Ongoing research

As the gravity of the COVID-19 pandemic hit communities across the U.S. in mid-March 2020, the policy team at UC Agriculture and Natural Resources' Nutrition Policy Institute received an urgent email from a longtime partner in the San Joaquin Valley.

As the seasons change, I'm excited to plant my fall garden and start my new part-time position as the Environmental Education Coordinator for UCCE San Bernardino County. I'll be working an average of eight hours a week, reporting to Maggie O'Neill, our amazing Master Gardener Coordinator.

Youth EFNEP partnered with the San Bernardino City Unified School Districts' Family Engagement Center to help support their Summer Reading Program. Over 120 Kindergarten through Sixth graders joined the 6 week virtual program via Zoom.

Now is the time for planting cool-season vegetables like broccoli, carrots, and spinach. We are pleased to share new pest management resources for other cool season vegetables including beets, chard, radishes or turnips.

Nutrition Policy Institute senior researcher and policy advisor, Wendi Gosliner, was featured in an article in Western FarmPress about a pilot program for San Diego County CalFresh participants to receive monthly text messages about the benefits of California-grown fruits and vegetables.

Larvae of the western grapeleaf skeletonizer feeding on a grape leaf. (Photo by Surendra Dara) The western grapeleaf skeletonizer (WGLS), Harrisina metallica, is a pest of vineyards in some parts of California.

My sister-in-law Sandy has always grown the best heirloom tomatoes ever. We would go to her house in San Jose and the plants would be 6 feet tall. No kidding! She had tons of them, they tasted so good. She recently moved to Washington State.

For those of you qualified and interested in working for UC Cooperative Extension in one of the most intensive and interesting agricultural regions in the world, the application period is still open for Plant Pathology Farm Advisor for Monterey, Santa Cruz and San Benito counties.

This garden column provides information on home, garden and landscape problems. It was created by Frank Laemmlen Ph.D., Farm Advisor Emeritus in the Santa Barbara County Cooperative Extension Office.

In 2018, the Camp Fire destroyed nearly 19,000 structures in Northern California, including most of the town of Paradise.