UC Master Gardener Program of Sonoma County

University of California

UC Master Gardener Program of Sonoma County

October in Sonoma County

October is the perfect month for planting bulbs

Why not tuck as many as you can in now and enjoy the beautiful results next spring? Here's how: Bulbs for Sonoma County

Wondering what else to do in your garden this month? Check out our October Garden Tips.

Bloomin’ Backyards are Back

Mark your calendars for the Spring 2020 Bloomin’ Backyards garden tour presented by the UC Master Gardener Program of Sonoma County. Eagerly anticipated, this biennial event is scheduled for Sunday, May 17, 2020 from 9:30 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. and will be held in Petaluma. Six unique gardens belonging to Master Gardeners have been included for their beauty and as displays of sustainable gardening practices. Recognized experts will be on hand to demonstrate and answer questions on organic gardening, soil development, drip irrigation, integrated pest management, habitat gardening, growing fruits and vegetables, water catchment, firewise landscaping, and much much more.

Ticket information will be posted on our website in early January. Please visit sonomamg.ucanr.edu for regularly updated information.

Something is Eating my _____. What Should I do?

Cucumber beetles may chew holes in leaves. Photo from UC Statewide IPM project

This is a common question this time of year as newly planted vegetables and annuals grow - along with the many pests that consider them food and/or home. We encourage you to explore our Integrated Pest Management articles to learn what you can by yourself: Home, garden, turf, and landscape pests. If that doesn't provide the answer you need, then you can always call our help desk at (707) 565-2608; hours are Mon., Wed., Fri. 9-12, 1-4; or send an email to: mgsonoma@ucdavis.edu.

And, never forget the benefits of adding beneficial plants to your garden: Recommended Plants for Sonoma County for Beneficial Insects.

Have a happy garden!

Food Gardening

What Does A Greek Goddess Have To Do With Fall And Winter Gardening?

When food gardening in the fall, our objective is to bring cool-weather crops to maturity or near-maturity before the earlier of a) our first frost/freeze date or b) the last day in the year in which we have ten hours of daylight. The period of winter with less than 10 hours of daylight is sometimes referred to the Persephone Period, after the Greek goddess of spring. Read more.

Watch the new Sudden Oak Death Video

The Sudden Oak Death team at the University of California Division of Agricultural and Natural Resources has just released a new video that is well worth watching. There's a lot to learn here, all presented with great visuals to aid our understanding of Sudden Oak Death. Makes learning about SOD easy!

Growing a Thriving Vegetable Garden with Less Water

The Food Gardening Specialists (FGS) of the UCCE Sonoma Master Gardeners are excited to present water-wise food gardening strategies. Given our hot, dry summers along with the prediction of extended drought, we can’t afford to waste a drop. This video demonstrates how home and community gardeners can grow a thriving vegetable garden with less water. In addition, this video is complemented by a planting scheme and a drip system instruction and shopping list that reflect the 4x8-foot demonstration vegetable bed in the video. Click here for these documents along with additional helpful documents for food gardening with less water.

Ask a Master Gardener
Questions and Answers from the Helpline

Watch to Learn What Master Gardeners Do

Fight Invasives!

Master Gardener-staffed Help Desks are located
at Sonoma County Farmers' Markets and Fairs

Master Gardeners are volunteers trained by the UC Davis Cooperative Extension.

Sonoma County Master Gardeners will provide environmentally sustainable, science-based horticultural information to all of Sonoma County’s population. We strive for diversity and inclusion in all aspects of our organization.

UCCE Farm Advisor: Stephanie Larson, County Director

SCMG Coordinator: Mimi Enright

Workshop Calendar

Event Name	Date
Keep Your Soil Alive: Cover Crops- Compost and Mulch -Rincon	10/19/2019
Is Your Garden Ready for our Climate? - Sonoma	10/19/2019
Composting and Vermicomposting - Santa Rosa Water Department	10/21/2019
What has happened to all of our butterflies? - Guerneville	10/26/2019
Healthcare for Succulents - RP/Cotati	10/26/2019
Pruning and Caring for Fruit Trees - Guerneville	11/2/2019

View More Events

Find links to past workshop handouts under Resources/Workshop Handouts.

Sundays with Sue

By SCMG Sue Lovelace
Updated: October 13, 2019

What’s everyone doing in your gardens these days?! If you’re like me, it’s often hard to decide what to do next at this time of the year. Every part of the garden, both front and backyards, displays obvious needs that are hard to ignore or put off to another day. Pruning, deadheading, weeding, planting; yes, still time to get fall crops in, composting, sweeping; endless sweeping!, mulching, and then there’s the cleaning out the greenhouse, shed and garage where garden supplies get literally thrown into over the course of the season.

Did I say harvesting? There’s still plenty in those beds or on the trees that could easily overwhelm a kitchen. For weeks I had a sizable bowl full of purple tomatillos sitting on the counter. Determined to put the beautiful veggies to use, I threw them into a pan with taco meat and a jalapeño and cooked them pretty well before loading them into shells along with the usual black beans, salsa, onions, and cheese. Speaking of overwhelming, our digestive systems may not have been ready for so many tomatillos at once; just saying a few tomatillos go a long way!

Boy, do I divert, both in the garden and in my writing! Where was I? Oh yes, prioritizing garden tasks can be difficult unless they happen to be time dependent like planting and harvesting. Often, it’s the tasks that attract the most attention either by their appearance or in the obstruction they create. For example, I tripped over a wisteria vine traveling on the path in the front yard yesterday which had me emphatically stating “Time to prune the wisteria!” While out there, I ended up leveling a few perennials as well as selectively deadheading others knowing the pollinators are still busy collecting nectar. Garden tasks, all in good time!

In the course of “cleaning up” the perennials, I felt something crawling on my arm. To my surprise, it was a praying mantis with all its spindly, alien appendages, a stick-like body, and bulgy eyes that are a large part of a heart shaped face. Once I set “him” down (okay, dropped him in the midst of a primal scream!), I ran in the house to grab my phone in hopes of taking a picture. No problem, he waited for me but certainly regarded me with a predatory stance and his rotating head with those said bulgy eyes followed my every move as I was trying to take a picture. Once this extra terrestrial character determined that my paparazzi-like moves were excessive, he moved to a nearby plant but never stopped watching me, reminding me how extraordinary nature really is.

The intention this week was to plant garlic, lots of it, in my large raised bed but guess what, the rocky compost did not get sifted to apply to soil; therefore, the garlic will have to wait! There’s still time: the planting window for Sonoma County is October-November. I’m still planting more greens: lettuce, kale, and chard. Because we have five ravenous chicks who love greens, there are never enough leafy greens! Also planted was a second round of radishes—the French breakfast type. We harvested the peppery arugula to have in a salad, so yummy!

A weekly trip to Half Moon Bay where we raised our family, reminds me that there are so many micro climates in the Bay Area to grow enormous amounts of crops, some doing better in the cool foggy areas of the Coastal regions. Brussels sprouts, a crop with very long days to maturity and a cool weather crop as well, is being harvested as I write. If you’ve been to the Half Moon Bay Pumpkin Festival, you may have enjoyed marinated brussels sprouts or the continual favorite, marinated artichokes. Pumpkins grown in Half Moon Bay are almost always contenders for the largest pumpkin contest held in the states and in Canada. In my Cotati yard, pumpkins reseeded themselves and are pretty small but perfect for the front porch. Love pumpkins!

Have a great week in the midst of fall, better yet, if it’s in your own garden!

“I would rather sit on a pumpkin and have it all to myself, than be crowded on a velvet cushion.” Henry David Thoreau

Master Gardeners in Print

The Garden Doctors
Dana Lozano & Gwen Kilchherr, The Press Democrat

How to grow bananas in Sonoma County 9/20/2019

Geranium versus pelargoniums. What’s the difference? 9/6/2019

Webmasters: Kim Roche, Stan Pawlak

Website Editor: Penny Fink

Food Gardening Editor: Stephanie Wrightson

Staff Photographers and Videographers:
Cie Cary, Electra de Peyster,
Coby Lafayette-Kelleher, Laura Salo Long