davis germplasm repository, only about 1 in 100 wild fig seedlings produces tasty fruit.
I happened to get lucky with my first one and then planted another donated seedling that has never produced edible fruit. (It still makes a good shade tree, though.) Fig-tree trunks and branches are sensitive to heat and sun damage; whitewash them if they receive a lot of sun or are newly exposed after pruning.
The fig itself is not a single fruit but a syconium, an enlarged, fleshy and hollow flower stalk, or peduncle. The flowers are tiny and on the inside of the peduncle. A single fig contains many fruits; each seed is part of one fruit.
Many fig trees produce an early (“breba”) crop and a main crop. The breba crop forms on wood that grew the previous year, and the main crop—typically ready in late summer or fall—grows on the current year's wood. Breba crops can be killed by late frosts.
Fig trees have a reputation as relatively drought tolerant but they actually prefer regular watering (twice a month or more) during the dry season. If you have never watered your fig tree and it's doing well, it's likely getting water from irrigated areas nearby.
Fig trees tend to have large root systems. They prefer well-drained soils but can handle wet soils better than most other fruit trees. They don't require much winter chill.
You can prune a fig tree to a single trunk, or let it grow into a more bushy shape. Just prune the tree for balance and height. Depending on the variety, fig trees can grow from 10 to 50 feet tall. I recommend keeping them short so you can easily harvest the figs and don't waste water on figs that you'll never be able to reach.
Figs are ready to harvest when the neck starts to bend a little and the fruit starts to soften. You may also notice that figs swell quite a bit when ripe. They'll continue to soften after you pick them and only last in the fridge for a couple of days.
Fig trees need little fertilizer. If you fertilize too heavily, you will get a lot of leafy growth and no fruit. However, if the branches of your fig tree grew less than a foot the previous year, you may need to fertilize.
In our area, gophers are the primary pest of fig trees. They love to eat the roots. To foil them, plant your fig tree in a wire basket at least 16 inches deep and open at the bottom; that protection deters most gophers. If they do attack and kill your fig tree, the tree will likely re-sprout from undamaged roots. This has happened to me several times. Deer enjoy figs but will not harm the tree.
Varieties suitable for the cooler parts of Napa County include Osborne Prolific, Tena, Genoa, Blanche and the misnamed Desert King. Popular all-purpose figs include Black Turkey, Mission, Excel and Adriatic. Tiger Fig (Panache), Kadota and Conadria need a lot of heat.
Workshop: Napa CountyMaster Gardeners will present a free 1-hour Library talk via Zoom on Thursday, July 1, on “Potpourri of Growing Tips and Good Practices.” Learn how to clean and store your tools, how to manage yellow jackets, and more. Register to receive the Zoom link: http://ucanr.edu/2021JulyGardenTips
Free Guided Tree Walk: Join Master Gardeners of Napa County for a tree walk in Fuller Park in Napa on Tuesday, July 13, from 10 a.m. to noon. Limited to 12 people per walk. COVID safety protocols will be followed. You will be asked health questions and asked to sign in. Face masks and social distancing are required. Register here.
Got Garden Questions? Contact our Help Desk. The team is working remotely so please submit your questions through our diagnosis form, sending any photos to mastergardeners@countyofnapa.org or leave a detailed message at 707- 253-4143. A Master Gardener will get back to you by phone or email.
For more information visit http://napamg.ucanr.edu or find us on Facebook or Instagram, UC Master Gardeners of Napa County.
