Napa Master Gardener Column

When the European explorers first came to the New World, they were interested in Native agriculture. Famine was a familiar presence in the old country, and even when times were good the ordinary person's diet there was neither varied nor abundant.

Until a few years ago I considered myself an avid gardener. When it came to gardening, I felt that anything worth doing was worth doing to excess. Most people would have been satisfied with just a few raised beds for vegetable gardening, but I had thirty.

Four years ago, the City of Napa's Parks and Recreation Department and the UC Master Gardeners of Napa County reached an agreement to create a learning garden at the Las Flores Community Center in Napa.

Why do I love dahlias so much? They are the perfect summer flower blooming in a wide range of forms and colors, from brilliant reds and purples to variegated pinks and lovely whites.

In 1999 I planted nine Manzanillo olive trees. Over the years, I've added another fourteen trees, and they are all still alive and producing fruit for olive oil. My early success relied more on dumb luck and less on good planning. Fortunately for me, olive trees are very forgiving.