Q. What vegetables can I plant in my garden now? Cameron, San Luis Obispo
A. There are many cool season vegetables you can plant now, which produce well from seeds or from transplants in the cooler months of the year. Among them: broccoli, carrots, chard, kale, kohlrabi, leeks, lettuce, spinach, onions and most Asian greens. In San Luis Obispo County, many herbs such as chives, parsley, rosemary and thyme are also hardy year- round.
A chart of recommended vegetable planting dates is available through the University of California: http://ucanr.org/sites/gardenweb/files/29040.pdf.
If planting and keeping a kitchen garden over the cooler months seems daunting, attend the Master Gardener October Advice To Grow By workshop on Saturday! Well feature a talk on kitchen gardens, including how to prepare the garden, grow and enjoy winter vegetables. It will be held in our demonstration garden, the Garden of the Seven Sisters, 2156 Sierra Way, in San Luis Obispo from 10 a.m. to noon. Bring a hat, dress for the weather and bring your vegetable and herb gardening questions for our Master Gardener experts.
Q. Every year were faced with an invasion of some kind of pest. Once it was mice, and ants are always a problem. What can we do to thwart these pests? Bobbie, Templeton
A. We have a great resource! Information on most pests found in California is only a few keystrokes away. The University of California Agricultural Natural Resources website has a searchable data base of research-based information on household pests at the UC IPM Online website: http://www.ipm.ucdavis.edu/PMG/menu.house.html
The Master Gardeners upcoming Advice To Grow By workshop Saturday will also feature a timely talk about our most common winter pests, ants and mice, including their habits and effective control methods. Park in the lot adjacent to the garden.
Got a gardening question? Contact the University of California Cooperative Extension Master Gardeners: at 781-5939 from 1 to 5p.m. on Monday and Thursday; at 473-7190 from 10 a.m. to noon on Wednesday in Arroyo Grande; and at 434-4105 from 9 a.m. to noon on Wednesday in Templeton. Visit the UCCE Master Gardeners Web site at http://ucanr.org/sites/mgslo/ or e-mail mgsanluisobispo@ucdavis.edu.
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