Napa Master Gardener Column

by Penny Pawl, UC Master Gardener of Napa County I remember when my parents would go for a drive and the front of the car would be covered with dead bugs that had been hovering in the road. That doesn't happen any longer. The dense populations of bugs have disappeared.

By Susanne von Rosenberg, UC Master Gardener of Napa County Recently, as our winters seem to have become drier (and the rains certainly come later than they used to), I've been exploring the topic of drought-tolerant edibles. This naturally led me to learning about native edible plants.

By Susanne von Rosenberg, UC Master Gardener of Napa County This is the time of year when we start to prepare our soil beds for spring planting. Because Napa County has large rural areas and many households keep backyard chickens, many of us have access to free manure.

By Susanne von Rosenberg, UC Master Gardener of Napa County One of the reasons I really enjoy having fruit trees is that they are perennials: they give back a lot for relatively little effort. You can get the same benefits from perennial vegetables.

By Penny Pawl, UC Master Gardener of Napa County Someone once asked me if it was possible to grow a camellia from seed. Yes, it is possible, but seldom will it have the same flowers as the parent. A neighbor of mine had a wonderful camellia with a beautiful flower.