Tom Karwin: Selecting fruit trees for your yard

Our weather continues to be cool, so February is still a good time to plant bare root roses and trees—especially fruit trees, for their productivity. Garden centers have good inventories of both kinds of garden treasures.

AGRICULTURE: Annual pilgrimage for local beekeepers is a rich one

Local beekeepers have begun their annual pilgrimage of moving colonies of bees to almond groves covering hundreds of thousands of acres in Central California to help pollinate the fruit trees, which represent 80 percent of all almond production in the United States, according to the Modesto-based Almond Board of California. 

Peach trees bloom early

After warm temperatures forced some peach trees to bloom early, farmers hope a frost doesn't wipe out the peach crop.

Master Gardeners' model garden turns 10

Though their demonstration garden may seem inactive this time of year, the University of California Master Gardeners are anything but.

The California Cook: Getting creative with citrus

Now that trees are raining down bushels, it's time to peel, slice, squeeze and experiment. I'm writing this column having just spent an hour with our local fruit gleaner picking tangelos from my tree. We must have pulled at least 40 pounds. Earlier in the day, I'd picked an additional three dozen pieces of fruit for recipe testing. And the danged tree still looks like it hasn't been touched.