The Real Dirt

Among the joys of a California spring are swaths of annual wildflowers blooming around the state. Here in Butte County good places to view this wildflower show include Upper Bidwell Park, Table Mountain, and Feather Falls Trail. Annual wildflowers have a life cycle that lasts just one year.

If mushrooms or toadstools have suddenly appeared up in your yard, you are probably wondering why, and what you can do about them. Mushrooms, toadstools, and other fungi reproduce not by seeds, but by spores. These are microscopic, often single-cell spores, and are spread by the breeze.

The word is out -- container gardening is for both novice and experienced gardeners alike. It's the perfect way to experiment with plants, delve into edibles, and exercise creativity.

Spring is around the corner, which means it is time to plant. Starting from seed can be a gratifying and economical way to grow many edibles and ornamentals, but choosing seeds can be confusing.

The Covid pandemic accelerated a movement to backyard edible gardening that had been underway in this country since the mid-20th century. But the idea of the cultivated edible landscape goes back much farther, to the first colonists in the 1600s.