By UC Master Gardeners of Mariposa County With “stay at home” orders in place, more people are starting a home garden. For the novice gardener, knowing where to begin can be a challenge. A few tips and steps will get you gardening in no time! If this is your first vegetable garden, start small. You will want to get the ...

By Bob Labozetta, UC Master Gardener, Mariposa MARIPOSA — With so many people following stay-at-home orders, vegetable gardens are on the rise across the country. Are you ready to put in your own “victory” garden? Let’s look at some tips to get you started. When planning a garden, consider where the sunlight falls. Almost all vegetables grow best in full ...

By Bob Labozetta, UC Master Gardener, Mariposa MARIPOSA — Gardening is a great physically activity that keeps one’s mind, spirit, and body in healthy condition. Offering exercise, sunshine, food and ornamentals are optimal benefits of this outdoor exertion. Age and physical limitations may seem to preclude this enjoyable avocation. However, careful planning, new techniques and modified garden implements can make ...

By Bob Labozetta, UC Master Gardener, Mariposa MARIPOSA COUNTY — Perennial vegetables like artichokes, asparagus, rhubarb, and horseradish need protection to survive the freezing temperatures of winter that occur in our area. Artichokes may be hardy down to USDA Zone 6 and asparagus down to Zone 4, but they do need care before cold winter temperatures set in. For artichokes, ...

By Bob Labozetta —  What can home gardeners do to help their plants — veggies, landscape plants, shrubs and trees — survive the intense summer heat? Here are some do’s and don’ts of hot weather gardening: Don’t fertilize plants or trees during the hot summer months. The purpose of fertilizers — especially those high in nitrogen — is to help ...

By Brian David —  How are you at growing plants in containers? From Dixie cups to fifty gallon barrels, the size of a container and its material composition make container gardening different from nurturing plants in the earth. Clay pots are porous, for instance, and plastic pots are impermeable. A plant’s nutrients, air flow and water need special attention in ...

By Brian David —  California’s Mediterranean climate of short, wet winters and long, dry summers sustains more diverse foliage than any other of the 49 states. For California’s commercial agriculture and home gardening, however, capturing water is crucial. We channel surface runoff from watersheds, diverting water into reservoirs and dams and direct the flow and delivery of water through aqueducts ...

By Brian David —  This new year welcomes us into its vibrancy. Air, water; sand, clay and silt pulse with wiggling earthworms, dancing bacteria and exercising fungi. From the soil’s fertile womb our earth births seeds into plants and covers her modest bare ground with carpets green and brown. Three fourths of all plant roots interact in mutually beneficial relationships ...

By Brian David —  Have you ever wondered why Santa chose reindeer to pull his sleigh? In Alaska’s Iditarod sled race, mushers use dogs to pull their sleds over 900 miles. Santa could have harnessed his sled’s reins to penguins or polar bears, yet he chose deer. Why? Could it have been their excellent night vision, or was it because ...

By Brian Moore — MOUNTAIN AREA — Hugelkultur builds garden mounds using tree trunks, limbs, branches, leaves, decaying organic matter (compost) and soil as a planting base. Hugelkultur mimics a forest floor’s process of decomposition and regeneration. Hugelkultur can improve soil vibrancy, water holding ability and soil heating. But what is with the name? In the late 1970’s two German ...