Jack And Jill In The Garden

By Andrea Peck 

I recently had a most disturbing conversation with a man regarding an opossum. It seems his dog barked at the opossums that visited his yard and he had gotten quite adept ‘with a shovel.’ There was a swinging motion that accompanied his statement that made the fate of the opossum clear.

As a wanna-be-vegan, I was appalled.

I know, I know, creatures large and small can be a total nuisance in the yard. The dog barks, the baby is trying to sleep, the neighbor complains. We all know that moment when we, too, could be good with a shovel.

 The opossum tends to get the short end of the stick, however. Their lack of hair and beady eyes don’t help their case. It’s like they are bald mafia rats. They move so slowly. Their mouths are strange and teethy, like a beaky skeleton.  And what’s with the playing dead thing? Shouldn’t an animal be quick and sleek?

You don’t hear the same distaste when it comes to raccoons, who actually are a true nuisance. Instead we tell funny anecdotes about them, how they look straight at you as if they are sizing you up. A raccoon would never play dead! He is too cool to play dead. No, the raccoon is a thug if ever there was one, but we love him for his outrightness, his boldness and his superhero mask.

The truth lies somewhere in between.

The fact is that opossums are not obese rats. Opossums hold a special place as North America’s only marsupial. They eat snails and bugs. On occasion, they eat rodents.

They have been blamed for knocking over trash cans and causing other disturbances in the night, such as eating your chickens. But, it is usually the wily raccoon or another predator that is to blame. By the time your opossum wanders over to catch a few freebies (and who can blame him) the real culprit is gone and the unwitting opossum gets the blame.

Opossums are non-threatening animals, but if you run into one and it hisses and drools, just remember that it is telling you to stay away; it has no real violent tendencies. Rabies is very rare amongst this peaceful group.

To prevent your home and garden from becoming the local opossum party headquarters, it is best to make access to food, such as pet food, trash, compost and fallen fruit, inaccessible to the critters. This way they will have no reason to invade in their slow, zombie-like manner.

If you can handle them wandering about your yard during the evening (they are nocturnal) then just leave them be, they tend to move on and don’t stay in one locale for more than a few days.

*A female opossum is referred to as a Jill. The male is called a Jack.

Winter Chores Workshop

By Terri Sonleitner Law   Master Gardener 

Q: I enjoy spending time out in the yard, but I have to admit I really don’t know a whole lot about gardening.  What things should I be doing now?  Cassandra, San Luis Obispo

There are many garden tasks that can be done over the coming months to make for a better garden with healthier plants next spring. Luckily for us all, the winter months in our area are relatively mild, so this is an important time to get outside, do some clean up and get your yard or garden ready for spring.

Winter garden tasks center around four basic areas: winter watering adjustments, garden care and clean up, vegetable gardening, and tool maintenance.  First off, in our arid climate, it’s important to know how to properly adjust your watering schedule and winterize your irrigation system.

Garden care and clean up includes getting rid of fallen leaves and other garden debris, knowing what should be composted and what needs to be recycled as green waste, winter lawn care, and what types of mulch to use and how to place mulch correctly.  Pruning some perennial landscape plants can be done in the winter, but others must wait for spring.

If you have a vegetable garden, you will want to know which crops you can grow over the winter, and the many things you can do in the garden to make your soil better for next year’s garden.

Lastly, you might also want to know about garden tool maintenance and storage of those tools for the winter.

If all of this seems overwhelming, the University of California Master Gardener educators stand ready to help!  We have many pertinent articles about gardening on our website: http://ucanr.org/sites/mgslo/

The UC Master Gardeners will be giving a free Advice to Grow By workshop on “Winter Chores” on Saturday, November 16th from 10:00AM-12 Noon at the Garden of the Seven Sisters, our demonstration garden. We will meet in the auditorium adjacent to the garden at 2156 Sierra Way in San Luis Obispo.

By Andrea Peck

I graduated high school in the mid-eighties which is probably too much information. But, if the 1980’s music and movie scene had an effect on you, as it did for me during those torpid teenage years, you will know what I mean when I describe love as a joyful, strangulating thing. This era brought a new dimension of electronica which made its focus on love oh, that much more painful and romantic. From Endless Love and Tainted Love to anything by John Hughes, it was clear love was not Easy Like Sunday Morning.

Oddly, I feel the same way about my Muehlenbeckia axillarisplant that I purchased 10 years ago from a local nursery. If you don’t know about this particular plant I will describe it as a small, green-leafed vine. The leaves are dark and shiny and bounce like the curly permanent that I wanted my hair to acquiesce to during the latter end of the 1980’s. This bounce is more in my mind, but I would describe this little plant as a pretty gem that has a quirky feel – perfect for a little fairy garden. If it was a tween in the 80s it probably would have been out all night getting itself into quite a bit of trouble.

I remember buying this plant – it came in a 3” round planter and I just hoped against hope that it would survive my lack of gardening skills. At the time, I wondered if I should buy more than one. It was so adorable, I wanted it everywhere.

Fast forward to 2013 and it is literally, everywhere. In fact, I had become so oblivious to its everywhereness that I did not realize that it had taken over the entire left side of my front yard, and worse still, had started a slow enmeshing of my prized fuchsia. This delicate plant begins with inconsequential appearing limbs, but don’t be deceived; those tiny twiny appendages soon form woody cords that grow underground. Muehlenbeckia is insatiable in its search for connection.

Without proper therapy, my fuchsia would have likely declined to the point of perishing.

Ah, the drama.

Unraveling the overgrown Muehlenbeckia took the better half of a day. Long ribbons were untwisted from throughout the fuchsia plant which now has a chance to stand out in a less codependent style -more befitting 2013.

Beware folks. Beware of what you buy and how much work you intend on doing in your yard. Watch for growth habits that may inhibit other plants and trim appropriately. Give needy plants boundaries in the form of pots. But, most of all, be cautious when it comes to love.

Asian Citrus Psyllid

By Tami Reece   Master Gardener

I heard the bug that is killing citrus trees was found in Tulare County. Is that true?

 Sarah B.  Arroyo Grande

As of October 1, 2013, the Tulare County Agricultural Commissioner reported that two Asian citrus psyllids (ACP) were found in traps in Tulare County. San Luis Obispo County is surrounded by quarantined areas - Santa Barbara County to the south and portions of Kern and Tulare County to the east.

San Luis Obispo County trappers are diligently checking citrus plants for the adults and nymphs of the ACP, but they can also use your help! This not only threatens California’s citrus industry, but also those residents who cherish their backyard citrus trees. The Asian citrus psyllid feeds on the leaves and stems of citrus and also carries the Huanglongbing (HLB), or citrus greening disease, a fatal disease for which there is no cure. Huanglongbing will kill a tree in as little as five years. In addition to citrus, ACP has a long list of host plants including ornamental plants in the Rutaceae family. One of the most common is the orange jasmine. There are insecticides formulated to treat ACP infestation, but not the disease. The insecticide must be used judiciously as it can also harm bees and natural enemies.

With thousands of backyard citrus trees in the county, home gardeners are a very important asset in helping to exclude this pest from our county. The home gardener’s most important task is to inspect their citrus trees and other related plants regularly from spring through fall. Nymphs and adults feed on young flush growth. Adults are 1/8 inch in size, about the size of an aphid with brownish mottled wings. They feed with their heads down and “tails” in the air. Nymphs are tiny and yellowish and excrete white waxy tubules.

Residents can also help by not moving citrus plants or plant material out of quarantined areas. . Doing so only jeopardizes quarantine efforts. Even if you do not see any evidence of infestation or HLB, please do not move material out of a quarantined area.

If you suspect you may have ACP, contact the San Luis Obispo Agriculture Dept. immediately at 805-781-5910, or the CDFA hotline at 800-491-1899. For more information on ACP, visit the UC Davis Pest Notes at www.ipm.ucdavis.edu.