The Latest Dirt - Jan 2024

The 2024 UC Master Gardener New Volunteer Trainees

Compiled by Dorothy Abeyta and John Fike

Nicholas Banks (Antioch)

My first love was muscle cars. Then, I went heavily towards music. I have played with many people and had many good experiences and challenging times. I have always taken part in growing vegetables with my father, who spent most of his life farming. I have always enjoyed our time together, and with him, I learned the fundamentals of growing plants, particularly vegetables and fruits. I enjoy planting one seed and cultivating many fruits and vegetables to share with everyone.

I’ve always loved the idea of being able to give food to people in need. And that is my prime objective of learning and achieving from the knowledge I gain from the course. I have spent t quite some time searching for what will make my heart sing. I finally found my true calling in the UC Master Gardener program.

 

Anne Banks (Pittsburg/Antioch)

My love for gardening grew out of my grandmother’s love for plants. Although my grandmother did not know the official names of plants, she always knew the common name for plants, i.e., “Witches Broom” for the yellow flowering plant that grew on the side of the freeway, “Poor Man’s Orchid” for the flowers that grew on the side of the street when I was growing, etc. In addition, I always loved the time I spent with my father working in the yard.

When I was five, we moved to Concord, California, where my father got a job at Diablo Valley College in Pleasant Hill, California. My father developed all of the vocational education programs, including, but not limited to, the Dental Hygiene Program, the Culinary Arts program, the Welding program, the Apparel Design Program, and the Horticulture program.

Our property in Concord had eight walnut trees and seven almond trees. In addition, my father planted several fruit trees on the property. I always put seeds in the ground to see if they would grow. I will never forget planting watermelon seeds in a small circle in the backyard. When the seedlings grew to about an inch and a half tall, someone took a large, round, bolder and dropped it on my watermelon seeds, killing them. I was devastated. Since then, my goal has been to grow watermelon, but I have yet to succeed.

As an adult, I have worked as a paralegal for 15 years, then as a high school special education teacher for 23 years, retiring six years ago. We have lived in Antioch, California, for the past six years. My goal in Antioch has been to grow tomatoes in our yard, with little success. I believe the tomatoes always have big round black spots on the bottom from incorrect watering. I hope by the end of the UC Master Gardener program, I’ll know how to remedy my tomato problem.

We lost our home in Pittsburg, forcing us to move to Antioch. We live in the older part of Antioch, off of “A” Street, where there are a lot of food insecurities. My goal for the UC Master Gardener program is to build connections in my community to establish a community garden.

We live a block from the church we attend. I founded “Mission Possible” at our church about ten years ago—an outreach program to help feed those needing food in our immediate neighborhood. We donate a different food item to the local food banks in Pittsburg and Brentwood monthly. In addition, Mission Possible has a group of women who meet one Saturday a month and give away little dresses, shirts, shorts, and t-shirts they sew locally and worldwide. Mission Possible is one of the programs I am proudest of.

In addition, every year, we hold a “Santa’s Workshop,” providing hot cocoa, cookies, and a small toy from Santa, in addition to crafts and games for the families in the neighborhood, which includes sending a plate of cookies home with each family.

Through the help of the UC Master Gardener program, I hope to expand our Mission Possible outreach to include helping local neighbors start their gardens and provide their families with fresh produce. I am very excited about being a part of the program, and I am looking forward to helping in my community.

Bennett Berke (Pleasant Hill)

 I was born in Chicago but have lived in the San Francisco Bay Area since I was 22. I am married, with two adult children and two grandchildren.

After getting a B.A. and working for several years, I returned to school to study Ecology and Systematics at S.F. State and took Entomology and Plant Taxonomy classes. I did some desert fieldwork, but after getting my M.A., I ended up in computer programming and project management until my retirement.

After retirement, my activities included being a volunteer docent at the Ruth Bancroft Garden and a land steward for Save Mount Diablo.

I enjoy gardening because it is a satisfying and challenging mixture of science, experimentation, and aesthetics. I can see that the UC Master Gardener program is an open-minded and welcoming community, and I’m looking forward to contributing my own.

Neerja Bhutani (Walnut Creek)

I have called the Bay Area my home since 1981 and the United States my home since 1980, when I arrived from India after marrying my husband, who had been living here for seven years. Growing up in a bustling and crowded city like New Delhi, I had limited exposure to gardening, but I always appreciated the abundance of flowers and greenery in public spaces and parks.

We focused our early years in the U.S. on raising our two children and balancing family and career, so gardening was not a prominent interest. However, about 15 years ago, my husband’s passion for gardening ignited, and he became a dedicated and passionate gardener. Inspired by his enthusiasm for growing flowers, I embarked on a journey by taking classes in floral arrangements, a craft that I continue to adore.

Volunteer work has always been an essential part of my life, but for the past few years, various factors and the pandemic have temporarily halted my involvement. I’ve been exploring new areas of interest and observing my husband’s dedication to our garden since our children are grown up. I’ve been motivated to pursue new avenues of community involvement, and I secretly want to know how my husband can grow perfect vegetables and flowers.

Rakesh Bhutani (Walnut Creek)

After five decades in medicine, retirement is a precious gift. And in retirement, the pursuit of backyard gardening is unbelievably satisfying. I first started puttering in the dirt many years ago and have slowly learned enough to have some vegetables and flowers in the summer and spring bulbs from April through May. Winters are insufferable; although I keep trying to grow seedlings, I kill more than I grow. Every seed sprouting new leaves, flowers, and fruit is peace & joy.

Some years ago, Our Garden opened a mile from our home. I finally went there after I retired. I was surprised to see how luxuriant and beautiful its plants are, which has caused me great existential pain. These UC Master Gardeners know some secrets that no lecture can impart. I hope to discover them.

I will achieve my purpose in life when I can grow beautiful cauliflower and cabbages, turnips, carrots, and radishes, and my tomato, peppers, and eggplant plants are full of large fruit.

Stephanie Bontemps (Lafayette)

My love of plants began as a child gathering (and eating) fruits and vegetables in my grandparents’ gardens. My father grew up on a farm outside Savannah, Georgia, so there were always plenty of fresh foods when we visited. My love of plants grew over time after my parents bought a house in Southern California and decided to landscape it themselves, with some help from the kids. I loved planting and watching the plants thrive. I even loved pulling weeds.

When my husband and I bought our first home in White Plains, New York, the yard had potential but was a mess. Over time, it became beautiful as we learned what worked in the climate and the differences between shady and sunny parts of the yard. Our New York expertise was of very little use when we moved to Lafayette, California, where microclimates are critical and hungry deer and gophers present regular challenges. We’ve re-landscaped our entire one-acre property and continue to find new needs to replace and update plants, particularly as the climate warms.

I’m pursuing the UC Master Gardening program to deepen my knowledge. I’m particularly interested in native plants and landscapes that can thrive in a dry and warming environment. I’ve recently left a 40-year financial services career, so I finally have time to focus on this.

Jim Breuner (Orinda)

Retired Utility Safety Guy; Part-time Background Investigator; Part-time Gardener. It only took 40 years, but when we could finally afford it, my wife and I decided to transform our ugly, dirt/mud backyard and rotted-out redwood deck into a usable space of peace and beauty. Working with a landscape designer/builder, we put down pavers in such a fashion that it created “rooms” with chairs for visiting and relaxing, tables and chairs for entertaining and eating outdoors, and plants and irrigation (including a natural rock water fountain) for attracting birds, bees, and hummers to our sanctuary. I had long nurtured a passion for California natives, so there was an emphasis on that, but we are not “purists.”

Nor did I have an eye for design, flow, and symmetry. Hodgepodge best describes my gardening style. But as I learned by trial and error, my passion for gardening grew, and I understand a lot more Latin now than I used to.

We didn’t stop with the backyard. No, we went around by the front door, the entire front hill, and the back hill “outside the fence.” And I kept buying plants, seeing what worked and what didn’t. My criteria were: 1) deer resistant, 2) clay tolerant, 3) drought resistant, and 4) attract pollinators, in no particular order of importance. Extra points if it was a California native.

I got a lot of inspiration from attending the annual Contra Costa–Alameda Counties Bringing Back the Natives Tour for many years, and I still look forward to that event every May. I am especially fond of Ceanothus, Arctostaphylos, and Salvias. My wife would say I have a bit of a plant obsession. I tell her there are many worse things I could be obsessed with. She thinks I’m crazy for spending so much time on the computer looking up plants. I tell her I’m watching plant porn.

I had wanted to enroll in a UC Master Gardener class for years, but work and other commitments always prevented me from doing so. I’m retired now, so when the opportunity to apply for this class came up, I jumped. I’m so proud of what I’ve accomplished on our hilly property in Orinda, especially in April through May, when the plants are ablaze with color, and the bees are buzzing. People walking or even driving by will sometimes stop and compliment me on how beautiful it is.

My yard is my happy place. It is a mind-blowing experience to know that I’ve put something in the ground and created something so beautiful and that others think so, too! However, I realize there is so much more beyond California natives that I can learn, and I am so excited to embark on this educational journey. I love talking to people about my plants, and I’m eager to start talking to other like-minded people about all that I am about to learn and to share this knowledge so they, too, can create their little piece of heaven on earth.

In my workday life, I have done many things, from police officer, claims investigator, safety coordinator, compliance superintendent, to Regional Safety Manager, to name but a few. To keep busy in retirement – and to stay out of my wife’s hair – I do background investigations on law enforcement candidates for several local law enforcement agencies, which brings me full circle. I swim laps three days a week and go on long hikes whenever possible.

My wife and I just celebrated our 45th anniversary. We have one daughter and three grandkids who live in Pleasant Hill, California, so we see them all the time and are fortunate to be such an integral part of their lives. One of the most significant accomplishments in my life – of which I am very proud – is completing the Camino de Santiago, a 500-mile hike starting in France and ending in Santiago de Compostela in the northwest corner of Spain. The year was 2022, and I was 69 years old. It was on this journey that I fell in love with Flanders poppies!

Cynthia Casey (Walnut Creek)

Plants and Nature have always been a source of wonder to me. I’ve lived in the South, the Northeast, Mexico, and now in California, so I have been fortunate enough to see many very different varieties of plants. I grew up watching both of my grandmothers work in their gardens in Kentucky. My paternal grandmother was especially expert and had a half-acre yard filled with hundreds of flowers, tomatoes, grapes, and blackberries. She specialized in daylilies. The Hemerocallis Society visited regularly to admire the new varieties she had developed. I spent a lot of time there, and I think I learned a lot more than I realized by just watching. I began to create my gardens after I bought my first home in Contra Costa County in the early nineties.

I’m currently retired from a long career as a software designer, developer, and business analyst. I live in Walnut Creek, California. I’m divorced and have two daughters and three grandchildren.

 

Maiytth C. M. Takahashi Coleman (El Sobrante)

 Throughout my life, I’ve connected closely with Nature. One of my earliest memories is of my parents holding my little hands while exploring our family farm in Brazil.

Later, when I went to school, I longed for the weekend and school breaks to spend time back in our country home with the rest of our family.
I come from a family of immigrants who had to leave behind their lives, reinvent a new beginning, and keep their traditions in a foreign land. Luckily for them, their new home was a gentle land where Nature’s bounty and beauty weren’t in shortage.

My grandparents went from being businesspeople and teachers to becoming farmers. Of course, they learned everything and adapted to their new lives.

At the farm, I used to take long walks exploring the marginal ecosystem of the small river, where I would find myself collecting orchids and admiring the mysterious beauty of Nature for hours. I had a satchel, a packed snack, a stick, and a sketchbook where I would draw and take notes (the best I could) of the specimens I had encountered. There were berries, vines, grass, bromeliads, giant Ipe trees, and plants that looked straight out of a fairy tale book.

During family gatherings, whether after dinner or teatime, all of us, grownups and children, would research botanical encyclopedias and plant taxonomy charts to figure out what those plants were. My huge family shared the love of plants, animals, and cooking, and that, along with the love for each other, was the connection needed to feel at home. It was beautiful chaos.

Fast forward, I moved to foreign lands, had my children, and had a busy life, but again, my family’s love of Nature made me feel right at home anywhere I went. I’m a mother, and like all parents, I desire a beautiful future on this amazing planet for future generations.

My career evolved over the years from psychology, in which I was very involved due to my first child being diagnosed with autism, and then to Culinary Arts and gastronomy. It was a natural evolution, as they are so closely connected. We connect one to another through food and Nature. Food is an essential link to health for us and the ecosystems that maintain life on this planet because of how we grow it.

For this next cycle of my life, it made sense to return to my roots.
Gardening makes me feel closer to my ancestors. Applying the principles of biophilia and exercising my innate wish to seek a connection with Nature gives me a sense of security. There’s also the applied benefit to growing organic foods, learning to cultivate and apply science and information, using permaculture principles while supporting local fauna & flora, and learning more about the systems that keep this fantastic planet alive.

The UC Master Gardening program unifies the science, the community interconnectivity, and love and respect of Nature, offering tools to face the new obstacles that come along with climate changes and the necessary steps needed towards healing and preserving the ecosystem.

Tom Cramer (Lafayette)

I grew up on the East Coast in the Washington, D.C. area, moving to the Bay Area in the 1980s. We lived in a rural farming community where we always had a vegetable garden. My mother harvested vegetables and bought bushels of fruit for the table and preserving. My brothers and I picked whatever was ripe, sometimes climbing trees to get ripe cherries for a pie, sometimes getting green beans or tomatoes for dinner.

As an adult, I always had my own garden, even if only a small strip next to my apartment. I am now fortunate to enjoy a more extensive garden in Lafayette, California. I enjoy sharing produce with neighbors and carrying on my mother’s tradition of canning and freezing.

I have developed an interest in California native plants and especially their traditional uses. Natives are my favored choice for my Lafayette landscape.

Now retired, I have been learning more about soil, pollinators, and other topics that are so important to the area we call home. I look forward to further exploring and am excited to share that knowledge with others in our community.

Kathleen Dell’Aquila (Orinda)

I grew up in Southern California, where decomposed granite soil quickly grew huge veggies and gorgeous roses with only a bag of Gromulch added for nutrients. I loved gardening but had yet to learn how challenging it could be.

As a transfer “reentry” student to UC Berkeley, my husband, three children, and I moved north. I majored in English, worked in Special Education for two years as a paraeducator, and then pursued my teaching and educational leadership credentials through St. Mary’s College and Chapman University. I taught for 10 years and was an administrator for seven more before retiring. In retirement, I enjoy quilting and food preserving but have become frustrated with the heavy clay soils in my garden. It’s tough to preserve food when those veggies don’t grow!

I consider myself a lifelong learner, so I naturally turned to all the resources I could find, among them the UC Master Gardener presentations at libraries and online. It has taken many years for me to consider myself successful in the garden. Still, Nature is constantly throwing new challenges my way – critters in the soil and air, being on four feet, extreme weather, unpredictable seasonal shifts, too much water, or (usually) insufficient. I consider these challenges new opportunities to continue learning, and now I welcome them. I believe there is no endpoint to learning and that teaching adds to my increased understanding.

I look forward to my training as a UC Master Gardener and the opportunity to share that understanding with other gardeners. In the end, Nature is the Master teacher of us all.

Susan Domanico (Kensington)

I have been gardening and growing plants since I was a child. I filled every home I ever had with houseplants, and even when I only had a small outside space, I found a way to add pots and plants. When we purchased a newly built home in San Diego, California, my husband and I designed the yard and garden beds. We designed and installed the irrigation, supplemented the clay soil, dug the holes, and planted trees that I am proud to say are thriving and providing shade. I strived to plant a sustainable yard for Coastal and Southern California by reading, researching, and visiting demonstration gardens in the area.

My passion for growing things is only part of my identity as a scientist. My career started on the cellular and molecular scale, where I studied the immune system and then did research in cancer biology. After my post-doctoral research, I tested out teaching science in high school and never looked back. I have always taught biology and, over the years, taught chemistry, physics, robotics, and neuroscience.

I introduced plant biology at every opportunity possible in my high school biology classes. We explored hydroponics to understand minimum nutritional requirements for growth, used plants for long-term data collection, and annually used flowers for dissection to understand plant reproduction. I was always amazed that so many of my students never grew a plant from seed and equally pleased that they would cite the plant experiments as their favorite part of the class.

Now that I have retired from managing teams of teachers and teaching high school science, I am eager to pursue a new avenue to continue using science-based education to build community. Since we moved to the Bay Area several years ago, I have used my walks around my neighborhood to start conversations and make connections. I often find myself stopping to admire a flower or tree and notice someone next to me. We stop and talk about the plant, and both leave with a smile. Plants seem to bring out the best in us. Teaching more people how to successfully create gardens – especially edible gardens where we can share what we grow – could help strengthen the connections in our neighborhoods.

Lucy Duquette (Concord)

I was born in Buffalo, New York. When I was seven, we moved into the suburbs. My parents had purchased a home with a large backyard with mounds of dirt that my little sister and I used to play on. My father had the land evened into a large lawn, where he planted flowers and plum trees. While we missed playing in the dirt when the plum trees were fruiting, we found joy picking and eating the bounty. A neighbor had a pear tree that also supplemented our diets.

As a young woman, I planted a small garden in my own home, and nothing was more fun than watching food come out of the ground. When I moved to Florida, I found that flowers were better for that soil type. By then, my career had started absorbing my time, and gardening paid the price. I spent the next couple of decades working long hours and traveling for my job. I moved across the country, from New York and Florida to living in Colorado (where I married), California, Kansas, and Georgia, with extended times in Baltimore, Tennessee, Pennsylvania, and Washington D.C. My husband also had assignments in Utah, Texas, and New York.

We balanced our careers as we moved from place to place, and in 2016, we finally earned the right to move back home to the Bay Area. We had purposely kept our house in California, knowing this was where we wanted to be. And, having seen most of the country, we were delighted with our choice. My husband retired in 2017, and I retired in 2020. We started attending the UC Master Gardener Wednesday lectures. Our yard is small, but since retiring, we re-landscaped it to remove grass or other high water-needing plants and added fruit trees and flowers to attract birds and bees.

Regarding my background, I have an associate degree from the University of Buffalo. As a Senior Manager in a Federal Agency, where I worked for 42 years, I made decisions on business organization, procurement, recruitment/hiring, and program development, including public community services. With over 35 years in management, I led multiple projects and task force teams nationwide for program development, implementation, administration, and oversight. I worked with eight to over 1,000 group sizes on various strategic objectives.

For several years, I was an Operations Manager running a call center in Oakland, California, responsible for serving the public. I spent 10 years as the Manager of the agency’s National Quality Program, which included reviewing employees nationwide and conducting operational reviews for Executives. I have written countless business papers, executive briefing documents, and business plans. I held public workshops, designed public notices, wrote news articles, and sponsored all-employee conferences for various group sizes.

I served as a Public Affairs Specialist for three years, including professional media training from the University of South Carolina. I have appeared on radio and television, issued news releases, and performed public outreach. I have considerable experience as an instructor and have developed numerous technical and managerial training materials. In Florida, I served as the District Electronic Filing Coordinator, which involved conducting seminars for professional practitioners, monitoring their programs for compliance with the laws, and taking enforcement action if necessary. I am good at research and have developed courses, procedures, and plans used nationwide.

I am excited to be part of this program because I have a deep respect for the earth and a strong affinity for plants – watching them grow and develop. I want to learn more about horticulture to do my part and help others save the planet. I value the chance to socialize with people and make more friends. I particularly like the opportunity to feed those in need and help the community. I am willing to work where I am needed, but I am particularly good at accounting and office work.

Stanley Goldman (Walnut Creek)

I was born in Europe and raised in New York City. While in NYC, I moved into a new apartment in my senior year in college; my next-door neighbor gave me two plants as a housewarming gift. They were a Crown of Thorns and an Aloe. The pleasure I experienced in watching them grow started a journey from having a house full of plants to getting advanced degrees in plant molecular biology.

I am fascinated by the variety and tenacity of plants. Again and again, I ask myself, “How do they do that?” and “What can I do to help them along.” That has led to my life-long interest in and involvement with all types of plants. Over the years, I have had numerous gardens, three in my backyard during graduate school, kept plants indoors, and planted and nurtured trees. I have lived in the Bay Area for over 20 years and have always had a vegetable garden, fruit trees, and various ornamentals.

Now that I am retired, I would like to share what I have learned over the years and increase my knowledge through the UC Master Gardner training and volunteer programs.

Jan Hoehn (Danville)

I grew up in Danville, California, with 18 walnut trees in our backyard. We pruned, knocked, harvested, peeled, dried, cracked into halves (Christmas gifts to our extended family and friends), and sold walnuts to the local co-op! We were so proud of our harvest!

Every Saturday, our family shared gardening chores with extraordinary laughter and joy! We often visited my grandparents, who lived on acreage in Graton, California, with a Gravenstein apple orchard and a huge vegetable garden! My grandpa would take us through his garden, pulling up carrots, knocking soil off, and letting us chomp away!

Mother’s Day was my special day to visit the San Francisco Conservatory, delighting in the color and fragrance of extraordinary specimens. I often gardened with my mom in her garden, and when she was older, she “supervised” my gardening from her chaise!

We have continued to share gardening with our children and grandchildren. We grew seven citrus trees, tomatoes, potatoes, kale, Swiss chard, and blueberries in our Castro Valley, California garden. After picking grapefruit, oranges, and limes, our nine-year-old grandson introduced us to his best friend, “These are my grandparents who live in California and have an “orchard” (when you are nine years old, an orchard is seven trees). Years later, I picked up my third-grade grandson after school; he came running up to me excitedly, stating, “Gramma, bees are good for us!”

I currently work in a Danville nursery. My passion is to learn through the UC Master Gardeners program to help further educate and solve our guests’ gardening questions. We have an expanded Kid’s club and offer a school program in our local schools.

I look forward to volunteering in schools. I love to teach children the magic of growing their food!

Chris Hsu (Lafayette)

 Ever since I can remember, I’ve had a deep love for all things green and growing. My gardening journey began with my parents, who gave me their wisdom and green thumbs. At our home in Los Angeles, my parents planted countless fruiting trees such as loquat, sapote, dragon eye, persimmon, jujube, papaya, cherimoya, pomegranates, etc. I spent summers on my grandparent’s farm in Iowa, riding on the wheel of a tractor as my grandfather and I spread steer manure through the fields; I collected eggs from the henhouse, sorted good seeds from weed seeds with an antique mechanical seed cleaner, and shucked piles of sweet corn for freezing.

In college, I took my passion to the next level by setting up a grow cart to nurture vegetable seedlings. During this time, I discovered the joy of watching life spring forth from tiny seeds.

In San Francisco, I joined the Fort Mason Community Garden and eventually helped run the greenhouse and lath house that provided seedlings to all in the community garden.

Much later, I turned my front yard into a mini cornfield during the challenging first summer of the COVID-19 pandemic to be a source of sustenance and a symbol of resilience and hope.

A highlight in my gardening journey was the serendipitous discovery of a functioning well in my backyard – a Mother Nature gift equipping me to cultivate the land further.

My commitment to gardening is no half-hearted endeavor. I’m a gardener through and through, as my wife often laments about my perpetually dirty feet, a testament to my preference for well-worn Birkenstock clogs in the garden.

Gardening, for me, is more than a hobby; it’s a way of life. I’ve gained patience, resilience, and an understanding of the intricate balance of ecosystems. As an environmental advocate, I’m passionate about sustainable gardening practices, soil enrichment, and conservation.

I eagerly anticipate continuing my gardening journey, sharing my experiences, and contributing to the beauty and sustainability of our community.

Laura Laird (Alamo)

I love the smell of potting soil!

My grandmother was a gardener. We would spend hours together in her Illinois garden, weeding, pruning, deadheading, and generally watching plants grow. I have spread this love of gardening to my children. I want to gain knowledge and experience to help people outside my family enjoy this excellent and fruitful hobby/life skill.

My daughter got married last year, and instead of floral table arrangements, she wanted long wooden boxes planted with succulents. I made the 10 five-foot-long boxes and got to plant a few myself (she enjoys planting too). They were a big hit.

My neighbor plants 26 tomato plants each year. Bob then shares his bounty with the neighbors, a paper bag on each doorstep. Besides wanting to be the next Bob, I realize the power of growing produce for others and teaching them to do it.

From Illinois to Southern California to eventually settling in Alamo, California, I am excited to give back to a community I have enjoyed for many years!

Charlotte Lee (San Ramon)

“What, tomatoes get sunburned?!” I uttered in surprise. We moved to California from New Jersey in 2020. Our new house was already beautifully landscaped. The property’s fruit trees, raised vegetable beds, and gorgeous flowers were our main selling points when we purchased our new home.

However, as I enthusiastically began to plant, confident that my years of gardening knowledge from N.J. would pay off, I realized that gardening in California was completely different. Thus, I began my journey to re-learn how to garden.

While we love wildlife, we constantly try to outsmart the squirrels and gophers. Dealing with gophers was one of our first challenges. A farmer at the farmer’s market told me that gobstoppers would choke the gopher when it would eat it. So, we stuffed gobstoppers down the gopher hole. We found the gobstoppers sitting next to the gopher hole the following day! We try to prevent squirrels from eating the fruit on our fruit trees with netting around the canopy and metal tubing around the trunk, but they still find a way to get to the fruit. Once, I scared a squirrel off our pear tree, and it flew off the tree like one of the squirrels in the Mark Rober Squirrel Olympics video!

Proper irrigation is another ongoing challenge. “Deep watering,” “drip irrigation,” and “transpiration” were new terms for me. Calculating how much water a plant or tree needs? That’s mind-boggling! We hardly ever had to worry about watering in N.J. During the first year in our house in San Ramon, I overwatered the germaniums and underwatered the Meyer lemon tree. Fortunately, both survived.

Gardening has always been a part of my life. From a young age, I learned from my uncle and my parents. When my children were school-aged, I volunteered heavily in my children’s school, setting up and teaching gardening and nutrition appreciation programs. I also worked a few years as a cooking instructor for a local cooking school where I co-taught the “farm-to-table” summer camp program.

As I settle into my home in California, I look forward to expanding my gardening knowledge and abilities, learning how to overcome the unique challenges of the California climate, and sharing my experiences with others.

Amanda Merrill (Oakley)

I’ve always been interested in growing things from my earliest experience growing up in a fifth-story apartment, growing flowers and bulbs for the twice-yearly school flower show. We didn’t have a garden, but each year, my elementary school sent home candytuft and nasturtium seed to grow and, later in the year, daffodil bulbs. When our plants were grown, we would carefully walk them to school for the flower show. Getting those pots to school without dropping them or having the daffodil stems snap was quite a feat!

I grew up in England and, at 19, came to the U.S. to attend college. I later went to the East Bay and have been here ever since. Once we had our own home, I tinkered with a vegetable garden and grew so many tomatoes that I made sauce for days until I finally gave up because I couldn’t make one more batch. I love growing flowers, especially pale pink roses. Since retiring last year after 25 years as a teacher, I have decided to return to gardening and am anxious to learn more and share this knowledge with others.

Steve Parker (Richmond)

 I grew up in Southern California. I have university degrees in Biology, Geology, and Business. I worked for many years in the water treatment industry.

My first experience with growing plants was caring for a potted flower I received when I was five. My mother spent time in the hospital, where well-wishers gave her flowers and plants. She gave both of my brothers and I a plant to care for. Mine was a violet. My plant thrived over the next several weeks, while my brothers’ plants did not. I was told I had a “green thumb,” which I thought was strange.

When I was 10, I grew a pumpkin patch after watching Charlie Brown’s “The Great Pumpkin.” Since then, I have been growing fruits and vegetables at every opportunity and learning what grows well, what is accessible and what is challenging to grow, what I like to eat, and what I’m not keen on. In parallel, my cooking skills have improved, and I have learned to use spices and herbs to my advantage.

I collect seeds from vegetables and herbs I have succeeded with and propagate them again the following year. I focus on heirlooms and hard-to-find varieties. I preserve vegetables and make jams and jellies. I volunteer with a group called Contra Coast Fruit Rescue. We harvest fruit from backyard fruit trees and donate it to food pantries.

I have lived in Chicago, Dallas, and Tampa. I lived in Mexico and traveled to Central and South America. I have traveled to Europe, the South Pacific, Japan, and China.

I have a scientific background and a curious mind. At this point, I can call myself a lifelong learner.

Ruth Perelstein (Contra Costa County)

As I was growing up, my grandmother kept a Victory Garden in Iowa well past the end of WWII. As a child, I was sent to the garden to pick green beans and berries. She had a basement full of food they “put up” for the winter seasons. My mother carried on the tradition of a garden and keeping chickens in Denver. She sent me into the neighborhood to sell tomatoes to the neighbors. Eventually, we ate the chickens because they pecked my mother’s red toenails.

In my late 20s, I moved to San Francisco and worked downtown as a commercial artist. I was amazed by my lush surroundings. Many of the plants only grew inside in Denver. At that time, I was too busy trying to make a life in San Francisco even to consider gardening.

In 1981, I moved to an intentional community called Lafayette Morehouse in Oakland, California. In 1983, I moved to the Lafayette property and played with gardening. In 2015, I fell and suffered a concussion. On my doctor’s recommendations, I immersed myself in pulling weeds and being in Nature, which soothed my recovering brain. My husband, Marty, and I inherited a 1419 ft. community garden three years ago. What a learning curve that has been. We threw ourselves into the project and attended many garden lectures.

We have had two beautiful years of veggies. This year, though, we were inundated with pests, and abatement became the biggest heartbreak and challenge. The UC Master Gardeners program seemed just the help we needed to make gardening even more fun and thriving in our now all-consuming gardening lifestyle.

Marty Perelstein (Contra Costa County)

I grew up in the Bronx, New York, and often said I had to walk a block to see a tree. I discovered the New York Botanical Garden in the Bronx in high school, only about a mile from our apartment. It was 267 acres of pure wonder. It became my favorite place to go, and I still do whenever I visit New York.

I live in an intentional community between Lafayette and Walnut Creek. We have 20 acres and keep most of the property in a natural condition. About eight years ago, my wife Ruth suffered a severe concussion. The doctors told us that what the brain likes is being in Nature and doing repetitive tasks such as weeding and gardening. We started what we called a Concussion Garden. We mostly planted ornamentals and some herbs for cooking.

During Covid, we started a community vegetable garden of about 1400 sq. ft. on our property. We have five beds and numerous wine barrels. I have four compost bins. I process the vegetable scraps from about 40 residents I live with. I also have worm bins and am making compost tea for use as fertilizer. Ruth and I started attending the Walnut Creek Garden lectures two years ago and have attended many of them.

I had previously become aware of the global food crisis due to climate and weather issues and the farming practices that depleted the soil. When I attended the lectures in Walnut Creek, I realized that the crisis could be met by people growing their food and by planting native plants and nurturing the soil.

I remember that during WWII, people in the U.S. and Great Britain were encouraged to have Victory Gardens as a patriotic duty.

Previously, I “ate my vegetables” because I was supposed to. Since then, my wife has turned me into a “Foodie,” and the flavor of the food we cook using our homegrown veggies is impressive.

Tina Schumann (Alamo)

 I am a former educator, born and raised in the Bay Area, residing in Alamo, California, for the past 24 years. Having raised two children, I have held many volunteer positions in the local schools, from room mom to treasurer to youth running coach. I am enthusiastic about my home garden and constantly seeking to improve it. My family lovingly gives me their dead or half-dead plants to try to bring back to life; I very much enjoy the challenge! I love hiking Mt Diablo and am amazed by the Nature and wildlife so near us. I peruse garden catalogs often to find the next plant to add to my yard!

 

Tara Vaishnav (Alamo)

As a child, my happiest memories were always in the garden. Whether in Kerala, India or at my Nana’s home, watching the harvesters scale up the coconut trees with the agility of monkeys and throw down coconuts! Or in Saigon, where the coconut tree had a giant pothos climbing up it this time. My mom called it the Python tree, and I was in awe. Or it could be planting bean seeds in our backyard with my mom teaching me to build a trough around it so water could find it, with a trellis above for the plants to climb on. “Collect leaves and drop them at the base of the plant,” she would say. That was my very first lesson in mulching and composting. I must have been seven years old.

My love for gardening started very early and always stayed with me. Even through my busiest years with a full-time job and three little children, I still found time to plant at least a tomato, a few cucumbers, and maybe some herbs.

Now that the children are grown, I have some mental capacity and time to return to gardening. I actively started gardening right before the pandemic and started my YouTube channel, GreenLove (@greenlove1), to teach, learn, and inspire others and share what I have learned with them. I also love photography and videography, and my social media channels provide me with a much-needed creative outlet.

As a lifelong learner, I love researching and experimenting in the garden and understanding the science behind Nature’s workings. I mimic those ways in my garden.

Professionally, I am a technology executive, but as a recent empty-nester, I want to explore how I can do more of what I love. I love learning (and teaching) about all things gardening. And I also try to tread lightly on this beautiful planet we call home!

Pamela Wagner (El Cerrito)

My name is Pamela, and I love looking at beautiful gardens. I have admired the beautiful colors in my neighbors’ yards, close and far. Several years ago, I had the junipers in my front yard removed and replaced them with different plants, some that I liked and others I pulled out. Now, I have different colors of salvia. However, I’d like to know what other types of flower plants I can add.

We have two veggie boxes, and I’ve grown some veggies but have no idea what good fertilizers are, what good bugs are, and why some veggies rot on the vine. So, I want to be a better gardener and share my flowering plants and produce with others. I’m retired with many volunteering projects and am hopeful that I can share more with friends and family.

 

Diane Worrell (Brentwood)

I was born in Kansas, grew up in New York, and spent most of my adult life in California. Three years ago, I traveled from Maine to Florida in a small trailer and camped in many state and national parks for 11 months. I returned to California the day after the state closed for Covid. Since returning, I have lived in Pittsburg, Clearlake, Turlock, and finally in Brentwood. I am glad to be settled in one place and pleased for the opportunity to learn much more about gardening and share that knowledge as a UC Master Gardener.