Due to Northstate Public Radio’s Spring Membership Drive, there is no regular airing of
In a North State Garden this weekend April 21st and 22nd.

Please join us for a special one-hour call-in of In a North State Garden on Northstate Public Radio (91.7 fm KCHO in Chico; 88.9 fm KFPR in Redding) on Tuesday April 24th from 10 am - 11 am. The show will focus on “The State of the North State Foodshed: A Conversation” with special guests Earl Bloor of Edible Shasta Butte, Noelle Ferdon of Buy Fresh, Buy Local North Valley, Chris Kerston of Chaffin Family Farms, and Wayne Kessler of Shambani Organics and the Shasta Community Teaching Garden.

If you enjoy In a North State Garden and all that it brings to the North State, please consider calling in during the special to make your pledge of support for Northstate Public Radio and its valuable local programming! 1 - 800 234-5246.

In the meantime, while the apple blossoms are blooming, I thought it was a good time to revisit the Trinity Heritage Orchard Project in Weaverville. The orchards will be breathtaking this time of year.

“A Lilac bush and an Apple tree
Were standing in the woods,
Out on the hill above the town,
Where once a farmhouse stood.

In the winter the leaves are bare
And no one sees the signs
Of a house that stood and a garden that grew
And life in another time.”

Kate Wolf - The Lilac and the Apple Tree

The North State has many rich legacies. One of them is heirloom apples. Since 2006, Carol Fall, Program Representative for the University of California Cooperative Extension in Trinity, has been working year-round trying to trace and document this very legacy for the Trinity Heritage Orchard Project (THOP). Photo: An heritage apple tree in full production at the Steiner Flats orchard site in Trinity County.

The Trinity Heritage Orchard Project is “a multi-purpose effort by the UCCE which seeks to preserve the horticultural history of the County, promote heirloom orchards as a food resource, and demonstrate techniques to care for these neglected trees.” It is one of the branches (pardon the pun) of “Trinity Roots,” an initiative sponsored by UCCE in Trinity County in order to promote agritourism and locally-supported agriculture. Photo: Carol Fall, UCCE Program Representative in Trinity County, beneath a fruiting apple on the grounds of the Young Family Ranch in Weaverville.

Among many other programs on which Carol works, the Heritage Orchard Project is clearly close to her heart. She is animated and infectious in her enthusiasm for the project, the heritage it strives to protect, and the very trees themselves. Weaverville and Trinity County in general are clearly close to her heart. Photo: Carol Fall, UCCE Program Representative in Trinity County, discussing the quirks of some of the heritage trees at the BLM-owned Steiner Flats orchard site.

Carol works out of the Young Family Ranch, a remnant pioneer homestead dating back to the 1850s in Weaverville, located alongside the historic Weaverville Cemetery. The Ranch is owned by the Young Family Ranch Trust and managed by the Trinity County Resource Conservation District. When she is not out in the trees, or implementing one of the other UCCE nutrition or agriculture-education programs in the county, Carol is at the Young Family Ranch diligently mapping the location of old trees in the County, writing up seasonal conditions reports, inventorying the trees identified so far, and even tending to young grafts of some of the most significant old varieties. Photo: At the end of the grape-vine enclosed nursery garden at Young Family Ranch stands an elegant old barn.

Recently, Carol toured us around the Young Family Ranch grounds - citing the history of the buildings and the trees. Over a delicious and completely Trinity-County-sourced lunch, she talked with passion about the fun and satisfaction involved in locating the County’s old trees. She described hiking through snowy wilderness areas, orchard ladder in hand, in early spring “because that’s the easiest time to spot the trees - when they’re blooming!” she explained. Photo: The entrance sign at the Young Family Ranch.

THOP got its start in early 2006 with an effort to save and document old trees around the historic Lowden Ranch in Lewiston. A stage coach stop, post office and the location of a critically important bridge crossing the Trinity River, Lowden Ranch once boasted 3000 orchard trees. Like most of the heritage orchards in Trinity County, Lowden Ranch’s orchard was originally planted by settlers coming to the area after gold was discovered in the County in 1858. Among the many things that settlers brought with them from their former homes were cuttings and root stock for both productive and ornamental plants. Many, many varieties of apples were brought to the area and planted not only for their fruit but as importantly for producing hard cider. Now owned by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM), Lowden Ranch has just a few remaining trees - including ‘Sweet Bough’ and ‘Siberian Crab’ apples. Photo: Spring apple blossoms.

In the spring of 2006, when the decision was made by UCCE to undertake such a project, the first thing on the agenda was trying to locate old trees and remnant orchards in the County. While settlers may have “streamed to the area” following the discovery of gold, many historic homesteads were abandoned and allowed to return to their natural state once gold fever had passed. “At this point,” laughs Carol, “Trinity has more bears per capita than it does people.” Trinity County which covers around 2 million acres, is largely rural and boasts two of the North State’s most revered wilderness areas, The Trinity Alps and the Yolly Bolly Wilderness. Although many historic trees and orchards remain around existing towns, these wilderness areas are also dotted with historic apple trees marking the spots (along with other fruit trees and lilac bushes) where once homesteads stood. Photo: A heavily laden branch of ‘Sierra Beauty’ with an old shed side and the Weaverville Cemetery in the background.

To get the initial old-tree inventory started, the UCCE got information from a variety of sources. A Trinity County-legend, botanist and forester, Alice Goen Jones walked Carol through topographical maps of the County and marked areas in which she knew there were, or had once been, producing trees. Alice, who died at the age of 98 in 2010, was the 9th woman graduate of a forestry program in the United States and only the 3rd in the state of California, according to Trinity County Historical society sources. She received her degree in Forestry from UC, Berkeley in 1934 and subsequently moved to Trinity County with her husband. Alice was one of the leading advocates for the Trinity Alps to be designated as an official Wilderness Area, which it was in the 1980s. Alice knew the wilderness areas of Trinity County as well as anyone and Carol expressed how lucky she was to have received so much first-hand information from Alice. Photo: A largely untended, but fruitful ‘Rome’ apple dating back to the 1860s at the Steiner Flat orchard site.

Carol and the UCCE also reviewed existing historical records and put out a call to local residents through ads and community announcements requesting any information about old trees. Over 145 locations of old trees were reported and listed by mid-2006. Some were single trees, Carol said, others were larger orchards. Photo: The freshly cut but quickly browning flesh of a famed cider apple, the ‘Hubbardston Nonesuch.’ This apples develops a protective russet-colored netting on its skin as it matures, making it an excellent ‘keeper’.

Between 2006 and 2007, staff on the THOP visited 50 of the reported tree sites. “In the fall of 2006 and 2007, apples and pears were collected from 118 trees at 28 locations,” Carol reported. Of the originally visited 50 sites, 22 of them did not bear fruit. Collected fruit was sent to Ram Fishman of Greenmantle Nursery in Garberville for identification. Carol described Ram as the “Godfather of Heirloom” in the area, and his nursery is dedicated to “All the old timers, Long may they thrive”. After years of working with him, sending fruit to id and cuttings to graft and propagate, Carol has learned a lot. Over time, she has developed her own sense of which trees are most interesting, bear the best fruit, might be a variety as yet undocumented by the project, or might be worth reproducing as clones to protect the lineage. But she is always excited when she finds something she is not sure of and sends it off to Ram for confirmation. Photo: Heritage pears are also tracked and documented for the Trinity Heritage Orchard project. This one ornaments the entrance to the Young Family Ranch in Weaverville.

Ideally, Carol maintains a fairly systematic schedule of visiting old trees in spring to see if they are in bloom, reporting on time and condition of bloom and then re-visiting those same trees again the following autumn to collect and report on the tree’s fruit. “I try to collect fruit from one tree six times over the course of the fruit production, each time collecting from a different part of the tree. I note things such as ripening time, color of fruit over time, flavor, juice, aroma, flesh texture and the color of the fruit when cut.” All of these factors indicate different things, such as how well people will like the apples, and help Carol decide to collect ’scion wood’ cuttings in order to reproduce the trees or not. “People used to have very different standards as to what made a good apple,” Carol said. “For one thing, whether it kept well without refrigeration. For another, how soft it was. Many people today prefer a crisp, firm apple. But back then, they did not have the teeth we have now or the dentistry and so a soft apple - like ‘Golden Sweet’ was preferred. They also used a lot of apples for drying, cooking, and making cider and hard cider. Many of these heritage apples, such as ‘Hubbardston Nonesuch’ and ‘Smith Cider,’ aren’t great eaten fresh, but make great cider or cookers!” Photo: Heritage lilacs, roses and pears are also tracked and documented for the Trinity Heritage Orchard project. This pear ornaments the entrance to the Young Family Ranch in Weaverville.

One of the goals of the THOP is to identify and reproduce culturally significant varieties, especially ones no longer in cultivation and in danger of being lost as a genetic strain. Between data collected on the fruits of the heritage trees and the identification provided by Ram Fishman, Carol and UCCE decide whether or not to collect cuttings from which to grow clones. Cuttings are taken as hardwood cuttings from the top of the tree in February when the tree is dormant. Apples are some of the longest lived fruit trees, especially in the ideal (for apples) climate of Trinity County, with its cold winters and dry hot summers. But Carol admitted to there being a certain urgency to the work, for her, as these trees begin (after all these years) to “senesce and head towards the end of their useful life.” She worries that important old varieties could be lost before she gets to them to take cuttings. In spring 2008, Carol identified a significant tree in one of the wilderness areas, but wildfires that summer, caused so much damage in the region, that the tree was lost. “It was heartbreaking.”

When a tree is chosen for cloning, multiple cuttings are grown-on to increase the chance of success that one or more will reach maturity. Ram Fishman keeps some of the clones, and the UCCE takes some them. Once the clones are big enough, the UCCE plants the young trees in public areas such as schools and banks and libraries in order to keep the genetic variety alive and to provide fruit and access to this ‘living history’ to the public. “Trees from scion wood collected in 2006 have been planted in the Weaverville Children’s Garden, Hayfork Children’s Garden, Weaverville Community Forest, Lowden Ranch, and the Young Family Ranch.” Photo: Apples from the Steiner Flat trees.

“You can request this work be done by us as well.” Carol related with regional pride that a long-time resident of downtown Weaverville requested that UCCE take cuttings of the name-unknown old tree in her garden. “She’s 98 and happily paid the small fee for identifying and taking cuttings under the condition that we re-plant the tree at the local school before she dies. There’s a great legacy.”

If you’re headed to Trinity County, you can visit many of the historic orchards on your own, and public gleaning is allowed, but gleaners are asked to follow good gleaning etiquette, for instance do not climb or otherwise cause potential damage to the trees and ask first to pick any fruit from private property. Although originally planted by miners and homesteaders following the Gold Rush, many of remnant orchards and trees are on land now owned by local or federal agencies. Photo: Apples from the Steiner Flat trees.

The following orchards are listed as easily accessible:

Lee Ranch House, Weaverville
Located on Lorenz Street behind the Jake
Jackson Museum, owned by Trinity
County.The ranch house was built in 1918 by
Sam Lee, a miner, farmer, storekeeper
and descendant of a pioneer
chinese family.
Apple trees include Gravenstein, Lawver
and Grindstone (AKA American Pippin).

Steiner Flat Orchard, Douglas City
Turn on Steiner Flat Rd from Hwy 299 at Douglas City. Go 3
miles. Orchard is on your left. Owned by BLM.
Steiner Flat was settled by Benjamin Steiner in 1850. The
ranch produced fruits and vergetable to sell to the mining
community.
Apple varieties include Sweet Bough, Roxbury Russet,
Holland Pippin, Hubbardston Nonesuch, and Rome Beauty.

Lowden Orchard, Lewiston
Located on Lewiston Road, 2 miles north of Hwy 299.
Look for Parking Area & trailhead. Walk trail 1/4
mile north through pasture. Owned by BLM.
William Lowden established a homestead here in
1852. His Grass Valley Ranch supplied produce
to a hotel and stage stop at the ranch and other
locations beginning in 1858. Only a few trees remain
from an orchard that once included almost 3000 trees.
Apple varieties include a Sweet Bough and Siberian Crab.

Highland Art Center, Weaverville
Located on Hwy 299, across from Jake Jackson Museum
Owned by Snyder-Highland Foundation.
The Highland Art Center was formed in 1953. The facilities
were orginally a residence built in 1894 with various out-
buildings added over the years.
The apple tree adjacent to the white picket fence is a
Keswick Codlin.

UCCE serves Trinity County through its 4-H Youth Development Program, Nutrition, Family & Consumer Science Program, and Agriculture & Natural Resources Program. Carol is hoping to also begin a Trinity County Master Gardener program in spring of 2012. Photo: Heritage trees that have been visited by Carol or other UCCE staff are pin-pointed using GPS and labeled as well as entered into the computerized data-base of the THOP trees.

The Young Family Ranch hosts a series of events to educate children and their families about gardening, nutrition and natural resources, including the Summer Day Camp, Pioneer Day, a Pumpkin Patch and Cider Pressing. For more information on upcoming activities, contact: TCRCD at (530) 623-6004.

Follow Jewellgarden.com/In a North State Garden on Facebook.

To submit plant/gardening related events/classes to the Jewellgarden.com on-line Calendar of Regional Gardening Events, send the pertinent information to me at: Jennifer@jewellgarden.com

Did you know I send out a weekly email with information about upcoming topics and gardening related events in the North State region? If you would like to be added to the mailing list, send an email to Jennifer@jewellgarden.com.

In a North State Garden is a weekly Northstate Public Radio and web-based program celebrating the art, craft and science of home gardening in Northern California. Made possible in part by the Gateway Science Museum - Exploring the Natural History of the North State and on the campus of CSU, Chico, In a North State Garden is conceived, written, photographed and hosted by Jennifer Jewell - all rights reserved jewellgarden.com. In a North State Garden airs on Northstate Public Radio Saturday mornings at 7:34 AM Pacific time and Sunday morning at 8:34 AM Pacific time. Podcasts of past shows are available here. Weekly essays are also posted on anewscafe.com a regional news source that is simultaneously universal and positively North State.

In my experience, gardening is a motivating and compelling force to bring people together. Even with our time and attention constantly split and fractured, we still find ways to come together over gardening - perhaps particularly so over food gardening. While there are pros and cons to the ever increasing presence of technology in our lives, many gardeners have found that technology can be an incredible boon to our gardening knowledge and resources and connections. Photo: Members of Chico Garden Share Project at a project-hosted permaculture workshop “Making Bokashi and Creating a Winter Garden with Sheet Mulch”. Members shown include Agb biotics, Rosie, Wendy and Joseph Wiklund, Leslie Wilson Corsbie, Laurie Niles and Monica Bell. (more…)

Spring is very nearly officially here in the North State. It is a time of year when our mild climate and amazing soils result in the entire region fairly busting at the seams with new growth and renewed life. Gardeners, farmers, ranchers and market growers are all up to their elbows in this life: seeds, seedlings, transplants, blooms, pollinators, eggs, chicks, calving and lambing, and so on. In the vegetable garden and farmers markets the end of the cold hardy winter crops are slowly yielding to the tender spring offerings of asparagus, peas and spring greens. As growers - and as EATERS - we live in a mighty fertile foodshed. Many of us chose to live here because of this abundance, and many individuals and organizations work hard to help maintain, support and even grow this very foodshed. The Buy Fresh Buy Local - North Valley, an outreach of the Northern California Regional Land Trust (NCRLT), is one such program. Photo: The Buy Fresh Buy Local bumpersticker which has ornamented the bookshelves above my desk since summer 2010, when I participated in a Slow Food Shasta Cascade event in Red Bluff. Lower: A pipevine swallowtail butterfly sips nectar from a blooming ‘Santa Rosa’ plum in early spring. (more…)

March in the garden is both maddening and full of spring’s mirth. Even with our terribly low winter precipitation thus far, the garden and countryside are moving along – unfolding in flower, fruit and seed.

We’re lucky that our relatively mild climate allows us to plant flowers, fruits and vegetables from seed almost every month of the year – but even so March may take high honors as the big seasonal Seeding – indoors and out. (more…)

This week In a North State Garden had the pleasure of speaking with Stephanie Elliott, her two year old son, Collin, and Laurie Niles - all participants in Cultivating Community, a Chico-based project working to encourage the learning about and growing of good food, locally and on small, home garden and community scales with a long-term goal of improving health in the North Valley. Photo: A community garden supported by Cultivating Community and its partnering organizations. UNLESS OTHERWISE NOTED ALL PHOTOS ARE COURTESY OF CULTIVATING COMMUNITY AND THEIR PARTNER ORGANIZATIONS.

According to the Cultivating Community website, the initiative is “a multifaceted project supported by a 2011 California Department of Food and Agriculture Specialty Crop Grant and awarded to CSUC Research Foundation. The project aims to increase food security by serving the Specialty Crop food economy and system needs of low-income residents, local growers, and service agencies.” Photo: Re-sourced signage at the Bidwell Community Garden, supported in part by Cultivating Community and its partnering organizations. (more…)

In the chilly (32 degrees) dark of 5 am this morning, as I gave my dogs their morning biscuits, I admired the form of the ‘Big Dipper’ almost directly overhead. I stood, bundled up, in the center of my starlit back garden - just admiring. Five am at the height of summer, I can be getting my coffee and heading out to begin playing in the garden, but in mid-December, as we near the richly-storied winter solstice - the longest night of the year in the Northern Hemisphere - crisp early mornings make for a great star-gazing; the entire garden is a virtual planetarium. Photo: The Moon and Jupiter in close proximity in the winter night sky. In the Northern Hemisphere, several well-known constellations are associated with winter. While many people of think of the ‘Big Dipper’ as a constellation, it is in fact more accurately an asterism - or part of a constellation or larger group of stars. The ‘Big Dipper’ is a commonly recognizable asterism of the larger constellation known as Ursa Major.

As gardeners, perhaps, we are even more aware than many of the shifts in light and its relative availability throughout the seasons and the year. Cultures across the globe have long celebrated the winter solstice and held it dear as the day on which the dark has reached its peak. As of the winter solstice, with every subsequent day, we are headed back toward the life-renewing light - the full intensity of the Sun’s energy.

Many gardeners time their planting and harvest - both the time at which they plant and harvest as well as what they are planting and harvesting - based on the phases of the moon. They do this in order to take full advantage of the powerful influence of the Moon’s on Earth as seen through tidal shifts, etc. In particular, the gardening/agricultural philosophy known as Biodynamics uses the phases of the moon as one of the critical markers for gardening tasks. According to Biodynamics.com, biodynamics, based on the teachings of Rudolph Steiner, the founder of Anthroposophy, is “a type of organic farming that incorporates an understanding of “dynamic” forces in nature not yet fully understood by science. By working creatively with these subtle energies, farmers are able to significantly enhance the health of their farms and the quality and flavor of food. It is ….. A recognition that the whole earth is a single, self-regulating, multi-dimensional ecosystem. Biodynamic farmers seek to fashion their farms likewise as self-regulating, bio-diverse ecosystems in order to bring health to the land and to their local communities.”

In thinking about the solstice and winter night sky in relation to my garden, I wondered about what the solstice actually was. To find out, I turned to friend and colleague Dave Schlom. Dave is a full-time science educator, and longtime host of Northstate Public Radio’s weekly program on planetary (including Earth) science, The Blue Dot Report. This week on In a North State Garden, Dave talks about what a solstice is and how it impacts us.

Let’s start with planet Earth and how it is positioned in space. The equator is what we call the great imaginary line (line of latitude) around Earth’s circumference. The equator lies half-way between the North Pole and the South Pole. Earth’s rotational axis is tilted 23.5° relative to the Sun. The Tropic of Cancer and the Tropic of Capricorn are lines of latitude 23.5° north and south, respectively, of the equator (Figure 3). The Sun is always directly above a point between these latitudes. In our winter, the Sun is south of the equator and in our summer it is north. What we in the Northern Hemisphere call the winter solstice, is the day that the Sun is 23.5° south of the equator, or directly above the Tropic of Capricorn. During the summer solstice, the sun is directly above the Tropic of Cancer, or 23.5° north of the equator. “That is why what we call the winter and summer solstices are perhaps more accurately referred to as the southern and northern solstices respectively,” explains Dave. Photo: NASA’s diagram of Earth’s position relative to the Sun at the time of a Northern Hemisphere Winter Solstice.

“In Latin,” he goes on, the word “’solstice” means ’sun stop’ because as ancient Roman people were tracking the arc of the Sun each day, it was at each ’solstice’ that the Sun seemed to stop in its tracks and begin to move back in the other direction - causing daylight hours to either get longer as after the winter solstice, or shorter, as after the summer solstice. The vernal and autumnal equinoxes occur at those moments twice a year when the Sun is directly over the equator, making for equal hours of daylight and dark. http://www.worldatlas.com/aatlas/imagee.htm

Why is it cold in winter and warm in summer in our part of the world? The seasons change due to Earth’s rotational axis being tilted 23.5° relative to the Sun. So, for half of the year (our winter), the Northern Hemisphere is pointed slightly away from the Sun. This angle makes sunlight hit the ground in the North State at a lower angle in winter than in summer. So energy coming from the Sun is spread out - and thereby made less intense - over a larger area on the ground.

Interestingly, notes Dave, while the winter solstice might mark an official beginning of winter, it is only rarely the coldest day of the year. Because the Northern Hemisphere is moving only slowly more tilted away from the Sun’s rays from the summer solstice to the winter solstice, the mass of the Earth receives warmth from the sun each day and only slowly does it begin to lose more each night than it gains each day. Therefore, it takes a while after the winter solstice for the Earth to cool down as far as it is going to in any given winter.

So while the winter solstice does not mark the end of cold, but is closer to the beginning of the cold stretch for our North State gardens, this cold can be beneficial - killing unwanted fungi, pathogens and others pests. (Protect and cover your citrus and other tender plants so that the cold does not kill them.) The winter solstice does however mark the shortest day of the year - and while the cold temperatures and short daylight hours might slow your garden and you down some - things are only getting brighter from here.

Happy Winter in your North State Garden!

For more information on the solstice and stars in the winter night sky, Gateway Science Museum in Chico will be hosting related Education Station activities on Saturday and Sunday, December 17th and 18th, and on the Winter Solstice, December 21st from 1 - 3 pm each day. Docents will model the concept of a solstice, show you projections of constellations in the winter night sky, and give you pin-hole constellations cards to make and take home. Additionally, on the 21st, stories behind the winter constellations will be read in the Newberry Gallery from 1 - 3 pm.

Also, fellow gardener and star watcher, Karen McGrath wrote in to me with the interesting fact that although the winter solstice is the shortest day of the year, the earliest sunsets do not occur on this day! There is an interesting discussion about why at http://earthsky.org/tonight/earliest-sunset-today-but-not-shortest-day, which is a nice additional resource on these types of discussions.

Follow Jewellgarden.com/In a North State Garden on Facebook - become a fan today!

To submit plant/gardening related events/classes to the Jewellgarden.com on-line Calendar of Regional Gardening Events, send the pertinent information to me at: Jennifer@jewellgarden.com

Did you know I send out a weekly email with information about upcoming topics and gardening related events? If you would like to be added to the mailing list, send an email to Jennifer@jewellgarden.com.

In a North State Garden is a weekly Northstate Public Radio and web-based program celebrating the art, craft and science of home gardening in Northern California and made possible in part by the Gateway Science Museum - Exploring the Natural History of the North State and on the campus of CSU, Chico. In a North State Garden is conceived, written, photographed and hosted by Jennifer Jewell - all rights reserved jewellgarden.com. In a North State Garden airs on Northstate Public Radio Saturday mornings at 7:34 AM Pacific time and Sunday morning at 8:34 AM Pacific time. Podcasts of past shows are available here. Weekly essays are also posted on anewscafe.com a regional news source that is simultaneously universal and positively North State.

Seasonal precipitation has returned with relative gentleness on the Valley portions of the North State along with some frosts and early enticing snow in the foothills and high country. Our scenic California oak grasslands and wetlands are greening and filling; deciduous blue oaks, sycamores, maples and alders drop their summer biomass and rich, colorful fall changes to winter’s simplicity.

We are in the season of thankfulness.

I am thankful for the dried oak leaves and grass clippings both readily available now. A cozy layer of this mix insulates soil and root systems from the coming temperature and humidity fluctuations, and allows the winter rains to slow-release their nutrients down. If you have been able to get a feeding of 0-10-10 fertilizer onto the soil before topdressing with this mulch - all the better for edibles or ornamentals.

If you can work the soil, December and January are still ideal for the planting of new perennials, shrubs and trees – and bare root season for ornamental and fruit trees as well as perennial berry canes and veg will be getting fully underway by January.

In the seasonal edible garden, now is a good time to direct seed bok choy, broccoli, kale/collards, lettuce, onion sets, peas, radish and spinach. It’s also a good time to direct some annual flowers for next spring and summer’s color, these include: California poppy, larkspur, cornflower and scabiosa.

As you continue to cut back perennials and edibles that have run their course, remember that diligent attention to plant and soil hygiene now will pay-off well in the long run – winter precipitation can also inadvertently spread bacterial and fungal diseases from diseased plants. Carefully clean up the dead and fallen leaves from roses, peonies, iris, cane fruits and any other plants on which you have ever notices black spot, mildew or other issues. Do not compost diseased leaves or woody materials, discard it with your household trash.

Watch the weather forecast closely now and be prepared with frost cloth to cover tender plants.

When pruning, try to leave seed heads, healthy foliage, and winter blooms for the birds and insects to snack on and nest with - weather permitting. You will be as thankful as them. The frolicking of birds, bees and butterflies in the winter garden are some of the many gifts of the season.

Gifts of the season overflow the calendar of gardening events this month. The On-line Calendar of Regional Gardening Events at jewellgarden.com adds events throughout the month. I do my very best to keep the calendar up to date and accurate, please confirm all events with the event host. If you have an event you would like listed or if you are aware of a mistake on the calendar, please send all pertinent information to: Jennifer@jewellgarden.com! Thanks!

NOVEMBER

November 27 - Chico: Mt Lassen Chapter Cal Native Plant Society - Field Trip: Ten Mile House Trail to Big Chico Creek 9:15 am Meet at Chico Park & Ride west parking lot (Hwy 99/32) in time to leave by 9:30 am. Wear hiking shoes and bring lunch, water, sunscreen/insect protection and money for ride sharing. We’ll drive east 9 miles on Hwy 32 to the Green Gate Trail Head. From there we’ll follow an historic wagon road down to Big Chico Creek, our lunch site. On our return we’ll see buckeye and black oak in fruit and stop at a spring where a homestead once stood. Be prepared for a 700′ elevation gain back to the trail head. Four miles round trip. Call leader for alternate meeting location. Gerry 530-893-5123. For more information: http://mountlassen.cnps.org/

November 29 - Red Bluff Garden Club: Monthly Meeting and Program: 1:00 p.m. at the Union Hall, 12889 Baker Road in Red Bluff, California. Public Welcome! For more info: http://redbluffgardenclub.com/Home_Page.html; 530.824-5661 or email dianecleland@att.net.

November 29 - Chico: Butte Rose Society General Member Meeting & Little Rose Show 6 pm gather, 7 pm meeting and program on Seasonal Pruning of Roses. Chico Veterans Memorial Hall at 554 Rio Lindo Ave. For more information: http://www.butte-rosesociety.org/

November 26 – Redding: McConnell Arboretum & Botanical Gardens at Turtle Bay: Walk With Lisa Endicott, Horticultural Manager 11 am. Bring your notebooks and camera! We’ll make our way through the Gardens with frequent stops for discussions about (what else?) plants! Free with Park or Garden admission. Meet at West Garden Entrance. Take N. Market Street, turn on Arboretum Drive. Take the right fork. Parking lot and entrance are on the left. More info: 530-242-3178 or www.turtlebay.org/nursery

DECEMBER

December 1 – Paradise: Saturen Studio Botanical Illustration Classes - Fall Session VI begins 3:30 pm to 5:30 pm every Thursday for 4 weeks: Dec 1 - Dec 22, 2011. 10 yrs to Adult. Create scientific illustrations of exotic flowers, leafy foliage, tantalizing fruit, and seeds – even carnivorous species. Draw flora to scale, add texture, shadows, and balance as you transfer visual references to paper. Sharpen your drawing skills and pencils as you learn techniques that create 3-dimensional drawings that appear to pop out of the paper! Terry Ashe Recreation Center in Paradise, California Paradise Recreation and Park District (PRPD) Supplies list available at PRPD office. FEE: $30.00 INSTRUCTOR: Ben Saturen. More info please email: b.saturen@yahoo.com

December 2 - 4 - Red Bluff: SLOW FOOD SHASTA CASCADE and Holbrook Studios present 2nd Annual Kilnside Christmas Featuring local artisans, cheeses, wines, olive oils and more. Friday 5 - 8 pm, Sat. & Sun. 9 am - 4 pm. 575 Wiltsey Avenue, Red Bluff. For more info: http://www.themuddyhands.com/Christmas2011

December 2 & 3 - Red Bluff Garden Center: Holiday Wreath Class 10am both days. Create a beautiful holiday wreath to take home. Cost is $10. Please call to reserve space. 530-527-0886. http://www.redbluffgardencenter.com/home?GardenCenter=Events

December 3 – Redding: Shasta Chapter California Native Plant Society : Mule Mountain Hike 9 am meet at Redding City Library. This Mule Mountain hike is a repeat of last year’s hike, except that the trail has been completed to the south base of the mountain, with only a steep 300’ off-trail elevation climb to the top. This is a 5-mile, moderately difficult hike. Expect to see typical mixed conifer and chaparral plants including silk tassel, redberry, deer brush, service berry, snowberry and snowdrop bush. Meet at 9 AM at Redding City Hall south parking lot on Parkview Avenue. No dogs, please. For more information, call David Ledger at 355-8542. http://www.shastacnps.org/calendar.html

December 3 – Redding: McConnell Arboretum & Botanical Gardens at Turtle Bay: Holiday Wreath Making Workshop 9 am - noon. Floral designer and instructor Darlene Montgomery leads this creative and fun holiday workshop. Each participant will create their own fresh, full-size holiday wreath for the front door or family room. All materials provided. Space is limited to 15 participants, adults and youth ages 16+. Call 242-3108 to pre-register (required). Members $35, nonmembers $40 Visitor Center - JSS Classroom More info: 530-242-3178 or www.turtlebay.org/nursery

December 3 – Redding: McConnell Arboretum & Botanical Gardens at Turtle Bay: Charlie Rabbit and Friends 10:30 am. Presented by John & Betty Fitzpatrick. An interactive program in the Children’s Garden (or Greenhouse in rain) for children, their siblings, parents and grandparents. Join Charlie, our adorable jack rabbit puppet, in various gardening activities. Wear your favorite gardening clothes! Free with Park or Garden admission. Meet at West Garden Entrance. Take N. Market Street, turn on Arboretum Drive. Take the right fork. Parking lot and entrance are on the left. More info: 530-242-3178 or www.turtlebay.org/nursery

December 3 - Redding: Wyntour Gardens: Holiday Open House and Kids Planting Party Open House All Day. Planting Party 10am - Noon. Join us in celebrating the holiday season with delicious goodies and hot apple cider. One Day Gift Shop Sale. For more info: inform@wyntourgardens.com, 365-2256. 8026 Airport Road Redding.

December 3 - Los Molinos: SLOW FOOD SHASTA CASCADE and Kitchel Family Organic Farm present 2nd Annual Holiday Local and Fair Trade Gift Faire 1:00pm - 4:00pm BUY/SELL/TRADE Kitchel Family Organic Farm 25255 3rd Ave. Los Milinos Please call if you are interested in booth space! 384-1966

December 3 – Davis: UC Davis Arboretum: Guided Tour: Planting for Pollinators and Other Beneficial Insects 2 p.m., Arboretum Teaching Nursery, Garrod Drive, UC Davis. People thinking about adding to their home landscapes can tour the new demonstration plantings at the UC Davis Arboretum Teaching Nursery on Saturday, December 3. The guided tour will focus on the best plants for our garden climate that attract and provide habitat for butterflies, hummingbirds and other native pollinators. The tour will meet at 2:00 p.m. at the Arboretum Teaching Nursery, on Garrod Drive across from the School of Veterinary Medicine on the UC Davis campus. There is no charge for the tour, and free parking is available in Visitor Lot 55, on Garrod Drive across from the nursery. For more information, please call (530) 752-4880 or visit arboretum.ucdavis.edu.

December 3 & 4 - Durham/Chico: Patrick Ranch Winter Holiday Fair and Sale: Opening Reception 4 - 8 pm Friday December 2nd with wine, live music and appetizers; Saturday 10 - 5pm, Sunday 10 - 4pm. Seasonal holiday arts and crafts and fun. Glennwood Historic Farmhouse tours will be offered Saturday and Sunday. 10381 Midway, Chico. For more information: 530-570-7343.

December 4 - Redding: Growing Local Shasta Alternative Christmas Fair First United Methodist Church, 1825 East Street, Redding. For more info email growinglocalshasta@gmail.com

December 4 - Chico: The Plant Barn: Annual Wreath Classes Two classes being held, you must call to reserve space in this annual, festive tradition of friends, fun and the fashioning of holiday wreaths. 530-345-3121. 406 Entler Avenue, Chico.

December 4 - Chico: Mt Lassen Chapter Cal Native Plant Society - Field Trip: Lower Bidwell Park Old Forestry Station 10:00 am Meet at the Cedar Grove parking area (just west of the Chico Creek Nature Center at 1968 E. 8th St) for a 2-hour stroll through the old (1888) California Board of Forestry plant introduction and nursery station. Many fine old specimens of American persimmon, Japanese zelkova, cork oak, black ash, and 65 others from around the world still survive. The Bidwells gave these 29 acres to the state for testing woody plants for their use in horticulture, medicine, forestry, and landscaping. Over at noon. Leaders: Wes 530-342-2293 and Gerry 530-893-5123. For more information: http://mountlassen.cnps.org/

December 4 - Chico: Magnolia Gift & Garden: Holiday Open House Benefit for the Butte Humane Society and Featuring the Yule Logs! 2 - 4 pm. Join us for holiday cheer and music, a garden of gifts and delights at the same time helping to support our four-footed friends at the Butte Humane Society this holiday season! Simon (the divine canine representative at Magnolia) Says Santa (who’s a dedicated winter gardener) will be pleased. Magnolia Gift & Garden 1367 East Avenue 530-894-5410. http://magnoliagardening.com/

December 4 - Los Molinos: SLOW FOOD SHASTA CASCADE and Blush Catering present A Moveable Feast: 3 - 9 pm. Arc Pavilion. 2040 Park Avenue, Chico, California.Open Boutique, 3-5 p.m. (free admission). Dinner, 5-9 p.m. Tickets $40 at http://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/211986 Appetizers and No Host Bar with Local Wine and Beer Makers, 5-6:30 p.m. Blush Catering and Slow Food Shasta Cascade cordially invite you to join us for an interactive dining experience this holiday season. The meal will highlight products from Chaffin Family Orchards, GRUB, Morse Farms, North Valley Farms Chèvre, and Turri Family farms. Come meet the farmers as we dine together to celebrate community and the North State’s seasonal bounty. Prior to the dinner there will be an open boutique showcasing several of the participating farmers and Slow Food USA’s “Ark of Taste” program. Other eco-friendly local products will also be available for sale. Boutique admission is free. Ticket sales will be available only until Saturday, December 3rd at 5:00 p.m. Get your tickets early, these events sell out! Check out Blush’s website! http://www.blushcatering.com/

December 7 - Chico: Mt. Lassen Chapter of the California Native Plant Society Regular Monthly meeting and Program “Evolutionary Development, Classification, & Name Changes in the California Flora” by Dan Potter 7:30 pm Butte County Library, Chico. Dan Potter is a professor in the Department of Plant Sciences at UC Davis and Director of the UC Davis Center for Plant Diversity, including the University’s herbarium. The names of plants have been in flux for centuries. They have occurred at an accelerated pace in recent years, due to advances in our understanding of evolutionary relationships based on analyses of DNA. The results are sometimes striking. Dan’s presentation will be a great chance to learn the ins and outs of plant naming, to become more confident with sometimes daunting terms.For more information: http://mountlassen.cnps.org/

December 10 - Full Moon and Terre Madre Day

December 10 - Corning: SLOW FOOD SHASTA CASCADE and Lucero Olive Oil celebrate Terre Madre Day with First Annual Winter Crush 10 am - 4 pm 1st Annual Winter Crush at Lucero Olive Oil Saturday Dec. 10 - 10:00am to 4:00pm 2120 Loleta Avenue, Corning Fresh Citrus Olive Oil, Cooking Demo’s by Farwood Bar & Grill (Orland) & GR Gibbs (Redding), Food Tastings, Live Music… For more information go to lucerooliveoil.com andslowfood.com/terramadreday.

December 10 - Sacramento: Sacramento Master Gardeners: All Dried Up - Master Food Preserver Demonstration 10 am - Noon. Basic introduction to safe dehydration techniques. This is a free class. Location: 4145 Branch Center Road Sacramento, Ca 95827 http://ucanr.org/sites/sacmg/?calitem=132072&g=21788

December 10 - Chico: The Plant Barn: Holiday SALEABRATION 10 am - 5pm Holiday-style flower floozie fun! Appetizers, local artists, Wine and Olive Tastings and Random Sales all Day. 530-345-3121. 406 Entler Avenue, Chico.

December 10 - Chico: Chico Horticultural Society: Annual Holiday Greens Workshop 2 - 4 pm. Bring Family, bring friends and share the holiday spirit. Annual Chico Hort Holiday Greens Workshop: Saturday December 10th from 2 - 4 pm, at the Chico Library General Meeting Room. We will have demonstrations on hand-making your own holiday wreath, swag or centerpiece using seasonal greens, berries and cones. The cost of the workshop is $12 and includes all the materials (forms, greens, wire, ribbon) and help needed to a make one 12″ round wreath, one hearty door swag, or one stunning holiday centerpiece. Registration Required. To register to participate, please contact Jennifer Jewell at 588-6369 or jennifer @jewellgarden.com, in your message please indicate how many are in your party, which item each person would like to make, and a good contact for you for confirmation. Money will be collected at the door on the day of the event.

December 14 – Davis: UC Davis Arboretum: Walk With Warren 12 noon, Gazebo, Garrod Drive, UC Davis. Join Arboretum Superintendent Emeritus Warren Roberts for a lunchtime stroll in the UC Davis Arboretum on Wednesday, November 9. Enjoy the crisp fall weather, explore the pleasures of the autumn garden, and get a little exercise. Meet at noon at the Gazebo, on Garrod Drive on the UC Davis campus. There is no charge for the tour. Parking is available for $7 in Visitor Lot 55, on Garrod Drive at the School of Veterinary Medicine. For more information, please call (530) 752-4880 or visit arboretum.ucdavis.edu.

December 17 – Davis: UC Davis Arboretum: Guided Tour: Under the Redwood Canopy 2 p.m., Wyatt Deck, Old Davis Road, UC Davis. Enjoy the peace and silence of the redwood grove on a misty winter day and learn about the complex and fascinating ecosystem of the redwood forest during a free guided tour at the UC Davis Arboretum on Saturday, December 17. This walk will provide a brief introduction to the ecology and history of the coast redwood and the plants that grow under the redwood canopy. The tour will meet at 2:00 p.m. at the Wyatt Deck, located on Old Davis Road next to the Arboretum redwood grove on the UC Davis campus. There is no charge for the tour and free parking is available in Visitor Lot 5, at Old Davis Road and A Street. For more information, please call (530) 752-4880 or visit arboretum.ucdavis.edu.

December 19 - Chico: In a North State Garden: Special I-5 LIVE! The Wonderful World of Mushrooms 8 - 9 pm. Join host Jennifer Jewell and mushroom-enthusiast guests Don Simoni of Mushroom Adventures, and Beth and Stephan Wattenburg in Forest Ranch to chat about the seasonal appearance of these wonderful structures throughout the North State. What do they tell us? How to begin to id them? Where to go see them, how to make a spore print, and some favorite recipes preparing them. KCHO 91.7/KFPR 88.9 fm in Chico and Redding.

December 21/22 - WINTER SOLSTICE 12:30 am Eastern Standard Time

December 31 - Chico: Butte Rose Society Annual Rose Pruning Demonstration, Historic Stansbury House 10 am. Want to see how to prune roses effectively and correctly and have seasonal fun doing it? Join the BRS for their annual pruning demo in the Historic Stansbury House rose garden. For more information: http://www.butte-rosesociety.org/

December 31 – Redding: McConnell Arboretum & Botanical Gardens at Turtle Bay: Walk With Lisa Endicott, Horticultural Manager 11 am. Bring your notebooks and camera! We’ll make our way through the Gardens with frequent stops for discussions about (what else?) plants! Free with Park or Garden admission. Meet at West Garden Entrance. Take N. Market Street, turn on Arboretum Drive. Take the right fork. Parking lot and entrance are on the left. More info: 530-242-3178 or www.turtlebay.org/nursery

December 31, 2011 - January 1, 2012 HAPPY NEW YEAR. May be peace be yours in the coming year.

Jewellgarden.com’s collections of note cards and blank journals make wonderful gifts. Dedicated to the art, craft and science of gardening, produced wholly in the North State on 100% recycled papers, Jewellgarden.com’s line of Holiday, Natives in the Garden, Edibles in the Garden, and Seed Series of printed products will delight all the gardeners, readers, writers - all enjoyers of life - in your life this year. Available now on-line. All of Jewellgarden.com’s cards are printed in Chico by Quadco printing using 100% recycled paper and vegetable-based ink.

Follow Jewellgarden.com/In a North State Garden on Facebook. Photo:

To submit plant/gardening related events/classes to the Jewellgarden.com on-line Calendar of Regional Gardening Events, send the pertinent information to me at: Jennifer@jewellgarden.com

Did you know I send out a weekly email with information about upcoming topics and gardening related events in the North State region? If you would like to be added to the mailing list, send an email to Jennifer@jewellgarden.com.

In a North State Garden is a weekly Northstate Public Radio and web-based program celebrating the art, craft and science of home gardening in Northern California. Made possible in part by the Gateway Science Museum - Exploring the Natural History of the North State and on the campus of CSU, Chico, In a North State Garden is conceived, written, photographed and hosted by Jennifer Jewell - all rights reserved jewellgarden.com. In a North State Garden airs on Northstate Public Radio Saturday mornings at 7:34 AM Pacific time and Sunday morning at 8:34 AM Pacific time. Podcasts of past shows are available here. Weekly essays are also posted on anewscafe.com a regional news source that is simultaneously universal and positively North State.

“Eat your weeds,” is a comment you might hear in conversation with regional author Alicia Funk. This struck me as humorously ironic given that last week’s interview taught us more about ways to effectively eradicate troublesome weeds, but never did we consider eating them. This week, Alicia Funk suggests just that: we should eat our weeds. (In most cases the plants to which she is referring are not truly weeds, rather edible and medicinal native plants that thrive in our region.) Photo: Bright red ripe toyon (Heteromeles arbutifolia) berries ripe in winter. “Living Wild” includes cultivation information for toyon as well as a recipe for a tasty toyon cider.

Alicia, who lives and gardens in Nevada City, off the grid with her husband and their three children, is the co-author most recently of “Living Wild: Gardening, Cooking and Healing with the Native Plants of the Sierra Nevada,” (2011, Flicker Press. Available locally at Lyon Books in Chico). She believes passionately that if we as families, as gardeners, as foodies, indeed, as a culture, are going to move sustainability to the next level, we need to learn to engage with our local landscapes more intimately and more knowledgeably. “With our children watching some sort of screen for an average of five hours a day or more, this need to re-acquaint ourselves with the outdoors is ever more urgent,” she insists. She founded the LivingWild.org project as way to open and encourage conversation and sharing of knowledge and experience about engaging with the great outdoors around us.

Sustainability is not just about eating food labeled organic, or about eating locally grown food, even, Alicia expressed to me by phone recently. Indigenous people have lived - and thrived - in these very environments of the North State for thousands of years, they have learned how to responsibly and thoughtfully use the many native plants around us for food, for shelter, for medicine, for art. If we want to take sustainability and healthy living to a higher level, we can learn how to as well. And Northern California is just the place to take this step, Alicia pointed out, as we are blessed with more edible and healthful native plants than almost anywhere on the planet: “When I first moved to the North State in 2004, I realized that many of the native plants I was seeing were the sources of the nutritional and medicinal supplements I had studied.” Photo: The un-ripe, green berries of manzanita. According to studies conducted by Alicia, when ripe, manzanita berries, which are naturally sweet, also contain three times the antioxidants of blueberries.

Alicia Goldberg Funk first learned plant-based medicine in 1990 from an indigenous grandmother in Ecuador’s rainforest. Upon returning the US, she lived and worked in the Santa Cruz area where she studied with leaders in the field, Christopher Hobbs and Michael McGuffin, at the American School of Herbalism. Her subsequent research has focused on the science behind plants and their medicinal or nutritional uses. Safety is a primary focus to her research as is opening a conversation between the herbal world and the medical world. She is the editor of six books, including “The Botanical Safety Handbook,” “Herbal Medicine-The Expanded Commission E Monographs” and “The ABC Clinical Guide to Herbs.” Her passion is creating everyday wellness for individuals and the planet. Photo: A selection of acorns, which Alicia likes to call oak nuts, emphasizing their edibility. In her workshops, she teaches how to make oak nut flour.

Alicia Funk in Chico - October 1st, 2011

Alicia will be teaching a class entitled “Native Plants for Food and Health” on Saturday October 1st from 9 am - 12 noon for the Friends of the Chico State Herbarium’s workshop series. The fee for the class is $45; to register please contact the CSU, Chico Biology office at (530) 898-5356 or jbraden@csuchico.edu.

Class Description:

Connect with our local landscape by learning how native plants provided a sustainable source of food and medicine for local inhabitants for thousands of years.
Learn how to prepare and enjoy backyard fall and winter edibles such as Oak Nut (acorn) Bliss Bars, Beyond Cranberry Wild Berry Sauce, and Toyon Cider.
Discover how native plants such as Yerba Santa and California Bay can help address common winter colds.
Take a walk outdoors to identify the uses of plants in the field.
Workshop Outline Food: Backyard Edibles for Fall
• Prepare and taste Oak Nuts (acorns), Madrone berries, and Toyon berries.
Health: Natives for the Common Cold • Integrate Yerba Santa and California Bay into the natural medicine cabinet for common winter colds and flu.
Field Walk: Exploring Nature with Ethnobotanical Eyes (indoor slideshow if raining)
• Identify plants in nature and learn common uses.

Please register in advance; class size is limited to 20 participants (class cancelled with- out a minimum of 8 participants). For more information about workshop content please contact Alicia Funk at alicia@livingwild.org.

Following the morning class at the Chico State Herbarium, Alicia will be at the Gateway Science Museum for a hands-on activity for school-aged children and a book signing:

Plant Adventures: 1-3 pm
Gateway Science Museum on the Esplanade in Chico
Cost: free with admission

Have you tasted manzanita sugar or an oak nut (acorn) bliss bar? Our local landscape offers many plants that are useful for food and health and these plants sustained indigenous people without grocery stores for thousands of years. Come explore native plants through a treasure hunt, create a native plant journal and learn to turn acorns into delicious desserts.

Join visiting instructor and author, Alicia Funk, in an interactive program for all ages:

• Go on a treasure hunt to identify native plants.

• Learn to turn acorns into food.

• Create a native plant journal

• Taste wild food desserts and drinks.

• Signed copies of the new local guidebook: Living Wild—Gardening, Cooking and Healing with Native Plants of the Sierra Nevada, will be available for purchase.

Photo: The temptingly plump hips of California rose (Rosa californica). “Living Wild” includes cultivation information for this rose as well as recipes for Rose Hip Tea and Rose Hip Jelly.

More of my environmental writing can be found in the Chico News & Review, and Pacific Horticulture. Follow Jewellgarden.com/In a North State Garden on Facebook.

To submit plant/gardening related events/classes to the Jewellgarden.com on-line Calendar of Regional Gardening Events, send the pertinent information to me at: Jennifer@jewellgarden.com

Did you know I send out a weekly email with information about upcoming topics and gardening related events in the North State region? If you would like to be added to the mailing list, send an email to Jennifer@jewellgarden.com.

In a North State Garden is a weekly Northstate Public Radio and web-based program celebrating the art, craft and science of home gardening in Northern California. Made possible in part by the Gateway Science Museum - Exploring the Natural History of the North State and on the campus of CSU, Chico, In a North State Garden is conceived, written, photographed and hosted by Jennifer Jewell - all rights reserved jewellgarden.com. In a North State Garden airs on Northstate Public Radio Saturday mornings at 7:34 AM Pacific time and Sunday morning at 8:34 AM Pacific time. Podcasts of past shows are available here. Weekly essays are also posted on anewscafe.com a regional news source that is simultaneously universal and positively North State.

Put the growing needs of melons and the gardening conditions of much of the North State together, and what you get is an uncommonly happy marriage. This week on In a North State Garden (Northstate Public Radio 91.7 fm Chico/88.9 fm Redding at 7:34 am Saturday and 8:34 am Sunday), I talk to Kaye and Roger Diefendorf of Morning Glory Organics about growing melons. Located in Butte Valley near Oroville, Morning Glory Organics grows a selection of specialty and heirloom melons. (more…)

Gardening (and writing) in the heat of mid-August, it is sometimes difficult to pull my view up from the moment in order to plan for the future, but August is a good time to be planning and planting for the winter garden. It’s a good time to have soil prepared and to direct seed beans, beets, cabbage, carrots, cauliflower, celery, chard, lettuce, white onion, white potatoes and turnips. Photo: The summer garden may be like a small jungle and you may be harvesting tomatoes, peppers, eggplant and cucumbers like a mad person - don’t forget to plan and plant ahead for fall and winter crops.

It’s also a good time to be thinking about bulbs. If you are interested in planting more bulbs this fall, now is a good time to place orders from seed and/or bulb sources or growers in your area or at your local farmers market. Ordering now will help to ensure you get the best selections even though you won’t want to plant most bulbs out until October or November. This is true of ornamental bulbs like narcissus and alliums as well as for edible bulbs like GARLIC. (more…)