Aug 29
Today I was pulling a few weeds (at home) that I am tired of walking through during my daily chores and thinking about them. Why do I let them get so big and out of control every year? There are always excuses, and I am good at making them too, but weeds are so simple [...] [...more]
Today I was pulling a few weeds (at home) that I am tired of walking through during my daily chores and thinking about them. Why do I let them get so big and out of control every year? There are always excuses, and I am good at making them too, but weeds are so simple to prevent yet I rarely do. Why?
One reason I think I don’t prevent these growing nuisances is that I take great pleasure in ripping them out by their roots! There is something so gritty and rewarding about yanking weeds right out of the soil where they are thriving. Once I am done cleaning an area there is something so rewarding about stepping back and enjoying all the hard work I have put into it.
This year my excuse is that I had my twin girls in January so all my time is spent taking care of my son, the girls and all the daily chores. I really wanted to do what little work it took to prevent weeds this year since I am home most of the time to enjoy my yard. Well, that didn’t happen. I think I sprayed a few weeds once and weeds thrive on procrastination!
So I should have been faithful with the Amaze to prevent weeds and a little weed killer here and there to get any strays but now I get to complain and take my frustrations on those weeds!
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
Aug 16
I am writing this post to get some feedback about Facebook. I have been considering putting The Greenery on Facebook for several months and as more organizations pop up on Facebook, I am compelled to do it. What is your opinion? Is Facebook being flooded by organizations or do you appreciate their presence? Would you [...] [...more]
I am writing this post to get some feedback about Facebook. I have been considering putting The Greenery on Facebook for several months and as more organizations pop up on Facebook, I am compelled to do it. What is your opinion? Is Facebook being flooded by organizations or do you appreciate their presence? Would you like to see The Greenery on Facebook? Let me know by clicking ‘comment’ and typing in your response. Or if you prefer that your comment is not posted, then click on the ‘Email Us’ and it will be sent directly to my email.
I look forward to hearing from you.
-Adria