Attracting Pollinators to Your Garden
The last week of June was Pollinator Week! Although focus in recent years has been on the honeybee as a pollinator, three-quarters of flowering plants depend on insects (including native bees) and birds for pollination.
|
|
|
|
Want to learn more about attracting pollinators to your garden? Check out these resources:
|
|
Pest Spotlight:
What's that Caterpillar
Do you know that if you notice leaf damage to vegetables, such as holes or skeletonized leaves, you might find the culprit! Look closely. Turn over the leaf for evidence.
|
|
|
|
A cabbage looper is a green caterpillar that arches its back as it crawls. (See photo.) Adults are brown moths with a distinctive figure-eight pattern on the front wings.
Is the caterpillar green but doesn't arch its back as it crawls? It could be a cabbageworm! Imported cabbageworms are the larva of white cabbage moths.
Handpick caterpillars if you have a light infestation. Use floating row covers to exclude the adults from laying eggs. Beneficial insects, such as larval parasites and parasitic wasps can help manage looper and cabbageworm numbers.
Biological control and sprays of Bacillus thuringiensis and the Entrust formulation of spinosad are organically acceptable management tools.
Not sure if you have a looper or cabbageworm? UCANR has a guide to identifying six common caterpillars found in backyard gardens.
Photo credit: UCANR IPM
|
|
Project: Organize a Neighborhood Plant Swap!
When Scotts Valley succulent enthusiast, Tina Heitzman, saw Gainesville, FL resident Aleksandr Wilde's post on Instagram, "Need a Plant? Take a Plant. Have a Plant? Leaf a Plant?" she decided to create her own plant swap stand for her neighborhood.
|
|
|
Her invitation to neighbors:
"Do you have succulents you’d like to share? Want to practice propagating, but don’t have space for the new plants? Try a plant swap! It’s a simple way to share the love of gardening, meet neighbors, and build community. Please stop by and pick up a plant if you see something that interests you. Maybe at a later time, drop off something another gardener would like."
Tina's plant swap stand includes potted plants, volunteer starts, empty pots, succulent cuttings, seasonal items such as veggies, bulbs, seeds, fruit from her trees & anything plant-related. She intends to keep the stand active until October and hopes it will eventually be self-sustaining.
Does this inspire you? Do you have other ideas for building community and connection while staying at home through gardening? Let us know!
|
|
|
Planting Schedules
Santa Cruz County (PDF)
Monterey County (PDF)
Growing Vegetables: California Garden Web Guide to Growing Vegetables
Growing Berries: Growing Berries in Your Backyard
In addition to our hotline, we host an active Facebook page where we post timely, instructional and useful gardening videos and information.
Class Resources
Our collection of class resources is always available, featuring presentations and handouts from our live (past) classes, including Edible Landscaping, Backyard Composting, Landscaping with California Native Plants, Seed Starting, Raising Chickens, Container Gardening and more.
|
|
Copyright 2020 UC Master Gardeners of Monterey and Santa Cruz Counties
Our all-volunteer organization offers no-cost & low-cost research-based gardening and landscaping advice to the home gardeners in our beautiful Central Coast region. For more information on classes, resources, and advice, please visit our website. |
|
|
|
|
