Northern California & Coastal Valleys RH introduction

Hi from Fresno in the Central or San Joaquin Valley of California, what has been called the "bread basket" of the US. Home of the Petaluma Seed Bank (Baker Creek) and the Heirloom Exposition.  This area has micro-climates like all Regions do, from the cooler coastal areas, the rice fields east of Sacramento, the citrus orchards of the low foothills to the flat lands of the northern Sacramento Valley and central San Joaquin Valley.  Sacramento north gets more rain than the southern Central Valley.  While water is a concern for agriculture in this region, it has been especially critical in the southern areas.

I found SFG by accident last February, 2013, while Searching for gardening information.  By March, I had 4 small boxes filled with Mel's Mix.  As most of you know by now, I am retired so I have a lot of time for gardening and being a Moderator for this Forum.  All of my offspring live in the Sacramento area so I travel there to see them.  My challenge (besides being new to gardening in general), is to garden in a small city backyard, with neighbors' trees on the south and west sides, complete with spotty sunshine.  I design, my husband builds, and my cat eats the bean leaves, corn stalks, and young borage.  I love raised boxes (table tops), vertical growing, and Berkeley hot composting.  I hate slugs, snails, visiting cats, green caterpillars, spider mites, powdery mildew and the blistering summer heat with its unhealthy air quality.  Summer shade protection and lots of mulch are necessary to get through the summer where it can get over a hundred degrees for weeks.  What happens in Las Vegas, happens here.  HOT!  On the flip side, our winters allow year around gardening with protection during the freezes.

Happy gardening, folks

Yes, Marie and I took on RH duties a few weeks ago but we had to wait for Rooster to return to officially list our names as RHs. Turan, Brainchasm and Marc have also volunteered within the last few days.

Any one else want to volunteer for a Region vacancy??