As food prices rise, and consumers become more concerned about food safety, freshness and quality, backyard edible gardens are growing in popularity.

The UC Davis Good Life Garden at the Robert Mondavi Institute for Wine and Food Science will offer two in-depth Saturday seminars to the public on April 25 and May 23 to help consumers design, establish, maintain and make use of productive backyard edible gardens.

The April 25 seminar will focus on "Growing a Successful Vegetable Garden." Participants will be provided with information on how they can create a highly productive garden. It will be taught by Robert Norris, a UC Davis plant science professor emeritus, who has been training UC master gardeners in vegetable gardening for 29 years, and Terry Allan of Seeds of Change, an organization committed to preserving biodiversity and promoting sustainable agriculture.

The May 23 seminar will follow the theme of "All About Fruits, Nuts and Berries." Instructors Chuck Ingels, a Sacramento County farm adviser, and Ed Laivo of the Dave Wilson Nursery will provide information on how to create and maintain a highly productive backyard orchard, complete with fruit and nut trees and berry bushes.

Each seminar will run from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. and will cost $35 per person, including lunch, or $25 without lunch. The seminars will be held in UC Davis’ Good Life Garden and in the Silverado Vineyards Sensory Theater of the Robert Mondavi Institute for Wine and Food Science. For more information, visit the UC Davis Good Life Garden Web site at http://www.goodlifegarden.ucdavis.edu or call Kira O’Donnell, (530) 681-6412.