New Spider Discovered in Ventura County

November 26, 2011 By mike Leave a Comment

An Exotic Spider found in Ventura County

During his recent trip to Ventura County to work on tracking the movement of the Brown Widow spider, Latrodectus geometricus, UCR entomologist, Rick Vetter discovered a spider never before reported in this hemisphere.

Rick is asking the Ventura County residents to help him collect more specimens for a paper he is currently writing on this find. He expects that these specimens may well end up in either the California Academy of Sciences in San Francisco or the American Museum of Natural History in New York because of the importance of this discovery. Your work will become a part of entomological history!

Please refer to the image of the spider to help you identify any possible finds. Rick has noted, “The spider is chocolate brown in color and some females lose A LOT of the light marking on the abdomen.”

Toward this end, Rick is asking Ventura County residents willing to help him, to please:

Have a few amber prescription containers on hand.

Search in your yard for this new spider:

under plastic patio furniture
in the indentations under garbage cans
under potted plants that are raised off the ground
under picnic tables

If you suspect that you have found the spider, use a stick to carefully maneuver the spider into the amber prescription container.

Please place a piece of paper towel in the container so the spider has something to hold onto during transport but also enough space to move around some; perhaps a piece that doesn’t exceed 1/3-1/2 of the size of the container.

Please mark each specimen container with the following:

Date and yard location of find
Complete house address of find
Your name and phone number

Please mail your live spider within one week or so of its collection, keeping it out of the heat in the meantime. A padded envelope would be helpful.

Please send your specimens to:

Rick Vetter

Entomology

Univ. of California, Riverside

Riverside, CA. 92521

One further note from Rick: “the mature female is as large as a black widow and therefore, is large enough to inflict a bite; however, the effects of the bite are minor.”

Filed Under: Gardening

Garden Predators and Antonio Garden

November 24, 2011 By mike Leave a Comment

The Antonio Garden should see fewer rodents problems in future due to natural predation.

Bobcat Garden Predators and Antonio Garden There are bobcats living in the barranca just past the condos. First, we had one, then it took a mate, and now there are 2 half-grown bob kittens roaming the hills.

When the first one showed up, we had coyotes, rabbits and squirrels, but not a single house cat on the hill. The adult bobcats have tangled with the coyotes who leave the area alone now. Caring for the kittens has reduced the adults’ range this last year, and the impact on the local rodents has been dramatic.

The bobcats has reduced the quail population considerably, but now we have gone from being over run with rabbits and squirrels to being almost rodent free. A biologist recently said the way you judged bobcat presence was the lack of jack rabbits

An adult bobcat ranges a mile or more in any direction, but the kittens only venture less than a mile. After eliminating everything except the gophers, I expect the kittens to be showing up at the garden along with their parents to help out with the squirrel and rabbit problems.

Another natural predator that should be familiar to you in the garden is the falcon.

We are lucky to have a pair successfully nesting in the area. After creating a more meadow-like yard, open to the sky, the falcons have spent a lot of time working my garden and orchard areas.

Together with the red-tail and red-shouldered hawks and resident owls on patrol, our rodent problems are greaetly reduced.

Now, if they would just work on the gophers…

Filed Under: Gardening

What to Plant When the Weather Can’t Decide

February 19, 2011 By mike

Crazy Weather Planting Considerations

The weather we have had the last two winters has been quite puzzling. We had La Ninas predicted but got El Nino rains. And 92 degrees days followed by 45 degree days. East Winds (or Santanas) followed by monsoons.

What we are seeing in our gardens is cool weather crops bolting from the heat, and warm season veggies being challenged by the cold weather. Here are a couple of ideas for you to consider.

Grow your own shade to protect your cool weather veggies

Here is the quandary – most veggies need full sun, some veggies need shade. How do we get both? And how do we maximize our limited gardening space?

How about a grow-your-own shade system.

ShadeStructureView1 300x210 What to Plant When the Weather Cant Decide

Shade Structure View From Above

I wish I could give credit for this idea, but forget where it came from. Shade structures from light wood frames and chicken wire or light mesh makes a sturdy support for climbing or sprawling plants. The supporting frame can be any convenient size, and can be readjusted to change the shadow cast.

The frames double the amount of growing space with a shade providing plant, given full access to the sun, and cool weather veggies in their own micro-climate.

Sprawling plants, such as cucumbers or peas provide shade and developing fruit benefit from being kept off the cold, damp ground.

ShadeStructureView2 300x210 What to Plant When the Weather Cant Decide

Shade Structure Side View

Other early developing plants that needs support are determinate tomatoes. Try growing these on mesh and the fruit will hang out the bottom, waiting for you.

‘Determinant’ means the plant’s genetics have determined the number of tomatoes they will grow, and they grow them all at once.

These fruit heavily, suddenly, and tend to be early season varieties – which means they are in and out before summer really hits.

New Zealand Spinach is another possibility. This plant is not a true spinach, grows rapidly, easily, and adapts well to our weather.

Ours was started from 1 packet of seeds in 1952. This plant has proved to be both drought and heat tolerant (although not at the same time).

New Zealand Spinach

This under-appreciated green is very high in nutrients, often 50% more than ‘real’ spinach. It gives a slightly spicy taste to recipes calling for spinach. The leaf is thicker than spinach and slightly fuzzy, giving it more texture than true spinach.

Another nice thing about this plant is that is doesn’t care if it is hot or cold – or both.

It grows quickly enough that you can adjust the light that passes through simply cutting it back harder or not. If let go, it forms a dense mat that covers the ground, preventing weeds. Any excess, with all the water and nitrogen it contains, does wonders for your compost pile.

Cool Weather Veggies to Grow in the Shade

Understory veggies that would benefit from the shade and cooler micro-climate include shorter lettuces (such as the ‘cut-n-come-again’, mache mixes, or other baby lettuces) in front, with taller varieties such as Romaine, chard, or taller cabbage family plants (broccoli, cauliflower, etc.) placed to the rear.

The stair-step arrangement allows air and predators access to your plants, keeping them dry and free from bugs and diseases. Or at least, that’s the theory Our experience with aphids hiding in curled leaves shows the value of keeping areas open - watch that drama unfold.

The outlook is bright for predatory insects. The long wet winter has given us an abundant crop of predatory insect. An army of lady bug larvae was emerging in this morning’s warmth – and heading off to feed…

Remember when ordering seeds this year Renee’s Coupon Code that brings Camarillo Community Garden 25% of each purchase is FR442A – as we mentioned in this post on our new partner.

Filed Under: Gardening, Spring Garden Ideas

Saving Seeds

January 3, 2011 By mike

Saving Seeds in the Garden

Saving Seeds

Now that we have been harvesting our crops, a number of people have asked about seed saving. Today I got a a copy of a new publication on seed saving. Although it is designed for teachers with school gardens, there is a bounty of really useful information included for everyone.

I have loaded the book onto our site, and you can read it by clicking this link: A Handful of Seeds – SEED STUDY AND SEED SAVING FOR EDUCATORS, by Tina Poles, Occidental Arts and Ecology Center. If you would like to save a copy to your computer, right-click the link and select ‘save as…’ from the pop-up menu.

As I said, this is meant for use in schools, but you will find everything from basic botany, parts of flowers named and explained, what (and why) are there fruits, essays on our major food crops and our food pioneers.

Filed Under: Community Gardens, How-To Articles Tagged With: seed saving

Biodynamics and Permaculture

January 2, 2011 By mike

Biodynamic gardening, and its close relative, permaculture, are two very popular styles of gardening. Biodynamics and permaculture topics have been popular for many years, but much of the information is based on folk-lore, superstition, and untested ideals. Biodynamic farming is similar to organic production, and like an organic garden, no synthetic pesticides or fertilizers are used.

A biodynamic farm is viewed as its own ecosystem and most often includes a diverse mix of crops and livestock, which are considered complimentary. Biodynamic farmers use “unique preparations” and compost. Planting, cultural operations and harvesting are guided by celestial events.

With a mix of organic principles and cosmic spirituality, practitioners believe their compost emanates “energetic life forces to vitalize vegetables, plants, flowers, lawns, gardens, farms and our earth.”

While much of mainstream agriculture is unconvinced about the value of biodynamic tenents, UCCE farm advisor Glenn McGourty sees their value.

Many of the precepts do seem to be viable, and recently, many are being tested in a scientific manner by University agricultural researchers. This article in the San Francisco Examiner suggests that the ‘mainstreaming’ of biodynamics is close at hand. There are currently 75 California wine producers either certified biodynamic or in transition and the number is growing by 15%t each year.

Others, as suggested in this Agricultural And Natural Resources News blog post, think the system is a ‘hoax’, and are “shocked and outraged” that UC Cooperative Extension is co-sponsoring a “Shortcourse in Biodynamic Winegrowing.”

Napa County farm advisor Glenn McGourty says such farming systems “are well documented to improve soil quality, grow productive crops, reduce the need for petrochemical inputs, recycle farm byproducts in a safe and effective way, and provide a gentler footprint on nature compared to some practices used by conventional growers.”

“There are lessons for all of agriculture in some of the basic agronomy that biodynamic farmers practice,” McGourty continues.

I am in contact with several of the farm advisers noted in the stories and hope to be able to present you with detailed research on this subject – so stay tuned!

Update!

Here is a link to an article titled, “The Science Behind Biodynamics” by Lynn Carpenter-Boggs, Center for Sustaining Agriculture and Natural Resources, Washington State University.

Biodynamics (BD) is experiencing an upsurge in interest, along with related organic and sustainable farming practices. However, BD has some unique aspects that are poorly understood and steeped in myth. Biodynamics may not be the cure-all that some practitioners claim it to be, but the BD system clearly holds potential to improve agricultural and horticultural production and to teach us about beneficial microorganisms and biochemistry.

What is Biodynamics, and What is it Used For?

Biodynamics is an esoteric approach to agriculture created by Austrian philosopher Rudolf Steiner. Steiner was also the father of the philosophy “anthroposophy,” anthroposophic art, anthroposophic medicine, Waldorf schools, Camphill communities, Eurythmy dance, and several other movements in science and culture. In 1924 a group of farmers concerned with declining soil and food quality approached Steiner for a solution. Steiner, neither a farmer nor a scientist, drew on traditional European farming mythology and new impulses from anthroposophy to build BD. Biodynamics was envisioned to not only produce ample food and fiber, but also to heal and nourish the people who depend on these products by healing the soil, plants, animals, and earth.

You can continue reading here…

Biodynamics (BD) is experiencing an upsurge in interest, along with related organic and sustainable farming practices. However, BD has some unique aspects that are poorly understood and steeped in myth. Biodynamics may not be the cure-all that some practitioners claim it to be, but the BD system clearly holds potential to improve agricultural and horticultural production and to teach us about beneficial microorganisms and biochemistry.

What is Biodynamics, and What is it Used For?

Biodynamics is an esoteric approach to agriculture created by Austrian philosopher Rudolf Steiner. Steiner was also the father of the philosophy “anthroposophy,” anthroposophic art, anthroposophic medicine, Waldorf schools, Camphill communities, Eurythmy dance, and several other movements in science and culture. In 1924 a group of farmers concerned with declining soil and food quality approached Steiner for a solution. Steiner, neither a farmer nor a scientist, drew on traditional European farming mythology and new impulses from anthroposophy to build BD. Biodynamics was envisioned to not only produce ample food and fiber, but also to heal and nourish the people who depend on these products by healing the soil, plants, animals, and earth.

Filed Under: Biodynamics, Gardening Tagged With: biodynamic gardening, lasagna gardening, permaculture garden, permaculture gardening

Starting A Fall and Winter Garden

November 8, 2010 By mike Leave a Comment

Planting a fall garden

IMG 1213 200x300 Starting A Fall and Winter Garden

Planting a fall garden

Last month, we talked about getting out the cool season seeds and starting a fall or winter garden. The weather, again, was weird and temperatures in the high 90s don’t suggest cool season crops. A couple of us standing around in the garden with temperature in the high-90s and we were discussing putting in more tomatoes…

But lets assume it does cool off. If that happens we should be looking at planting veggies from this list:

Asparagus: If you have the patience, asparagus is a great investment. It takes a couple of years before you can bring in a big harvest, but once producing the plants will provide shoots for years. Look for asparagus ‘crowns’ the size of your hand – the bigger the better. Plant the crowns in a trench filled with compost, aged manures and soil. Fill the trench in each year with fresh manures. The crowns will grow when you allow the spear to develop into foliage. Taking too many too early will deprive the roots of the nutrients they need to develop.

Follow this link to read more about how to grow asparagus.

This is a good time to get in your root crops like beets, kohlrabi, chard (chard is related to beets), and turnips. Beets grow all year long, are slower to develop in cold weather, but are sure to please.

You can start putting in the cabbage family plants. These include cabbages, broccoli, cauliflower, Brussels sprouts.

Other cool weather veggies appropriate for planting now include carrots, endive, garlic, leeks, lettuces/mache, onions, peas, potatoes, radishes, rhubarb, and spinach.

Here are some on-line resources to help you along the way:

Seed Suppliers:

Informational Sources:

Filed Under: Fall Vegetable Gardening Tagged With: fall vegetable gardening, fall vegetable gardens, vegetable garden design, vegetable garden planning, vegetable garden planting, when to plant vegetables

Starting new school gardens

August 1, 2010 By mike Leave a Comment

Camarillo Community Garden members, staff and parent from La Mariposa School led a huge work party / educational event Saturday July 31st. The school provided materials and eager students to build a dozen new 8′ x 4′ x 1′ raised garden beds, while we provided guidance to build the beds. A special thanks to Karl for his never-ending enthusiasm and sense of civic duty.

The kids at the school turned out in force. Some of them worked all day and out-lasted their dads. It was a great experience for them to do so much of the work, from digging up sprinkler heads and filling the holes back in, to building the boxes and filling them.

Check out the video of the day’s doings…

Filed Under: Community Gardens, School Gardens Tagged With: community gardens, school gardens

Second Season Garden

July 15, 2010 By mike

I just received Renee’s Garden July Newsletter, and I had to share it with you. It has a main topic of ‘second season’ gardens – what veggies are appropriate for this time of year. I’m sorry I didn’t get the photos with the text. You can subscribe to her newsletter on this page (on the left side-bar) July 2010

Time to Plant a Second Season Garden

Mid to late summer months are a perfect for sowing seeds of short season varieties which tolerate cooler nights and shorter days and provide tasty fall harvests. We call this “Second Season Gardening”. Read this month’s feature article Gardening for a Second Season for planting information to extend your garden’s production this year. For fall planting suggestions, also refer to our Kitchen Garden Plans for both short and long season areas. Vegetables and Herbs for Second Season Planting:

Herbs	Vegetables
Arugula	Beets	Lettuces
Borage	Broccoli Raab	Mache
Chervil	Broccoli	Mesclun Mixes
Chives	Carrots	Pak Choi
Cilantro	Chard	Peas
Dill	Fennel	Radishes
Bronze Fennel	Kale	Scallions
Parsley	Leeks	Spinach

Cut and Come Again Mesclun Lettuce
“Neon Glow” Chard

2009 1st place winner:
“Super Bush Tomatoes”
Katie Neumann, Woodland, CA

Enter our 7th Annual Photo ContestSo many people write to tell us about their success with our seeds that we’d like to see your results. We invite you to enter your favorite photo that includes a Renee’s Garden variety in our 2010 photo contest. The grand prize is a $50 gift certificate. There is a separate Kid’s Garden Photo Contest witha prize of a Children’s Garden Collection for gardeners under age 16. All entries will receive a complimentary packet of seeds, (one per person) so don’t delay! Deadline for entries is September 15, 2010. We will feature the winning photos on our website in October.

Please include no more than three photos with your entry. Include your full name, mailing address, email, the Renee’s Garden seed variety pictured and any additional descriptive comments.

TO ENTER: Email your photo and info to: photocontest@reneesgarden.com

July in the Trial Garden – by Lindsay Del Carlo, Trial Garden Manager Our California Trial Garden is in full production. The calendula trial sown earlier this spring are flowering in a bright shades of yellow, orange and auburn. These easy to grow flowers are quick to germinate and bloom in huge abundance. We are growing out 5 different varieties of Calendula to compare to our current Renee’s Garden variety,”Flashback ” because we are always looking for new cultivars that may be better in some way. However, in this trial, we came to the conclusion that we really prefer our Flashback best; it’s sturdy flower stems don’t flop over once they reach full height because plants grow a bit shorter than the classic, tall cut flower types of calendula. We also appreciate Flashback’s wonderful range of colors and forms and the fact that the seeds are selected and propagated by a small organic family farm in Oregon.

Another gorgeous new flower variety is Snapdragon ‘Chantilly Orange and Bronze’ from one of our favorite Japanese seed vendors. These deep shades complement the pastel combo of Chantilly snapdragons we already carry. Chantilly is very quick to grow from seed, taking only 3 months to become full blooming plants. They make outstanding cut flowers and rebloom nicely after the primary stalks are cut.

Among the vibrant flowers blooming now is our Renee’s Garden ‘Falling In Love’ Shirley poppies. These were sown last fall and we’ve had such cool weather that they are just finishing their bloom. The satin-cupped blossoms are a magnet for honey bees, easy to grow, fuss free and so pretty they make you happy just looking at them.

Herbs have also been a strong focus in the trial garden this season, especially grown in containers. Better Homes and Gardens Magazine just finished a photo shoot in our trial garden on growing and cooking with herbs. The photo editor and his talented photographers spent a few days here organizing and taking multiple photos of many different herbs including: Sage, Parsley, Cilantro, Thyme, Oregano, Basil, Dill, Chives, Mint, and Lavender. Renee is just finishing up the photos and graphics for our new Container Garden Herb Collection for 2011 which will feature many of the same herbs, so we had lots of pretty planted pots and window boxes for them to feature.

Recipe of the Month
From Renee’s upcoming new cookbook:
Summer Squash with Chunky Fresh Tomato Sauce

The Mediterranean-style sauce needs no cooking and adds real pizzazz to all summer squash. Serve over rice or polenta or with crusty bread for a satisfying hot day meal.

On Renee’s BlogSarah Renfro, our Business Manager, shares the transformation of her neglected lawn in “Creating My Edible Front Yard“
Click Here to view

Come Visit Often!Please visit our website to view all of our monthly feature articles and online catalog. Ordering is quick, easy and secure. We look forward to hearing from you.

Best Wishes,

Renee’s Garden has over 2000 Facebook Fans!
Enter our seed giveaway contest to celebrate:Become a Facebook fan and tell us what is growing in your containers, and you’ll get a chance to win three packets of container-friendly seed packets. This week’s theme is Container Vegetables. Three winners will be picked at random on July 16. The Week Two giveaway, ending July 23, is Container Herbs and Week Three, ending July 30, is Container Flowers. Thank you for your support and gardening stories, and we look forward to many more as your garden grows.

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Filed Under: Gardening

When to Plant Vegetables

January 9, 2010 By mike

“When to Plant Vegetables” is a really complex question. In California alone, there are 27 different climate zones, from tide pools to frozen rocky crags. In between the extremes, there are many combinations of long season (mild winter) and short season (short, hot summers and cold winters).
There is a web site I found with good information on when you can plant different types of garden veggies. the site lists plants and planting dates for many veggies with dates given for both long and short seasons. With spring coming I thought I would share this link with you: When to Plant Vegetables
With the wide variety of climates in the world, local information is always best. Check with your gardening neighbors, your local extension service or your local Master Gardeners.
As an alternative, there is some cool software that helps you adjust your starting, growing and harvesting dates. Check out GroVeg, the on-line garden planner. There is a good write-up on it on this vegetable garden design software review page.

Filed Under: Gardening Tagged With: vegetable planting guide, vegetables for this season, when to plant vegetables

Natural Insect Management

December 29, 2009 By mike

I just ran across this article posted in E-Zine, dealing with garden insect pests, and I thought I would pass it on with some comments (my comments are this color)… Read the original article here.

“Most gardeners love planting vegetables and watching the little plants grow from a seed. It is a very enjoyable hobby. However, when insects invade and ravage the plants, it can get quite aggravating. There is nothing more frustrating than watching your hard work go down the drain in this age old battle, the gardener versus the insect. There are many organic gardening pest control tips that can help the gardener get the edge on its unwanted visitor without adding poisonous chemicals to the area that you are growing food for your family.”

See the UCCE/ANR Integrated Pest Management page for specific treatments and strategies for our locally occurring pests.

“Organic gardening is popular. It is healthier to eat produce that is insecticide free. Most insecticides in the stores are filled with chemicals. It is always a question if just washing off produce actually gets rid of the chemicals.

Attracting good insects is always a great insect control plan. Good insects kill the bad ones that tend to eat the plants. Around the edges of your garden plant flowers that will attract the beneficial insects. Examples of the plants are marigolds, zinnias, cosmos, daisies and dill.”

Our plan for the gardens includes a perimeter planting of beneficial insect host host plants. A local supplier of insect attracting seed mixes is S&S Seeds in Carpenteria. For those of you with large areas or hillsides to maintain, S&S also offers a large variety of native wildflower mixes to suit different needs.

“If you have a small family garden, handpicking the insects off of the plant may be considered. However, this job can also drive you crazy. The bugs will continue to come back or more will come in its place.”

Suggestion: Some pests, like snails and earwigs, hide under cover during the day time. A board placed on the ground overnight, when flipped over, will reveal snails, ready to stomp. Earwigs will collect in a rolled up and flattened newspaper, which can be collected and submerged in water to kill the bugs.

“You can consider making your own homemade “bug juice”. Take about one half of a cup of bugs and smash them up in two cups of warm water. Run this through a very small colander that you do not plan on using again. Put this into a spray bottle. This bug juice tends to deter new ones of that species. It is deterrence.

If smashing bugs is not for you, try another recipe for a natural spray. Finely chop up some hot peppers and soak them into a pint of water overnight. Strain them and put into a spray bottle. Spray onto plants. This spray will work on vegetables as well as flowers. You can also use garlic in place of the hot peppers.”

Hint: Garlic and Pepper spray does work pretty well in deterring some insects. A few drops of dish washing liquid detergent helps emulsify the mixture and makes it easier to spray. The detergent (also called a ‘surficant’) also helps the spray stick to the waxy surfaces of some plants and leaves.

“As people are determining that there is a value to food that is grown without chemicals and additives, organic gardening is becoming more popular. Growing fruits and vegetables without pesticides is a great way to provide food for your family. Using insects, different types of plants and homemade sprays all are effective at controlling the insect population in your yard and garden.”

Author Lucinda Pryse enjoys writing about various topics, including gardening, health, and education. Visit her latest web site at http://smallfoodprocessors.net where she shares tips about buying small food processors.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Lucinda_Pryse

Filed Under: Gardening Tagged With: Integrated Pest Management

New Spider Discovered in Ventura County

Garden Predators and Antonio Garden

What to Plant When the Weather Can’t Decide

Crazy Weather Planting Considerations

Grow your own shade to protect your cool weather veggies

Cool Weather Veggies to Grow in the Shade

Saving Seeds

Saving Seeds in the Garden

Biodynamics and Permaculture

What is Biodynamics, and What is it Used For?

What is Biodynamics, and What is it Used For?

Starting A Fall and Winter Garden

Planting a fall garden

Starting new school gardens

Second Season Garden

When to Plant Vegetables

Natural Insect Management

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