Summer Fruit Tree Care Workshop
Posted 7/22/2010 - The California Center for Urban Horticulture and the California Master Gardener program have partnered with Burchell Nursery to bring you Your Sustainable Backyard: Fruit Trees on Friday August 20th at Burchell Nursery in Oakdale, CA.  We’re very excited to have the workshop hosted at a nursery and hope that you will join us for this exciting learning opportunity.  Our workshop will focus on selecting trees, planning for your home orchard, summer pruning and staking, and troubleshooting pests & diseases.  A highlight for the day will be a fruit tasting and evaluation as well as a nursery tour of Burchell’s.  Whether you’re new to fruit trees or a seasoned veteran, we’re sure you’ll take something interesting from the workshop to apply in your own home garden. Your registration of $45 includes morning coffee/scone and lunch.  At the end of the day, Burchell’s will provide each attendee with a bag of fruit to take home and share with your family.  Please join us – the workshop is...

Top Tomato Trellis System
Posted 7/8/2010 - Every year, I try to keep my tomatoes up off of the ground by installing a trellis system in advance of the tomatoes needing to be trellised.  My usual system is the "post and twine" system in which 2 inch posts are pounded into the ground using a stake pounder at 10 foot intervals and then wrapping/weaving the twine around the poles at 10 inch vertical intervals.  It works pretty well and I am not unhappy with it.  However, the downside is that the cotton jute that I prefer to use because it is compostable stretches, sags and becomes brittle as you go through the summer.  The plastic twine that most "growers" use works better but it has to be disposed of in the landfill since it isn't recyclable or compostable.  This year, as an alternative to trellising, I planted a compact determinate variety of tomato from Johnny's selected seed called BHN-444.  I chose it partly to being determinate and partly because it was resistant to Tomato Spotted Wilt Virus, which devastated my crop last...

Frost Damaged Citrus Trees Need TLC
Posted 5/19/2010 - This was a rough winter for young citrus trees.  Many may have died and most did suffer from frost/freeze damage depending, the degree of which depending upon the duration of low temperatures this winter.  At our house, it was 17 degrees F for at least 4 nights in a row and since we were out of town, there was no one home to either irrigate, put lights under the trees or cover them.  They were on their own and they did suffer. Several of the trees appear to have died but others are still green in parts, and others now have small young shoots that may grow out and become a tree one day.  The questions to ask now is what can I do to help these trees recover? The first thing is to go ahead and fertilize lightly with a nitrogen fertilizer or an organic fertilizer high in nitrogen but only if the trees have leaves.  Don’t go overboard but a small amount applied now will help to stimulate vegetative growth.  Prune out the dead wood back to healthy wood.  Paint the trunks and exposed bark...

Sac Bee to Host Bee Event to Support Honeybee Research at UCD
Posted 5/7/2010 - Local artist Laurelin Gilmore and the Sacramento Bee have teamed up to feature honey bee art and education at the Sacramento Bee on Saturday, May 8!  Amazing honey bee art arrived from very talented and generous local artists.  These pieces will be for sale on Saturday and proceeds will be donated to UC Davis for honey bee research.  Saturday May 8, 20103-8 PMSacramento Bee outdoor courtyard2100 Q St., Sacramento, CA 95816The Department of Entomology will have an observation hive on display, Sacramento Area Bee Keepers Association will have honey samples and we’ve got great educational tables where you can learn about our campus’ Honey Bee Haven garden and how you can support pollinators in your own backyard.  Please come by with your family and enjoy the live band and beautiful artwork. See you there!