Winter 2025
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Detaining the Rain
by Lori Palmquist
How much of the rain that falls on your property is “just passing through?” Does it hit the roof, driveway, walkways, and other impermeable surfaces, flowing directly into the gutter storm drains and onward into the bay or the delta? Allowing this “liquid gold” to just flow away and not reap its benefits is like being offered a buffet meal and not putting anything on your plate.
This article is the third of a three-part series of articles. The goal is to convince you that enough rain falls in Contra Costa County to sustain your landscape either well into the dry season, or all the way through it, depending on where you live in the county and how much water your landscape requires.
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Creating a Winter Habitat for Wildlife by Providing Food and Shelter
by Robin Mitchell
Winter in Contra Costa County tends to be mild, but it is still important to think about supporting wildlife in our urban and suburban gardens during this season.
The term “wildlife” can have different meanings, in the context of this article however, it refers to birds, bees, butterflies, reptiles, amphibians, insects, but not necessarily mammals, especially those that are considered pests. Mammals, such as squirrels, mice, rats, deer, and raccoons, thrive in our urban environments because their populations aren’t naturally controlled by their predators. Creating a habitat for that wildlife is generally not advisable as it can disrupt our gardens and communities.
With that context in mind, the primary habitat needs for winter wildlife are shelter and food.
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Protecting Our Local Oaks
by David George
The native oak trees that grace our Contra Costa County gardens face constant threats from habitat loss, imported diseases, nasty pests, and the effects of climate change. These threats destroy thousands of local oaks each year.
However, we can all play a vital role in protecting these magnificent trees from destruction and ensuring they thrive in our region for generations to come.
We are fortunate to have five local varieties of oak because of our varied Contra Costa microclimates. Each of these five varieties has distinct needs.
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What are Our Perennials Doing in Winter?
by Cynthia Engers
It’s clear that with the sun low in the sky, shorter days, and cooler temperatures, plant growth has slowed, almost to a stop. Most of the plants are going dormant and will be in full dormancy by January.
What is going on? We know they’re not dead, but is anything happening below the soil, if not above it?
Dormancy, which in our area can also occur in summer, is a means for plants to withstand unfavorable conditions, such as drought or cold. The plants enter a period of minimal activity – most of which happens underground.
Preparation for dormancy starts well before winter arrives. When the average temperature falls and the sun moves lower in the sky, hormones such as abscisic acid trigger a slowing of photosynthesis and respiration. Plant enzymes that drive metabolism work poorly in cooler temperatures and growth stops.
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Messy is Good for the Planet
by Pamela Austin
"Every leaf speaks bliss to me, fluttering from the autumn tree." - Emily Brontë
Good news! Skipping your garden clean-up and leaving your garden “messy” can have remarkable benefits for insects, birds, and plants in your garden. Instead of reaching for the rake and blower, consider leaving the leaves.
The leaves that drop in the fall are an asset to your garden, they are helpful to insects, pollinators, invertebrates, microorganisms, and the soil.
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Winter at 'Our Garden'
by Joie Spinelli
The demonstration garden 'Our Garden' in Walnut Creek started the new year with much quieter Wednesdays. Yet each day the garden glistens in winter’s welcoming arms, whispering in the silent chill of the vibrant, rich beds filled with cabbage, kale, broccoli, and chard, while other beds have been enriched with cover crops.
We continue our weekly harvest, providing a generous bounty to the homes that partner with Monument Crisis Center. In recent years, the produce donation from 'Our Garden' averaged nearly 15,000 pounds.
Throughout each year we have perfected each season at 'Our Garden' with more composting-in-place; shredding the material when we can, and spreading it back on the bed, or hand cutting-in-place; covering it with compost and adding either a blanket of straw or burlap bags to maintain a more ambient controlled environment.
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Growing Microgreens
by David George
As winter settles in, many UC Contra Costa County Master Gardener volunteers tend to their INDOOR veggies and one of the hottest trends in indoor food production right now is growing “Microgreens”.
These plants only require water, indirect sun, a flat container, and 2-4 weeks of growing time before harvest. Best of all, they are inexpensive to cultivate and packed with flavor.
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Landscaping for Fire Safety in Zone 2
by Pam Schroeder and Robin Harper
Zone 2, also called the Reduced Fuel zone, covers the outermost area of your property and represents the furthest reach of your responsibility. It is defined as 30-100 feet out from the buildings, structures, and decks of your home or up to your property line.
The goal is to reduce the fuel load (anything flammable) in this zone to slow down or stop the approach of a potential fire before it ever gets to your home. Fuel is anything that will burn including dead vegetation, downed branches, overgrown areas, low-hanging trees, flammable plants, furniture and wooden fencing.
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Gardening Odds & Ends
Bermuda buttercup (Oxalis pes-caprae) has become a tenacious and frustrating weed throughout California. From November through April, bright yellow flowers on leafless stalks and green shamrock-like leaves pop up in many of our landscapes. While it was brought from South Africa as an ornamental plant, it escaped cultivation on its route to being a chronic nuisance. It competes with other plants and is very difficult to control. In contrast, it is a rare and endangered plant in its home range.
Bermuda buttercup develops from underground bulbs that produce a single vertical stem. A loose rosette of leaves will appear at soil level after the first rain. Small, whitish bulblets develop on the stem, and new bulbs form underground. Each plant can produce about a dozen small bulbs each year that easily detach from the plant and will increase the plant’s spread quickly.
Read more on Bermuda Buttercup or other articles available on our Blog articles Check the top FAQs provided by our Help Desk and here is your Checklist of Winter Gardening and Landscape Tasks
