Help and Advice from the Contra Costa Master Gardeners' Help Desk
Cleaning and Lubricating Tools for Use in an Organic Garden
Client's Question(s)
I have a lot of tools to maintain this winter and would like to know if you have any information on how to sharpen tools: pruners, loppers, shovels, hoes, etc. Also, what kind of lubricating oil should I use -- these are tools used in an organic garden and I do not want to use motor oil as suggested by some other sites.
CCMG's Help Desk Response
Thank you for contacting the Master Gardener help desk with your questions about maintaining your gardening tools. You are to be commended for doing maintenance on your tools--too many people ignore this vital part of keeping equipment in good working order.
The first order of business is to clean the tools and remove any rust. I've found that scrubbing clippers with a bit of mild detergent and water will get most of the gunk off tools before sharpening. If you've kept them clean during the season, you're a step ahead. Shovels and hoes may require a little more muscle--a stiff bristle brush or wire brush can be used to remove dirt and rust.
For pruning shears and knives, it's possible to get good results with any of the diamond, ceramic, or high-carbon steel honing devices that are on the market. You can also use an oil stone. When sharpening a blade on a stone, simply slide the blade over the flat surface of the stone in one direction until you reach the desired sharpness. No matter which device you choose to sharpen your cutting blades, it should come with directions for use. A good guideline to use for all sharpening is to follow the bevel already on the tool's blade. Here is a link to a Fine Gardening magazine article about cleaning and sharpening tools (it includes diagrams illustrating sharpening angles for various types of tools): http://www.finegardening.com/clean-sharp-tools-work-better.
As far as a lubricating oil, vegetable oil spray can be used to protect tools such as shovels and hoes after cleaning. Non-petroleum lubricants such as Felco Lubricant Spray or food-grade silicone spray can be used on tools with moving parts such as pruners.
Happy gardening in the new year!
Contra Costa Master Gardeners' Help Desk
Note: The Contra Costa Master Gardener Help Desk is available year-round to answer your gardening questions. Except for a few holidays, we're open every week, Monday through Thursday for walk-ins from 9:00 am to Noon at 75 Santa Barbara Road, 2d Floor, Pleasant Hill, CA 94523. We can also be reached via telephone: (925) 646-6586, email: ccmg@ucanr.edu, or on the web at http://ccmg.ucanr.edu/Ask_Us/
Advice for the Home Gardener From the Contra Costa Master Gardeners' Help Desk
Client's Question and Request for Advice:
CCMG Help Desk's Advice:
Thank you for contacting Contra Costa Master Gardeners' Help Desk.
Before you decide how to handle the container, you'll need to decide what you will plant in it. Some plants may benefit by having a deep rooting area, in which case you wouldn't want to use fill material below the potting soil. (If you need some help in determining if your target plants fit that category, you could inquire at the nursery where you buy your plants or check back with us.)
If you're planning to use the containers for annual flowers or other plants that are shallow rooted or for seasonal display, the deeper planting zone is probably unnecessary. In this situation, for reasons I'll explain below, you shouldn't simply put a filler material in the bottom of the container and then put your potting soil directly on top of the filler.
Here's why you shouldn't put the soil mixture directly into the deep container on top of some type of fill material. Many years ago, it was customary to place pebbles or broken pieces of clay pots in the bottom of planting containers below the potting soil. The thought at the time was that those materials would help the containers drain better. But scientific studies have shown that instead of improving drainage, the pebbles or broken-up clay chars in the bottom of a container actually interfere with drainage and can cause the potting soil to stay over-saturated with water.
Also, I've seen suggestions to fill the bottom of deep containers with Styrofoam packing peanuts (or other pieces of broken up Styrofoam) and put your potting soil on top. The problem with placing potting soil directly over such fill material is that the roots of the plants may start growing down into the Styrofoam fill. Because the Styrofoam won't absorb water, the roots in that area will dry out quickly and not supply the plant with water. Also, the Styrofoam area will have no plant nutrients needed by the plant so you don't want to encourage roots to grow into such fill materials.
If you use the “pot inside the pot” method described above, you can fill the lower part of the deep ornamental container with any type of fill material that doesn't interfere with drainage from the container in which you plant your plants. Be sure that both the deep ornamental container and the container in which you plant your plants have drainage holes and that they are not being blocked by the fill material. (If the container holes are so large that fill material or potting soil will fall through the holes, you can cover the drainage holes with landscape fabric or light-weight screen. The fabric or screen will keep the fill materials or soil from falling through the holes but won't interfere with water drainage.
You could use Styrofoam peanuts or broken up pieces of Styrofoam in the bottom of the ornamental container below the inexpensive container in which you have the plants. The plant roots will be contained in the planning container and won't grow into the Styrofoam. If you choose to use that type of fill, first check to be sure that the Styrofoam materials don't start dissolving when you place them in water. Some of the newer types of Styrofoam-like material is constructed so that it starts breaking down in water. You don't want to use that type of material as fill since it will start shrinking as it disintegrates.
Also, be careful not to make the ornamental container top-heavy. If you need more weight to keep the ornamental container stable, you could use pebbles or rocks or other heavy items as the fill material so long as you're careful not to block the drainage holes. You could put some heavy materials in the bottom, then add a Styrofoam layer and then insert your planting container on top.
Hope you find this information to be helpful and that you create a lovely container display.
Contra Costa Master Gardeners Help Desk
Note: The Contra Costa Master Gardener Help Desk is available year-round to answer your gardening questions. Except for a few holidays, we're open every week, Monday through Thursday for walk-ins from 9:00 am to Noon at 75 Santa Barbara Road, 2d Floor, Pleasant Hill, CA 94523. We can also be reached via telephone: (925) 646-6586, email: ccmg@ucanr.edu, or on the web at http://ccmg.ucanr.edu/Ask_Us/
Advice for the Home Gardener From the Contra Costa Master Gardeners' Help Desk
Client's Question:
I've heard that I can get free seeds and advice about seeds from Seed Libraries. What and where are Seed Libraries?
CCMG Help Desk Response:
Seed Libraries are a great source for free seeds and seed advice. Mainly for vegetables, but many also have ornamental and native seeds as well. Seed Libraries are also a great complement to the efforts of Contra Costa Master Gardeners (CCMG), especially as CCMG expands its School and Community Garden efforts. Most Seed Libraries are found inside your local library, usually supported by library volunteers, some of which are also MGs.
One of the most active Seed Libraries in CCC is the “Richmond Grows Seed Library”.
What exactly is a Seed Library you ask? The description from Richmond's web site is informative:
“Come to the Richmond Public Library, Richmond, Calif. and “borrow” seeds for free! You may be asking, “How can you ‘borrow' seeds?” The basic is idea is that you plant the seeds, let some go to seed, then return some of these next generation seeds for others to borrow. (Don't worry. We don't have fines if you don't return seeds.) ...
Richmond Grows is a non-profit seed lending library located in the public library. We're open whenever the public library is open. You do not need to have Richmond Public Library card to use the seed library, but we do ask people to watch our on-line orientation. We provide free classes on organic gardening and seed saving, and of course, you can also borrow books from the public library on these topics.”
Don't live in Richmond and you want to know where a Seed Library might be located near you? Then see Richmond's web page on Sister Seed Libraries (http://www.richmondgrowsseeds.org/sister-libraries.html).
Sounds great doesn't it? However, there's currently a bump in the road for Seed Libraries. The Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture (PDA) is implementing regulations that would greatly hamper and possibly eliminate Seed Libraries' long-time operations (e.g., for more on this, see “seed libraries pennsylvania”). More than a dozen other states are now considering similar restrictive regulations. While according to Richmond Grows and other local sources, the California Department of Food and Agriculture has not yet commented on these actions, Seed Libraries are concerned about possible crippling Seed Library activities in California. If that issue concerns or interests you, you should look at the Sustainable Economies Law Center's web page (http://www.theselc.org/save_seed_sharing) for even more background information and consider signing their petition supporting Seed Libraries.
Have you checked out your local Seed Library for garden seeds and information? They also are worthy of your support (e.g., $, seed, and volunteer time).
Contra Costa Master Gardeners Help Desk
Note: The Contra Costa Master Gardener Help Desk is available year-round to answer your gardening questions. Except for a few holidays, we're open every week, Monday through Thursday for walk-ins from 9:00 am to Noon at 75 Santa Barbara Road, 2d Floor, Pleasant Hill, CA 94523. We can also be reached via telephone: (925) 646-6586, email: ccmg@ucanr.edu, or on the web at http://ccmg.ucanr.edu/Ask_Us/
Advice for the Home Gardener from the Contra Costa Master Gardeners' Help Desk
Client's Problem and Questions:
Advice from the CCMGs' Help Desk
"Researchers around the world are investigating approaches for controlling Bermuda buttercup. Some suggest covering infestations with stiff cardboard, then covering the cardboard with a thick layer of organic mulch to kill the plants and weaken the bulbs, making them less capable of competing with desirable plants. Keep the mulch on the infestation until the mulch and cardboard have rotted, then plant competitive ornamentals into the soil-mulch mixture."
The Contra Costa Master Gardener article, "Oxalis: From Ornament to Nuisance" will give you even further insight on controlling Oxalis per-caprae. http://ccmg.ucanr.edu/files/83817.pdf
I know that the management of these weeds is a big challenge and wish you all the best in dealing with it!
Contra Costa Master Gardeners' Help Desk
Note: The Contra Costa Master Gardener Help Desk is available year-round to answer your gardening questions. Except for a few holidays, we're open every week, Monday through Thursday for walk-ins from 9:00 am to Noon at 75 Santa Barbara Road, 2d Floor, Pleasant Hill, CA 94523. We can also be reached via telephone: (925) 646-6586, email: ccmg@ucanr.edu, or on the web at http://ccmg.ucanr.edu/Ask_Us/
Advice for the Home Gardener from the Contra Costa Master Gardeners' Help Desk
Client's Questions and Concerns
Client called with “huge problem with birch trees". She left her email address, but also asked for someone to call and help her with some advice. Called several times but couldn't leave a message since her voicemail box was full. Sent her an email with some of the “usual” problems with birch trees and asked her to contact us if she needed more information. (Note: Although this advice didn't come to satisfactory conclusions, CCMG Help Desk thought it would be beneficial to remind gardeners of the value and care of their trees, especially the oft-planted and vulnerable birch trees, and the need for prioritizing tree care especially during the drought. You can replace and restore many shrubs and perennials in several years and at moderate costs; replacing trees can be expensive when you include value to the property and costs of removal, and can take many years.)
Response and Advice from the CCMG Help Desk
Thank you for calling Master Gardeners with your birch tree problem. However, in order to help you, we will need some more information and either samples or photos of the tree.
In the meantime, I have included information which might be helpful adapted from an article from a Solano County Master Gardener blog:
- Most likely your birch tree is a European white birch (Betula pendula), native to northern Europe with its cooler climes and plenty of rainfall to sustain the trees. They grow magnificently there, and to their full potential, much larger than any you'll likely see in Contra Costa County.
- In Contra Costa County, especially the central and eastern areas, the life span of a birch tree is approximately 25 years due to heat and lack of rainfall. Decline will often show in branch dieback or leaf drop. During drought, birch trees – which need consistent and deep irrigation – will show signs of stress such as dead branches. Or depending upon the tree's age and care, those dead branches may just be signs of old age and a steady decline.
- Many homeowners with birch don't realize how stressed birch trees can get in drought periods. The natural habitat of birch trees is the forest, where they grow alongside creeks and streams.
- Birch are often planted in lawns and home owners forget that when they stop or reduce irrigating their lawns that birch will often be put in stress unless additional water is provided.
- If your tree is in a lawn, remove the grass from around the trunk out to the drip line and replace it with a layer of fine bark mulch, chopped red cedar bark or aged compost. A bender board around the perimeter of the mulch will prevent the mulch from working into the lawn.
- To determine the actual soil moisture “feeding” your birch, you can push a long screwdriver into the soil, working outward from the trunk to the drip line under the leaves. If the screwdriver does not easily penetrate the soil, then the tree must be irrigated.
- One method of supplemental tree irrigation is to lay several lengths of soaker hoses, working outward from the trunk to the perimeter of the tree under the drip line. Attach a garden hose to the soaker hose and let the water drip for several hours until the screwdriver will easily slip into the soil. You can find a rmuch more duable and automated version of this watering system at http://ccuh.ucdavis.edu/public/drought/tree-ring-irrigation-contraption-tric-1/tree-ring-irrigation-contraption-tric
- The birch root system is also extremely sensitive to fertilizers and herbicides, including weed and feed products as well as mechanical damage, for example string trimmers.
- When birches get stressed during even our “usual” Northern California summer droughts, borers can move in. This problem is often exacerbated by reduced irrigation during our current long-term drought. The bronze birch borer, Agrilus anxius, is the main culprit. Apparently there is quite a large local population of the borers. Intensive insecticide applications may keep them at bay. Check the University of California Statewide Integrated Pest Management website for more information on preventive measures: http://www.ipm.ucdavis.edu/PMG/GARDEN/PLANTS/birch.html.
If you go to this link and in the right columns scroll down to 'birch borers', you might find clues to what is ailing your tree bug-wise. However, it is important to positively identify the cause before any measures are taken to manage the problem, so we look forward to hearing from you again.
With a little TLC, you should be able to coax a few more years out of your birch.
Contra Costa Master Gardeners' Help Desk
Note: The Contra Costa Master Gardener Help Desk is available year-round to answer your gardening questions. Except for a few holidays, we're open every week, Monday through Thursday for walk-ins from 9:00 am to Noon at 75 Santa Barbara Road, 2d Floor, Pleasant Hill, CA 94523. We can also be reached via telephone: (925) 646-6586, email: ccmg@ucanr.edu, or on the web at http://ccmg.ucanr.edu/Ask_Us/
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