tomatoes in January?

yes, indeed, here in Nor cal it has been a warm DRY winter. Not good for future gardening, but my Sun Gold tomatoes that I did not have the heart to pull out, are still producing! Fava beans are producing, and wouldn't be surprised to see an early crop of peas. Lettuce also doing great, no extra row cover needed.
Still, Pray for Rain!

cover cropping

this is a great time to get winter cover crops in. Fava is my favorite, because you can harvest some as well, but here is a great article on it:
http://www.seedsofchange.com/fall_gardening/default.aspx#CoverCopping

It's Fall

 Well I am back after a little hiatus from the web. But not gardening. First bed of winter veggies seeds are in and sprouting - carrots, beets and parsnips. some leftover Fava beans coming up, but I will plant more. they are an outstanding winter crop. Hope to get peas in next month, and keep the kale and chard going through the winter. Started lettuce and spinach in 4" pots to put out when they are big enough.
Peach crop was small this year, but not bad considering how bad the curl was. Seaweed helped, but the late rains took their toll none the less.
got my first apples this year, but some of them were mealy. Not sure why, maybe picked them too late?
Berry vines grew well, should get fruit next spring.
Almost lost my Persimimon tree over the summer, due to forgetting to hook up its drip! but it recovered, only lost the fruit for the year.
Pomegranate bush is Huge! no fruit yet ...
Can't wait to get some Oro Blanco grapefruit in a couple of months, my little tree is loaded! Need new christmas lights, better go shopping soon.

Another day in the life of a gardener.Don't forget to fertilize those fruit trees now, if you haven't given them their fall feeding already!

Is it spring?

Hard to tell, with all this rain. Peach leaf curl worst ever. Seaweed helped, I will get some on the poor little donut, but reduced. Curl-resistant varieties look GREAT! highly recommend them to any one wanting to grow peaches in the California Foothills. Tomatoes having a hard time, with so little sun. Fava beans however are a bumper crop, lettuce is still going, peas crankin'.

it is spring

yikes, and weeds are everywhere. I am doing my best to weedeat and pull, no Roundup in use here. So my donut peach already has a little peach leaf curl. that sucker is very prone to it. The Indian Free, Frost, and Q-1-8 don't get it! so I sprayed the offender with Seaweed extract, stay tuned to see how well it works.

knick knack patty whack, give the dog a bone?

What part of "bone meal" is so mysterious? "BONE" or "MEAL", together or apart, just the sound of it will get the dog salivating. Maybe because this version is sold as a fertilizer, people think it is somehow magically transformed inert, like chemical fertilizers? I am ranting because someone called into the nursery highly upset that the dogs were digging where she had just planted a tree with bone meal.  She admitted she was hard of hearing, ranted about the dogs, couldn't hear a word I said, and wondered why we didn't tell her dogs like it!!
First - I warn everyone buying bone or blood meal - animals love it. Plant it at the bottom of the hole, put a rock around  it for a week while the smell dissapates. Store unused portion in a closed container, like a garbage can with a tight lid.
Second - we probably did tell her, but she wasn't listening!
Third - use some common sense ( could all the warning labels we are subject to make us think we don't need this anymore?) Light forgive we need to put a warning on bone meal that says " carnivorous animals will be attracted to this product". YIKES
Fourth - yes, cute little Fifi is a Carnivore.

landscape fabric, friend or foe?

It's always fun to read an article in a national magazine that echoes your own experience or opinion, especially when it bucks a common trend.So here goes - unless you are putting it under rocks(eek) or a path(ok), landscape fabric ( week block, or plastic) is actually detrimental to your plants, and you. First you, for the cost. Spend the money on mulch ( if you have to, many sources are  free -  like the tree guys, or your own yard leaves). For the plants, it blocks nutrient exchange and soil enhancement. Soil needs organic matter added to it each year, in the form of compost or mulch, in order for the soil biology to continue and keep the plants healthy. Put down a block, throw some mulch on top, and you  block weeds the first year. Only. Next year all the seeds are on TOP of the block, and sprouting. Some grassy weeds, and those with a taproot, will actually anchor INTO the fabric, making them ridiculous to pull. A few years go by, you have a nice layer of loam on top of the weed block where the mulch has broken down. Now pull up the fabric. Check out the soil where your plants are. It has become almost a desert! I have even found an innocent earth worm trying to get through the fabric to get at the loam on top, it had made a hole in it and was trapped!
If you must put something down in an area that has been weed infested, use layers of newspaper or cardboard. Note that if these dry out, they can act as a block also. But keep them moist ( lay them down in the fall) and they will smother those old weeds and break down to continue to feed the soil next year. Keep 2" of fine ( or 4" of coarse) mulch on top, and you will have few weeds.
Feed the soil, and the plants take care of themselves.

enough frogs already?

Question of the week at the nursery - " what do you have to kill frogs?" ???!!! Apparently some people don't "like all the noise" they make for a few weeks this time of year. Really guys? maybe they are just complaining about all the cars on the freeway and jets overhead!
Of course my answer is "Leave them!" they mean things are good in your yard, they eat bugs, and they are only mating for a few short weeks!

pruning daphne

my daphne does not have much bloom on it this year. Lesson: prune daphne soon after flowering ( round march or april). If you wait until the end of summer and hack it back because you are sick of tripping over it, you will sacrifice next season bloom. going out to play in the sun now. We could use some rain soon.

Do I need a soil test?

Answer: probably! Unless you have checked on your soil in the last year or two. Native soil in El Dorado County tends to be low in nitrogen and phosphorus, two important nutrients for plant growth.Also the pH ( level of acidity) tends around 6-7. This is why we recommend bone meal or other starter fertilizer for new planting, to get the needed phosphorus for root development. HOWEVER, there is too much of a good thing. Too much phosphorus will deter mycorrhizal ( symbiotic fungi) development , which is a main avenue for phosphorus uptake is most woody plants and perennials. A little when you first plant is probably enough. Before you add more fertilizer every year, go to the local garden center and get a simple test kit. Test your soil. It will  save you money ( only buy what you really need, if anything), and it will definitely make your plants happier.

bare root trees

Tis the season to plant bare root... fruit that is, apples and asian pears. Maybe a fuyu too. Adding to my little orchard, now that I have a deer fence. Easy diggin right now too!
Pretty much ready for the MG soils class I am teaching next month. Come one, come all, 9AM Sat. feb5 at the Vets Hall in Placerville. Should be fun! No, really!

seed starting

I attended a talk on seed starting by a fellow master gardener who has it down to a real art. Very inspiring!So I am ready to get a head start on spring, but I don't have a green house. Where in the world am I going to put all these seed trays? I have heat mats, pots, pans (!) soil, soilless, all the doo-dads, but no where protected enough with power for either lights or heat. hmmm. Got a little work to do here. Stay tuned...

double duty for a straw bale bed

The tomatoes I planted in 4 straw bales ( topped with a 1/2" layer of compost) did fantastic. They are of course long gone. by the end of the season the foot high straw bales are reduced to about 6". That I expected. What I did not expect was poking around in that leftover stuff, pulling the old bale windings out, there is 6" of the most fabulous loam you ever saw! Beautiful black, fluffy, light, perfectly composted. So I used it to plant two new fruit trees - Hudsons golden gem apple and a Comice pear, and two berry bushes - blackberry and raspberry. Plus that spot where the bales were still has a huge layer of fluff to plant something else in. Not sure what though, will have to give it some thought.

mulch mulch

All this rain has made it easy to see where the water lays, where it runs off, and where i need to add more mulch. The idea is to keep as much water on the property as possible, not direct it all into the seasonal stream. Soon as I get a dryish day at home, I will get out the tractor ( hope it starts) and get moving! I have a huge pile from trees that were trimmed to un-shade the solar cells on the roof. thank you Foothill Tree, you did a fine job!

cold in the foothills

Glad I did not take the blanket off my grapefruit tree, as it froze last night and the night before. in the winter I leave the blanket and lights on. light are on a timer. three grapefruit dropped yesterday, but they are pretty much ripe. one left on my tiny tree, hoping it colors up some before dropping.

mushrooms anyone?

With all the rain we've been having you may be starting to see Little Brown Mushrooms (LBM's) sprouting up. Unless you are an expert, don't eat them, many LBMs are toxic. But instead of running for the fungicide, I say Rejoice! Mushroom sitings are an indication of underground fungal activity, and this is a Very Good Thing.  The 1-2 million species of Fungi are arguably the most important life force keeping our soils alive and healthy.Without Fungi forests would quickly be smothered in their own leaf litter. We wouldn't have compost. Fungi have the ability to seek out nutrients in the soil, and make them more accessible to nearby plants. They even grow into the roots of some plants, as the mycorrhizae you may be familiar with that are added to some organic fertilizers. Many types also detoxify soil, rendering hydrocarbons and bad bacteria harmless. Oyster mushrooms can break down heavy oil. The oil is  destroyed, reduced to non-toxic components, and the mushrooms were also free of any petroleum products. Think about it - clean soil and food at the same time! ( oyster mushrooms are a delicacy, and expensive in the store) So grab those LBM's and add them to your compost pile. They will help in the breakdown process  and enrich ( and detox if necessary) the resulting soil. You can also order mycelia(mushroom starts) online for many edible mushrooms, and get food and compost at the same time!  MMM, sauteed with garlic and tomato, tossed with pasta, and good for you too. Happy Shrooms....
http://www.fungi.com/index.html

Planted snapdragons around today. they about all that will do ok in this winter that the deer won't eat, and still be colorful. Sadly, my copper canyon daisy are looking the worse for all the hard freezes. oh well, they did look great for two months in the late fall. yeah for rain, at least we don't have to water. Wish I had a 50000 gallon water tank to save rain water in! Pruned back the Lady Banks rose and Wisteria HARD this year, keeps them on the arbor and blooming profusely. Will need to do it every year now that they are up to the desired size. Should have some lettuce and chard in the garden ready to pick, just pick the outer leaves and they will keep going all winter.  It's also time to be thinking about dormant spray on fruit trees, especially the peaches, but more on that later.

avacados in the foothills

SO a guy calls today and wants to know ( after 5 hard freezes in the last 2 weeks) what avacado trees like. I said " the coast".
( he laughed hesistantly) ( no coast in El Dorado County)
Or a greenhouse.
But if you must try them here, in the ground, you WILL have to put a heat source and a blankie on it. The christmas lights that are good sized ( not twinkle lights) will put off enough heat to keep it at least 5 degrees warmer under the remay blanket you are also going to wrap them in.
 While this works great in this area for citrus at 1800' elevation, I am not convinced you will keep an avacado alive long enough to fruit. Time will tell...

ice wine, anyone?

SO I spent the morning harvesting grapes for ice wine. This means picking grapes that have frozen on the vine, and indeed by Nov1 we have had 5 hard freeze  nights in Shingle Springs. A local winery, Chavalier, put out a call to wine club members to help harvest these frozen nuggets before they all turn to moldy mush. it was very tedious, there was mold than good grapes. But we did get a nice lunch! Ice wine production will only be available to Wineclub members I understand. It was a fun day, interesting people showed up, good conversation.

winter flowers

As if it wasn't enough that it is drought resistant, deer and gopher proof, now it is my new favorite for winter flowering! Copper Canyon Daisy ( Tagetes lemonii) protected my fruit trees from gophers all summer, and now when everything else is going to sleep, Bazinga! it is in full bloom. Bright, sunshiny yellow.  Very cheering to look out your kitchen window to this as it is raining. And another plus, the flowers last up to two( yes 2) weeks in a vase. Note to sensitives - yes it does smell -  strongly. I don't notice it much unless you touch it, which releases the fragrance(?). You will either like it or hate it. Still worth planting.