Dr. Chin-Feng Hwang has joined us this month. He came from UC Davis in California, where he was working on the genetics of resistance to the dagger nematode in grapes. His main work here will be in grape breeding, and the first thing he will do is cross the disease resistant Norton grape with the disease susceptible Cabernet Sauvignon grape. He will grow lots of offspring from … [Read more...] about New member of the Grape Genetics lab
The composting workshop held on Saturday the 17th got off to a bit chilly start, but the sun was out and everyone warmed up at the end. John Avery told us how much and what makes good compost. One of the Tri-County Master Gardener group, Duane Gabriel, had lots of experience of composting in different ways and let us in on his secrets. We ended up by selecting "volunteers" so … [Read more...] about Composting anyone?
With a few really nice and warm days, everything just about explodes into growth. Unfortunately that also applies to weeds :). In this area apricots always bloom, but unless there is no more frost, we will not see any fruit. Some of the plums are not far behind, and peaches will follow soon. … [Read more...] about Apricots and magnolias
The first flowers in the spring are always the most exciting ones. This year the first snow crocus opened it's flower on a sunny (yes, there were a few!) day in the middle of January. Then more appeared. Oddly only yellow flowers appeared at first, now finally also some purple ones. If anyone has an idea why the flower color seems to matter, let me know! Photo will follow when … [Read more...] about Spring Flowers
These are Norton and Cabernet Sauvignon plants that we use for research purposes. pH Brix TA Norton 2.85 18.2 1.946 Cabernet 3.19 18.8 1.049 Interestingly, we also have a number of very small plants grown from seeds from a Norton and Cabernet Sauvignon cross where the sugar levels are mostly higher than either of the parents. I can not do any other juice chemistry on them at … [Read more...] about Some more juice chemistry