- Author: Susanne von Rosenberg
How much water a plant needs is driven by day length,temperature and wind. Plants lose water as long as they are photosynthesizing—in other words, as long as it is light out. The hotter and windier it is, the more water a plant needs.
Usually plants need the most water in early summer, at the end of June and beginning of July. A few weeks can make a big difference. Six weeks before that peak and six weeks afterward, your garden needs only about two-thirds as much water. By the end of September, plants need only about one-third the water that they did at the peak.
How much water your plants need also depends on how you use it. It can be scary to cut back when you've been successful with your watering regimen.To help you, here are some tips for conserving water in the vegetable garden and orchard:
Start with improving your soil because healthy soil holds more water. Amend with compost or other organic matter. Soil rich in organic material retains five times as much water as depleted soil does. So the healthy soil on my one-acre property holds an extra 100,000 gallons of water. Make sure your soil is thoroughly moist before you plant.
Mulch your garden. A generous layer of mulch will keep soil moisture from evaporating. As a bonus, organic mulches enhance soil fertility and water-holding capacity in future years and reduce the weeds that compete with your plants. Apply mulch to moist soil and make sure that irrigation water penetrates the mulch and reaches the underlying soil. Planting vegetables closer together will also help shade the soil and reduce moisture loss.
Water at the right time and in the right way.Use drip irrigation to apply water where it is needed, and irrigate when wind and temperatures are low to reduce evaporation. Early morning is best; evening is second best. Probe your soil for moisture. If it feels dry two inches down, it's time to water.
Get to know the signs that your vegetables are thirsty. Rather than a “set it and forget it” watering routine, look at your plants. Are the leaves getting dull? Is the plant a bit droopy? Then it's probably time to water. Squashes and pumpkins are an exception; they often look wilted in mid-afternoon. As long as they recover in the evening, they probably still have sufficient soil moisture.
Give new plants a good start. Apply adequate water early on and then taper off.As the plants mature,water less frequently but more deeply to encourage deep roots.
Avoid or minimize your plantings of the “thirsty” vegetables. Corn, soybeans, squashes, pumpkins, most watermelons and some cucumbers require a lot of water. If you can't live without them, look for varieties bred for drought tolerance and consider planting “bush” varieties if available. Plants with less foliage will use less water. Good vegetable choices include tomatoes and pole beans. Both yield over a long season without requiring large amounts of water.
Shade your vegetables during extreme heat with an umbrella, shade cloth or floating row cover. Remove the shading as soon as temperatures return to normal; summer vegetable plants prefer at least eight hours of sunlight per day.
In late summer, plant a cool-season garden. Even with below-normal rainfall, cool-season vegetables such as broccoli, cauliflower and greens require less water. In a wet year, you might not have to irrigate at all after the plants are established.
Finally, if water rationing means that you have to choose, let your annual vegetables go and water your fruit and landscape trees instead.
What's your best tip for saving water in your vegetable garden? Leave us a note on our Facebook page. And if you'd like to learn more about the physiological adaptions that plants make to water stress, take a look at this blog post on the Master Gardener website: http://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=13978
Workshop: Napa County Master Gardeners will conduct a workshop on “Habitat Gardens at Home or School” on Saturday, May 16, from 9:30 a.m. to 11:30 a.m., at Skyline Park, Martha Walker Garden, 2201 Imola Avenue, Napa. Participants will tour the Martha Walker Garden to discover the plants and garden elements that attract bees, birds and pollinators. Master Gardeners will explain the value of habitat corridors whether the garden is in a rural, urban, or school setting. Online registration (credit card only) Mail-in registration (cash or check only)
Master Gardeners are volunteers who help the University of California reach the gardening public with home gardening information. Napa County Master Gardeners ( http://ucanr.org/ucmgnapa/) are available to answer gardening questions in person or by phone, Monday, Wednesday and Friday, 9 a.m. to Noon, at the U. C. Cooperative Extension office, 1710 Soscol Avenue, Suite 4, Napa, 707-253-4143, or from outside City of Napa toll-free at 877-279-3065. Or e-mail your garden questions by following the guidelines on our web site. Click on Napa, then on Have Garden Questions? Find us on Facebook under UC Master Gardeners of Napa County.
On Saturday, October 25, from 8:00 a.m. until 12:30 p.m., we will be joining many other nonprofit organizations at the Napa Farmers' Market for a health and wellness fair. Exhibitors will showcase the importance of fresh, local and sustainable food production and consumption; offer local resources related to health and wellness; and provide information on sustainable farming.
Napa County residents are probably most familiar with Master Gardeners through our help desks, workshops, tomato sales and garden tours, but we also offer many programs that support the objectives of Food Day. Several of our workshops focus on growing your own food, from citrus to berries to vegetables. Last year, we started a School Garden Task Force to assist schools in developing and maintaining gardens that will provide healthy learning environments.
This year at Food Day the Master Gardeners will focus on edible gardening. Most people have some idea about how to grow food in the ground, but did you know you can grow many edibles in a container or a bale of straw? If you have a spot that receives at least six hours of direct sunlight each day, you can grow food in a container.
The container doesn't have to be anything special. It just needs to be large enough to accommodate the roots of whatever you want to grow. It also needs to have adequate drainage so that water does not accumulate at the bottom.
Many people in Napa Valley use old wine barrels cut in half to create a container garden. I have used old recycling bins. They make great container gardens as they are the right size and already have drainage holes. If you have an old wheel barrow you are no longer using, consider turning it into a container garden. After you drill a few holes for drainage, it will be ready to plant. The big advantage of a wheel barrow is that it can be moved to follow the sun.
Another option for people with limited space is straw bale gardening. All you need is a bale of straw, which costs less than $10. In summer, a bale will accommodate two or three tomato plants or the same number of zucchini. You can also grow beans, cucumbers and eggplant in straw bales. In the cooler months, you can grow lettuce, kale, chard or whatever leafy greens appeal to you.
Keep in mind that straw bales require three to four weeks of conditioning before planting. To condition them, keep the bales moist, add fertilizer and wait for decomposition to commence.
If I have piqued your curiosity, then come see the Master Gardeners at the Napa Farmers' Market on Saturday, October 25. We'll show you how you can grow food for your table in less space than you ever imagined. We'll also supply you with a complimentary package of carrot seeds so that you can get your edible garden off to a healthy start.
Workshop: Napa County Master Gardeners will lead a workshop titled “Be Successful with Citrus” on Saturday, October 18, from 9:30 a.m. to 11:30 a.m., at the Calistoga Community Center, 1307 Washington Street, Calistoga. This workshop will give you all the tools to be successful with your new or mature citrus trees. Learn about choosing varieties, planting, fertilization, and seasonal care including frost protection. Online registration (credit card only); Mail-in registration (cash or check only).
Master Gardeners are volunteers who help the University of California reach the gardening public with home gardening information. Napa County Master Gardeners (http://ucanr.org/ucmgnapa/) are available to answer gardening questions in person or by phone, Monday, Wednesday and Friday, 9 a.m. to Noon, at the U. C. Cooperative Extension office, 1710 Soscol Avenue, Suite 4, Napa, 707-253-4143, or from outside City of Napa toll-free at 877-279-3065. Or e-mail your garden questions by following the guidelines on our web site. Click on Napa, then on Have Garden Questions? Find us on Facebook under UC Master Gardeners of Napa County.
I have never been much of a trendsetter. The clothes in my closet today look quite a bit like the clothes in my closet in the 70s with the exception of a few Hawaiian shirts that I added 10 or 12 years ago. However, today I find myself in the forefront of a trend—namely, growing my own food. When I planted my first vegetable garden in a Chicago suburb in the early 1970s I had no idea that what I was doing would be a trend 40 years later.
According to the National Gardening Association, more than 43 million American households planted a vegetable garden in 2009. That represents 37 percent of all U.S. households and a 20 percent increase over 2008.
So what's driving people to grow their own food?
- Economics: In 2008, Americans spent $2.5 billion on their food gardens. The return on this investment was $21 billion. The average household with a 600-square-foot garden spent $70 a year and, in return, received $600 worth of veggies. Sure beats the stock market.
- Food safety: Reports of food-borne illness appear regularly in the news. The use of pesticides in farming is a continuing concern. Many processed foods contain additives and preservatives that a growing number of people want to avoid. If you grow your own food, you know exactly what is in and on it.
- Exercise: Gardening provides an excellent cardio and aerobic workout. Studies show that an hour of gardening can burn as many as 300 calories for women and almost 400 calories for men. Spend some time bending and stretching in the garden and you'll feel like you've been to an exercise or yoga class.
- Taste: There's simply no comparison between a tomato you pick from your own garden and one purchased from a supermarket. Food you grow will always be fresher and therefore tastier.
- Environment: If you grow your own food, you're not supporting industrial agriculture. One family's impact may be small, but collectively, the environmental benefits add up: fewer pesticides polluting the water supply and fewer chemical fertilizers causing soil erosion. In a home garden, you're not using the fossil fuels that heavy farm equipment requires. You and your family provide the energy, and you control the amount of water used.
- Family: Gardening can help bring your family together to learn about how food is grown and what it takes to put fresh produce on the table. It's a great way to teach children and grandchildren responsibility and to develop a strong work ethic.
- Social: Gardening provides the opportunity to expand your social circle. Truly serious gardeners may want to become a certified U.C. Master Gardener as I did. Since becoming a Master Gardener last year, I have probably tripled the number of people I know in Napa Valley.
- Community: If you have enough room to grow your own food, then maybe you have enough room to grow food for others. Nothing like dropping off 10 pounds of excess tomatoes at the local food bank to make you proud and happy.
If you don't have room for a garden, you can still grow food. Consider container gardening if you have a sunny patio. You'll be pleasantly surprised by how many tomatoes, peppers, eggplant or zucchini you can grow in pots. Alternatively, you can rent space in one of Napa's community gardens.
One downside to growing your own food is that you risk becoming a garden geek or food snob. You may become fascinated with exotic garden tools like the Japanese horihori knife. You consider calling the water police when you see your neighbor watering not only the lawn but also the driveway, sidewalk and street. You turn up your nose when you see someone buying chemical fertilizers, herbicides or pesticides and have to resist telling them off. You gravitate to people using terms like integrated pest management and pinching off. Worst of all, you may become convinced your tomatoes are better than anyone else's and enter them in the Napa Town & Country Fair.
No matter what drives you to grow your own food, I think you will find that your new hobby gives you and your family great pleasure and improved health while saving money and helping the environment.
Workshop: Napa County Master Gardeners will conduct a workshop on “Cool Season Veggies” on Sunday, August 17, from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m. at the Yountville Community Center, 6516 Washington Street, Yountville.Grow your own vegetables even when days are short and nights are cold. Learn which vegetables thrive in cooler temperatures, how to protect them from heat when they are getting started, and how to time planting to ensure months of harvest.To register, call the Parks & Recreation Department at 707-944-8712 or visit their web site. Workshop fee is $10 for Yountville residents, $12 for others.
Master Gardeners are volunteers who help the University of California reach the gardening public with home gardening information. Napa County Master Gardeners ( http://ucanr.org/ucmgnapa/) are available to answer gardening questions in person or by phone, Monday, Wednesday and Friday, 9 a.m. to Noon, at the U. C. Cooperative Extension office, 1710 Soscol Avenue, Suite 4, Napa, 707-253-4143, or from outside City of Napa toll-free at 877-279-3065. Or e-mail your garden questions by following the guidelines on our web site. Click on Napa, then on Have Garden Questions? Find us on Facebook under UC Master Gardeners of Napa County.
Napa County Master Gardeners welcome the public to visit their demonstration garden at Connolly Ranch on Thursdays, from 10:00 a.m. until noon, except the last Thursday of the month. Connolly Ranch is at 3141 Browns Valley Road at Thompson Avenue in Napa. Enter on Thompson Avenue.
- Author: Denise Seghesio Levine
A wheelbarrow that has corroded past its useful life can be pierced with drainage holes, lined with moss, filled with soil and planted in leafy, lime-green ‘Tom Thumb’ lettuces. Underplanted with white and purple scallions and crunchy round ‘Planet’ carrots, these lettuces can provide the makings of salad just outside your kitchen door.
No room for a wheelbarrow or wine barrel? Even a standard 15-inch pot can host six mature heads of red romaine lettuce and a handful of radishes, or two dozen leeks, or a bouquet of ‘Bright Lights’ Swiss chard with its ruby-red, yellow and deep orange stalks and vitamin-rich greens.
‘Pixie’ cabbages, ‘Tom Thumb’ lettuces, ‘Green Fingers’ eggplants and ‘Baby Primor’ leeks are just a few of the diminutive vegetables bred for those spots that you thought were too small for a garden.
Changing demographics, aging gardeners and shrinking yards have prompted seed breeders to develop smaller versions of garden favorites with all the big flavors of their larger cousins.
Labels on vegetable seedlings often indicate whether the variety will thrive in containers, but starting vegetables from seed gives you more opportunity. Don’t hesitate to mix flowers and vegetables in container plantings. Petunias discourage pests that attack pole beans, and marigolds reputedly protect tomatoes. In containers with vegetables, they perform the same duties, while adding interest and color.
Container gardens are more dependent on the gardener than in-ground garden plots. Although a few vegetables can take deep shade, most need at least six hours of sun a day to produce abundant crops.
Pots and boxes dry out more quickly than garden plots and on warm or windy days may need to be watered twice. Please remember to run the hot water out of your hose before you begin watering. Hot water can kill plants, and too much warmth in the root zone can cause salad greens, cilantro, spinach and other cole crops and greens to bolt.
Watering a container as often as needed to keep the plant hydrated can deplete soil nutrients quickly. Nutrients leach out with the water each day. Slowed growth or yellowed leaves are signs that your plants may have used all the soil nutrients. Frequent light feeding with fish emulsion or other suitable fertilizers will keep your plants healthy, green and growing. Follow package directions. Too much fertilizer can build up salt in your soil. If you notice a light salt coating on your pots, wash the pots and cut back on fertilizing.
Size does matter. Make sure your containers are large enough to provide ample room for the plants’ mature root systems.
Putting large containers on casters allows you to wheel them around to take advantage of sunlight and to protect them from too much sun or frost. You can cluster pots or move them into the shade to slow evaporation.
With plants on wheels, you can “decorate” your patio or porch more easily. Showcase the natural beauty of blossoming or heavily-laden plants and wheel past-their-prime specimens to a less conspicuous spot.
With a small container garden on your patio or deck, you can really get to know your plants. Their proximity makes it easy to groom them daily, monitor their moisture needs and catch problems and insect attacks more quickly.
There is something wonderful about watching plants grow, but to pluck your dinner from the comfort of your deck or balcony might just be the best reward a gardener can hope for.
Container Gardening Workshop: Napa County Master Gardeners will conduct a workshop on “Container Gardening” on Saturday, May 18, from 9:30 a.m. to 11:30 a.m., at the University of California Cooperative Extension office (address below). Learn to grow mobile gardens that take advantage of the best sites in your yard or home. Discover the best containers, soils and locations for your plants to prosper. Online registration (credit card only) Mail in registration (cash or check only)
Master Gardeners are volunteers who help the University of California reach the gardening public with home gardening information. Napa County Master Gardeners (http://ucanr.org/ucmgnapa) are available to answer gardening questions in person or by phone, Monday, Wednesday and Friday, 9 a.m. to Noon, at the U. C. Cooperative Extension office, 1710 Soscol Avenue, Suite 4, Napa, 707-253-4143, or from outside City of Napa toll-free at 877-279-3065. Or e-mail your garden questions by following the guidelines on our web site. Click on Napa, then on Have Garden Questions?
