What in the world is garden sanitation? It’s simply the removal of plant material that can harbor pests and disease. By removing debris from your garden, you reduce the ability for pests and pathogens to negatively impact your garden next spring. Remove all badly diseased or pest infested plants, trash, weeds, and dying plant parts. […]
Clean up to Prevent Garden Problems Read More »
Spring is around the corner, and there’s a whole lot of planting going on. One of the features of the winter nursery is the availability of bare root plants. Bare root plants are not actively growing plants. They’re usually dug when they’re dormant and then refrigerated until it is time to ship to the nursery
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It’s cold and wet out there, and just as we want to stay dry and cozy indoors, so do rats! When temperatures get low and food gets scarce, rats need to find a way to stay warm and survive the winter. They are excellent at digging. They’ll look for a structure like a rock, wall,
Outsmart those Smart Rats! Read More »
Want to solve garden problems while creating landscapes that are in sync with the natural environment? Join us for our new season of webinars that will focus on attracting and protecting pollinators in your garden, successfully managing rats, and replacing that thirsty lawn – all without chemicals! Co-sponsored by YardSmartMarin and Marin Master Gardeners, talks
Kick the Chemicals! Care for your Garden and Beyond Season 2! Read More »
It’s National Fig Week – time to recognize this popular fruit that’s actually a little bundle of tiny flowers inside a small, thin sac. Most figs grown in home gardens are called common figs with varieties like ‘Brown Turkey’ and ‘Celeste’, and they’re self-pollinators. Figs lose their leaves each year and are easy to grow.
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October 29 is National Cat Day. It was created by Colleen Paige in 2005 with a goal “To help galvanize the public to recognize the number of cats that need to be rescued each year and also to encourage cat lovers to celebrate the cat(s) in their lives for the unconditional love and companionship they
What is National Cat Day? Read More »
With hot weather and water restrictions, lawns are definitely not looking their best. Do you really want to keep the swath of green growing or make a change and swap it out? If you’re up for trying something different, now’s a great time to do it. You can get financial rebates from the local water
Time to ditch the lawn? Read More »
Ants on your artichoke plant? Your plum tree or leafy vegetables? They’re a prime indicator that sucking insects are feasting on your plants. There’s a group of soft-bodied insects — aphids, mealybugs, soft scale and whiteflies being the most common, that feed by sucking juices from plants. The direct damage they inflict on the plant
It’s almost National Lemon Meringue Pie Day, celebrated annually on August 15. The holiday is dedicated to a pie that has been around since the late 18th century and through various points in American history was either an extremely popular pie or a pie that few people thought of making. It’s a great way to
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Some of the worst invasive plants in California, brooms and yellow starthistle, have caused substantial changes to California’s wildlands. The organism that causes sudden oak death was inadvertently introduced to California forests on nursery stock and is estimated to have killed more than 1 million oak and tanoak trees during the last decade. Insect-carried diseases
Watch out for invasives! Read More »
