Tomato Extravaganza

By Ann Dozier

It’s high summer and how are your tomatoes doing?  Wish you’d known
which varieties give best results locally? Did you plant the best tasting varieties?

Come, taste and find out.  At their annual Tomato Extravaganza, Master Gardeners are celebrating the luscious red (or maybe striped or purple) tomato, queen of summer’s bounty.  Saturday, August 20, all things tomato will be the focus at the Seven Sisters demonstration garden at
View Larger Map">2156 Sierra Way in San Luis Obispo.

At this free “edible festival” you can taste ripe home-grown tomatoes and vote for your favorite.  Basil is a perfect companion for tomatoes – and several varieties (Thai, cinnamon, purple, etc.) will also be part of the tasting. 

As well as tastings, local experts will be offering mini-seminars. You can learn to cook up a great tomato dish or make flavorful vinegars for gifts.  Find out how to graft tomatoes or maybe find out what ate your plants this year!

Seminar Program:

10-11 AM Learn to Grow Your Own Gazpacho
A cooking demo with Joe Thomas of Thomas Hill Organics

11:15-11:45 Tomato Grafting- find out about the 'Mighty Mato'
with the California Rare Fruit Growers  

Noon-12:30 The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly
Integrated Pest Management of Insects in the Garden

12:30-1 PM Flavored Wine Vinegar and growing grapes

Worm Bins will be available all day! $98- Includes the full kit with instruction booklet, education table set up all day to help you get one set up, and red wigglers!  We recommend reserving one now by clicking here.

If all this has worked up your appetite, you may want to purchase some tomato-based treats cooked up for the occasion by local chef Rochelle Harringer.  Children who attend will have fun making tomato heads to take home.  To find the Tomato Extravanza Poster, scroll to the bottom of this post and click on the underlined attachment.

Got a Gardening Question?
Contact the University of California Cooperative Extension Master Gardeners: at 781-5939 from 1 to 5 p.m. on Monday and Thursday; at 473-7190 from 10 a.m. to noon in Arroyo Grande; and at 434-4105 from 9 a.m. to noon on Wednesday in Templeton. Visit the UCCE Master Gardeners Web site at groups.ucanr.org/slomg/ or e-mail mgsanluisobispo@ucdavis.edu

On March 19, 2011, Mark Gaskell, UCCE Farm Advisor, led  a blueberry workshop at the UCCE Auditorium, our back up location on a rainy day for the Garden of the Seven Sisters.

Photo by Brenda Dawson, UC Davis

Here are some helpful links to more information about growing blueberries:

Mark Gaskell has all of his information for small farm blueberry production  here.

If that link didn't work, his page can always be found at:  http://cesantabarbara.ucdavis.edu

Check out the UC ANR general information for backyard gardening of berries here.

Thank you Mark!

November Chores in the Garden
By Ann Dozier

Q.  I’d like to grow some winter vegetables.  Is there anything I can plant now?
Jeanne Hyduchak, San Luis Obispo

A.  Yes, you can still enjoy home-grown crops by planting vegetables that like cooler temperatures.  Seeds of beets, carrots, chard, onion, peas, radishes and turnips can be sown in many areas.  Garlic may also be planted.  Cabbage, broccoli, beets and cauliflower may need a head start to get established before winter – Instead of seeds, buy small plants of these vegetables.  As always, gardeners need to be aware of their micro-climate; if frosts are early and severe in your area, tender vegetables may not succeed. In coastal areas, it’s still possible to plant salad crops: lettuce, mesclun and arugula are good choices.
If you should decide not to plant vegetables in your plot this winter, consider planting a cover crop of clover, Fava bean, rye or vetch to enrich your bed for next season’s vegetables. (Large Fava beans are a delicious spring treat.)
November is also a good time for planting of biennials such as hollyhocks and Canterbury bells.  In milder areas you can continue to divide daylilies, agapanthus, and iris.  As the weather cools plant spring blooming bulbs – narcissus of all kinds are good for spring color and will naturalize in many areas.  Tulip and hyacinth bulbs purchased now should go in the refrigerator for six weeks before planting.
In cooler areas begin to clean up for winter: rake leaves, dispose of garden debris and pull out annuals and vegetables that have finished their lives (disease-free plants can go in your compost bin). Finish your winter preparations by making sure the garden is well mulched.  A good layer of mulch will keep down weeds and make them easier to pull when they do show their heads.  It will also retain moisture if this is a dry winter, or help control erosion if big storms arrive.

Got a Gardening Question?
Contact the University of California Cooperative Extension Master Gardeners: at 781-5939 from 1 to 5 p.m. on Monday and Thursday; at 473-7190 from 10 a.m. to noon in Arroyo Grande; and at 434-4105 from 9 a.m. to noon on Wednesday in Templeton.

 

Winter Vegetables

By Maggie King- Master Gardener

There are many reasons to love living on the Central Coast.  High among them is our mild winter weather. While gardeners in most parts of the country are putting down their trowels and picking up their snow shovels, we are able to grow vegetables all year round if we take in to account the particular needs of various plants.

While leaf vegetables like lettuce, spinach and chard may bolt and go to seed in hot summer weather, they grow happily and produce well throughout the cooler months of winter.  Other stars of the winter garden are the root vegetables- beets, carrots and radishes, for example, as well as cole crops- broccoli, cauliflower and Brussels sprouts, which do best when temperatures are cool.

English, snap and sugar peas like cool weather and stop producing pods when it heats up.   These legumes have the ability to fix atmospheric nitrogen into the soil, improving it for the coming season.

 Onions, garlic and leeks can be added to the garden at this time, as well as culinary herbs.

Many seeds can be planted directly into the soil throughout the winter months, while others do best if planted from seedlings.  It is important to follow instructions regarding timing of planting.

When preparing for a winter garden, amend the soil well.   Most cool season vegetables like to be well-watered, but hopefully seasonal rains will help out.

Some of us are April to September gardeners, seeing the Fall and Winter months as time to stay indoors, read, and make soup.  For those in this category, I urge you to venture outside at least long enough to plant a cover crop.  Clover, vetch have nitrogen fixing ability as well as providing organic matter to the soil.  Fava beans are an especially rewarding cover crop, as they provide a tasty early spring harvest.

A few  weeks before planting the spring garden these plants should be cut down and tilled into the soil.

For more information on planning for the cool weather season, call the Master Gardeners.
Join the the UC Master Gardeners for a Fall Gardening Workshop!
"Nurturing the Soil" 
Saturday, October 16th, 10am - noon. 
2156 Sierra Way, San Luis Obispo