- Author: Jeannette Warnert
As a start, spread organic mulch on the top of soil to boost its quality over time. As the mulch breaks down, soilborne organisms slowly churn it back into the soil and eventually move it through the soil profile. Spread leaves, pine needles, small trimmings, grass clippings, wood chips or straw two- to four-inches deep on the surface and let the soil microorganisms do the work. The addition of water in the summer will help the mulch break down.
Step up your soil building game by adding plenty of compost. This is the technique UC Master Gardener Randy Thomson recommends in his Madera and Fresno county classes. Thomson joined the MG program in 2011 when he lived in Los Angeles County. Three years later he became a Master Composter in Orange County. In 2018 he moved to Madera County and localized his teaching on traditional and worm composting.
“In urban areas, developers scrape off the topsoil and compact the dirt before building a home's foundation,” Thomson said. “How do you grow in that? We need to rebuild what was optimized for construction, garden in raised beds or grow plants in pots. In soil with organics, you can actually grow food.”
Thomson's interest in soil building began when, during his teen years, his foster mother took him to the family farm in Oregon's fertile Willamette Valley.
“I loved it. There's a logic to living with agriculture. Ag is a lot about listening and observing how to use an environment without destroying it,” he said. He has applied this concept to gardening, and prefers to “keep things simple.”
“Good soil is 50 percent air and water. Forty-five percent is sand, silt and clay. The last 5 percent is organic matter, more specifically, compost,” Thomson said.
This formula leads to a soil capable of supporting worms, bacteria, fungi, protozoa, nematodes and micro arthropods that eat each other, embody the nutrients and make them available for plants.
“Compost is all you need,” Thomson said. “If you take care of the soil, the plants will take care of themselves.”
Another benefit: with a little labor, compost is free. The inputs – plant trimmings, grass clippings, leaves and food scraps – are generated in and around the home. Follow Master Gardener composting instructions to transform them into a rich soil amendment.
The cold composting method doesn't require gardeners to regularly turn the pile, which can be labor intensive. |
Another Master Gardener, Tony Carrasco of Fresno County, uses compost, and has gardened successfully with the use of other organic fertilizers, such as steer manure, bone meal, blood meal, fish emulsion and worm castings.
“I use soil amendments because I saw it was working for farmers in the field,” he said. “I was always planting and experimenting. I noticed that this stuff works.”
When Carrasco was a child, he and his siblings worked in orchards, packing houses and fields when school was out of session. At age 17, he got a job installing air conditioning. “That's when I said, ‘No more field work for me.'” But he never lost his fascination with growing things.
After retirement, Carrasco became a Master Gardener. He is one of three managers at the program's demonstration garden, Garden of the Sun. He adopted several garden plots at the MG garden and at the community garden in Kingsburg, plus he gardens at home.
“Twice a year I till in compost, horse and cow manures and organics I buy in bulk at a nursery near Sacramento,” he said. “I don't have a formula. I've gotten to where my vegetables come out pretty good.”
Carrasco experiments with worm composting and introducing fungi to break down organic materials in the soil. He said he has also tried bokashi composting, a Japanese composting method that ferments food waste in an anaerobic environment with effective microorganisms and bokashi bran. (Learn more from Bokashi Fermentation by Dr. Michael Vincent Rodriguez, UC Merced on YouTube.)
Carrasco's gardens produce a bounty of beautiful produce, much more than his family can use. He donates the excess to friends, neighbors and the Kingsburg Senior Center.
“Of course, there is a cost. But for me, the return is the joy of gardening. It's a joy to share,” he said.
For more information about composting, download a two-page brochure in a printable pdf format here.
/table>- Author: Jeannette Warnert
The summer months in Fresno County are ideal for garden soil solarization, an environmentally sound way to kill weeds, insect pests and soil pathogens with free and naturally abundant solar energy. No pesticides are used in the process.
The greenhouse effect of the sun's rays on clear plastic can heat up the top 12 to 18 inches of the soil to as high as 145 degrees under perfect conditions. Excellent pest control can be achieved by maintaining the soil at 110 to 125 degrees in the top 6 inches, according to the UC Integrated Pest Management Program. The hot soil environment will kill such pests as nematodes, grubs, cutworms, beetles and snail eggs. Disease pathogens, such as fungi that cause verticillium and fusarium wilt, die.
There are downsides. Solarization requires taking garden space out of production during the growing season for 4 to 6 weeks, but future garden success is likely worth the sacrifice. The process may also kill some beneficial soil organisms, though UC IPM reports that many beneficials survive solarization or quickly recolonize the soil afterward. Earthworms, often present in healthy soil, burrow deeper to escape the heat and return when the treatment ends.
To solarize soil, smooth an area and water uniformly to 12 inches deep, then cover it with clear plastic. Rolls of clear plastic “drop cloth” are available in the paint sections of large home stores and online. Thin plastic (1 millimeter) provides greater heating but is susceptible to tearing; slightly thicker plastic (1.5 to 2 millimeters) is better for windy areas. Secure the plastic tightly over the soil with shovelfuls of soil, lumber, rocks, landscape staples or anything that will keep the breeze from catching the edges. Leave the area undisturbed for 4 to 6 weeks or longer in cooler temperatures or if the area is shaded part of the day.
After solarization, the bed can be planted immediately with seeds or transplants.
Fresno County Master Gardener Emily LaRue is solarizing a garden bed at the program's demonstration garden, 1750 N. Winery Ave., Fresno. The Garden of the Sun is open to public visitors from 9 to 11 a.m. Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays.
For more information on soil solarization, see the UC IPM Pest Note: Soil Solarization for Gardens & Landscapes.
- Author: Jeannette Warnert
A sampling of the most aromatic and flavorful scented geraniums is available for public viewing and sniffing at the Fresno County Master Gardeners' Garden of the Sun, the organization's demonstration garden at the corner of McKinley and Winery avenues in Fresno. The collection was assembled by Fresno Master Gardener Emily LaRue.
She became familiar with scented geraniums when she purchased a citronella-scented plant marketed as a mosquito repellent. It didn't have quite the desired effect on the pest as she'd hoped, but the sharp smell when crushed between her fingers or just brushed while walking by piqued her interest. She began researching the plant and collected varieties of scented geraniums which mimicked the fragrances of lemon, ginger, nutmeg and rose.
Although the word geranium is widely known and accepted, it is botanically inaccurate, according to the Sunset Western Garden Book. The proper term is pelargonium and includes the showy shrubs with large clusters of red, white, coral or orange clusters commonly thought of as geraniums, as well as the related species with strongly scented leaves and less significant flowers.
“I learned that you can make tea using the scented plant's dried leaves, or simply add a leaf for flavor to your hot or iced beverage. Also, jelly can be made using the extracted juices from pelargonium leaves,” she said. “The leaves can add an aroma to meat dishes, salads and desserts, or leave a fresh scent in a drawer or the car,” she said. “I didn't know about all that before.”`
To share what she learned, LaRue adopted one of nine beds designated for herbs at the demonstration garden. She visited nurseries all over Fresno and the Central Coast to find 10 different scented pelargoniums to plant in the space. Stepping stones crisscross the plot to give visitors up-close access to all the specimens. She has also added a pot with a scented pelargonium to the garden plot, demonstrating that the plants normally do very well in containers.
“Pelargoniums can be planted around a yard where people might sit and enjoy the fragrance, or walk by and sense the unexpected aroma,” she said.
The pelargoniums prefer full sun or part shade and well-drained soil. The plants should be watered regularly during the growing season in Fresno and are drought-tolerant when mature. Pruning can keep the plant from becoming woody and leggy. LaRue plans to maintain the demonstration plants in 24- to 30-inch-wide mounds. The Sunset Western Garden Book suggests scented pelargoniums may not survive a winter freeze in Fresno, but other sources report it doing just fine as a perennial.
“I'm really anxious to see how the garden grows,” LaRue said. “This is all experimental for me. It's going to be fun to watch.”
She said she'll continue searching for additional varieties of pelargoniums, which enthusiasts have bred in dozens of scents, including chocolate mint, cinnamon, eucalyptus, peppermint, orange, balsam and apple.
The Garden of the Sun, at 1750 N. Winery, Fresno, is open to visitors from 9 to 11 a.m. Monday, Wednesday and Friday. It will be open from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. during the Master Gardeners Spring Garden Tour on Saturday, April 20. Admission is free.
- Author: Jeannette Warnert
A collection of small raised beds decorated with colorful scarecrows, quaint décor and several rabbit topiaries make up Mr. McGregor's Garden, but this one doesn't have mischievous Peter Rabbit nibbling on the fruit and vegetables. The main problem appears to be snails. Last fall, dozens of garden snails were found feeding on the leaves of napa cabbage, cauliflower, kohlrabi and broccoli plants.
The Master Gardeners have been searching for organic solutions to the problem. Picking them off one by one has been the first line of defense. The Farmers Almanac suggests spreading crushed egg shells to deter snails from garden beds, and we tried it. However, the UC Integrated Pest Management program reports that egg shells are an ineffective deterrent, and we have seen little improvement.
Another solution available to Fresno County gardeners are decollate snails. Decollates are small, thin, tapered and easy to distinguish from the familiar larger, rounded brown garden snails. The decollate is native to North Africa and the Mediterranean region. It was accidentally introduced to Southern California in the 1960s, and has since helped manage snails in gardens and agricultural settings throughout Southern California and parts of the San Joaquin Valley. It is legal to purchase and release decollates only in the California counties of Fresno, Imperial, Kern, Los Angeles, Madera, Orange, Riverside, Santa Barbara, San Bernardino, San Diego, Tulare and Ventura. Because of its potential adverse impact on certain endangered and native mollusks, they should not be used in any other places in the state. Even in counties were decollate snails are permitted, they should not be introduced in or near natural areas because of the potential danger to native snails.
“Literature says it takes four to eight years for decollate snails to control brown snails, but my experience is they'll clean them out in a year,” Woods said.
The decollates are easy to find throughout Woods' front and back yards, under rocks and plants and nestled in plant litter. In February, Woods donated about 30 decollate snails to the Master Gardener's Children's Garden. The decollates were dispersed among strawberry and vegetable plants. While not a scientific trial, our experiment may lead to fewer snail and slug pests and less leaf damage in the coming years.
More information:
Visit the UC Master Gardeners Children's Garden in the Garden of the Sun, 1750 Winery Ave., Fresno. Hours: 9 to 11 a.m. Monday, Wednesday and Friday.
How to manage snails and slugs, UC IPM
UC IPM Natural Enemies Gallery, decollate snails
Identify snail damage, UC IPM (YouTube video)