‘Advice to Grow By’: workshops for the gardener

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• Learning from a garden’s living classroom

  Learning from a garden’s living classroom

  Named for the series of mountains visible in the distance, Garden of the Seven Sisters occupies a gently sloping half-acre adjacent to the University of California Cooperative Extension office. The garden is designed and maintained as a living classroom and working laboratory to teach the home gardener sustainable, science-based gardening practices.

  The sizes of the garden displays are created for the urban backyard. A small kitchen garden display shows how successive plantings in a limited space can provide a remarkable variety and plentiful supply of vegetables all year round.

  The orchard demonstrates how two or three fruit trees, planted in a single hole, can maximize use of limited space and lengthen the season of harvest. The garden also provides a variety of droughttolerant ornamental plants, including many California natives that attract birds, bees, and butterflies.

• Workshop tackles topics from weather to weeds

  Workshop tackles topics from weather to weeds

  The San Luis Obispo Master Gardeners are at it again with their monthly Advice to Grow By workshops.

  This Saturday from 10 a.m. to noon the workshop will discuss that odd piece of machinery that inhabits the center of the Garden of The Seven Sisters. As important as any growing element in the garden, the mechanical whirligig is not modern garden art; it is a stateof-the-art weather station that measures temperature, precipitation, wind speed and soil moisture. All information is recorded and can be downloaded for comparison and research purposes.

  Though often disregarded, weather is a key player when it comes to gardening effectively. The number and severity of frost days, temperature, inadequate or excess rain and high winds impact plant growth, fruit production and soil. The weather station is a tool that allows information to be extrapolated and interpreted in an accurate, clearly defined manner.

• UC Master Gardeners seeking new members

  UC Master Gardeners seeking new members

  The Master Gardener Program is accepting applications, with the deadline quickly approaching on Dec. 1. If you want to learn about joining it, please visit us during our open house at the University of California Cooperative Extension Auditorium, 2156 Sierra Way, SLO, from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m. Nov. 10.

  Sponsored by the UCCE, the program is a volunteer service organization whose primary goal is to extend research-based information produced by the University of California, focusing on sustainable gardening and landscape practices for the home gardener.

  Master Gardeners are community members who love gardening and are enthusiastic to share their knowledge with others. After an initial interview process, volunteers are trained by Cooperative Extension experts in horticulture and plant science. The classes cover a range of gar dening topics including basic botany, plant propagation, soils and composting, plant and insect identification and control strategies, and diagnosing plant problems.

• Making the cut: The ins and outs of effective pruning

  Making the cut: The ins and outs of effective pruning

  January means different things to different people.

  For some it means good books, bunny slippers and naps by the fire.

  For avid gardeners, January is the time to grab a pair of pruners and head outside to the fruit trees and vines that await our attention. Careful pruning can make the difference between a bountiful crop of fruits and berries and an unhealthy, unproductive orchard. When we prune we get rid of dead and diseased branches and we improve the structure of a tree.

• Native plants can save water, attract wildlife

  Native plants can save water, attract wildlife

  Thinking of doing a little re-landscaping this fall? Wishing your landscaping could thrive with less work and water?

  The Master Gardener Advice to Grow By presentation this Saturday will give ideas for low-maintenance landscaping through use of native California plants.

  Fall is the time to plant California native perennials, shrubs and trees when the soil is still warm and winter rains are just around the corner. The winter is a prime time for the roots of newly planted shrubs and trees to become established, which will help them survive on little supplemental water during the first summer and if we are lucky, perhaps no additional water in the years that follow. Remember, most California native plants prefer our Mediterranean climate, with distinguishable hot dry summers followed by wet winters.