- Author: Chris M. Webb
UC Farm Advisor Oleg Daugovish will hold an Irrigation field day Thursday, April 19 from 9:00 am to 11:15 am.
Scheduled topics include:
- Update on conditional waiver and requirements for irrigated lands in Ventura County
- Evaluation of three differing irrigation regimes in California strawberry
- Salts and soil analyses in strawberry beds under different irrigation regimes
- Soil test results interpretation and corrective management
- View experiment plots onsite
VCALIG educational credits have been requested from the Los Angeles Regional Water Quality Control Board.
There is no cost to attend. If you have questions, require translation into Spanish, or to register please contact Oleg Daugovish at 805.645.1454 or odaguovish@ucdavis.edu. More information can be found on the agenda.
In the event of rain, the meeting will be held at the UCCE Conference Room located at 669 County Square Drive in Ventura.
- Author: Chris M. Webb
Our UCCE Master Gardeners have several education opportunities scheduled throughout the county. Most classes are offered at no cost. All classes require registration.
There will be a series of free classes held Wednesday evenings at the Camarillo Library from 6:30 to 8:00 pm.
- April 4, Growing Vegetables in the Garden
- April 11, Steps to Sustainable Yard & Garden
- April 18, All About Tomatoes
- April 25, Seed Collection
At the ARC-Ojai Enrichment Center you can learn about The Science of Soil on Saturday, April 14 from 9:00 to 11:00 am. There is no cost to attend this event.
On Saturday May 19 from 8:15 to noon, join UCCE Master Gardeners at the beautiful UC Hansen Agricultural Center. Scheduled topics are “Growing Terrific Orchids” and “All About Succulents". There is a $25.00 fee to attend this Home Garden Workshop.
The Simi Valley Senior Center will hold a series of free gardening classes. (You do not have to be a senior to attend.) Classes will be held on Tuesdays from 1:30 to 3:30 pm.
- May 1, Introduction to Gardening
- May 8, California Natives & Waterwise Gardening
- May 15, Mysteries of Gardening
- May 22, Tomatoes
- May 29, Container Gardening
- June 5, All About Roses
- June 12, All About Citrus
The Goebel Senior Center in Thousand Oaks will hold a free All About Roses class on Saturday, June 23 from 9:30 to 11:30 am. (You do not have to be a senior to attend.)
Please remember all education events, regardless of cost, require registration. Registration is easy and can be completed by following the link for each class. Space is limited, so please register early!
- Author: Chris M. Webb
On the morning of Tuesday, April 3 Oleg Daugovish will hold a fumigant alternatives and soil-borne pathogens field day. This event will be simultaneously translated into Spanish.
Scheduled topics include:
- Regulatory update on soil fumigation
- Alternative fumigants research update
- Soil borne pathogens Macrophomina and Fusarium: biology and management in strawberry
- Advances in steam application technology for soil disinfestation
- Update on Anaerobic Soil Disinfestation studies
- Research update from the California Strawberry Commission
- In-progress results from experiment on display
- View the plots with fumigant alternative treatments
Continuing education credits have been approved from DPR (Department of Pesticide Regulation).
Lunch and refreshments will be provided. Additional details can be found on the agenda.
To insure your participation, or if you have questions, please contact Oleg Daugovish at (805) 645-1454 or odaugovish@ucdavis.edu.
- Author: Chris M. Webb
The joint meeting of the 58th Annual Conference on Soilborne Plant Pathogens (formerly Soil Fungus Conference) and the 44th Annual California Nematology Workgroup will be held March 20-22, 2012 in San Marino, California at the Huntington Botanical Gardens.
The focus of this year’s symposium will be Ornamental and Landscape Pathology. Speakers will be Akif Eskalen and Antoon Ploeg, University of California, Riverside; and Jim Downer, UC Cooperative Extension, Ventura County.
To learn more about the conference, please visit their website. Two student scholarships are available.
- Author: Chris M. Webb
The 2011 UC Master Gardener Vegetable Demonstration Garden Project has recently finished. A group of certified Master Gardeners and trainees spent time each week from January 27 through December 15 learning vegetable gardening techniques through hands-on experience.
They documented their project so that they could impart lessons learned throughout the2011 project. This article is the third in a series to share this knowledge.
Soil preparation:
Healthy soil is key for healthy plants. Preparing soil before planting can improve nutrients available for uptake and water holding capacity.
- The moisture content of the soil is critical when tilling. The soil should not be too wet or too dry. Irrigation lines should be removed several days before tilling.
- When transporting compost in a pickup truck, make sure you have a tarp and the necessary tie down lines to adequately cover the pile. Otherwise, compost will be lost during transit.
- Make sure you have and use protective equipment when using tilling machinery (e.g., ear plugs, solid shoes and safety glasses)
- Tilling can create an interface between the soft tilled soil and the hard soil below. This interface can be a barrier to roots and water flow. To minimize this, double dig or loosen the soil below the tilling depth.
- It is easy for a tiller to lunge forward. Remove any items from the area that could get caught in the tines during tilling (e.g., irrigation lines)
- Extensive vegetative growth was observed on many of our plants. This could be because the soil was amended with copious amounts of compost. A soil test can be used to determine what level of nutrients are in the soil (make link to soil test kit blog post). If needed, phosphorous can be added to encourage more flower and fruit formation. Mulching with compost might be a better option than rototilling the compost into the soil because the nutrients will be released in a more controlled fashion.
- If peat moss and vermiculite are added to the soil and then tilled in, the tiller will go much deeper than it would otherwise. Care is needed to avoid overloading and stalling out the tiller.
Questions on gardening? Please contact our Master Gardener helpline at 645-1455 or contact them by email at mgventura@ucdavis.edu.