Even in the midst of the recent El Niño storm systems, environmentalists and vineyardists are still concerned with the impacts of four years of continued drought on crops. Yet a recent analysis of the ...

Question: I have been replacing gravel with wood mulch and I have to put the gravel someplace. What thickness of gravel can I place around the plants, none at the trunk, without causing damage? Also, ...

Long before irrigation pivots and improved turf varieties, native grasses were quietly doing the hard work.

This time of year, when the temperatures soar, we worry a lot about our lawns getting enough water. But not enough attention is paid to the rest of our landscape. Our trees and shrubs need water too – ...

Q: Our roots are firmly planted in old East Sacramento, where many new trees have been planted when mature, sickly Modesto ash trees were lost. Can our younger trees survive the summer months with ...

Learn to tell when your vegetables need moisture.

Recently a kind and generous neighbor placed a few pots of brilliant red geraniums and sparkling white alyssum on my patio and said, “You need to deep water them.” I looked at one of the shallow clay ...

For years, I took the New World's thirst for vineyard irrigation for granted. I believed what I was told: Napa Valley was a desert and needed its 100 to 200 gallons of water per vine per season. I ...