Can you believe it’s already been another year? It seems like time has just flown by like leaves on a windy fall day. Too soon? We know leaf clean-up can be quite the chore! This past year we have learned how to try to create a ‘new normal’ as we stepped into the...
As the weather changes from summer to fall, then to winter, it’s important to take the right steps to care for your fruit trees. Fall the optimal season to look after the health of, and to care for your fruit trees. We’ve compiled some tips to help you along the way....
The San Joaquin Valley and Visalia area are known for milder winters than much of the rest of the United States. This lends itself to a more enjoyable gardening season than other areas and is the time to think about a winter garden. Our cool, wet weather marks the...
In our last article, we discussed the importance of knowing your growing zone, otherwise known as your Hardiness zone. Visalia is located in Zone 9B. What does that mean to you? Any plant that you choose needs to survive your zone’s lowest temperatures. Knowing your...
We all know the fundamentals of gardening. We are taught early on that plants need light, good soil and proper water. We are educated on the best fertilizers we can use, ideal spots to plant, and which plants are annuals vs. perennials. One thing that some of us don’t...
The smoke is still here and the fires around us are sadly still blazing. How can you protect yourself and your plants while gardening during fire season? We are experiencing drought here in the San Joaquin and Central Valley, something we’ve reluctantly grown...
Summer has just about skated right out the door and fall is coming. Now is the time to let your fall gardening ‘fall into place’. It’s time to start planning for our fall gardening. What should we be planting now? Here are some ideas for fall gardening. What to plant...
So, I bet you didn’t know that we now have an extra season? Fall, Winter, Spring, Summer… Fire Season. Every year are noticing an increasing number of wildfires throughout California, Oregon, Washington, and Idaho. We see the effects of the smoke all around us here in...
Landscaping during a drought has become something that we’ve had to become accustomed to in the Central Valley. While we all appreciate having a gorgeous yard, we also must appreciate our need to respect the environment and be good stewards of the Earth. But how can...
First of all, what is deadheading anyway? It sounds like a heavy metal band name out of the 90’s, but it’s an actual gardening term. Deadheading a plant is when you cut off the flowers of the plant which are dead or dying. The sure sign of a dead or dying flower is a...
We are once again facing a drought this summer, but we won’t let it rob us of the joy of gardening. One way that you can give your garden a leg up is by using mulch to improve water movement into the soil surface. Mulch slows the velocity of overland water flow helps...
As many of us are planning our flower or vegetable gardens this spring we may start to wonder which one we should plant. How do we choose? We can look at some pros and cons of flower or vegetable garden and let you choose if you feel one is better than the other. So...
