The Real Dirt

Flowers blooming

The Real Dirt blog covers regional gardening issues from soil health to planting for pollinators; from fire resistant landscaping to attracting wildlife. Read all about it!

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Tomato Mosaic Virus, Jack Kelly Clark, UC IPM
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A Virus in the Garden – Part I

June 5th, 2020
Most gardeners are aware of plant diseases that can wreak havoc in their gardens. If you grow fruit trees, you may be confronted with curled, reddened peach leaves (peach leaf curl fungus).
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Salad with microgreens, Kim Schwind
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It’s Easy to Grow Microgreens Indoors

May 22nd, 2020
You say you don't have a green thumb, or you don't have a yard for gardening? No problem! You can easily grow fresh, nutritious microgreens all year long in a sunny window in your home. All you need is soil, seeds, a container, and water.
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No Till, 3 months after adding 3 inches chicken manure, wood chip and straw mix and keeping moist, Kevin Marini
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Work Less and Grow More Vegetables with “No Till” Gardening

May 15th, 2020
In the wild areas on our planet, trees, bushes, and grasses grow on ground that has continual additions of new layers of dead and dying plant matter. Leaves fall from trees and shrubs, grasses dry in the summer: these materials cover the soil and gradually decompose.
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Cutworm, Jack Kelly Clark, UC ANR
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CUTWORMS – Unwelcome Visitors to the Garden

May 8th, 2020
Cutworms are moth larvae that hide in the soil during the day, and then come out at night to feed on plants. They get their name from their ability to "cut off" a seedling at ground level by chewing through the stem at or just below the soil level.
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