COULTERVILLE – The hillsides are beautiful now, but it won’t be long before all that green turns to brown and fire season is here. Mariposa County Master Gardeners will present a free, public workshop on fire-safe landscaping on Saturday, Apr. 13, from 10 a.m. to noon at the Coulterville School and Community Clubhouse at the corner of Cemetery and Broadway.

By Bob Labozetta —  This final part of a three-part series on growing tomatoes in our hot, dry climate details proper cultivation techniques. In areas with no natural shade use shade cloth to cool tomatoes during the hours of most intense sunlight — usually between 10 a.m. and 4 p.m. Orient the shade structure so it is open to the ...

By Bob Labozetta —  Whether you sowed seeds in late February/early March or you purchase plants from a nursery or the Mariposa Master Gardeners Annual Plant Sale, make sure your transplants are young, stocky seedlings instead of larger plants. They will establish more quickly and suffer less transplant shock, soon catching up in growth to larger plants. “Harden off” your ...

YOSEMITE – Yosemite National Park will be celebrating Earth Day, National Junior Ranger Day, National Park Week, and John Muir’s Birthday on Saturday, April 20. There will be activities for all ages throughout the day and all activities are free. Join us at the Yosemite Valley Visitor Center in Yosemite Village from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. There will be ...

YOSEMITE — Earth Day, National Junior Ranger Day, National Park Week, and John Muir’s Birthday will be celebrated in Yosemite National Park on Saturday, Apr. 20, with activities for all ages throughout the day — and all activities are free, including entry to the park to kick it off. Visitors coming to the park should be prepared for a very ...

MARIPOSA — Prune it, or lose it? Prune it correctly, or lose it? Heck, why should the backyard orchardist worry about pruning anyway? Pruning a tree is the art and science of removing specific branches or stems to benefit the whole tree. A goal of pruning is to remove dead, damaged and diseased branches to help prevent insect & decay ...

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 ...

By Brian David (Mariposa Master Gardener) This year I am welcoming wasps and inviting insects to invade our garden. I am experiencing a paradigm shift (a fundamental change of underlying assumptions). It started when I heard, “Not all insects are bad. In fact, of the 92,00 species that have been identified in the United States, about 87,000 (95%) are either ...

By Brian David —  Efficient transplanting is a gradual process. Changing a plant’s environment and routine shocks them. Hardening off new container seedlings may take two weeks. So, place container seedlings outside for a couple hours their first day, increasing their stay by two hours each consecutive day. If you are gone during the day, place the seedlings in a ...