Hello fellow Californians....let's introduce ourselves! #2

I vow to grow some veggies this year...... I am always concentrating on iris:)

Hi Everyone, I'm from Santa Maria, CA. We have a wonderful growing season here. Strawberry's are a big crop here. I have been disabled for a few years now with neurological pain so I have not done much gardening lately. Does anyone have any suggested sites to look at or ideas to make it easier to grow a full scale garden with less physical work?

Hi TammyE. Try the container gardening forum. Raised bed planting might work for you too. I have fibromyalgia and am also disabled by it, at times worse than others, and I've found some useful info on those forums.
Hope it helps.
Walk In Beauty!
SingingWolf

Yep, sounds like grow boxes or raised beds are just the ticket for you, Tammy.

Try the Accessible Gardening Forum http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/f/disabled/all/

Beautiful veggies Pugzley - can't blame the gophers for munching those, well... I guess we can.

I will definitely follow the advice to put down hardware cloth. - I'm excited to get back outside.

Yes, I like growing other veggies besides tomatoes. I've already got my seeds ready and waiting, been collecting all the things I need to really get with it, hopefully very soon. I can't wait to get back out there and watch them grow. I'll be growing some more Thai long beans (great for stir fry), Japanese squash, eggplant, okra and whatever else I can fit in my small growing area. I do a lot of container gardening because my space is very tiny.

Thanks for the compliment, Redtootsiepop. :)

I've also got some red, white and pink roses and Cannas growing, but I'm so into veggies nowdays I want to rip them out and put food producers in their place. (Shame on me I know!)

Might I suggest chicken wire for your gophers, that is what I put down for all my iris beds, and there is a lot of them.
hardware cloth is good, in fact great, but expensive, unless you have a small area, me A LOT of iris and that means a lot of wire:)

I want to try Strawbale Gardening....bypass the weeds and gophers. Jo

http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/f/strawbale/all/

Me too! I've been reading up on it. We might have to cover the sides on our bales, check out the straw bale forum. Look for the Straw Bale test thread. As my mobility decreases it looks like a viable option, plus is totally recyclable. In my climate (desert), I plan on using drip irrigation versus the soaker hose. Have had great success with that. Check out the article today about drip irrigation.
WIB,
SW

Hi All,
I'm from Livermore, so Tracy we're gonna have to meet. I'm an avid gardener. I've lived in Livermore for more than 30 years (yikes, that's a long time!). You just have to be careful planting plants that say "full sun" b/c we get pretty intense here in the valley. I'm hoping this forum we'll be able to do some trading with the locals (ecrane3 in Dublin and George in Fremont). I have removed my lawns and have plants instead, so I have plenty planted and still want more - LOL! I have a lot of shade due to the 3 large redwoods in my backyard. I love rhodes and ferns. Love growing the coleus' with all those beautiful colors and love container gardening.

I've been having problems with squirrels - grrrrr. They are driving me crazy. Anyone having any problems with them? If so, what are you doing about it?

Does anyone listen to Bob Tanem in the Garden (7->10am) on am KSFO (ksfo.com) on Sunday mornings? He has a gopher solution which he swears works. I haven't had any problems with them, so I never wrote it down.

Can't wait for the frost to be over so I can plant.

Willie

Hey Willie,

Squirrels will only come if you have something they like to eat. I have oak trees in the back, so they visit those. But my bird feeders used to be robbed until I put squirrel proof feeders up. That seems to work.

Will check out the radio show. Is there a podcast for it?

Plant along; when you're done we are all here to share stories and pics and to see what you've done!

Christie

At my old house I had lots of trouble with squirrels digging in my pots and burying nuts (can't count the number of baby walnut trees I had popping up in my containers!) To get rid of them, I ended up taking bird netting and attaching it over the top of the container, then they couldn't dig in the soil anymore. So if it's containers that they're messing with that's something to think about.

I never listen to that show either, but if you ever remember his gopher solution please let us know! Only thing I've found that works is calling the exterminator--I've tried the vibrating things, castor oil, predator urine, neighbor's cats, etc and nothing has worked. Trapping them will work too but I don't trust myself to get the trap in the tunnel correctly, plus I don't want to have to deal with the contents of the trap later on.

Hey Christie & ecrane3,

I can't see that there is a podcast for the garden show. I did find Bob's website with a "recipe" page. Check it out at http://www.bobtanem.com/id2.html. He states there's a recipe for deterring squirrels from digging in your pots to make the bulbs taste bad. "Mix ½ oz. Tabasco sauce, 1 pt water, ½ tsp. dish washing liquid, 1 tsp. chili powder. Spray on stems of new buds and on ground after planting bulbs." I think I'll try this for the few bulbs I have left. The bird netting I will try for my new bulbs. Thanks for the suggestion, ecrane3! How did you attach the netting to the container? Any special trick to know about ?

Since you two are local, where do you get your best garden buys? I'm always looking for great bargains. I do live by Alden Lane Nursery and love to see their displays. However, they are expensive!!!! I tend to shop at Lowe's and Home Depot first then start scowering the other stores. I find the selection just isn't there and usually have to turn to the seed catalogs. Haven't yet gotten into the seed swap or plant trading here at Dave's yet. Have either of you?

Willie

The containers I was putting the netting over were pretty big, so I used those metal garden staples that you buy for attaching landscape fabric to the ground and anchored the corners with those.

As far as best garden buys...I tend to gravitate towards more unusual plants, so the places I shop may not be the best in terms of prices, but they have plants that interest me. There are two places though that have good prices as well as an interesting selection...Grand Lake Ace (Grand Ave. in Oakland) and the Long's Drugs at the corner of Broadway & Pleasant Valley Rd. in Oakland (it's just this Longs...the other ones tend to have a boring selection of your typical bedding annuals, but this one actually has a real garden center with a huge selection and good prices). My three favorite nurseries are Berkeley Horticultural Nursery (in Berkeley of course), Annie's Annuals in Richmond and Sierra Azul in Watsonville (a bit of a drive, but worth it!). I try to hit those three on a somewhat regular basis during the year, then I'll do occasional trips to Grand Lake Ace & Longs, as well as Navlet's, Sloat, and Tassajara Nursery (all in Danville), and Armstrong in Dublin (right down the street from me). I also like Orchard Nursery in Lafayette but don't get there as often anymore--when I lived up in Martinez I used to go there pretty regularly. And I also try to hit the botanical garden sales (UC Berkeley & UC Santa Cruz spring and fall sales, and Strybing Arboretum's annual spring sale and sometimes their monthly sales)

sunnyCA---I've had really great experiences using the "Go Gardening" feature on the website. You can put in a distance from a zip code and choose the category of spot you're looking for. Many of them have reviews by other DGers, and they're a great resource!

Hey Sunny, Red and Ecrane, I am in Concord, not that far away. Its so good to meet gardeners in our general area. We do deal with different conditions than the folks in S.CA. I have the squirrels from he--. They destory all by hanging baskets. I will give the squirrel recipe a try. Also the gophers ugg, My house backs up to an open space so its a real problem.
Good to met all of you. Actually I did meet ecrane when she had a plant give away before you moved from Martinez. I got a cute palm and an balsam impatience ( I think)
and some others I can't remember. Oh yes I think a empress tree too( I think).
We need a mini roundup.
Linda

Hey Willie ! Thanks for the welcome!

I love Alden Lane, but it is expensive. I did well with some coupons they sent at the end of the season. Also, Armstrong Garden center in Dublin (end of season again, ALOT was 50% off - some trees were 75% off).
I hit Lowe's, Orchard HS Home Depot & Walmart, too - even Target.

I really want to go to that huge nursery - can't remember the name, it's a couple of blocks from the 880 exit before you hit Valecitas Rd - do you know which one I mean, my husband drives that way home every day - I'll ask him, it looks like a huge place, wonder what the prices are like.

I haven't tried the swaps - and no probs with gophers (yet, with fingers crossed) I have just one squirrel who spends most of the time eating the pomengranites and dropping them in our yard.

I've still lots of work to do - I'm saving newspaper now to cover all the clover that has poppped up in the main yard where I didn't plant and mulch. Going to start making raised vegetable beds here soon - going to go to the Livermore Feed store to see if they have any odd materials I can use.... never been there.

Ecrane - how are you doing?

Hi Linda - we were typing at the same time!

I'm doing fine--my garden's not too happy with all the frosty weather we've had though. It's weird, I have things that were newly planted in Jan '06 when we had a super cold snap (a week of nights in the low 20's or slightly below) and they made it through that just fine, but now this year when they're much better established and the lowest temp we've had is 24-25 they're looking like they're going to die on me. I don't get it! And my gophers have put in an earlier than usual appearance--I had to have the exterminator out last week because they were digging up one of my beds already. All the plants there were in wire baskets so I didn't lose anything, but I was not happy to see them this early in the year.

I think the big nursery you're talking about might be Calaveras Nursery? I've been there, the prices are pretty good but for some reason I hardly ever go there--can't quite put my finger on why though! There's another nursery at that same exit off of 680, can't remember the name of it though and I've never gone. There's also a place called Western Garden Nursery--it's on Vineyard Ave (I think) in Pleasanton but very close to Livermore. I only went there once but I know other people like it, although I don't think their prices are any better than anywhere else.

As far as trades & swaps...I don't really do too much of that. I'll send people seeds sometimes, but I'm in a quarantine zone for the light brown apple moth so I can't trade plants/cuttings.

Wow, I'm impressed with all the responses. Thanks for all this wonderful information. This is really the first time I've participated in any on-line discussions. I'm impressed. So much information on what you really want to know and none of the stuff you don't care about ;) Thank you ecrane for all your gardening places. Many of them I haven't heard of or tried. The best part is I'm talking to a true gardener who knows what's good and what's not. So many times I talk to people and they don't know anything about gardening (they think they do) so they're usually not helpful. I feel like I've hit the gold vein. Thank you all. I hit the seed catalogs last night but I think I'll try and see some of these new resources. I push the envelope and love to get different types of plants, so I'm going to try these new places. Sounds like fun to me.

You all have a wonderful day. I'm going to get dressed and go outside and weed before they get the upper hand.

Willie

My boss told me when I was working at a nursery was that plant tissue can handle a couple of nights of freezing temps without much damage, but when that's repeated for several nights they can't recover. I planted white calla bulbs in November, and they were just coming up when we had that week+ of 30-degree nights, and the foliage is obviously damaged. Normally this time of year they'd be blooming, but I think since they were new the growth was more tender.

I'm not touching anything that's been frostbitten, because I'm sure we'll get more cold temps before too long, and I don't want anything to freeze back farther into the plants.

I also typically put a couple of inches of pebble-mulch around some of my "zone-stretchers" and I think it seems to help. A couple of the more tender salvias I put in last year made it for another season with pebbles about a foot around the stem.

I know that repeated exposure to cold temps is worse for plants--what I don't understand is how they could get through a week of high teens to mid-20's when they were newly planted without much if any damage, but were showing significant damage after a week of mid 20's to low 30's when they're much better established. But they're all things that should be hardy here so I'm hoping they'll come back in the spring!

that is strange ecrane ?! Maybe they'll be all the more beautiful when they come back in Spring.

Calavares is it! - I'll give it a try just for the massive size of the place, and hopefully decent prices.

Hi ima! - Go get those weeds Willie, mine are going to live another day :D -and you're so right, ecrane knows her stuff!

You know, as I think back about Calaveras, I think the reason why I haven't gone again is that most of what they have is fairly standard plants that you see everywhere--not that there's anything wrong with that but I already have all of the common plants that I want, so I'm really on the hunt for the new & different, and that's not the place for new & different.

ah, ok good to know.... I may take one trip still, just to fill that slope with a few tried and trues that I love.

I tend to order online if I really want something and can't find it. The territorial seed catalog really has me going right now!(veggies)

Hi all, my name is Susan and I live in a little town called Toadtown which is approx. 20 miles north of Paradise.( I'm one of the shy ones but only having joined DG I figured to jump in feet first.) I live on an old minning site right next to Little Butte Creek. I thought weather wise I lived in the Twilight Zone but having done some checking up on the subject I found I lived in a microclimate. The breeze just from the creek makes very cold here in the winter. I have started a small garden with ordimental grasses. Finally got a green lawn this summer and even made a path using "walk maker" forms. I have sooomany piles of rocks from the
quartz mine. For every foot of dirt I dig 3 feet of rock. I have had loads and loads of top soil
brought but it keeps sinking through the ground. I am bound and determined to have a nice garden with flowers and shrubs before next winter. Any suggestions, or guidence as to my
sinking dirt situation, would be greatly needed. I've done everything I can think of short of
filling the mine shafts and thats impossible.LOL Hope to meet everyone here one time or another. Sounds like great people.

Welcome to DG. I love all the cool mining town names that we have here. Humbug, Total Wreck, Whiskeytown, Drytown, Hangtown, and even Toadtown. Too bad Mark Twain didn't go a bit north, he may have written the Celebrated Jumping Toads of Butte County!
Sounds like you need to learn how to grow in rocks. The natives seem to do quite well grabbing what purchase they can between the rocks, you probably need to take a lesson from what is around you. You might want to try some of the other interesting methods you can find here on DG - Lasagna Gardening http://davesgarden.com/sitewidesearch.php?q=lasagna , Straw Bale Gardening http://davesgarden.com/guides/articles/view/1084/ , or Raised Bed Gardening http://davesgarden.com/guides/articles/view/489/ . When that topsoil sinks down, it has to settle somewhere - I am sure the roots of your plants will find it. Look into Alpine http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/f/alpine/all/ succulents that will make it through your cold winter. Do like me and reject grass - you really won't miss the mowing.

Welcome! And to add to PotEmUp's excellent suggestions, maybe you could use some of that beautiful quartz rock to build raised beds?

You're gonna LOVE DG! It's full of the greatest folks with the best information! Be sure to go to the Communities tab and see all the different forums that might interest you---when I started I had a whole screen-full I was watching, but over the last 2 years I've kind of narrowed it down to half a screen....gotta actually GARDEN sometime...LOL!

Thank you so much for turning on the think cap. I have never heard of a lasagna
bed before. I had to investigate quickly and will take time to fully read it and the
other suggestions.

Hi Tuesdaymorn, I have never heard of all these towns - (new to CA) how interesting, turned on my thinking cap as well. I can only imagine how frustrating it is to put the soil down and have it slowly "disappear". ... Potemup had good ssuggestions, as always. DG is fabulous with so many helpful people.

Teusdaymorn,
So glad you jumped on in! Glad that you joined us here!
You will definitely need some kind of retaining walls/terracing. The straw bales are a great idea too. You might, as suggested be able to put in dryrock (no mortar) walls using the pesky rocks in your way to build them. If you are really worried about the dirt shifting put down a plastic liner to help contain the dirt, behind your retaining walls. Build it thick! Let us know how it goes! Take photos of all the steps along the way if you can. Inquiring minds want to know! : )
I told you that DG'ers are the best about sharing ideas and advise! And we have a great group right here in CA.
Walk In Beauty!
SingingWolf

Hi, not sure if this is still going, but I'm new to Dave's Garden and loving it!

I'm also new to gardening, growing my first "real" veggies this year in square foot garden raised beds. I am in Norwalk but moving to Westminster/ Huntington Beach border in a week, hoping to move my SF Gardens intact (ugh!). There's so much to peruse, I'll keep this short, but my new house has lots of shade, so looking for good shade ideas in zone 10a.

wendallyn,
Welcome to Dave's Garden. Well, it's our combined gardens these days, but it's got a lot of great information and people. : - )
Do you want a Chocolate Elephants ear plant? They get big but they like shade. LMK.
Fuchsia's are a good grower in your zone too.
Are you primarily into food gardening, what I call kitchen gardening, or flower + gardening? Or what I do, which is haphazardly try to do both?
You might want to check out the Cottage Gardening Forum, lots of their members live in your zone and might have better ideas.
Dmail me if I can be of more help.
Walk In Beauty!
SingingWolf

Wendallyn, welcome to DG ! I'm mostly a lurker on this thread...not too many posters in OC. I'm in N.E Santa Ana. As to the shade, there is shade and there is deep shade. My favorites for deep shade are Irisene, Leopard plant, and Plectranthus 'Mona Lavendar'. For partial shade, there are a lot of choices. With selective prunning of my lemon and avocado trees, I grow orchids, Epiphyllums, Clivia, Japanese Anemone.
There are a couple of posters near you that will surely chime in with more suggestions.

Carol,
I was missing you, and thought you'd dropped out too! Glad you are still "lurking". Thanks for postinig. I was getting kind of lonely.
So where are the rest of the folks from OC?
WIB,
SW

Hello Wendallyn, welcome! I am lurker too, not a native Californian, born and raised in Belgium, but the gardener in me was born in Marin County!

Any questions about fruit, I'll try to help!

Christie

What I like best inthe shade is a glass of lemonade and and hammock!! OH...you meant plants! LOL Jo...who sneaks in here once in a while.

Jo,
Where ya at now?
WIB!
SW

I am at my Neice's home in Richmong, VA...leaving today to go to Sami's (DG) and we will leave tomorrow for the 1st Southern Virginia RU near Martinsville, VA. *ZIPPP can;t catch me! Jo

That why you're the roadrunner! LOL!
How many RU's have you been to so far this year? : - )
Just good to hear from you, but sad the other CA's aren't singing out? Just a really busy time of year for most of us, I guess.
wendallyn, when you get to your new place take photos of the areas you want to work on, and I'm sure we'll be better able to help you out. : - )
Can I take you up on your offer with the fruit trees mrs colla? I don't have any questions right now, but I might.
WIB!
SW