Update…

Posted on by mikethrgardencoach

This site contains interesting stuff I run across relating to gardens, especially Victory and Community Gardens, and with science-based gardening information on when to plant veggies, recommended varieties, plant symptoms and their causes, book and tools, etc..

Click here to visit the Camarillo Community Garden web site or its discussion forum

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Continuing Drought Conditions Threaten California Wine Industry

Posted on by mikethrgardencoach
California Vineyards Face Uncertain Future
California Vineyards Face Uncertain Future

California’s wine industry is facing some rough times – again. It took many decade to create a California wine industry that is world renown, but a few more dry years could wipe out all that progress.

As reported by UC Agriculture and Natural Resources News Blog, the prolonged drought is building up high levels of salt. The salt build-up results from our mineral-rich ground water and evaporation from the soil surface. The evaporation is drawing salts to the surface. Winter rains remove the soluble salts, but we have had 3 blistering winters.

Irrigation at the beginning of the drought reduced the build-up, but ever-tighter water restrictions now threaten to reduce or remove irrigation as an option.

The on-line wine authority, Wine Searcher, says, “(Continued) water shortages could lead to a much smaller crop. Even worse, it’s possible that California grapegrowers might experience a problem unheard of in this state: grapes that fail to ripen.”

The salt in the soil causes grape vines to lose their leaves, and according to Mark Battany, UC Cooperative Farm Advisor, “Without a way to process sunlight, you won’t see sugar ripening.”

Napa valley growers have the advantage of a large groundwater basin to tap from, and the area is generally much wetter than the south Coast or Central Valley. The vineyards, the first to establish a world-class wine is more profitable and farmers can buy water.

Napa Valley’s average 25″ per year is nearly twice the southern California average, and yet they have suffered the worst rain on record. With only 4.17″ of rain since January 1st recorded at the Napa County Airport, wine growers known they are facing ever increasing water prices. Other areas have worse news: Carneros received 3.88 inches this year, according the University of California Cooperative Extension in Napa County.

In Paso Robles, though, conditions are becoming dire. Even with a moratorium on new developments, wells are going dry in the premium grapegrowing areas on the west side of the region. The west valley provides a deep, rich calciferous earth that grape vines thrive on but unfortunately does not hold water well.

The real problem with this limitation is that the vineyards are new developments as make up the square miles of vineyards. This does not bode well for the sustainability of the industry as the National Weather Service forecasts show no end to the sunny weather in sight.

If California were a separate country, it would be the world’s fourth-largest wine producer with over 660 square miles covered in grapes.

For more on this article..
http://gardening-coaches.com/continuing-drought-conditions-threaten-california-wine-industry/

Carol Haverty Leads Welcome to the Garden Classes March 13 and 20

Posted on by mikethrgardencoach

Carol Haverty Dispensing Gardening Advice at the EarthDay Celebration Carol Haverty Dispensing Gardening Advice at the EarthDay Celebration

Carol Haverty, Camarillo Garden Guide, presents two brand new ‘Welcome to the Garden’ classes through Pleasant Valley Recreation & Parks District.

The Feb. 20th & 27th class was on ‘Succulents & Companions‘. Carol is locally famous for her succulent extensive collection.

The upcoming March 13th & 20th class will be on the Secrets of Seeds.

Carol Haverty has teamed up with the Pleasant Valley Recreation and Parks District to provide more of her popular ‘Welcome to the Garden’ classes. These classes are intended for new gardeners just learning how to garden as well as anyone with an interest in growing plants to beautify their home.

Carol was one of the first Certified Master Gardeners in Ventura County and is one of Camarillo’s most active garden teachers teaching in location all across the county.

Each of Carol’s classes consist of 2 sessions held one week apart. Both classes are held on Thursdays. They are interactive and require student participation; you’ll be bringing items to class for sharing and project making.

(Past) Class #1: Companion plants for succulents

CarolHavertyGardenThis program was held Feb. 20 and 27. Classes were on two consecutive Thursdays from 6:30 to 8:00 p.m. This 2 meeting class covered succulents and companions suitable for low water landscaping.

Carol says, “Succulent plantings have truly become main stream and more and more gardeners have learned how wonderful these plants perform in our area, both in the garden and in pots.”

There’s more to succulents than Hen-and-Chickens.

Many attractive and easy care plants go well with succulents and share many of their requirements of low water, easy care, and pest free characteristics.gazebp

This class will explore ways to blend these diverse plant groups into your existing designs. These easy to care for plants add to the enjoyment and beauty of your garden, whether in pots or in the ground. Many provide edible and decorative blooms for further enjoyment.

Registration for this classes: www.pvrpd.org or call 482-1996, cost for each 2 class session $29.00. Pleases refer to Catalog # 9041.100 when registering.

(Upcoming) Class #2: Nurturing Seeds

Presented Mar. 13, 20 2014 Thursdays 6:30 -8:00 p.m. this 2 meeting class will cover Seeds:

This class with Carol will make you more confident in planting seeds. You’ll learn which are easy to start, learn the ones that are not so easy and those that are (nearly) impossible to grow.  After you take this class, you will be able to choose those that will give you the greatest success with the least amount of effort and resources.

Babies and seeds have a lot in common; they need TLC big time when they are incubating and first born. As with a child, helping it to adapt and thrive in a scary world takes some dedication and knowledge helps too.  So it is with seeds, many are care free, many are not.

The class will give you lots of tips on short cuts, tools, low cost sequencing that helps your garden babies adapt to being adolescent and then productive adults.  We’ll have fun and share our own personal experiences, some humorous, some sad, but in the long run, we’ll understand how nature works, and when we should not intrude.

You will get an introduction to other propagation methods as we go beyond seeds in this series,.  The class is divided into 2 parts, held on Thursdays. Interactive student participation requires bringing items to class for sharing and project making.

Registration for all classes: www.pvrpd.org or call 482-1996, cost for each 2 class session $29.00. Pleases refer to Catalog # 9041.101 when registering.

For more on this article..
http://gardening-coaches.com/carol-haverty-leads-garden-classes-pvrpd-march-13-march-20/

GMO Contamination Bans U.S. Corn Crop From Chinese Market

Posted on by mikethrgardencoach

Widespread Contamination Feared as Chinese Ban U.S. GMO Corn Exports Chinese Ban U.S. GMO Corn Exports – Widespread Contamination Feared

Syngenta released Viptera, a GMO Corn strain to address corn pest problems and advertised it to export growers. Lawsuits assert they hid the fact it was not approved by Chinese officials. When Chinese importers detected the MIR162 strain in imports they banned US-to-China corn exports. This ban caused the U.S. corn market to lose 85% of its value. Farmers facing ruin have filed Billion-dollar lawsuits in 3 states.

MIR162 genetically-modified corn known as Agrisure Viptera, is engineered to fend off certain insects known to decimate corn crops. While approved for use in the United States, Chinese government prohibits import of Viptera from US.

Several US agro-companies including the giant Cargill along with the lead plaintiff Volnek, in a lawsuit filed in a Nebraska Federal Court, seeks $1 billion in compensation.

According to Volnek Farms, the move led to “depressed prices for all domestic corn.”

The two other suits were filed in Iowa and Illinois Federal Courts, according to Courthouse News.

“Syngenta offered materially misleading statements relating to the approval status of MIR162 in China and the impact the lack of approval would have on the market,” said Iowa plaintiffs Cronin Inc. and Jim Ruba Jr., and added that they do not even plant genetically-modified corn.

“Syngenta’s widespread contamination of the US corn and corn seed supply with MIR162, which will continue to foreclose the US export market to China in future years and will continue to lead to lower corn prices per bushel in the US market, as a result,” the Iowa plaintiffs added.

Wide-spread wind borne pollen from GMO fields can contaminate crops miles away, nt just the 100s of feet producers claim.

“It is difficult to say for sure that any shipments of US corn will not be contaminated with trace amounts of MIR162, even though Viptera has been planted on only about three percent of US farm acreage,” the Nebraska plaintiffs said.

That 3% of the corn crop has contaminated an unknown amount of the remaining corn strains grown in the country, including home gardeners’ heirloom varieties.

The vast majority of corn produced in the US is used domestically, estimated the National Grain and Feed Association, so export is not that important, however, the USDA says 20 percent of corn produced in the US is exported.

These conflicting accounts led to accusations by Iowa plaintiffs that Syngenta has engaged in willful misrepresentation.

China had barred nearly 1.45 million tons of corn shipments since 2013, resulting in about $427 million in lost sales, as RT reported.

Chinese officials recently decide to move away from GMO food. China’s Ministry of Agriculture announced in August, it would stop a program that developed genetically engineered (GE) rice and corn.

Source s for this article:

For more on this article..
http://gardening-coaches.com/gmo-contamination-bans-u-s-corn-crop-from-chinese-market/

Voluntary Cutbacks Fall Short As California Drought Deepens

Posted on by mikethrgardencoach

Voluntary {Cutbacks|Water {Saving Efforts|Conservation Will}} Fall Short As California Drought Deepens|California Voluntary Water Reductions Fall Short|{Greatest|Drought Creates Largest} Water Loss {Ever Seen|Witnessed} in California|California Agriculture Facing $2 Billion Losses as {Wells|Water Wells} Run Dry}

For more on this article..
http://gardening-coaches.com/voluntary-cutbacks-fall-short-california-drought-deepens/

Californians Invited to Participate in Day of Citizen Science May 8

Posted on by mikethrgardencoach

University of California Holds a Day of Citizen Science University of California Day of Citizen Science

The University of California’s Department of Agriculture and Natural Resources marks its 100th anniversary May 8th with a day of Citizen Science. Follow in the path of George Washington, Thomas Jefferson and other citizen scientists and add to the body of knowledge.

The University of California is a ‘land grant’ college created under the Morrill Act signed by Abraham Lincoln in 1862. The purpose of the act, created at a time when we were an agricultural nation, was to create colleges in each state to compile and spread knowledge – especially agricultural scientific information.

The University’s Department of Agriculture and Natural Resources (UC/ANR or ANR) celebrates its centennial this May 8 and invites all Californians to participate in a Day of Science. Californians can spend a day or a few minutes outside collecting information and adding it to an interactive map.

This open call for participation is called ‘crowd sourcing’ and a chance for you to add to the overall understanding of the state’s health. The website says, “The University of California is conducting three science projects on May 8, 2014 and we need your help collecting data. Pick one of the projects below to learn more about how you can participate.”

The website set up for this event ( http://beascientist.ucanr.edu/ ) asks you to count pollinators for 3 minutes, then enter your location, and the number of pollinators counted, plus your photo if you want to add it.

You can also add to the water saving survey. Again, enter your location and fill in a short form. Add photos of your water saving projects.

The Food survey asks you to locate the food growing areas in your community. These can be your own yard, a community or school garden, or commercial growing areas. Again, there is a short form and a chance to add your photos.

After each submission, you can get a report of all the data collected so far.

For more on this article..
http://gardening-coaches.com/californians-invited-participate-day-citizen-science-8/

David King, Seed of Los Angeles Chair, Takes On Big Ag in Christine Palma Radio Interview

Posted on by mikethrgardencoach

David King, Seeds of Los Angeles
David King, know as Los Angeles seeds’ champion, gave some outstanding advice and an overview of the world of seeds, and threats food security lives under. Click here link to listen to the David King Interview David King is the founder and first Chair of the Seed Library of Los Angeles.

From the beginning the mission of the Library centered upon the idea of clean, wholesome, non-GMO food for every one in the Los Angeles region, especially the under-served and compromised communities. With the ideas that food, uncontaminated with pesticides and questionable technologies, is a right of all people and seeds belong to humanity, he called for a meeting of like-minded people on December 4th, 2010 and from there, the Seed Library of Los Angeles was born.

A transplant from northeast Kansas, David started gardening as a five year old under his grandfather’s tutelage. He lives his life full-time as an author, writer, gardener and activist in Los Angeles, working to make home grown food a part of the Los Angeles’ culture.

As a speaker and instructor, he shares his knowledge of growing food with quick witted humor and an infectious passion for the subject. As the gardenmaster/director for The Learning Garden, a community and school garden located on the campus of Venice High School, King has been published in a number of different horticulture and gardening venues and has appeared on TV and radio. He teaches for UCLA Extension, writes for gardening and ecological magazines and blogs.

He fervently hopes to publish his first book on gardening, Growing Food In Southern California, in the very near future. David can be reached at – chair@slola.org

Our mission is to facilitate the growth of open-pollinated seeds among residents of the Los Angeles Basin. We are building a seed collection and repository, educating members about the practice of seed-saving, and creating a local community of seed-saving gardeners. We seek to preserve genetic diversity, increase food security and food justice in our region, safeguard alternatives to GMO’s, and empower all members through a deeper connection with nature and the experience of self-reliance.

We will strive for excellence in all that we do, knowing the preservation of seed is a sacred trust. Founded in December 2010, the Seed Library of Los Angeles (SLOLA) is headquartered at The Learning Garden at Venice High School. We meet monthly at The Learning Garden. Each meeting includes an educational presentation and a seed exchange among members, as well as lots of fun and good company!

People save seeds for a host of different reasons from ideology to old-fashioned thriftiness. We welcome all viewpoints and levels of interest. We seek to reflect all the cultural diversity of our amazing city. We welcome gardeners of all ages and skill levels, including apartment dwellers with one pot! SLOLA’s website is at www.SLOLA.org

Interview of David King by Christine Palma republished unedited under Creative Commons

For more on this article..
http://gardening-coaches.com/david-king-seed-los-angeles-chair-takes-big-ag-christine-palma-radio-interview/