Posts Tagged: Janet Hartin

Desert dwellers getting used to dry landscaping

More and more, lush green golf courses and residential lawns in desert communities are giving way to swaths of sand, gravel and flowering bushes that use much less water, reported Rosalie Murphy in the Desert Sun.

"I don't think anybody realized how attractive it could be," said Stu Stryker, president of the homeowners association board.

Janet Hartin, UC Agriculture and Natural Resources Cooperative Extension advisor, said people in the Coachella Valley are getting used to the look of desert landscaping.

"A lot of people move here from Ohio, from Minnesota, from Florida, and they love the traditional green look … and they want to bring that image to the desert," Hartin said. "They're a harder sell. They'll walk through this park and think it's beautiful, but it doesn't look like home."

With good education and “a peek at some of their (rising) water bills,” she thinks most people will at least cut back on turf.

"This drought is one of the worst in modern history. We don't know whether it will continue or not — Mother Nature will let us know — but we have to assume it will," Hartin said.

Recent state water conservation mandates give additional incentive to replace turfgrass with rock, sand or gravel. Four of the Coachella Valley's five water agencies will be required by the state to shave off 36 percent of their 2013 water usage.

The Desert Sun also posted an article under Hartin's byline titled Ten ways to conserve water in your landscape. The article is accompanied by a video featuring Hartin describing many of her water conservation tips.

Drought puts a damper on autumn

The calendar says fall, but California's mild climate isn't the only thing that's confusing the seasons. An expert with the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California says the lack of rainfall, declining groundwater levels and irrigation cutbacks due to the drought are causing some trees to drop leaves early, reported Jan Sears in the Riverside Press Enterprise.

"If you live on a street with sycamores or maples, you usually get a little treat in the fall when they turn colors," Bill Patzert said. "This year, you have already been raking their leaves."

Patzert believes the fall may be colorless in Southern California this year, but Louis Santiago, professor of botany and plant sciences at UC Riverside, said he's not too worried about that.

“A lot of the trees we see turn colors are urban trees, and they tend to be irrigated so the drought has less of an effect on them,” Santiago said. “I wouldn't say we're going to have a terrible fall.”

For the story, UC Cooperative Extension advisor Janet Hartin provided a primer on fall colors.

When nighttime temperatures drop, leaves stop creating chlorophyll. In spring and summer, the green of chlorophyll covers up the yellow, orange and brown hues produced by carotenoids. When chlorophyll disappears, bright sunshine promotes the production of anthocyanins, which create red and orange colors.

“So in reality, foliage doesn't ‘turn' orange or red at all,” Hartin said. “Carotenoids and anthocyanins are always in the leaves; they are simply unmasked once the active growing season is finished.”

It's been a tough year for gardeners, but don't despair

When Los Angeles Times columnist Sandy Banks shared her disappointment with her summer garden, she got words of encouragement straight from Missy Gable, the director of the UC's Statewide Master Gardener Program. Gable commiserated with Banks, saying her own homegrown tomatoes wound up with blossom end rot because of irrigation difficulties this year.

"I had the same experience that most people did," Gable said.

Banks began the 2014 summer gardening season like most home gardeners, full of hope and enthusiasm. But as fall approached she found herself with "a few spindly stalks of okra, a tangle of barren melon vines and a pepper plant loaded with misshapen pods."

Gable and another UC Cooperative Extension advisor, Janet Hartin, chalked up this year's garden frustrations in part to the state of California's water woes.

"A lot of people are calling and want to rip out their whole garden and just put in native plants," Hartin told the columnist.

But she and Gable assured the writer that vegetables are well worth the water it takes to grow them.

"... By growing fruits and vegetables, you're decreasing your carbon footprint," Gable said. "You're not using pesticides, not making trips to the grocery store.... The environmental and health benefits of home gardens are lasting and important."

Gable offered some suggestions to improve the chances for success:

• Add compost to the soil to provide nutrients and increase water-holding capacity
• Switch to water-conserving drip irrigation
• Insulate the soil surface with a thick layer of mulch
• Make careful planting decisions

"(Gable) steered me to a bevy of experts who take questions by email and phone through the University of California's Cooperative Extension Master Gardener program. I've bookmarked local planting guides and advice online at http://www.ucanr.edu," Banks wrote.

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