~ Gardening for ~ Fun and Savings Lynn Traber Gardener Extraordinaire

OUTLINE Welcome Introduction to Central Valley gardening Dirt, the Natural Antidepressant Growing Your Own: Picking the Right Plants Herbs Vegetables Fruits Container Gardening Incorporating Edibles into Your Flower Garden Saving Money $$$$ Recycling Composting Saving Seeds Plant by Theme Other Bits of Information Resources

Welcome !! Creating a garden, growing plants for food, and watching plants grow from seed or six-packs is a very rewarding pastime. Gardens require a certain amount of patience, care, and most of all, affection. They are a source of challenge, sometimes mystery, and great satisfaction! A garden is a constantly evolving process, whether you are growing tomatoes in a pot or landscaping an acre yard. You find that one thing will work and right next to it, a miserable failure. I find that keeping either a picture or hand written journal will help with the evolution process. Today, I’m going to show you how to incorporate vegetables and herbs into your flower garden and your life. These are tight times for most of us, right now! Let me show you how easy it is to plant your own garden and save money doing so!!

Climate Zones The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) calculates climate zones based on a winter minimum temperature. It provides a useful index for plant hardiness – the ability to withstand frost and low temperatures. The American Horticulture Society (AHS) has developed a system based on the average number of days above 86°F (the temperature at which cellular protein is damaged in many plants). Sunset’s Climate Zones method of zoning considers the broad range of factors based on information from all over the West. It gives Western gardeners a more accurate picture of which plants will thrive in each zone.

Dirt, the Natural Antidepressant Exposure to friendly soil bacteria may be just as effective as antidepressant drugs, a new study suggests!!

Growing Your Own! Growing fruits and vegetables may seem overwhelming to some people, but it is quite easy!! Improve your family’s health! Save money on groceries Reduce your environmental impact on the earth.

Growing Your Own! Get outdoor exercise! Reap physical and emotional healing effects. Enjoy better tasting food. Reduce food waste. Stop worrying about food safety.

Picking the Right Plants Very easy!! Go to our campus based “Farm Market” or the Ornamental Horticulture Unit! Large variety to choose from Local cultivars Will answer questions on care, planting, harvest and the occasional bug

HERBS Growing herbs indoors is a cost-effective — and handier — alternative to buying them at the supermarket. There are three ways to start an indoor herb garden: transplanting store-bought or garden-grown plants or starting new ones from cuttings or seed. Some of the easiest ones to grow indoors are, basil, parsley, oregano, chives, mint and sage. For people who love garlic, a great alternative is garlic chives. Cut the tops of the grass like blades and chop them up into your food for a mild garlic flavor.

VEGETABLES When deciding where to plant your vegetable garden, choose the best available location by keeping the following factors in mind: – Good soil – Level ground – Water supply You can grow veggies all year round here in the Central Valley. Warm weather crops (ones that grow late Spring into the early Fall) include: – Beans, Corn, Cucumbers, Eggplants, Melons, Peppers, Tomatoes, and Squash. Cool weather crops (late Fall to early Spring) include: – Artichokes, beets, broccoli, cabbage, lettuce, chard, and garlic.

FRUITS Our mild Mediterranean climate allows us to grow a dazzling variety of fruits and berries. Apples, pears, apricots, peaches, nectarines, plums, figs and cherries are all available in local stores and at Ornamental Horticulture Department here on campus. Citrus crops, that include oranges, grapefruit, lemons, and limes grow here very well, also. You can also grow blueberries, raspberries, strawberries and other berries in a pot on your patio, espaliered against the garage wall or a fence or in a plot of ground.

CONTAINER GARDENING Container gardening is REALLY easy. Pick whatever container you like! Plant either seeds or young plants and sit back and enjoy the fruits or veges of your labor!! Two examples are the mixed salad box below and the carrots and beans mixed with ornamental sweet potatoes shown here.

Incorporating Edibles into your Flower Garden As easy as container gardening! Artichoke makes a fantastically architectural statement planted next to my tree roses and has marvelous purple blossoms if you leave a few to flower! Sage blossoms mix well with fountain grasses. Carrots have a wonderful fern-type leaf that goes well with almost anything!

Saving $$ Recycling: – Newspaper makes a great weed cloth! – Coke bottles make a Hummingbird Feeder: Composting – Your kitchen scraps are a better amendment than you can buy! Saving Seed – Try seeds from the produce you bring home, or better yet, spring for a $1.79 package of seeds that will produce enough to feed a family of four several meals and still have some left over to give to the neighbors!! Cutting out just one restaurant meal per week will save between $40.00 to $100.0 per month!!

Plant by Theme

Radish Seeds to the Rescue Plant several white icicle radish seeds at the base of cucumber and squash seedlings. This discourages insects while providing an extra veggie crop. – Joyce Barnhart, Norwalk, Connecticut For more great veggie tips and ideas, pick up a copy of Grow Veggies For Less! $10.99 from the Country Store CatalogGrow Veggies For Less! Smart Seed-Starting If you’re planning on starting your own seeds this year, save a few newspapers from the recycling bin to use instead of pricey peat pots. Roll them up and place them upright in a planting container and plant away! Other Bits of Information!

MY YARD BEFORE AND AFTER

RESOURCES Gardens Alive, Catalog Extraordinaire – National Gardening Research Center – Environmentally Responsible – $25.00 coupon Garden Gate Magazine – My personal favorite – Articles, Weed ID, Planting Plans, Solutions & Tips Western Garden Book – Sunset Publishers – More than 8,000 plants, tips, care, and selection Papa Geno’s Herb Farm and Prairie Home Perennials – 300 Herbs, several hundred varieties of potted perennials, bare root plants, scented geraniums and veggie seedlings, as well as Renee’s Garden Seeds, tools, bulbs and lavender gifts. – Incredible care in packaging, money back guarantee

RESOURCES, cont.  Country Gardens Magazine – Better Homes and Gardens Publication  Clovis Botanical Gardens – 945 N. Clovis Ave., Clovis, CA – or – The Clovis Botanical Garden is a place to relax, to bring family and enjoy plants that thrive in Clovis. The garden is filled with intriguing landscapes, water-wise trees, herbs, California native plants and aromatic shrubs from the Mediterranean. The garden is open to the public on Saturday mornings and admission is free.  UC Master Gardeners of Fresno County –UC Extension Office, 1720 S. Maple Ave., Fresno, CA –Master Gardeners are ready and waiting to answer your home garden questions. Bring in any plant sample to help diagnose your garden problems. Call the Master Gardener Hotline: (559) –Monday - Friday 9:00 a.m. to noon.