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UC Master Gardener Program of Contra Costa County

The Latest Dirt - May 2024

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Customers load up on the offerings at the Our Garden Walnut Creek GTPS. Photo by Greg Letts.
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2024 GTPS Succeeds Across the County

May 20th, 2024
By Janet Miller, Mary Jo Corby and Wendy Kraft The 2024 Great Tomato Plant Sale was the first year since COVID-19 that we have had a sale in all three county areas! Welcome back to Rivertown Garden, where there was a steady flow of customers all day and the garden looked fabulous! At the Richmond P...
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The nearly 500 West County GTPS customers line up around the block and wait for the sale to start.
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West County GTPS Serves Nearly 500 Residents

May 20th, 2024
By Liz Rottger Photos by Jim Marchetti Perhaps the most challenging of all of the Contra Costa UC Master Gardener's Great Tomato Plant Sales is in West County. Growing plants in one place and then selling them in an entirely different place is simply crazy.
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West County GTPS Banner Honors Local Families

May 20th, 2024
UC Master Gardeners Liz Rottger and Fletcher Oakes created this tribute poster for the West County Great Tomato Plant Sale to honor the sizeable flower-growing community of Japanese ancestry that settled in Richmond/El Cerrito and were incarcerated during World War II.
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Pam Austin and the School Gardens

May 20th, 2024
by David George UC Master Gardener Pam Austin has been working and driving overtime as lead for the School Gardens project since the departure last year of Co-Lead Kate Verhoef from the Contra Costa program.
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Growing Up Together

May 20th, 2024
Article by Meb Phillips Photos by Mary Beth Phillips In some indigenous cultures, often in May, the golden triangle of the corn seed, the glossy brown bean, and the hand-pie-shaped squash seed are planted together in a mound. These are called the Three Sisters.
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Varieties of Andean Corn.
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Growing Vegetables in Peru

May 20th, 2024
Article & Photos By Anne Sutherland My honey and I recently returned from the trip of a lifetime in Peru and the Galapagos. To our delight, biodiversity specialist Maywa Blanco talked about Perus many varieties of potatoes and corn when we were in Cusco.
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A Stubborn Watchman at the Low Water Garden

May 20th, 2024
Article by Liz Rottger Photos by Brian Kerss This past winter, Brian Kerss and Liv Imset decided to prune a large elderberry tree at the Low Water Garden in Richmond. The tree had struggled through the entire summer with a heavy infestation of aphids and the pursuant black sooty mold.
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