Submitted by Tery Susman, UC Master Gardener of Mariposa County MARIPOSA–With Spring right around the corner, it’s easy to imagine a lovely home vegetable garden. You can almost taste a perfectly ripe tomato or a sweet pepper still warm from the sun…but alas…you realize that you don’t have the space for a vegetable garden, or your property is mostly granite, ...

By UC Master Gardener of Mariposa County – Helen Willoughby-Peck Red, yellow, green, orange, brown, purple, and even white, the quintessential tasty treats of summer will soon stop producing. Cooler weather and shorter days signal the end of our tomato growing season and your plants will begin to decline. Tomato lovers will soon be forced to consider tasteless and characterless ...

MARIPOSA — The UC Master Gardeners of Mariposa County honors 70 dedicated, UC-trained volunteers who provide research-based information to home gardeners and landscapers. Volunteers are recognized annually for hours of dedicated service in their community. Michele Minniear and Kathi Whitson achieved 100 service hours. Amanda Grissom, Bob Labozetta and Linette St. Vrain have dedicated more than 250 volunteer hours. Melinda ...

By Jeanne-Ann Pine — I now wear two hats proudly. I have been involved with our local community radio, KRYZ for over three years and last May I graduated from the UC Master Gardeners of Mariposa. Both have been exceptional experiences. And somewhere along the way I was able to start a blend of these two interests and now they ...

By Bob Labozetta —  What can home gardeners do to help their plants — veggies, landscape plants, shrubs and trees — survive the intense summer heat? Here are some do’s and don’ts of hot weather gardening: Don’t fertilize plants or trees during the hot summer months. The purpose of fertilizers — especially those high in nitrogen — is to help ...

MARIPOSA — Every year, researchers and citizen scientists gather at known locations in the monarch migration pattern to count the monarch adults as well as the eggs and cats found on native milkweed. You may think the release of monarchs would be a tremendous boon to the declining global population of this bright and colorful species. This is far from ...

AHWAHNEE — Well known local artist and former landscaping contractor Ronna Adler is leaving the area — and on Sunday, June 9, friends and fans are gathering at Rev’s Farmhouse in Oakhurst to give her a proper send-off. Ronna, 83, has lived in Ahwahnee since 1990 and now she’s moving to Oklahoma next month to live with her daughter. “This ...

MARIPOSA —  The UC Master Gardeners of Mariposa County welcome 13 new graduates to their Master Gardener program. UC Master Gardener volunteers are trained representatives of the University of California Cooperative Extension. Trainees complete an 18- week course and pass a written examination to become ambassadors for the statewide UC Master Gardener program. They also complete annual volunteer hours and ...

By Bob Labozetta —  This final part of a three-part series on growing tomatoes in our hot, dry climate details proper cultivation techniques. In areas with no natural shade use shade cloth to cool tomatoes during the hours of most intense sunlight — usually between 10 a.m. and 4 p.m. Orient the shade structure so it is open to the ...

AHWAHNEE — Students at Wasuma Elementary School got a little dirt under their fingernails recently when they enjoyed two special event days celebrating all the goodness that goes with terra firma. For Earth Day last month, students learned about vermaculture, composting and pollination, and planted in the garden, with the help of Mariposa and Madera Master Gardeners who taught classes ...