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.

another rainy day...

yeah! I love a rainy day! Don't have to water anymore ... If you haven't "winterized" your garden yet, better get out there - if you set up watering rings around trees or shrubs, knock them down so the plant does not sit in wet feet all winter. * Turn off your irrigation * ( unless you have a smart controller with a weather input or rain gauge) In cold areas that expect a freeze and/or snow, make sure to drain your irrigation pipes so they don't pop in  a freeze and leave you a big surprise next spring.
Rake up leaves before they get into drains, or gutters, or ponds, what-have-you. Some can be used as a mulch under shrubs, but if you have any disease or insect problems, just put them in the green waste can ( or hot compost)
Put protection around, or move indoors, tender plants such as citrus.  Remay, or "winter blanket" material works well for some marginal plants. I find citrus in my area ( 1800') needs the added heat of a light string under the blanket. I will have grapefruit in January! Note the lights are the larger white ones, not twinkle lights - they don't put out much heat.
All said - winter gardening is pretty easy - now back to my fire.