Submitted by Michele Nowak-Sharkey Join us in welcoming our new “crop” of Master Gardeners to Mariposa and Madera counties! The class of 2024 graduated on May 11, 2024, after 17 weeks of in-depth training online and in person. The training class had students from both Mariposa and Madera counties. The graduates in the back row will be volunteering in Mariposa ...

Submitted By UC Master Gardener- Lindy Kauffman MARIPOSA–Have you ever walked along Stroming Road between 6th and 8th Streets? Have you noticed the various plants living in the space between the walkway and the creek? (Sometimes they are brightly blooming, sometimes messy, and sometimes quietly brown and woody). Back in 2000, the county received funding to begin the development of ...

Submitted by Tery Susman, UC Master Gardener of Mariposa County MARIPOSA–With Spring right around the corner, it’s easy to imagine a lovely home vegetable garden. You can almost taste a perfectly ripe tomato or a sweet pepper still warm from the sun…but alas…you realize that you don’t have the space for a vegetable garden, or your property is mostly granite, ...

By UC Master Gardener of Mariposa County – Helen Willoughby-Peck Red, yellow, green, orange, brown, purple, and even white, the quintessential tasty treats of summer will soon stop producing. Cooler weather and shorter days signal the end of our tomato growing season and your plants will begin to decline. Tomato lovers will soon be forced to consider tasteless and characterless ...

By Michele Nowak-Sharkey, UC Master Gardener of Mariposa County The UC Master Gardener Program has been extending research-based information about home horticulture and pest management to the public since 1980. The UC Master Gardener Program is a public service and outreach program under the University of California  Agriculture and Natural Resources, administered locally by participating UC Cooperative Extension County offices. ...

By Helen Willoughby-Peck, UC Master Gardener of Mariposa Most home gardeners who grow tomatoes have experienced a problem or two caused by diseases or environmental factors which contribute to poor production, foliage damage or plant death. Here are a few of them that you might encounter this summer and possible solutions. Tomato Fruit Set Failure and Flower Drop You might ...

By UCCE Master Gardener, Christina Oborn. The just-concluded Coulterville Heritage Rose Tour in North County is a good time to remind us South County folks that we too have this tangible link to pioneer history. Mariposa County’s legacy roses have been found in abandoned homesteads, next to old miner’s cabins and ranch homes, on town historic home sites and empty ...

By Helen Willoughby-Peck, UC Master Gardener, Mariposa County Walking in your garden every day is good for you and good for your plants. Observing your plants on a regular basis helps control pests that may be enjoying your tomatoes before you can. When caught early they are usually easy to control without insecticides or other drastic action. You can get ...

Ron Allen, UC Master Gardener, Mariposa County The Oak Fire (July 2022) devastated large parts of the ponderosa pine forest in the mountains east of Mariposa. Wooded landscapes on private properties and substantial areas of the adjoining Sierra National Forest were affected. This article explains how to plant conifer seedlings for post-fire forest restoration. The conifer plant materials for reforestation ...

By Tery Susman, UC Master Gardener of Mariposa County. Our human tendency is to fix what we perceive as a potential problem or as something “broken” or “untidy.” Our first thought is to reseed flowering plants and grasses on our fire scorched property to speed up vegetation establishment and soil stability, to fix what is “broken.” However, recent research has ...