The Imperfect Gardener

by Adina Sara

The crisp smell of fall in the air nudges me gently back into my favorite part of the house my garden. Every plant is either asking for something (pruning, most likely), or reminding me that it's time to add something new. The vegetable bed is still bursting with tomatoes, peppers, and basil, but the lettuce has long bolted, and what's left of the eggplant is sadly uninviting. It is time to plant a winter garden kale, cabbage, broccoli, arugula and other lettuces (they last longer in the cooler climate), and carrots. In our moderate climate, winter vegetables can be enjoyed well into spring, requiring less care and watering than summer vegetables a good investment for little effort.

Now is the time to plant just about everything but summer annuals. The cool, wet winter helps plants develop a root system so that, come spring, when it's time to show off their colors and smells, they will be a well established part of the landscape.

Cover crops like vetch and fava beans add nitrogen to the soil. Plant them in annual and vegetable beds. They will provide beauty in the winter months and nourish the soil for the coming year.

Leave some time between cleaning up last year's garden messes and planting next year's masterpiece to nourish your mind with the many outstanding garden resources the Bay Area provides. To name a few:

Magic Gardens nursery holds gardening classes throughout the year. For more information, go to www.magicgardens.com/classes.htm.

Stop Waste Organization, www.stopwaste.org/home/index.asp?page=625, offers a series of free, Bay-friendly gardening workshops on such topics as creating year-round edible gardens and gardening to attract wildlife.

Friends of the Botanic Garden offers classes in native plant gardening. Go to www.nativeplants.org/classes.html for schedules.

U.C. Berkeley Botanical Garden Sick Plant Clinic offers classes on the first Saturday morning of each month. Call 643-2755 for details.

Berkeley Ecology Center sells cover-crop seeds by the pound. Find out what else they have to offer at 548-2220.

And last, but never least, Merritt College offers a great one-day fall gardening seminar with a choice of three workshops over the course of the day. Find out more at acmg.ucdavis.edu.

Metro Garden Club News

The Metro Garden Club held its fall meeting on September 10. Enthusiastic neighbors brought cuttings, seeds, and resources to share, and everyone went home with a little piece of someone else's garden. I was the lucky recipient of an Epiphyllum oxypetalum (otherwise known as night-blooming cereus), a low-maintenance succulent with a dramatic white bloom.

Among the many reasons to become active in the Metro Garden Club, meet gardening neighbors and inherit exotic new plants. Our next meeting will be held in November (date to be decided). The theme for that gathering will be recipes, crafts, tinctures, and other wonderful things that can be made from garden materials. For more information, or to become a member, e-mail TheMetroGardenClub\@yahoogroups.com.