October Tips & Events for Santa Clara County |
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“All gardening is landscape painting.” ~William Kent
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It’s October! Ready for a spooky quiz? Take a look at the pest photos in the Haunted Halloween Hunt and make your best guesses. When you’re ready, you can take a look at the answers. |
Photo credit: R. Michael Davis
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Our Fall Garden Fair and Plant Sale Is October 7 |
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Our annual Fall Garden Fair is being held this year as part of Martial Cottle Park’s Fall Festival. In addition to the Park’s activities, we’ll have many events at our in-park demonstration garden. There will be gardening talks on topics including growing cool-season vegetables, starting a home orchard, planting sweet peas, capturing rainwater, and growing California native plants. See how we grow things and ask questions at our on-site Help Desk. Bring pruning shears and learn how to sharpen them. Check out our plant sale for cool-season vegetable, herb, and ornamental seedlings, California native plants plus garlic and succulents. Join us!
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When: Saturday, October 7, 9 am – 2 pm
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What: Gardening talks and cool season plant sale
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Where: Master Gardener Demonstration Garden at Martial Cottle Park, 5283 Snell Avenue, San Jose
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Cost: Free admission, $6 parking on-site
Photo credit: Melissa Womack
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Beyond Tulips and Daffodils |
We love tulips and daffodils, but why not mix it up a bit and add less common bulbs to your garden? How about a crown imperial fritillaria (F. imperialis) whose orange or yellow bell-shaped flowers hang in clusters from a single stem up to four feet tall? Or try the blue, star-like Grecian windflower (Anemone blanda) which contrasts nicely to yellow daffodils planted nearby. These photos and descriptions of gorgeous bulbs will offer plenty of inspiration. Plant bulbs in informal clusters, rather than in rows, for a showier display. See more bulb tips here.
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Photos, clockwise from top left: Windflower (Anemone blanda) (Missouri Botanical Garden), Crown imperial fritillaria (F. imperialis) (Missouri Botanical Garden), Brodiaea ‘Queen Fabiola’ (Allen Buchinski), Harlequin flower (Sparaxis tricolor) (Allen Buchinski)
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What to Do with a Brown Lawn? |
Do you have a lawn that has turned brown from years of water restrictions? Perhaps you want to plant something in place of your lawn? Fall is a great time to plant. The plants will have time to establish roots before the cold of winter and especially before the heat of next summer. Consider planting drought-tolerant plants that will grow in our climate such as California natives. These plants can grow easily and require much less water once established. They need less maintenance and can provide habitat for pollinators. If you would like to learn more, join us at our Local California Natives for Your Garden talk on October 14, 2023.
Photo: California natives planted in place of lawn via sheet mulching, Ying Chen
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If only plants could tell us what’s going on when there’s a problem! Instead, we’re left to evaluate signs and symptoms. But for avocados, San Diego Master Gardener Greg Alder has an excellent blog post about “reading” avocado leaves. His article has many photos you can use for comparison for issues including mites, cold damage, sunburn, under- and over-watering, and more. For example, if you find mature avocado leaves turning yellow, the “problem” might be no problem at all. That’s what avocado leaves look like when they get old.
Photo: Natural end-of-life for Fuerte avocado leaves, Greg Alder
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Leafminer Damage on Leafy Greens |
Have you ever noticed twisting, ghostly trails on your chard, spinach, or beet leaves? Those are the paths left by leafminer larvae as they chomp away just under the surface of the leaf. Leafminer adults, which are yellow and black flies, lay eggs on the leaves. Then the larvae burrow into the leaf where they are safe from predators. You can check the leaves for the small white eggs and rub them off. Pick off and compost leaves with trails before the larvae drop out to complete their life cycle. To protect young seedlings, use row cover to keep the flies from laying eggs in the first place. |
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Photo: Leafminer damage on chard, Utah State University |
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Oriental Fruit Fly Quarantine |
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Photo: Adult oriental fruit fly, Dacus dorsalis, Jack Kelly Clark, UC ANR
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The entire City of Santa Clara and parts of Cupertino, Milpitas, San Jose, and Sunnyvale are affected by a new quarantine for the oriental fruit fly. To prevent the spread of fruit flies via infested homegrown fruits and vegetables, people living in the quarantine zone (map) are urged not to move fruits or vegetables off the property where they were grown. According to the CDFA, “fruits and vegetables may be consumed or processed (i.e., juiced, frozen, cooked, or ground in the garbage disposal) at the property of origin. If they are not consumed or processed, dispose of them by double-bagging them in plastic bags and putting the bags in the garbage bin for collection.”
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Our Plant Clinic Online is an opportunity to chat with a Master Gardener via Zoom to diagnose a plant problem. You can also listen and learn while other people ask questions. The Plant Clinic Online is held the second Tuesday of the month from 7–8:30 pm, March–October. October 10 is your last chance for this year! Priority will be given to questions that are emailed in advance; instructions are in the Zoom registration confirmation. Registration required.
MCP Fall Seed Swap, Saturday, October 14, 10–11:30 am, Martial Cottle Park, 5283 Snell Avenue, San Jose
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Check our calendar for the latest schedule of events. Videos of many past presentations are also available.
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University of California Master Gardener volunteers promote sustainable gardening practices and provide research-based horticultural information to home gardeners. Visit our website for more information including:
Have a gardening question? Ask us. We’re here to help!
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