Napa

By Penny Pawl, UC Master Gardener of Napa County Fall and winter are great times to do sheet composting in your garden. So just what is sheet composting and what are the benefits? Some people call it smothering, sheet mulching or lasagna composting.

By Susanne von Rosenberg, UC Master Gardener of Napa County One of the pleasures of gardening is having the freshest possible ingredients available for cooking. Another one, if you do it right, is saving money.

By Penny Pawl, UC Master Gardener of Napa County Three years ago, I wrote an article about creating African keyhole worm-compost bins in my garden beds. This summer it was time to harvest compost from two of the bins.

By Penny Pawl, UC Master Gardener of Napa County As you drive around Napa Valley at this time of year, you see many beautiful shrubs and trees blooming in a varieties of colors. One standout is crape myrtle (Lagerstroemia), which has been imported from Asia, India and Australia.

By Susanne von Rosenberg, UC Master Gardener of Napa County Some gardening advice seems so sensible or obvious, or has been repeated so often, that we know it to be true. As gardeners, we need to be careful about falling prey to myths.

By Susanne von Rosenberg, UC Master Gardener of Napa County It's been impossible not to notice how different our fall season is from what we were used to in the past. Rains come four to six weeks later, if they come at all.

By Susanne von Rosenberg, UC Master Gardener of Napa County Recently, someone asked me about the best trees to plant to help reduce climate change. Planting any tree is helpful, because all trees pull carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere and store the carbon in the form of wood.

By Susanne von Rosenberg, UC Master Gardener of Napa County Can you believe it's already September and we're headed into fall gardening season? It's time to assess what you would like to grow this autumn.

by Penny Pawl, UC Master Gardener of Napa County Napa County Master Gardeners invite a guest speaker to every monthly meeting, part of the MGs' continuing education requirement.

By Cindy Watter, UC Master Gardener of Napa County Over the years, several people have asked me how I grew the beautiful blue and white passionflower that cascades over a trellis (and also invades my flower beds). The answer is: I didn't. My former neighbor Kristine is responsible.