Gardening

Last Saturday I worked the Master Gardener booth at the Healthy Living Fest at Quarry Lakes Regional Park.  The day was cold and very windy, and the skies were overcast until I left after 1 pm. I worked with two other Master Gardeners.  We answered gardening questions and handed out sunflower seeds and pots (with planting instructions) to the kids who visited the booth. We also gave out handouts to gardeners who had questions about pests or diseases, or may have questions in the future.  A great site is the University of California Davis IPM site, where answers can be found to many gardening questions.  Here's the link:  UC Statewide Integrated Pest Management (IPM) Program

This is an invaluable resource. Master Gardeners strive to give the least toxic methods to deal with gardening and landscape problems, and refer to this site to help the public.

I was also happy to hear so many people in the process of converting their water-demanding lawns to drought tolerant landscapes.  Alameda County Master Gardeners has a great list on drought tolerant plants that do well in the East Bay.  We are also in the process of creating a demonstration garden at Quarry Lakes Regional Park.   This demonstration garden will allow the user to view drought tolerant plants and learn what will grow well, once established,  in this area with very little water.