Step-by-Step guide to Replacing your Lawn with a Food Forest/Native Garden
Step-by-Step guide to Replacing your Lawn with a Food Forest/Native Garden can ba scary event. It is not hard to do, but it takes some time to replace it with new growth. Once the new growth takes hold, you will discover new smells, editables and new life. In general, it feels better to be at home. And [...]
Acrtinidia arguta – kiwi – Issai
Issai is a selection known for being completely self fertile so just 1 plant is needed to enjoy the fruit. Best in full sun to ripen fruit properly. They work great for canning. It Grows 20 to 40 feet tall and a trellis is required. The plant comes originally from Japan and Korea. Direct sunlight [...]
Pepper – Giant Szegedi – bell pepper
Originally a variety from Hungary, this variety very hard to find in the United States. Short, fairly compact plants produce good yields of very crisp, thick walled, very sweet peppers that average 4 inches long. Fruits start out white and slowly turn yellow, then orange, and finally turn red at maturity. Fruits stay well on [...]
Monkey Flower – Mimulus guttatus – seep
Mimulus guttatus is an annual to sometimes perennial that grows in seeps, springs or along creeks. Useful along the edges of ponds or the fountains. Very floriforus for months in spring-summer. Seep monkey flower is well liked by hummingbirds, disliked by deer. If Seep monkey flower goes dry it disappears, sometimes coming back, sometimes it [...]
How to Grow Grapes
Growing grapes can be rewarding and fun. A lot of times grapes can be used to shelter your house from the sun, thus lowering the summer inside temperature. I have use my grapes for just that. During the summer, the house temperature is 10 degrees lower. In the winter, the leaves come off the grapes [...]
Farewell-to-Spring – Clarkia unguiculata – elegant clarkia – woodland clarkia
Farewell-to-Spring is a common native California that grows in the understory of Chaparral, Foothill Woodland, Valley Grassland, Coastal Strand. It is an easy plant to grow. The pest part of this type of plant is it is an annual. That means it has to be grown from seeds every year. That is a good thing. [...]
Leafhopper
Leafhopper adults are elongated, wedge shaped and somewhat triangular in cross-section. They jump and fly off readily. Depending on species, they range in size from 1/8 to 1/2-inch and their bodies are colored yellow, green, gray or they may be marked with color patterns. Nymphs resemble adults but are wingless. They can run rapidly, occasionally [...]
Cape Gooseberry – Physalis
The genus is characterized by the small orange fruit similar in size, shape and structure to a small tomato, but partly or fully enclosed in a large papery husk derived from the calyx. Many Physalis species are called groundcherries. One name for Physalis peruviana is Cape Gooseberry, not to be confused with the vast majority [...]
How to grow Curry Plant – Murraya koenigii – Rutaceae
This is the edible Curry Plant, Murraya koenigii – Rutaceae. It is sometimes confused with Helichrysum italicum which smells like it, but is very bitter. It’s a shrub or small tree, native to India and in the foothills of the Himalayas, eastward to Myanmar and southern China. It is easily grown in a pot indoors [...]
Using Compost Tea for Pest and Disease Suppression Control
Compost Tea is the easiest and safest way to control blight, leave curl and most fungi problems in trees. The process is very simple. Spray compost tea on the leaves and tree branches. Yes, this does not go into the ground, but on the upper canopy of the tree. About 4 weeks before buds open [...]
Florakill Miticide (bifenazate)
Usefull for controlling Spider Mites – Two Spotted, Pacific, Strawberry, European Red, Citrus Red, Clover, Southern Red, Spruce and Bamboo – Use as directed: Spider Mites on all types of ornamental plants 4 oz – 8 oz per 100 gallons of water. Bifenazate has a solubility in water of 3.8 mg/L at 20°C, and [...]
Trichoderma
mycoparasitic fungi Trichoderma viride For Identifying pests by pictures or by names (this also includes solutions), Click here For more Information on other Natural Pest Controls, Click here Where to buy this, Click here Trichoderma when introduced along with seeds or at root zone protect the seedlings from attack by soil borne pathogens that cause [...]
Borers
What to use to Control: Beauveria bassiana Strain GHA For Identifying pests by pictures or by names (this also includes solutions), Click here For more Information on other Natural Pest Controls, Click here Where to buy this, Click here For more Information on Beauveria bassiana Strain GHA and how to use it, Click Here
Aphids
What to use to Control: Beauveria bassiana Strain GHA For more Information on Beauveria bassiana Strain GHA and how to use it, Click Here
Snails
Snails are a wet weather pest for most vegetable gardens. They can destroy your whole garden in a few nights. If you do not look to eat Escargot, then here are a couple of methods to control this pest. What to use to Control: Diatomaceous Earth, Copper Strips, Chickens For more information on use, [...]
Slugs
Slugs are a wet weather pest for most vegetable gardens. They can destroy your whole garden in a few nights. If you do not look to eat Escargot, then here are a couple of methods to control this pest. What to use to Control: Diatomaceous Earth, Copper Strips, Chickens For more information on use, availability [...]
Oaktown Native Plant Nursery
Oaktown Native Plant Nursery grows a diverse selection of species from all major plant communities of the greater San Francisco Bay Area. Print this page and bring it to Oaktown Native Plant Nursery, you will receive a free plant with any purchase. For Current Inventory, see Current Inventory For Contact Information and [...]
Cabbage looper
Cabbage looper Use:Bacillus thuringiensis, Kurstaki(This product is produced by: Biobit, Dipel, MVP, Steward, Thuricide) This can be purchased at any hydroponic store. Where to buy this, Click here Videos on Natural Ways to Control Insects. Click here if you want to learn more. More Insect Control. Click here if you want to see more.
Using a Perforated Pipe For Water Harvesting
Paul, Good job. I think your ability to document these two jobs helps folks see that they can do it too. We don’t dig quite as much when we divert the downspout water. We attach a perforated pipe to the downspout and snake it around the landscape. the pipe should be at least 12′ long. [...]
Water Catchment Sizes and Shapes
It is not the size that matters but the shape. It is important to have the highest capacity for water to be absorbed by the soil to prevent flooding up the drain pipe or house. In this case we bury a catchment system about 18 to 20 inches below the surface. It is important to [...]
Microbiology For Leaves -Video
How disease suppression on leaves works is no secret. On the leave surface, each leave cell has many ports where fungi and bacteria can connect to. This is a normal process for plants. Good and bad fungi can connect. Good and bad bacteria can connect. Each micro organism takes up a connecting ”portal” on the leave [...]
Testing Confocal Microscope on Compost Tea
Here is an interesting test case of compost tea made this week. The tea was brewed with protists and fungi in mind. The tea was made in a 5 gallon bucket with 4 tablespoons of liquid kelp and 4 tablespoons of fish hydrogisate. It was bubbled for 48 hours at 68 degrees F. Below is [...]
Creating Soil No cost
This is a no cost method to create soil from really neglected soil or soil that had been buried for years and is used a plant beds. Advantages: Free, no money, totally organic (remember chemicals and fertilizers cost money), This makes the best tasking veggies and has the longest lasting impact on soil. Disadvantages: Takes [...]