Master Gardener Lee Ann Ray will answer all your questions about pests in your garden - the good guys as well as the bad guys!   Join us for a free talk on Integrated Pest Management (IPM) for the home gardener.

The workshop will cover prevention techniques - the most successful AND environmentally-friendly being to encourage beneficial insects in your garden.   Lee Ann will describe how to accomplish this.  She will cover prevention techniques, pest and plant symptom identification, action thresholds and sustainable management methods.  You will discover and discuss low-impact solutions to common gardening challenges and the maintenance and enrichment of our natural gardening environments.

Registration required: Those interested in attending, please send email to ritab@metroed.net or phone 408-723-6450.

Learn how to have a beautiful garden with less work and less water.  Climate-adapted plants make gardening easy in our year-round dry climate.

Let's go green!  A free community event offering families and children opportunities to diminish their carbon footprint and counter global warming.   Sponsored by the League of Women Voters; the Master Gardeners will host a table.

A great family day! Giant Pumpkin Patch - Scarecrow Row - Apple Tasting - Fresh Apple Cider - Guadalupe River Education - Lots of FreeK Kid's Activities - Children's Concert. The Master Gardeners will host a fun booth with gardening- and harvest-related children's activities.

Overfelt Gardens in a garden sanctuary for plant, wildlife and quiet contemplation and enjoyment of nature in the urban setting.

The Chinese Moon Festival is celebrated by billions of people around the world.  They celebrate it with dances, feasting and moon gazing.  Delicious moon cakes are a traditional enjoyment.  But on this day, we offer you the pleasure of sharing arts, crafts and creative activities in a Chinese garden setting.  

The Master Gardeners are hosting a booth with gardening-related activities for adults and for children.  

Free admission and parking.  This is a tobacco-and alcohol-free event.

Sat, Oct 4

The goal of the Harvest Fair & Exposition is to embrace the spirit of the county fair and provide a place for families to celebrate a "county fair" in San Jose.

Entertainment - unusual food - pony rides - plant sale - cooking classes - pumpkin patch - hay wagon ride - apple juice tasting - kids programs - games and fun things to do! Listen to the Mariachi San Jose Youth Band!

Visit the Rare Fruit Orchard - the Heritage and High-Density Fruit Orchards - Emma's German Garden - Friendship Forest - Petting Zoo - and be part of 4H Mega Field Day!

The Master Gardeners will host a booth and will be holding a fall plant sale with fall/winter vegetable seedlings and other plants.

For more information, visit http://pruschfarmpark.org or call 408-926-5555.

Please note:

Emma Prusch Park will be closing one day per week in order to accommodate the City of San Jose budget for 2009-2010.

Due to the close, Emma Prusch Farm Park and the project areas will not be accessible on any Monday beginning November 30, 2009.

Overview

Emma Prusch Farm Park is located at 647 South King Road, San Jose, near the intersections of Highways 101 and 280/680.  Master Gardeners are involved with many projects at the park including a High Density Orchard, Rare Fruit Orchard, Heritage Orchard, California Native Color Wheel and Children’s Tunnel Garden.  Santa Clara County 4H volunteers keep farm animals in the large wooden barn located within the Park.  In 1994, the Master Composter volunteers established a composting demonstration area which has become an important part of the educational needs of the community.  Free composting classes are held at the Park: for more information visit ReduceWaste website.

High Density Fruit Orchard

Originally planted in the mid-1990s the Prusch Farm High Density Fruit Orchard provides a public demonstration of pome fruit gardening, showing local gardeners how to maintain reasonably sized trees and how several varieties can be grown in a small garden space by planting several trees in one planting hole.  The orchard consists of 85 trees of 57 known varieties (some trees are unmarked).  Types of trees are primarily apple (almost 70%), pear and quince.

So named for the nine palm trees that line the street, this two-acre site in San Jose has been established for Master Gardener (MG) research use. In order to test the principles that University of California Cooperative Extension (UCCE) promotes, MGs carry out trials at Nine Palms on best gardening practices and plant varieties best suited for our area, Santa Clara County. Ongoing research projects encompass all facets of gardening from soil preparation to planting density.
This is the largest facility for which Santa Clara County MGs currently care. On site are a large greenhouse, a shade house and several storage buildings as well as over one acre that can be used for annual vegetable and fruit trials. Most of the vegetable and fruit trials, completed in one growing season, emphasize best practices that are applicable to the home gardener.
At this facility, Master Gardeners investigate multiple growing methods and planting times to determine what works best for our unique climates. In recent years trials have included Mediterranean peppers, new vegetable varieties, tomato trials, year-round cut flowers, carrots, winter-grown edible greens and many others. Each year there are at least 10 different annual trials of vegetables, ornamental plants or fruits. There are also longer trials such as the best and most successful blueberries to grow in our area. Some of the most recent trials are accessible below.