Looking for Answers?

We have several great gardening reference books to check out this summer: the Sunset Western Garden book, Pests of Landscape Trees and Shrubs, and Golden Gate Gardening (food gardening).

The Sunset Western Garden book is basically in four sections; the first section describes the different climate zones of the west. The second section has lists of plants for specific situations, such as Hedges and Screens, Attracting Butterflies and Birds, Dry Areas, Shady Areas, Coastal Gardens, etc. The third section (the plant encyclopedia) lists plants alphabetically and details water and sun requirements, as well as height and width, bloom season/color, etc.

This is very helpful when choosing plants for say, an entranceway. If you don’t research the eventual height of those darling little trees in the growers’ pots, you may end up with “the trees that ate the front door and the garage!” You may spend hours every year trying to prune the monster trees back to their juvenile size. Is this a good use of your time? Or would it be better to pick a tree whose height in maturity is naturally small and well-behaved?

The fourth section is a Practical Guide to Gardening, a must-read for beginning gardeners. You can find information on staking trees, dividing perennials, gophers, sowing wildflowers, and even a glossary of all those weird gardening terms we use, like hybrid, espalier, etc.

There are also basic design tips, designing to conserve water, the most effective ways to water, an explanation of which gardening tools do what, sowing seeds, and how to protect tender seedlings.

Pests of Landscape Trees and Shrubs, from UC Davis, identifies the most common pest insects, and has pictures of what their damage looks like, their life cycle, and discusses the most effective and least-toxic ways to control them. It also identifies the innocent good bugs in the garden who may often control the actual pest insects. Did you know that only 3% of the insects in the garden are bad?

There are also pictures of diseases like Gray Mold, Powdery Mildew, Rust, Pythium Root Rot, Pitch Canker and more. The cause and solutions are discussed, sometimes just changing and correcting the watering schedule is enough to solve the problem.

There is also a section on Non-infectious Disorders, like nutrient deficiencies, salt damage, incorrect pesticide application, sunburn, frost damage, etc. There are two Problem-Solving Tables in the back. The first table lists what the problem looks like and probable causes, the second table lists specific plants and their common problems and causes, fantastic!

Golden Gate Gardening is even more locally-based, and was written by Pam Peirce, a resident of SF, instructor at City College and gardening columnist for www.sfgate.com. She discusses composting, growing vegetables organically, cool season and warm season veggies, and when to choose seeds over seedlings for the whole coast, not just San Francisco. Pam‘s book is a simple, straightforward guide to “growing your own”, and is well-researched, with “outside the box” veggies that thrive here.

There are also lots of gardening tips about preparing your soil, fertilizing, harvesting and even recipes! We are so lucky to be able to grow and enjoy fresh veggies all year, it’s always a treat to see Pam show up at a Christmas dinner with a fresh green salad adorned with brightly-colored edible flowers, all from her own garden.