September Tips & Events for Santa Clara County |
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“By all these lovely tokens, September days are here. With summer’s best of weather and autumn’s best of cheer.” ~Helen Hunt Jackson
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Quiz: What’s That Orange Bump on the Branch? |
You may see something like this when you walk around your garden. You may also find it attached to a piece of wood, a fence, or on tree bark. Can you guess what this is? |
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Fall Festival at Martial Cottle Park on October 7 |
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Come celebrate Santa Clara Valley’s agricultural heritage at Martial Cottle Park’s annual Fall Festival. This all-ages and dog-friendly event will feature live music, kids’ activities, agricultural workshops, food trucks, and more. Our Master Gardener Demonstration Garden, located within the park, will be open. We will be offering cool-season vegetable, ornamental, and herb seedlings for sale, along with garlic, shallots, and succulents. There will be talks and opportunities to get answers to your gardening questions. Join us!
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When: Saturday, October 7, 9 am–2 pm
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Where: Martial Cottle Park, 5283 Snell Avenue, San Jose
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Cost: Free admission, $6 parking on-site (space limited)
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Growing Peas for Winter Harvesting |
Our mild Mediterranean climate lets us grow a wonderful range of cool-season vegetables all winter long, and peas are a particular star. If you plant in September while the soil is still warm, peas will grow quickly and start to produce in 2–3 months. They will then continue into early spring, giving you months of sweet, tasty treats. Be sure to give them full sun, at least 6–8 hours. Vining peas need a trellis to climb. Shorter bush types can be self-supporting but benefit from a little support to keep them upright once the peas start forming. Choose varieties resistant to powdery mildew if you know that’s a problem for your garden.
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Photo credit: Robert Owen Wahl |
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Plant Winter and Spring Ornamentals Now |
Fall is the best time to plant most ornamentals in California. The soil is warm but not hot and winter rains are just around the corner. These conditions are ideal for promoting root growth and giving plants a strong start in your landscape. Since ours is a Mediterranean climate, select plants that grow naturally in warm summers and mild winters. They may be rootbound and look scraggly in the nursery because many are dormant by the end of summer. Don’t be deterred. Just look for healthy roots and loosen them before planting. You can also plant cool-season flowers now that bloom in the winter or others that grow slowly and then explode into fabulous spring blooms.
Photo: Plant salvias (commonly known as sages) in the fall. This one is a Salvia greggii (Autumn Sage), Brent McGhie
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Why Do I Get So Much More Fruit Some Years? |
Some fruit trees bear much more fruit in one year, followed by a year of low production. This is called alternate or biennial bearing. It happens because the tree puts so much energy into producing a heavy crop one year that it has fewer resources to begin forming flowers for the following year’s crop. So what should you do? You can either decide to enjoy the biennial bumper crop or work to even things out by thinning overly heavy crops during a heavy-bearing year. See the link below for details about fruit thinning, including what varieties should always be thinned and the impact on alternate bearing.
Photo: Satsuma mandarin, which can be alternate bearing, Allen Buchinski
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Ultrasonic gopher deterrents claim to use high-frequency sound waves to scare gophers and other pests away from your yard or garden. But do they really work? UC scientists conducted research trials to find out, and their results showed that the devices weren’t effective. The same applies to vibrating stakes, commercial repellents, and aromatic plants. Even installing owl boxes isn’t likely to prevent plant damage, and fumigation isn’t effective. So what can you do? Trapping is the most effective gopher control method. Learn more using the link below. |
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Photo: Botta’s pocket gopher emerging from its burrow, Charles Hood |
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Quiz Answer: Praying Mantis Egg Case
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Photo: Praying mantis nymph — about 1 cm, Ying Chen
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The quiz photo is a praying mantis egg case. It can contain dozens to hundreds of eggs. Praying mantises develop through three life stages — egg, nymph, and adult. Nymphs emerge from the egg case looking like a smaller version of the adult, without developed wings. Even as nymphs, they are fully equipped to catch and prey on any smaller insects as an adult would. They will molt several times, getting slightly bigger each time before becoming adults. They are general predators in the garden, feeding on beneficial insects as well as less desirable ones. |
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Our monthly 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. Please note that the Plant Clinic Online is now on the second Tuesday of the month (September 12), from 7–8:30 pm. Priority will be given to questions that are emailed in advance; instructions are in the Zoom registration confirmation. Registration required.
Summer Fruit Tree Pruning, Saturday, September 9, 9–11:30 am, Guadalupe River Park Historic Orchard, 425 Seymour Street, 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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