Ongoing research

The month of May is Garden for Wildlife month. Due to factors such as loss of habitat, pesticides exposure, and climate change, much of wildlife is being challenged today. There are many ways home gardeners can directly help birds, bees, butterflies, and other local wildlife.

Today the day's sunshine is close to its maximum, it's solstice time. When the sun is directly over the Tropic of Cancer 23.5 degrees north latitude, the axis of the earth is tilted to its maximum so the northern hemisphere gets its maximum number of daylight hours.

by Melody Kendall The last two weeks we featured information on the most common invertebrate garden pests in our area. If this information caused you some concern, the Good Guys are ready to rush to the rescue.

From the Alfalfa & Forage News blog (April 29, 2022) Vetch (Vicia spp.) is growing like a weed everywhere this year, carpeting our hills with great swaths of purple flowers. What is vetch? There are several species that are commonly grown as crops, cover crops or weeds (see list at the bottom).

It's World Bee Day! How did that come about? One word: Slovenia. The Republic of Slovenia, rich in beekeeping history, asked the United Nations to proclaim an annual World Bee Day, and following a three-year international effort, the United Nations agreed to do so in December 2017.

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We are pleased to let you know that the UC system, including UC ANR, is implementing a 4.5 percent salary increase program for all eligible policy-covered staff and academics, effective July 1, 2022.

Turnout was high at the Livestock Pass training this past Tuesday. Thanks to all who attended. A common question regarding the training was if another training would be offered. Another in-person training will not be offered, however, Kern County Fire Department has approved an online course.

Can we improve our soil and manage insect pests with techniques that slow and maybe even ultimately reverse the human damage to natural resources? Practices that started innocently enough to improve and simplify food production have turned into a huge problem.

In this issue: Troubleshooting Dry Matter Results Want Alternative Manure Management Information?