UC Master Gardener Program of Sonoma County

University of California

UC Master Gardener Program of Sonoma County

May in Sonoma County

We are Officially in a Drought!

To help navigate the drought, two informative events on our calendar are:

May 15 10 AM-12 PM, Resilient Summer Dry Landscapes

Learn why water & fire smart gardens in Sonoma County are more important than ever! Leave inspired with new ideas to apply in your garden. In conjunction with the annual Sonoma-Marin Water Saving Partnership Eco-Friendly Garden Tour, the UC Master Gardener Program of Sonoma County is hosting a panel discussion to explore these critical considerations in our home gardens. Register here.

May 15 10-11 AM, Eco-Friendly Garden Tour

The Eco-Friendly Garden Tour is a public outreach and education program that promotes sustainable landscaping practices by showcasing inspiring gardens throughout Sonoma and Marin counties. The Tour highlights Russian River-Friendly and Bay-Friendly landscaping best practices, and supports Qualified Water Efficient Landscaper certified professionals by featuring their personal or clients' gardens. The 2021 Eco-Friendly Garden Tour will be available online. For more information and to register, click here.

Keep watching this space and our calendar for more drought-related announcements.

May 11, May Veggie Happenings

Summer is just around the corner! Join Sonoma County Master Gardener Food Gardening Specialists to learn about maintenance and harvesting of garlic you planted last Fall. We’ll also tackle those aphids and cucumber beetles, and we’ll discuss planting cucumbers and corn. An opportunity for Q&A will follow the presentation. Click here to register.

May 26, Ask a Master Gardener
May is "National Garden for Wildlife Month"

Come join our discussion on Zoom at the Virtual Farmer's Market on May 26, 2021 at 12:30 PM. We are ready to answer your spring gardening questions and will have guests to focus on the importance of birds, butterflies, and native plants in your garden. You will have the opportunity as well to submit questions on these and other topics during the session using the chat feature. Please register to submit your questions and attend our virtual session.

Food Gardening

Parsley

Q: Who is the king of herbs?

A: Elvis Parsley.

Not quite, but parsley is found in almost every herb and vegetable garden because of its many seasoning uses as well as its ease to grow. Master Gardener Food Gardening Specialist Jennifer Dornbush shares how to successfully propagate this essential herb. Read more.

Protect Our Birds: Bird Nesting Season is Here

Bird nesting season is March 1 to August 31. It is important not to clear brush and trees during this period in order to protect our bird populations. University of California Master Gardeners of Sonoma County, the Sonoma Ecology Center and the Habitat Corridor Project, have joined forces to produce an excellent and informative article on the nesting habits of some of our favorite native birds that might visit your property, and how to manage fire safety requirements while protecting the birds."

COVID-19 Notice

To reduce the spread of COVID-19 pandemic and in compliance with county orders, we have adjusted our services accordingly:

All in-person events are suspended. Library talks have been replaced by Zoom events. Please check the "Upcoming Events" section at the top-right of this page for currently scheduled events.

Thanks for your patience during this time. We will inform you when the in-person library talks resume.

Interesting new posts are frequently added to our Facebook Page. Check it out! And please check our Food Gardening page, and Food Gardening Articles for help in starting, upgrading or extending a veggie garden.

Master Gardeners in Print

Advice to Grow By, The Press Democrat
Sonoma County Master Gardeners
Contributors to this week’s column: Ellie Samuel, Mary Lou Milkoff, Pat Decker & Karen Felker
Growing veggies in a small space; Ways to make your lilacs bloom better 4/24/21

The Press Democrat
Contributor to the article: Mary Lou Milkoff
How to save water inside and outside your home 4/22/21

Advice to Grow By, The Press Democrat
Sonoma County Master Gardeners
Contributors to this week’s column: Renee Hayes & Debbie Westrick
When to Grow Tomatoes Depends on Microclimate 4/10/21

Advice to Grow By, The Press Democrat
Sonoma County Master Gardeners
Contributor to this week’s column: Janet Bair
How to control weeds without using chemicals 3/20/21

Butterflies are vanishing in the West. Scientists say climate change is to blame, The Press Democrat
Quoted: Suzanne Clarke
Climate change threatens butterfly populations 3/16/21

Advice to Grow By, The Press Democrat
Sonoma County Master Gardeners
Contributors to this week’s column: Janet Bair, Kim Roberts & Debbie Westrick
Have limited space in your garden? Consider planting potatoes 3/6/21

Advice to Grow By, The Press Democrat
Sonoma County Master Gardeners
Contributors to this week’s column: Janet Bair & Renee Hayes
How to Fight Slugs Safely 2/20/21

Petaluma Argus Courier
Suzanne Clarke
Climate change, loss of habitat decimating monarch population; but Petalumans can help 2/16/21

Advice to Grow By, The Press Democrat
Sonoma County Master Gardeners
Contributor to this week’s column: Janet Bair
Sebastopol’s mysterious balls of leaves solved. It’s mistletoe 2/6/21

Click here to access the Print Article Archive

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

Getting Help

We are not currently accepting walk-ins or specimen drop offs at our Master Gardener Information Desk at the UCCE Sonoma office. Please email your questions and attach photos if you have them. One of our Information Desk experts will get back to you.

New to Gardening? Click here.

Upcoming Events

Event Name	Date
May Veggie Happenings - Zoom Talk	5/11/2021
Plant Sale - Willowside School Nursery by appointment OR drop-in if space available	5/15/2021
Online 2021 Eco-Friendly Garden Tour - Free	5/15/2021
Resilient Summer Dry Landscapes	5/15/2021
Ask a Master Gardener via Zoom	5/26/2021

View More Events

Sundays with Sue

By SCMG Sue Lovelace
May 2, 2021

Fava Beans - First Shelling

The “Behemoth” is gone and the rewards were worth the wait!! The behemoth was a towering stand of Fava beans that literally created a jungle like atmosphere within the area around our large planting bed. This monstrous plant was finally cut to the ground and we were duly rewarded. One reward was the ability to see the planting bed where soon our warm season vegetables will be planted! It is a good time to make sure the drip irrigation is in good shape and working properly before the next round of huge plants begin to take up their space in the bed.

Shelled Fava Beans

The second reward was the multiple harvests of these scrumptious, melt in your mouth, one of a kind beans. Here’s the deal: I plant and grow the beans and my Italian husband, Paul, does the harvest and tedious shelling of the beans (Thank Goodness for the Kentucky Derby and the Giants on our garage TV!). Once the outer shell (pod) is off there is an inner shell that comes off easily by boiling in water then blanching in ice water. After that, a little sauté with garlic and oil produces a delectable dish. When harvesting the beans, Paul discovered a whole section of planted carrots. We pulled the carrots and now enjoy them, as well.

Purple Magnolia Pea Pods

We are going to miss the fall/winter/spring garden. I’m really glad that the extra succession planting I did is going to carry us through another month with chard, peas, lettuce, parsley, celery, and spinach. Our overly huge (behemoth category!) purple pea plant (‘Sugar Magnolia’) has been prolific. I planted more seeds to grow over an arch and they are now flowering. Broccoli plants were pulled and the chickens have been feasting on the leaves. I added more soil to the potato growing bags as the plants have really taken off and more soil around the plants will assure that light will not hit the potatoes, which could turn them green and not fit to eat. The upcoming pepper, tomato, eggplant, squash, garlic, and onions, and cucumbers will clearly be great replacements!! The Victory Garden will continue!

Bumblebee Nest

When you immerse yourself in the gardening world, it’s sometimes surprising to see that others may not share your connection. This thought occurred to me on my daily walk on a country road. I noticed a bird house at the side of the road and on a closer look I saw a few bumblebees coming out of it and immediately thought it was a nest. Even though bumblebees can be ground nesters, they will take up corridors anywhere in just about anything, especially if it’s been abandoned. Someone must have realized there was a nest inside and removed it from their yard and laid it in a grassy area by the road. The next day the whole birdhouse had been flattened exposing the interior of a bee’s nest that an industrious queen had built to house the next generation of Yellow Faced Bumblebees.

I was touched when I saw honeypots which are little rounded cups the queen makes to hold nectar that the queen collects on foraging trips (She regurgitates nectar into the cups). This “honey” will sustain her as she broods on her eggs which I saw as well. Remarkably, the queen lays her eggs in a ball of pollen which she covers with the same waxy substance of the honeypot. Once these eggs hatch into larva, she will lay more eggs (full time job!) and when the larva become bees they, working females, will help out with the nest. The queen also lays drones which are male bees and it will be their job to eventually mate with new queens produced in the nest. These queens will be ones that hibernate in the fall and begin new nests the following spring. The drones will die off as will the old queen (bless her heart!) and her worker bees. Having read about and then seeing an exposed nest was pretty amazing and it did prompt me to write a note. I hope that nature can be allowed to run its course.

Have a good week! I hope you gather a bit of nature as I did. Try following a bumblebee! It’s so cool!

“Bumblebees are often the first bees active in spring and the last active bees in fall.” Attracting Native Pollinators The XERCES Society

Webmasters: Kim Roche, Stan Pawlak

Website Editor: Penny Fink (Opening in May, MGs please apply!)

Food Gardening Editor: Open, master gardeners please apply!

Staff Photographers and Videographers:
Cie Cary, Electra de Peyster