Garden Advice Ask Us
CA Center for Urban Horticulture
Located at the University of California, Davis, the California Center for Urban Horticulture (CCUH) draws upon the knowledge and expertise of our partners in academia, industry, and public agencies.We provide management strategies and practices for conserving water and improving water efficiency for public audiences, to horticulture and landscape design industry, in addition to local and state agencies.
Advice to Grow By.... Ask Us... Madera Master Gardeners
Madera and Fresno Master Gardener volunteers are working to answer your questions.
Please email your questions to mgfresno@ucanr.edu
Including photos is helpful. We are looking forward to hearing from you!
Madera Master Gardener volunteers are working at the Three Sister garden on Tuesday am. Stop by and visit the garden and chat with our volunteers.
Soil Testing Information
State IPM Program UC IPM Website
Quick Tip Cards
Quick Tip cards may be accessed at UC IPM Online. Choose from Ants, Aphids, Fleas, Spider Mites, Powdery Mildew, Pesticides: Safe and Effective Use in the Home and Landscape, Garden Chemicals: Safe Use and Disposal and more.
Quick Tips Library in English
Notas Breves en Español
This week in the garden: March 22 - 28
As spring unfolds, take time to enjoy the fruits of your labor.
“My garden is my most beautiful masterpiece” ~ Claude Monet
Tasks
Compost weed-free grass clippings and other thorn and disease-free garden waste.
Better yet, start a...
Spring Garden Tour a trip down memory lane for one Master Gardener
When Master Gardener Barbara Vartan learned a historical two-story home on Carmen Street in Fresno was part of the 2024 Spring Garden Tour, she knew where she wanted to volunteer. The 102-year-old home in the heart of the Wilson Historical Tract was...
UC Master Gardeners are part of a coordinated effort to eradicate invasive tree-of-heaven
UC Master Gardeners across the state are on a scouting mission for the California Department of Food and Agriculture (CDFA), combing their communities and the local countryside to find the undesirable but common tree-of-heaven.
In contrast to its...
This week in the garden: March 15 - 22
Check out the nursery, online websites and garden books for new plant varieties that use less water.
In a drought year, consider native plants suitable for our area.
Tasks
Remove thatch and aerate warm-season lawns (Bermuda, zoysia, St. Augustine)...
This week in the garden: March 8 - 14
Wait until after the danger of frost has passed to set out frost-tender plants. Historic frost dates: In Zone 8 the last frost date is March 15, in Zone 9 it is Feb. 15, but watch the weather forecast for your area.
Tasks
Clean up drying grasses...
Bite Size Gardens
Elinor Teague
After writing gardening columns for the Fresno Bee for 18 years, it is a pleasure to be able to continue to offer readers gardening advice and tips here on the Fresno and Madera County Master Gardeners’ website.
If you would like to read more articles from this past year by Elinor click here to read.
Thank you Elinor for your support of the Fresno/Madera Master Gardener programs.
See this month article below.
July 2023 MG website column Elinor
July 2023 MG website column Elinor Teague
The typical summer weather pattern in the Central San Joaquin Valley begins with the formation in late April or early May of a high pressure ridge or dome that traps hot, stagnant air and lowers humidity. This year dangerously high temperatures and dry conditions did not develop until the Fourth of July holiday. Some weather forecasts are anticipating high temperatures with very hot days and nights to be continuous for at least the next two to three months; heat spikes with several consecutive days of extremely high temperatures can also be expected.
Hope for the best; prepare for the worst.’ Central Valley gardeners struggle to mitigate the effects of heat stress, low humidity and air pollution on plants every summer growing season. Some of our practices will need to change or be modified in order to keep plants alive and healthy as overall temperatures rise and weather patterns change. Water conservation is always a concern.
Deep, infrequent irrigation to encourage root development at deeper levels in the soil is still advised during periods of less intense heat. We’ll still need to keep automatic sprinkler systems on the mandated schedule but increase watering times. However, we now need to begin deep irrigation of vulnerable plants several days before heat spikes are predicted to arrive. Use soaker hoses, bubblers on a hose or small oscillating sprinklers to slowly irrigate the soil under the most vulnerable or productive plants to a depth of 8 to 12 inches. Test soil moisture levels frequently with the goal of keeping the soil consistently moist. Most plants will need to be watered in summer when the top inch or two of soil has dried. That maybe a daily or even twice daily occurrence during heat spikes.
Plants that produce crops (fruit and nut trees, summer vegetables, roses) need replacement nutrients as crops are removed. Fruit and nut trees should be fed after harvest with high nitrogen fertilizers. Harvest of fruits and nuts may come sooner than usual as temperatures rise and crops ripen quickly. Summer vegetables are another story. Tomatoes, cucumbers, beans and squashes will stop producing flowers when temperatures are above 90 degrees. Mediterranean varieties of those plants tend to be more heat-tolerant. Heat-loving peppers and eggplants will continue to produce and hold flowers at higher temperatures.
If your plants are holding their flowers and the fruit continues to develop feed lightly with a low-number, low-nitrogen fertilizer once a month. Stop feeding summer vegetables and annual summer-flowering plants if all the flowers or the immature fruit have dropped and resume feeding them when new buds begin to show. Some gardeners continued to put in transplants in May and June, well after the end of the normal summer planting season. The new transplants with immature root systems will be unlikely to survive the first heat spike of July even when well-watered.
Arboretum All Stars UC Davis
UC Davis Arboretum and Public Garden
Our horticultural staff garden with many species of plants and, over the years, have gained unique insights into which plants work well in our area, even under difficult conditions. After narrowing down their favorites to a list, testing them in the Arboretum as well as field trials throughout the state, they picked these 100, hence the name, “Arboretum All-Stars.”
Tree Care online resourses?
Thank you: Dave Wilson Nursery for your wonderful online resources about trees.
Click here to see the videos posted about Tree care.