Workshop tackles topics from weather to weeds

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• 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.

• Gain ground in the battle against rodent invaders

  Gain ground in the battle against rodent invaders

  Rodents and their nemesis, owls, will be discussed at this month’s Advice to Grow By Workshop. Join the University of California Master Gardeners, for an outdoor workshop on Saturday at 10 a.m. in the garden at 2156 Sierra Way, San Luis Obispo. This month’s dual topic will be packed with information, so bring your questions, a pen and a notepad.

  We all know the telltale signs: small, rice-size feces, shredded material or simply a brazen ball of fur with bald tail darting wantonly among your living space, holes in the garden and damaged plants.

  No matter which method you use, rodents continue to alarm and escape capture throughout many a SLO County garden. Rodents are known to transmit 32 separate diseases. Despite their propensity for spreading ill health, they grow ever capable of proliferating. Rodents, such as wood rats, are a major carrier of the ticks responsible for spreading Lyme disease.

• Of birds, bees, bats, butterflies and blooms

  Of birds, bees, bats, butterflies and blooms

  This month’s Advice to Grow By workshop will star birds, blooms and butterflies. The workshop, put on by the University of California Master Gardeners, will be at 10 a.m. Saturday in the Garden of the Seven Sisters, 2156 Sierra Way, San Luis Obispo. Bring a notepad and be prepared to discover the connection between wildlife and success in the garden.

  As population soars and growth sneaks into unfettered areas, wildlife habitat continues to decline. Come and uncover the history, problems and causes related to loss of wildlife habitat.

  Wildlife adds animation to the garden but also confers many benefits, such as insect control and ecological balance. Learn how your skills as a gardener can help create a beautiful, sustainable garden that encourages a diverse and healthy ecosystem.

• Low impact development? In gardening? Yes!

  Low impact development? In gardening? Yes!

  Here’s a scholarly expression I bet you never thought you’d hear in a discussion about gardening: Low impact development practices. Abbreviated as LID, the concept covers gardening aspects such as site planning, land use, hydrology, and erosion and sediment control.

  In a nutshell, LID includes an innovative approach to storm water management that goes against the current practice of storm water disposal, where runoff is conveyed to costly water treatment facilities or rushes into local creeks.

  Instead, water is captured close to its source using small, cost-effective landscape features to implement infiltration, storage and evaporation. This principle models the way nature managed rainfall at its source before urban development covered up all the soil and caused this thing called runoff.

• Growing concerns: The art of plant propagation

  Growing concerns: The art of plant propagation

  Propagating your own plants can be fun, inexpensive and reward you with a variety of species that may not be commonly found in nurseries. It’s not just for ornamental plants, either. Propagation can provide a greater variety of delicious and unusual vegetables.

  One method of plant propagation, which we are probably most familiar with, involves buying a packet of seeds, sowing them in the ground and keeping them moist to wake them up. When we do that with radishes, beans, carrots, corn or melons, for example, we are usually well rewarded.

  When we try doing the same with peppers, eggplants and tomatoes, we don’t usually fare as well. That’s because some seeds are able to germinate in a wider temperature range. For example, radishes germinate between 55 degrees F and 85 degrees F, while eggplant germinates best between 80 degrees F and 90 degrees F.