By Penny Proteau, U. C. Master Gardener of Napa County
It's time to get into the garden. Whether you are planning a new garden, renewing an old garden, adding color and interest for summer or hoping to grow award-winning produce, now is the time to get started.
How to start? Make a plan. Whether you sketch out a simple vision or commission a full set of drawings, your plan will be useful for all your future gardening decisions.
When drawing up your plan, evaluate your space. Where is the sun throughout the year? How do you want to use your yard? For recreation? Growing vegetables? Entertaining? Or perhaps as a play area for children? Do you have pets? Do you want chickens? Do you view your garden as a private retreat or a public space?
Canvas your neighborhood for yards that you admire. Make a note of what you like about the landscaping. You may think you'll remember, but notes help. For inspiration relevant to our location, take a look at http://www.napa.watersavingplants.com, an online resource for water-wise gardening in the Napa Valley
After you have committed your plan to paper, think about irrigation. Thoughtful irrigation and wise planting choices will save you a lot of fuss and heartache in drought years. California native plants offer a diverse palette. Also look at Mediterranean plants to increase your options. Both are suitable for our wet winter/dry summer climate.
Wise water planning also means hydrozoning, or putting plants with similar water needs on the same irrigation station. Consider using pots for specialty plants that may need different care and maintenance than in-ground plants.
For inspiration, don't miss the U.C. Master Gardeners of Napa County's garden tour on Sunday, May 21. Purchase tickets for the “Discover Garden Magic” tour online at
http://ucanr.edu/survey/survey.cfm?surveynumber=20204
Master Gardeners are volunteers who help the University of California reach the gardening public with home gardening information. U. C. Master Gardeners of Napa County ( http://ucanr.edu/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.
By Denise Levine, U. C. Master Gardener of Napa County
October is a colorful month filled with ripe but dwindling summer produce. Tomatoes are at their reddest, hoarded and appreciated; peppers are hot crimson and sweetly gold. Cucumbers are finally big, but the vines are slowing down. Squash and melon plants have sprawled and are looking spent and ready to come out.
But the first peas are big enough to pick, figs both black and white are ripe for the picking, and days are cool enough that lettuce and radishes are beginning to thrive again.
Pull out your bare-root fruit tree catalogs or call local nurseries for lists of the trees they will be offering this winter. Take advantage of October's mild days to prepare holes for the apple, peach, plum and pear trees you want to purchase bare-root in January, when the soil may be too waterlogged. You will thank yourself in January if you do this work now. Then your rainy-season planting will be easy and successful.
October is also a good month to order compost and have it delivered. Heavy trucks will compact softened, rain-soaked soils and leave you with deep ruts to remember them by.
Are we getting at least an inch of rain a week this month? If not, continue watering shrubs and plants. Feed citrus and other shrubs such as azalea and camellia. They are all prone to chlorosis (yellowing) from iron deficiency. A trip to your favorite nursery or garden center for chelated iron may be in order.
Yellowing in other leafy plants is often a sign of nitrogen deficiency. Diluted fish emulsion, applied with a watering can, will typically “green up” leafy plants and give them a new flush of growth. But as winter approaches, the Master Gardener Month-to-Month Guide recommends feeding the vegetable garden one more time with an ammonium form of nitrogen to reduce leaching when the rains come. Your garden center can show you the options.
Are you lucky enough to have a big garden or good-sized beds? Are you replenishing this soil with cover crops yet? If you now have bare beds that produced melons, corn or other crops all summer, consider planting a cover crop to grow through winter.
Cover crops, also called green manures, protect your soil from erosion caused by winter rains. They pull up minerals deep in the soil, making them accessible to future crops. And they serve as a living mulch, smothering weeds, creating habitat for worms and other soil-forming organisms and providing pleasing visual texture through cold gray months.
For your green manure, consider fava beans, golden mustard with its sunny yellow blooms, or oats or barley planted with clover. University of California Cooperative Extension has helpful information on cover cropping for the home gardener (http://ucce.ucdavis.edu/files/filelibrary/5842/25997.pdf). Plant cover crops now so they can grow through winter. In spring, till them into the soil. Three weeks later, the green biomass will have decomposed and the beds will be ready to plant.
Clean up your vegetable and flower garden this month and eliminate hiding places for pests and diseases. Rake up and discard fallen fruits and vegetables and spent annuals like zinnias and sunflowers. Start a new compost pile. Making these efforts now will mean fewer hiding places for snails and slugs and new soil for your garden when you need it next spring.
Now is a good time to dig up and divide crowded perennials like Shasta daisies, agapanthus, nepeta, daylilies or echinacea. Give extra plants to friends for their gardens, or expand your own beds.
If your dahlias look unhappy, let them die back and then gently dig them up and store them where they will not freeze. Keep them dry; do not wash them off or they could rot or become diseased before replanting in spring.
Chrysanthemums are still in their full autumn glory. Whether you cut them by the armfuls for indoor bouquets or enjoy them outside, examine them closely for aphids. If you spot these pests, wash them off with a good blast of water from your hose or spray bottle. Repeat diligently until you no longer spy them.
Continue planting your vegetable garden. Sow seeds of fava beans, carrots, spinach, lettuce and arugula, and plant seedlings of cabbages, Brussels sprouts, broccoli and cauliflower. All of these brassicas appreciate a floating row cover to thwart moths, aphids, birds and critters.
Native Plant Sale: U.C. Master Gardeners of Napa County will have an information table at the California Native Plant Society Napa Chapter's plant sale on Saturday, October 15, and Sunday, October 16, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., at the Martha Walker Native Garden in Skyline Park in Napa. Volunteers from both organizations will help you choose the right native plants for any spot in your garden. The preview party for CNPS members and guests is Friday, October 14, from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m., at Skyline Park.
Master Gardeners are volunteers who help the University of California reach the gardening public with home gardening information. U. C. Master Gardeners of Napa County ( http://ucanr.edu/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.
Soil is brown, right? Usually. But perhaps you have also seen gray soil, whitish soil, red soil, black soil or even kind of a bluish soil. What does it all mean?
Delving into my Master Gardener references, I found some answers in the University of California Division ofAgriculture and Natural Resources Leaflet 2280.
Although color does not influence how productive a soil might be, it is an indicator, and we can learn a lot about the quality of the soil from that one observation. Color is one of the most useful characteristics in the classification and identification of soils.
We can usually determine what color soil is just by looking, and generally this observation is sufficient. But if a color description is required for analysis or communication, the exact shade can be matched to the Munsell Soil Color Chart, which provides a standard method for describing soil color.
In Napa Valley and throughout most of California, brown and gray soils comprise the largest swaths of landscape. Although these soils are moderately low in organic matter and often high in clay, they include some of our most productive alluvial soils.
Alluvial soils are created on valley floors by the movement of water. One property owner's erosion is another lucky person's alluvial soil. Nearly all the soils in the central and coastal valleys, including the Napa Valley, are alluvial and extremely useful for growing intensive crops.
Soils in the Central Valley tend to be gray. On the west side of the valley,soil texture is coarse to medium from granitic alluvium. The east side of the valley features medium- to fine-textured soil due to layering with sedimentary alluvium.
Still, color is only one indicator. These two areas show wide variation in productivity and other important characteristics.
Black soils are usually high in organic matter, but high is relative. Some black soils test relatively low in organic matter and relatively high in mineral content. Others occupy the other end of the spectrum—squishy black muck that can contain up to 50 percent organic matter. Peat bogs fit this description.
Black soils often have a strong granular structure. In coastal valleys, they can form on top of native grasslands. In other areas, black soils form under poorly drained conditions and range from peaty to mostly clay in texture. With proper identification and good management, these soils can be highly productive for vegetables and field crops.
Red soils can be beautiful but are often deficient in nutrients needed for healthy plant life. Usually lacking in nitrogen, essential for strong leaf development, red soils are also frequently deficient in zinc, sulfur and phosphorus. These nutrients are all necessary for the proper development of plant leaves, roots and fruits, so anyone attempting to garden in red soil will probably need to amend generously.
Why are red soils so problematic for gardening? Generally they are older soils that have gone through intensive weathering. Some of that rich alluvial gold in the valley soil probably came from old red bluffs that were robbed of their riches. This explains why bluffs with exposed edges and timberlines that have been exposed to hot summers and drenching rains are often red hued. The soil has been washed away by wind and rain down to clay pans or hard pan.
White, light gray or gray soils usually have a preponderance of sand or lime. If you rub these soils through your fingers, they feel gritty and sandy. While these soils often drain freely, they can have difficulty holding water and nutrients long enough for your plants to absorb them. In some chalky or sandy soils, iron deficiency can be a problem. This deficiency is a common problem for orchard crops but can also be problematic for other food and ornamental crops.
And then there is the blue or blue-gray mucky soil that smells bad and can have a sewer- like odor. Often this condition is the result of poorly aerated subsoil. Organic matter doesn't have enough oxygen to completely breakdown the materials.
These incompletely digested soils are not healthy for plants. Dissolved materials and gases in these soils are toxic to plant roots. To rehabilitate blue, smelly soil, extensive aeration is needed to complete biodegradation and provide a healthy environment for plant growth.
Most of the soils in Napa County are predictably brown. But the occasional pockets of different colors now speak to me in a different way. And now I understand what they are saying.
Workshops: U. C. Master Gardeners of Napa County will host a workshop on “Home Vineyard: Part 1” on Saturday, February 27, from 9:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. at the University of California Oakville Experimental Station, 1380 Oakville Grade Road, Oakville. What to do, what to look for, and what to plan for in the vineyard between February and August. Workshop will be presented in two parts. The morning (9:30 a.m. to 11:30 a.m.) will be classroom discussion. The afternoon (12:30 p.m. to 2:30 p.m. will be a field trip to a local vineyard. On-line registration (credit card only); Mail-in/Walk-in registration (cash or check only).
U. C. Master Gardeners of Napa County will host a workshop on “Irrigation Hands On” on Saturday,February 27, from 9:30 a.m. to 11:30 a.m., at the University of California Cooperative Extension office, 1710 Soscol Avenue, Napa. Learn how to modify your current irrigation system to make it more efficient and effective. There will be demonstrations and hands-on learning about irrigation controllers, sprinklers, drip systems, rain water capture and grey water systems. For the hands-on segment, bring garden gloves to protect your fingers and a pair of scissors or garden shears .On-line registration (credit card only); Mail-in/Walk-in registration (cash or check only).
Master Gardeners are volunteers who help the University of California reach the gardening public with home gardening information. U. C. Master Gardeners of Napa County ( 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.
Peppers are the most dependable and productive plants in my garden. I use peppers fresh, dried, ground, pickled, stuffed, fermented and fried. I have jars of pepper jelly, bottles of pepper vinegar and tins of ground chili.
So this year I am growing even more peppers. And after several years of successful pepper growing, I have some favorites.
Jalapeño plants seldom have pest problems and produce peppers early and often. Pickled jalapeños were one of my household's favorite preserves until we discovered how easy it is to make fermented hot sauce. Vibrant red or green jalapeños, salt, garlic, a little time in the kitchen and a couple of weeks fermenting in the jar produced incredibly complex, delicious hot sauces that became instant favorites with family and friends.
I'm planning for at least 20 jalapeño plants this year. With such abundance, we can pick some unripe peppers for green sauce and still have plenty to ripen to red for the garlicky hot sauce we had to dole out too sparingly this year. And we are adding Tabasco peppers to the mix.
My favorite sweet pepper last year was ‘Yellow Marconi.'They are delicious picked green, but ripe yellow ones are worth the wait. These slim tapered peppers reach eight to ten inches in length. They are sweet and crisp when raw, but you can also roast and peel them, dressing them simply with good olive oil and salt. Serve them as an antipasto, or cut in strips and sauté with onions and sausage for a classic Italian main course. Marconis are beautiful in the garden and on the plate, and I have allocated a lot of space for them this year.
‘Quadratod' Asti Rosso' (red) and ‘Quadratod' Asti Giallo' (yellow) are classic sweet bell peppers ideal for salads and cooking. Both stand up to stuffing and baking. At the end of the season, I roast, peel and freeze these peppers for our Thanksgiving antipasto.Marinate them in olive oil with a little fresh garlic, salt and a splash of vinegar.
This year we are trying ‘Jimmy Nardello,' an heirloom from Seed Savers Exchange. The company got the seeds from Nardello himself, who claims that his mother brought them with her when she emigrated from Italy's Basilicata region in 1887.
I have also reserved smaller spaces for Thai peppers, habanero, arbol and other super-hot types. One or two plants of each will satisfy us.
Our ‘Padrón' plants did not have full sun last year and had to stretch for light. The plants topped four feet and were a little rangy but consistently loaded with peppers. This year we will grow ‘Shishito' peppers, too. They are easy to grow and should be picked small and green for eating whole. Quickly roast, fry or grill them with a smattering of salt and olive oil.If you see them on a menu, you can order something else as you will have more in your garden the next day.
With so many pepper options, how to choose? If you're not a cook, you might still enjoy growing multi-colored ornamentals for craft projects or holiday decorations. Or perhaps you need an heirloom pepper for an heirloom family recipe. What you can't eat fresh, you can dry, ferment or freeze for future use. And a favorite pepper plant can be dug up and potted at the end of season to grow indoors through the winter.
Peppers are easy to grow from seed. One of the most extensive offerings comes from Redwood City Seed Company. Craig and Sue Dremann have been collecting pepper seeds since the 1970s and their website offers 24 pages of tips to insure your success.
February is not too early to plant pepper seeds. Plant them as soon as you can. Usefresh seed- starting mix for best results. Moisten the mix and fill trays, flats or shallow pots. Space seeds 1 inch apart and cover with ¼ inch of soil. Keep moist but not wet. Provide bottom heat from a seedling mat or keep them in a warm spot in the kitchen with plenty of light.
When seedlings have four true leaves, transplant to small pots with rich potting soil. Keep them warm and provide plenty of light. You may have to repot seedlings one more time before hardening them off outdoors. Wait untilnights and soil are warm before planting. Peppers do not like cold.
Seed sources for peppers:
www.seedsavers.org
Workshops: U. C. Master Gardeners of Napa County will host a workshop on “Home Vineyard: Part 1” on Saturday, February 27, from 9:30 a.m.to 2:30 p.m. at the University of California Oakville Experimental Station, 1380 Oakville Grade Road, Oakville. What to do, what to look for, and what to plan for in the vineyard between February and August. Workshop will be presented in two parts. The morning (9:30 a.m. to 11:30 a.m.)will be classroom discussion. The afternoon (12:30 p.m. to 2:30 p.m. will be a field trip to a local vineyard.On-line registration (credit card only)
Mail-in/Walk-in registration (cash or check only)
U. C. Master Gardeners of Napa County will host a workshop on “Irrigation Hands On” on Saturday,February 27, from 9:30 a.m.to 11:30 a.m., at the University of California Cooperative Extension office, 1710 Soscol Avenue, Napa. Learn how to modify your current irrigation system to make it more efficient and effective.There will be demonstrations and hands-on learning about irrigation controllers, sprinklers, drip systems, rain water capture and grey water systems. For the hands-on segment, bring garden gloves to protect your fingers and a pair of scissors or garden shears.On-line registration (credit card only); Mail-in/Walk-in registration (cash or check only)
Master Gardeners are volunteers who help the University of California reach the gardening public with home gardening information. U. C. Master Gardeners of Napa County ( 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.
About 15 years ago, my parents helped me create a drip system for my landscape. It was basic, easily modified and enlargeable. Perhaps there are better systems available now, but for me, the set-up has performed admirably.
Fast forward to today. California is experiencing a drought and has been for the last few years. Thanks to my parents, I'm ready.
A drip system is the way to go for frugal water use in the garden. I have learned many lessons over the years and had some failures, but mostly my drip-irrigation system has been a success. Although Mom and Dad provided the original supplies and plan, I have had to purchase additional components, which required a learning curve.
Not only are there different systems but some parts have become obsolete and hard to replace. The key to success is simplicity. Another tip: always purchase parts from the same place, or at least know what type of system you have and the diameter of your tubing.
I have attended several irrigation and drought workshops over the years. All of them involved computing water distribution, as in how many gallons per hour each plant needs. Usually my eyes roll back in my head at that point in the presentation. In a small home garden, you can just observe your plants: do they look stressed? If so, check the water distribution. It's either too much or not enough.
I have six stations in my system. Each station consists of a battery-operated timer at the hose bib and half-inch and quarter-inch black hose with micro-sprayers and drippers. I have tried to use only drippers on one line and sprayers on another as they have different pressure requirements, but I do have some systems with both.
Quarter-inch drip tubing with emitters at preset spacing is a great choice and easy to place. I have found that a perforated tube or soaker hose needs a designated line as the pressure in that line dips alarmingly when the soaker hose is in use.
The battery-operated timers are a good option for me because no hard wiring is required. They do have to be protected from the weather. I usually wrap them in clear,sealable plastic bags to allow for easy viewing and to blend into the landscape.
To keep the system from totally commandeering the hose bib, I use a “Y” attachment with shut-off valves. That way, I can use the hose bib for other needs. I only use my drip system from May through October. When autumn rains begin, I disconnect the timers, remove the batteries and store them for the winter.
Keep operating manuals for the timers in a designated place. Many times I have tried to get my system up and running in the spring and can't remember how the timer works.
In early May I set up all the systems for the summer. No matter how much I check first, I always manage to be standing directly on top of a broken sprayer when I turn the system on to test it. The upside is that I have yet to miss a broken sprayer.
I have had some problems with the system over the years, but to be honest, they were mostly operator errors. With much colorful language, I have cut through irrigation lines while digging up beds. Good news: that's an easy fix.
One year I noticed the pressure at the end of one of my systems was non-existent. Upon further investigation, I discovered a buried portion of the system had become disconnected. Not an easy fix.
I had to dig down at least two feet to get to the connection. Note to self: don't bury lines. Just fluff some soil over the lines if an exposed hose disturbs your sensibilities.
Last month, I had to turn off the water to the house because of a plumbing problem. I forgot about it until the next morning, when the first line came on. The tip of a micro-sprayer flew up in the air and went who-knows-where. To avoid this excitement, make sure to “bleed” the lines: with water turned off,detach the system from the hose bib, then turn on the water to release pressure and allow air to escape. Re-attach and you're ready to go.
Upcoming event: The Napa County Master Gardeners'“Down the Garden Path” Garden Tour is Sunday, September 13.The second garden on the tour is the proud recipient of a new drip system. At that site, you can peruse a reference binder with step-by-step instructions for installing drip irrigation.Click http://bit.ly/1fqLJZe for information and tickets.
Workshops: Napa County Master Gardeners will host a workshop on “Good Garden Resources in Print & Tech” on Saturday, July 11, from 9:30 a.m. to 11:30 a.m., at the University of California Cooperative Extension office, 1710 Soscol Avenue, Napa. Who do you trust for dependable gardening information? Where do you look for answers to your horticulture questions? Participants are invited to bring tablets or laptops. Master Gardeners will help you evaluate sources of gardening information, both online and in print. Online registration (credit card only);Mail-in registration (cash or check only).
Napa County Master Gardener will also host a workshop on “Dealing with Drought and Drought-Tolerant Plants” on Saturday, July 11, from 10 a.m. to noon, at Mid-City Nursery, 3635 Broadway, American Canyon. Learn what to do now to help your garden survive on very little water. We will discuss what kinds of plants do best with minimal water. Learn about easy-care, long-flowering, colorful plants for your garden and ones that will attract pollinators. We will also discuss fire-wise plants and gardens. Online registration;Mail-in registration.
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.