Posts Tagged: home garden
Resources for Homeowner Garden Design
Advice From the Help Desk of the UC Master Gardeners of Contra Costa County
Does Master Gardeners do home visits? If yes, what is the fee? How and who shall I contact to get an appointment to have a trained Master Gardener visit my home so I can get equipped with good advice? Thank you again for all your help. I hope to hear from you soon.
MGCC's Help Desk Response: Congratulations on your new home. Starting a new garden is exciting, but it can definitely be a daunting undertaking. Unfortunately, the UC Master Gardeners do not perform home visits and cannot recommend any particular landscape design, construction or maintenance company. However, the following organizations, listed in alphabetical order, provide references to these professionals. This list is neither comprehensive nor all-inclusive, and no endorsement of any business or professional is intended.
- American Society of Landscape Architects (ASLA) is the national professional association for landscape architects. Landscape architects typically hold a degree in landscape architecture, covering a broad range including design, planning, grading and drainage, construction, and horticulture. Each state requires a landscape architect to earn a license to practice. The ASLA website maintains a searchable list of members as well as photos of award-winning residential projects. http://www.asla.org/ISGWeb.aspx?loadURL=firfin and http://www.asla.org/homeandgardentips.aspx.
- Association of Professional Landscape Designers (APLD) is a 25-year-old organization established as a peer reviewed certification program based on built projects. The organization also encourages all members to adhere to a code of professional standards, to actively participate in continuing education, and to be current with state-of-the-art developments and trends throughout the field. Their website has a search function that will help you find a local designer. https://www.apld.org/
- Bay Friendly Landscaping and Gardening Coalition is a San Francisco Bay Area nonprofit organization that promotes sustainable landscaping. Qualified landscape professionals must complete a comprehensive training program and use sustainable practices. http://www.bayfriendlycoalition.org/BFTQP.shtml (information on their qualification program) and http://www.bayfriendlycoalition.org/QPdirectory.php ( an online directory of Bay-Friendly Qualified Professionals).
- Bringing Back the Natives Garden Tour is a local (Alameda & Contra Costa Counties) organization that seeks to educate and encourage the use of California native plants in home gardens. The organization provides contact information for those landscape professionals whose gardens have been featured in the tours. http://www.bringingbackthenatives.net/find-a-designer (contact information and links to photos of gardens created by each designer).
- California Landscape Contractors Association (CLCA) is a non-profit trade organization of licensed landscape and landscape-related contractors and professionals http://clca.org/consumers/consumers_home.php and http://member-clca.org/max/4DCGI/directory/contractor/index.html (directory of members).
- Qualified Water Efficient Landscaper (QWEL) graduates have been trained in water-wise landscape practices including plant selection, irrigation system design and water management. QWEL maintains an online list of certified professionals in the East Bay. While the website lists all professionals under the category of non-residential, many perform residential services. http://www.qwel.net/ and http://www.qwel.net/graduates/east%20bay/ (list of certified professionals).
Before contacting a design consultant, you may want to familiarize yourself with some of the basics of designing a new garden. The UC Master Gardeners of Contra Costa article “Designing with Drought Tolerant Plants” http://ccmg.ucanr.edu/files/221114.pdf provides a good summary of the many variables.
If you need help selecting plants, there are a number of very useful online databases. A few of my favorites are:
- The UC Davis All-Stars are 100 plants selected by the UC Davis horticultural staff, mainly for inland California (most of Contra Costa qualifies) for their toughness, reliability, ease of growth, low water requirements, and few problems with pests or diseases. The following web link allows you to search the All-Stars for plants that may be of interest to you: http://arboretum.ucdavis.edu/plant_search.aspx.
- The Contra Costa Water District website provides access to an extensive database of native and non-native plants for Central Contra Costa County. The link http://www.contracosta.watersavingplants.com/search.php allows you to go on a guided tour through the database.
- Calscape is a collaboration between the California Native Plant Society (CNPS) and the UC Berkeley Jepsom Herbarium and contains California native plants only. The Calscape website http://www.calscape.cnps.org emphasizes the selection of natives local to your area.
There are also some excellent books that can help you in your research. All of those listed below should be available from the county library.
- The New Sunset Western Garden Book: The Ultimate Gardening Guide
- Plants and Landscapes for Summer-Dry Climates of the San Francisco Bay Region. The pictures from the book are also available on-line at http://summer-dry.com/search/
- Landscape Plants for California Gardens: An Illustrated Reference of Plants for California Landscapes, by Bob Perry.
Good luck with your new landscaping. Please let us know if you have further questions or would like additional information.
Help Desk of the UC Master Gardeners of Contra Costa County (MPL)
Note: The UC Master Gardeners of Contra Costa's Help Desk is available year-round to answer your gardening questions. Except for a few holidays, we're open every week, Monday through Thursday for walk-ins from 9:00 am to Noon at 75 Santa Barbara Road, 2d Floor, Pleasant Hill, CA 94523. We can also be reached via telephone: (925) 646-6586, email: ccmg@ucanr.edu, or on the web at http://ccmg.ucanr.edu/Ask_Us/ MGCC Blogs can be found at http://ccmg.ucanr.edu/HortCoCo/ You can also subscribe to the Blog (//ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/blogroll.cfm).
Irrigating Avocados in the Home Garden
Mature avocados may be a big tree, but they have very shallow roots. The bulk of them are in the top 8 inches of soil. The tree therefore does not have access to a large volume of stored water. As opposed to a deep rooted walnut, they need frequent, small amounts of water. A young tree in the summer might need multiple applications per week, but because the root system is small, each application may only be 5-20 gallons. An older tree with its wider rooting pattern may go a week to a month between irrigations depending on the weather and rainfall. Proper irrigation is the best way to keep the avocado from getting root rot. Both over and under irrigation can induce the conditions for root rot, although over irrigation is more common. And remember, it is not just the amount applied at an irrigation, but the timing that is important, as well. Because you are managing such a shallow root system, just poking your finger into the root system will tell you if there is adequate moisture there before you irrigate again.
avocado fruits
Master Gardeners Help Los Angeles County Residents Grow their own Food
Cooperative Extension has a wonderful resource that I’d like people to be more aware of: our amazing Master Gardener Volunteers. We have more than 200 MG volunteers, as we call them.
The Master Gardener Program officially began in 1978. We maintained the program on and off over the years, depending on staffing and interest. By the early 1990s, however, our program in Los Angeles County was inactive. That is, until Yvonne Savio, coordinator extraordinaire joined our staff in 1995 and immediately restarted the program. It’s been going strong ever since.
Master Gardeners participate in extensive training then volunteer with us in a variety of ways, mostly focused on improving food access in low-income communities. Last year our Master Gardeners reached more than 87,000 people in Los Angeles County, working with community gardens, school gardens and answering calls on our Master Gardener Helpline.
The Helpline is a free service for Los Angeles County residents. Anyone can call or email the Helpline with their home gardening questions. The Master Gardener Helpline is available by phone at (323) 260-3238 or email at mglosangeleshelpline@ucdavis.edu.
Yvonne and the Master Gardeners have been featured in the media twice in the past week. The Los Angeles Times ran a story on Victory Gardens on January 10th, and included a mention of how our Master Gardeners have helped to promote food gardening around Los Angeles. The Times article discussed how interest in gardening is cyclical, and that when economic times are difficult, more people garden. For example, the article mentions that a major seed company experienced a 40% increase in its sale of vegetable and herb seeds in 2007. You can view the story at www.latimes.com/features/home/la-hm-victory10-2009jan10,0,7167635.story
Our Master Gardener program was also featured on Evan Kleiman’s “Good Food” Show on KCRW on January 10th. You can listen to the interview with Yvonne at www.kcrw.com/etc/programs/gf/gf090110australian_olive_oil
Learn more about our Los Angeles County Master Gardener Program at this link: celosangeles.ucdavis.edu/Common_Ground_Garden_Program/
/o:p>/o:p>/span>/o:p>/o:p>/o:p>/o:p>New Yorker Magazine Article Worth Reading
Today I read a New Yorker Magazine article, "The Last Bite: Is the World's Food System Collapsing?", written by Bee Wilson. It's a provacative piece, mixing things those of us in sustainable food systems often talk about (agriculture, population growth, demographics) and stating the obvious, but mixing it up with some new (and old) ideas, theories, and commentary. Such as,Thomas Malthus (historic theory); the fact that food crises are currently occuring in thirty-three countries (per the World Food Bank); and some discussion of a new literature - "food-politics" books - and their sometimes frightening conclusions. (And I admit to having a stack of ten of those particular books at home right now, with more on the way).
The basic premise of Wilson's piece is "that the global food market fosters both scarcity and overconsumption, while imperiling the planet’s ability to produce food in the future."
This makes sense to me. Too many people have too little (or nothing) to eat; too many of us have access to too much "food" that has traveled a long distance, is unhealthy, overprocessed...and which makes us fat to boot.
Clearly, the larger food system in which we participate needs some serious adjustments. We can help make those adjustments occur more quickly by taking an active interest in our role as consumers each and every day. This means making a commitment to improving our health - and the health of the environment - by producing and consuming on a more local basis.
A good way to up your local consumption is by growing even some of your food. It's the perfect time to get a garden going. Don't think you have the time? Little ambition? Even a small container garden can help feed your family, and will also feed something else: your soul. Contact your local Master Gardener organization or visit your local nursery for ideas and guidance.
Today, you can become more informed about food systems issues by reading Wilson's article. She's also authored number of other terrific pieces about the food system, and has published some books that will be of interest to anyone interested in the food system and our role as consumers. Google her. Worth it!
http://www.newyorker.com/arts/critics/atlarge/2008/05/19/080519crat_atlarge_wilson
"A Garden for Everyone. Everyone in a Garden."
http://technorati.com/claim/8iv2jmy98
http://www.blogcatalog.com/directory/activism/environmental-activism
What's G(r)owing On
My family continues to enjoy an abundance of riches on the fresh, local, good food front.
This week's CSA box: 1 head Romaine lettuce; 1 elephant garlic; 1 lb broccoli; 1 head cauliflower; 1 lb yellow crookneck squash; 1.5 lbs Red Lasuta potatoes; 1 bunch rosemary; 1 pint strawberries; 1 lb pixie tangerines; 2 lbs Red Ruby grapefruit; and rosemary focaccia. The potatoes didn't last long: they were roasted the first night with olive oil, rosemary, and garlic. They provided a side dish for dinner, accompanied Natalie's omelet the next morning, and also ended up in her lunch box. (Apparently, she really liked them!).
The CSA box was supplemented by a visit to a local farmstand that culled a variety pack of locally-grown berries, cucumbers, and oranges. Additional bonus: what's growing in our own backyard...blood oranges, lemons, some tasty herbs.
What we're having difficulty growing this year is lettuce, usually a reliable crop for us. We know the reason. We recently added a new family member: a wonderful little dog found at a local rescue organization. (Like our food, we like our dogs locally grown). Winnie loves to lay in the lettuce bed. It's already raised up off the ground several feet, but she easily jumps into it. We're considering our options, but they appear somewhat limited, unless we resort to rooftop gardening. (Now that's an IDEA!).
Our Mother's Day outing was to the local nursery, and a fine gift it was. As a result, this week we planted cucumbers and some basil (indoors and out); the tomatoes will go in this weekend.
I fully recognize that Ventura is quite different from many other places. It enjoys some of the best weather in the world. (This is not an exaggeration). But my wish for you this week is to plant something. If you don't have an adequate space for gardening, find a good container and create a great container garden. If you have children, this will provide a great and memorable family activity.
"A Garden for Everyone. Everyone in a Garden."