Aug 08
Well, if you haven’t yet heard, Ed Perry, our local UC Extension Advisor has retired. We at The Greenery are very sorry to see him go. He has been a wealth of knowledge to us and the residents of our community. Whenever we were stumped about a plant, insect or disease he was there to [...] [...more]
Well, if you haven’t yet heard, Ed Perry, our local UC Extension Advisor has retired. We at The Greenery are very sorry to see him go. He has been a wealth of knowledge to us and the residents of our community. Whenever we were stumped about a plant, insect or disease he was there to guide us (yes we do get stumped from time to time!). Unfortunately due to budget constraints there is no person or service there to fill his place. There are still online resources that we will use and you can use too. I am going to provide the links below, some of these I was not even aware of!
Integrated Pest Management - MY longtime favorite resource
http://ipm.ucdavis.edu
Stanislaus County UC Extension Gardening Publications
http://cestanislaus.ucdavis.edu/Gardening/Gardening_Publications.htm
California Gardening by The UC Extension
http://cagardenweb.ucdavis.edu/
California Backyard Orchard
http://homeorchard.ucdavis.edu/
UC Agriculture and Natural Resources Publications
http://www.anrcatalog.ucdavis.edu/
Environmental Horticulture Research & Info Center
http://groups.ucanr.org/EHRIC/index.cfm
Since I am providing links to websites I wanted to talk a little about information found online. First, yes there is more information online than anyone could ever read. You can search Google, Yahoo or Bing (whichever search engine suits you) and find information to do just about anything, including gardening. However, please be aware of the source of your information when researching online. When it comes to gardening, information from another country or even another state can be different when it comes to gardening in the Central Valley. Anyone can publish something online (just look at all the forwarded emails and texts we typically get) and it doesn’t mean it is real. The above links are full of information specific to California and the Central Valley. If you use any of these links, let me know what you think.
So just to reaffirm my point, the staff at The Greenery is here to help you with whatever gardening question or problem you may have. We are your local experts. We have enjoyed serving you for the past 4 decades and look forward to many more.
-Adria
May 05
This post is for all those who are wary of gardening or need a little confidence. Gardening seems like a large unknown and can be daunting for people who have had little to no experience gardening. As with anything, the fear of failure tends to keep us from trying something new. I want to share [...] [...more]
This post is for all those who are wary of gardening or need a little confidence. Gardening seems like a large unknown and can be daunting for people who have had little to no experience gardening. As with anything, the fear of failure tends to keep us from trying something new. I want to share a story of how I began gardening…
When I was about 12 I began growing vegetables and was so successful that I created a small business of providing homegrown veggies to friends and family. I didn’t grow anything other than vegetables because I didn’t have any appreciation for trees, shrubs, flowers, etc. I thought why grow a flower and only get a flower when I can grow vegetables and have something to take inside and eat? Well, when my parents built a new house and we had a whole landscape to develop from scratch, the rest of the gardening world won me over. Now you are saying, what does this have to do with failure? Well, when I started growing shrubs and flowers and tried to design the yard at the same time I did not have any schooling in Horticulture. I learned by trial and error. I did lots of reading and research but still had my own theories about growing plants and stubbornly tried things that I only laugh at now. For instance I tried growing a hydrangea in full sun. Now any semi-experienced gardener knows that hydrangeas need part to full shade in our climate. Well my theory was that if I kept it watered, it wouldn’t wilt or burn. Ha! I trickled water at the base of the plant all day long. It still wilted. Eventually it stressed out so bad that I decided it needed to be in the shade. The poor thing died shortly after. It was just too much.
The moral of the story? Gardening is partly trial and error. It is not rocket science and is not cut and dried either. If you kill a plant, consider it a learning experience. Why did it die? What can I do to ensure success next time? I can’t tell you how many plants I have killed in my gardening years. The other thing to keep in mind is that our yards are man made and plants aren’t. We are growing things that naturally don’t grow here. So yeah, we won’t always be successful. My hope is that we can share our experiences and learn from each other so we become that much more successful in our gardening endeavors. As gardening professionals, The Greenery staff has experienced many common gardening challenges but are always willing to learn, and we do learn new things everyday!
Do you have any gardening successes or failures that you would like to share? Click on comment and share your story. I look forward to hearing from you.
-Adria
Jun 18
This time of year we spend a lot of time trying to educate homeowners about the correct methods of watering. It has always been very important and is even more so now since we are lacking water reserves. It is also very important to water correctly in order to have happy healthy plants that can [...] [...more]
This time of year we spend a lot of time trying to educate homeowners about the correct methods of watering. It has always been very important and is even more so now since we are lacking water reserves. It is also very important to water correctly in order to have happy healthy plants that can survive water restrictions and a possible drought.
At The Greenery we have created a series of informational handouts designed to help the average homeowner understand and adjust their watering habits. The first is an introduction to the program. For a printable .pdf click here: what-is-waterwise
The second handout in the series is about checking and adjusting your existing irrigation system to make it more efficient and water wise. For a printable .pdf click here: waterwise-step-1
The third handout discusses proper water habits for trees and shrubs. For a printable .pdf click here: waterwise-2-tree-shrub
Lastly, the fourth handout is about lawn watering. Lawns require the most water of all landscaping and are also the biggest area that homeowners waste water. I am not saying to remove all of your lawn, but keep these tips in mind. For a printable .pdf click here: waterwise-3-lawn-care1
For those who like to do their own research, check out this link. http://www.smartirrigationmonth.org/
I hope this helps. If you have any questions or comments, feel free to post them here or give the nursery a call.
-Adria