UC Master Gardeners of Inyo and Mono Counties

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Article

Dormant Spraying Made Easy

January 27th, 2025

As the weather warms a little, but before buds break and begin to show any color is a good time to dormant spray fruit trees. Why spray? Many pests overwinter either as adults or eggs in crevasses in bark, under scales of buds, in mulch or fallen leaves under the trees.

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Local Fruit Information

January 23rd, 2025

By Dustin W Blakey

Although it's cold out and our fruit trees, bushes, and canes are still dormant, you can still dream about warmer conditions to come! Dreaming then often evolves into the desire to plant fruits in the landscape.

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A chart of numbers generated from the CIMIS website showing ET data

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It's Been So Dry: Do I Need To Water?

January 14th, 2025

By Dustin W Blakey

Owens Valley has had a dry winter so far. December brought no rain, and by mid-January, we've seen about 5 inches of evapotranspiration (ETo) since November but less than an inch of rain.

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A wooden shipping pallet. (Photo: A. Collin)

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Picking Pallets for Raised Beds

August 19th, 2024

Raised bed gardening has become increasingly popular among gardeners who seek more control over their growing environments. It can offer an alternative way to garden especially in some of our areas where native soil just isn't great to grow things.

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The reverse side of a cucumber leave covered in aphids and their excretions.

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2024: A Year of Disease and Pestilence

August 12th, 2024

This year I was determined to create the model garden that I have long dreamed about, but those dreams of neat, weed-free rows of vegetables, trees hanging with fruit, and armfuls of flowers are far from being fulfilled.

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A patch of former lawn, mostly dead, with a few green weeds and Bermudagrass

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Lawn-pocalypse! Surviving Drought

July 11th, 2024

Ah, summer! The season of sunburns, pool parties, and lawn droughts. If your once lush, green carpet now looks like a crunchy brown doormat, you're not alone.

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A hand turning the adjuster on an operating flood bubbler

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Let's Talk About Flood Bubblers

July 1st, 2024

By Dustin W Blakey

I know you've seen them. Little caps on the end of vertical irrigation pipe that can be adjusted to control flow with a twist (or screwdriver). They are called flood bubblers and are used widely in the Eastern Sierra to deliver water to woody plants outside of a lawn sprinkler system.

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A small, white grub being held in a gloved hand.

Article

Understanding Chafer Beetles From Root to Ruin

May 22nd, 2024

I was dealing with a gopher problem in a lawn awhile back and I came across another turfgrass pest that you may or may not be familiar with; a chafer beetle. These white grubs are the immature larval form of a chafer beetle. Here in California we deal mainly with the masked chafer (Cyclocephala spp.

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2 parallel drip irrigation lines running top to bottom on both sides of a vegetable seedling

Article

Flow Focus: Irrigation Friction Loss

May 20th, 2024

I recently helped one of our local student gardens install a drip irrigation system in some raised beds. During the installation, I had to explain why we were using tubing for most of our system instead of .

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A hand-pump sprayer with the handle extended and spray nozzle resting against the tank, surrounded by lawn.

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Mixing Matters: Maximizing Herbicide Potential

May 20th, 2024

I was talking with a friend the other day about weed control. He had bought a jug of herbicide concentrate and planned to apply it to his weeds undiluted.

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Garden Rotation Rules of Thumb

May 18th, 2024

By Dustin W Blakey

Vegetable gardening is both an art and a science, and an important technique for success is crop rotation. By rotating crops, you can improve soil health, reduce pests, and increase yields. Continuous planting of the same kind of plant in the same place every year is a recipe for creating problems.

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A fun, Easter decorated landscape with a lawn in front of a house.

Article

A History of the American Lawn

May 14th, 2024

Most of us grew up with a lawn. For many of us, mowing the lawn was a part of our weekly chores growing up; yellow spots were treated like a black mark, and a dandelion popping up was like a declaration of war.

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A dial gauge showing water usage of 2,422,880 gallons.

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Flow Focus: A Guide to Understanding Water Meters

May 3rd, 2024

Water is essential for nurturing vibrant gardens and landscapes. By leveraging water meters, we can effectively monitor water usage, detect leaks, and optimize irrigation practices, ensuring every drop contributes to the sustainability and vitality of our gardens.

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Amsonia: A Favorite with Pollinators

April 29th, 2024

Amsonia, a plant native to the Northeastern USA, seems to be little known in the West. They are commonly known as bluestars on account of the shape and color of their flowers.

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Sterilize Your Seed-Starting Soil

March 23rd, 2024

Are you getting ready to start some seeds for your spring and summer gardens? Maybe you have some seed starting mix leftover from previous years.

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Add Color to Your Garden with These Low Growing Plants

October 11th, 2023

When planning a low-water use garden it is sometimes desirable to use low growing plants either as foreground features or to fill spaces between taller plants such as sages, gaura and agastaches.

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A picture of a mature annual bursage. Photo: Steve Matson CC-BY-NC 4.0

Article

The Sneezing Season

September 5th, 2023

By Dustin W Blakey

Like many of you, I have been a walking sneeze these past couple weeks.

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The Grapevine Sphinx Moth: A Guest, Not a Pest!

August 18th, 2023

The cooler weather lately had me performing overdue maintenance in my garden. Cutting back some flowers on a perennial arugula plant the other night, I came across this stunning moth.

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Now What's the Problem with My Pear?

July 14th, 2023

As winter turned into spring and the 'Bartlett' pear tree flowered and leafed out, I celebrated my great gardening success.

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Shrubby Cinquefoil: A Plant at Home in High Elevation Gardens

July 10th, 2023

If you want an easy care, hardy addition to your garden, then shrubby cinquefoil is great to consider. It's a tough garden plant that keeps producing its carefree flowers all summer long.

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People standing around a raised garden bed watching a volunteer erect a winter cover over it.

Gardening on the east side is challenging, but the UC Master Gardeners of Inyo and Mono counties are here to help make your garden successful.

This site contains local information of interest to gardeners in our region. There are hundreds of books and other websites that can provide general horticultural knowledge. Two we like are California Garden Web and the UC IPM Program.

Our online gardening content is located in the Eastern Sierra Gardening section.

If you're interested in learning more about gardening in our area, consider attending one of our workshops or becoming a Master Gardener volunteer yourself!