Archive Nut, Prune and Olive Programs

By Pat Shay, UC Master Gardener of Merced CountyIt’s the time of the year we’ve all been waiting for, right!? Warmer temps, so we can start planting. Loads of marked up catalogs and seed packets ready for use. A couple of bags of fresh potting soil to start the seeds and pot up starts either from our own…

The Shasta County Fire Safe Council (SFCS) is providing a no-cost chipper service to Shasta County residents to help homeowners in reducing hazardous fuels and improving defensible space within 100 feet around their homes and outbuildings. The chart below has enrollment deadlines for different Shasta County…

Spring has arrived! Along with warmer weather and blooming flowers (and seasonal allergies for some of us!), you may have also noticed more insects and spiders roaming your home. If these unwanted houseguests have you thinking about cleaning and clearing up some clutter, join the UC IPM Urban & Community…

Weather forecasters are predicting a gradual shift beginning this month of the La Niña weather pattern in the Pacific Ocean to an El Niño pattern, with warmer temperatures and little if no rainfall in the Central Valley for most of 2026.  We may well have already received all of the rainfall for this…

If you are noticing droopy, dried-out flower clusters on your pears, Asian pears, quince, apples or crabapples, fire blight may be the cause. Fire blight is caused by a bacterium and is a common and frequently destructive disease that usually shows up in April and May, but during dry spell, it may appear in…

 April fertilizing and deadheading After your roses have completed their first bloom, it will be time to deadhead and feed them. You should get a nice second bloom about six weeks after fertilizing. Remember, deadheading is not the same as pruning. There are two steps to deadheading. When the…

Summer Cortez, Ben Baldi, Lauren Hale, Carrie Brown and Evan Talmage joined UC ANR or took new positions within UC ANR recently.

 "The little things run the world," mused entomologist, biologist, naturalist and ecologist E. O. Wilson (1929-2023).He was referring to "the disproportionate role that they and other invertebrates play in food webs, ecosystem services, and generating and maintaining biological diversity," according to…