MARIPOSA – To get the best out of your fruit trees, you have to give them the best care with the right tools at the right time of the year. That right time is now.
Mariposa Master Gardeners present a free workshop on pruning presented by fruit tree specialist and Farm Advisor Maxwell Norton Saturday, Jan. 18, from 10 a.m. to noon at 3185 River Haven Drive, Mariposa.
Norton will show you how to prune your trees for your maximum convenience, the tree’s maximum health, its best support structure and bearing capability.
In recent years, home fruit growers have discovered that their trees can be pruned to a height that they can reach; it means no more ladders, no more fruit you can’t reach. While it’s easier to keep trees from getting too tall in the first place, Norton will show how to gradually bring mature trees down to a height that is best for the grower.
Norton will share where to make cuts for best harvest as well as correct tools, care of those tools and how important it is to keep your tools clean.
Participants are asked to register at the website, cemariposa.ucanr.edu, or call (209) 966-2417 so they will know how many people to expect. This workshop will be an outside experience, so dress accordingly.
To get to 3185 River Haven Drive, take Highway 49 to Usona Road, go south, then turn right on River Haven.
Throughout the year, Master Gardeners present many free workshops for the home gardener. Topics to be covered in 2014 include plant propagation (the second part of a class conducted in 2013), growing tomatoes, year-round gardening, oak and pine tree care, coping with mammalian pests such as deer, squirrels and gophers, landscaping for fire safety and beneficial insects.
The Master Gardener program is overseen by the University of California. Volunteers give UC-researched answers to home gardeners’ questions, conduct an annual garden tour and plant sale and staff the horticulture building for the Mariposa County Fair. For more about Master Gardeners, go to cemariposa.ucdavis.edu/Master_Gardener.
The Mariposa group maintains a native plant demonstration garden along Mariposa Creek between 8th and 6th streets. In north county, the group has a garden beside the old firehouse in Coulterville.
