Integrating drip irrigation into your backyard garden or landscape can be an effective, low-maintenance way to save time, money and water, while helping your plants thrive.  Yolo County’s Hanna & Herbert Bauer Memorial Community Garden is host to a free class on how to set up drip irrigation based on plant type and garden layout on Saturday, December 12, from 10:00 to 11:30 a.m.

This class will provide an overview of the strategies used to set up drip irrigation, such as the type of plants, the season, the role of drip timers and the soil.  There will also be a hands-on demonstration of how to set up a drip system and what components are needed to get started. 

Are you curious about how to garden without pesticides and still keep the harmful critters away?  The Hanna & Herbert Bauer Memorial Community Garden, located in Woodland and sponsored by the Yolo County Health &d Human Services Agency, will be host to a free gardening class, Integrated Pest Management: Gardening Without Pesticides, on Saturday, November 7 from 10:00 to 11:30 a.m.

This class will provide an overview of the Integrative Pest Management approach to gardening.  Topics will include strategies for gardening without pesticides, how to identify products that are safe for use in the garden, techniques for identifying beneficial and harmful insects, and how to use plant and soil properties to help keep harmful critters at bay and optimize yield.

Yolo County Health Officer Dr. Ron Chapman urges people in Yolo County to get the flu vaccine.

Each year, flu causes millions of illnesses, hundreds of thousands of hospitalizations and thousands of deaths in the United States.  Flu can cause severe disease across all ages.  According to the recent California Influenza Surveillance Report, there were 78 influenza-associated deaths reported in persons under 65 years of age in California during the 2014-15 influenza season.  To reduce this threat, Dr. Chapman recommends the annual flu vaccine for everyone six months of age and older, including pregnant women.

Common symptoms of the flu include fever or feeling feverish, a cough and/or sore throat, a runny or stuffy nose, chills, fatigue and body aches.  Children may also have nausea, vomiting or diarrhea.  To stop the spread of flu and other respiratory illnesses: