- Author: Christine Macgenn
Watching my husband and me gardening is a little like watching an episode of “The Honeymooners.” It's where the Ralph and Alice Kramden in us really comes out. I swear, sometimes it seems like we should just cordon the whole yard off into sections marked His and Hers, like a fancy set of towels.
Husband likes neatness in the garden. I, on the other hand, like a bit of chaos. Husband does not like dilapidated looking plants. I am on a mission to create a bird-, bee-, and butterfly-friendly garden. A plant living out its life cycle and going to seed is right up my alley.
Husband likes BIG — big trees, big bushes, big flowers — six-foot dahlias, twenty-foot sunflowers, TALL fruit trees. I like to be able to actually reach the fruit and flowers to pick them, and to put the flowers in vases with other flowers.
When it comes to the vegetable garden, Husband thinks he is Johnny Appleseed: “Just toss those seeds out there and they'll grow.” And dang it, with his little green thumb, they do. I like little rows, evenly spaced according to package directions, so each little vegetable has plenty of room to grow. And all these differences don't even address the watering, weeding, and mowing aspects of our gardening challenges. One of the biggest issues we've had has been around watering, especially during this drought. We have always had to debate about what needs water and when. Well, not anymore.
Just this last Christmas, Husband saw what I thought was a garden gadget at Lowe's. It's called The Sky Drop. It is a smart watering system that knows when to water and when not to water, and will work with you to insure efficient, conservative garden watering, all year long. In Sky Drop's marketing pitch they claim it is smartphone smart. I guess that is supposed to be pretty smart. It all sounded like hocus pocus to old-school, hands-on me. I really didn't want the system, because wasn't that why I became a Master Gardener in the first place? So I would be the one with all the wisdom, not some smart gadget. My husband's logic? “Sure, that's great but how does that work when we are away or the weather changes suddenly and unexpectedly?” Good point. I reluctantly conceded and Santa put it under the tree for him.
Thank goodness for Santa. The Sky Drop is a great garden tool. I'm still not sure exactly how a gadget can be intuitive, but it is. It was very easy to install. It hooked right up to our existing irrigation system. Once it's installed, you input lots of information for each station — type of soil, slope or level, shade or sun, type of plants. The Sky Drop computes it all and makes suggestions about how much watering each station might need. You make the final decision and then enter that too. Then Sky Drop goes to work monitoring the local weather, usually from a remote weather station very near you, and adjusts the watering schedule accordingly. So far we have watched our water use go down and the health of our garden remain stable during this very trying drought.
Since we got our smart system we have noticed that there are lots of watering systems out there now. They have names like Rain Drop and Blossom. I don't know about those but I would imagine they are all very similar. During this time of crazy, unpredictable, unreliable weather our garden and our pocket book are both enjoying the benefits of smart watering assistance.
If you are traveling, there is no longer a need for those panicked calls to someone to turn the water on or off. Watching it work has been fascinating. Just this morning Mike (AKA Husband), with great pride, called my attention to how the Sky Drop watered the slope on the east side of our house. It watered for a few minutes, turned itself off for a few minutes, and then went back on for the remainder of the water cycle to insure there was no run off. A few weeks ago, after the heavy rains we had, Sky Drop knew no watering was necessary and stopped for many days. It was great to know that we were not watering soaking-wet plants. Of course, now I think Sky Drop is brilliant. And maybe, just maybe, Husband is too!
- Author: Diana Bryggman
Ever wondered about the importance of using botanical names to describe a plant? All three of the names above are acceptable variations of the native wildflower, Wyethia mollis. Seems enough of a reason to me to stick with the botanical name!
You have probably seen these herbaceous perennials in a Sierra meadow in June or July, a mass of yellow flowers cradled by huge green oval leaves. Much to my surprise a few are gallantly growing on a steep hillside near my home, flowering NOW in March, inspiring me to do a bit of research on them. I knew them as “Mules Ears”, having forgotten the “Woolly” part of the name. When I began to investigate, I found that there are several species native to different western states: Arizona, Utah and Colorado each has its own species.
California's version of Wyethia, Wyethia mollis, grows on both sides of the Sierra Nevada, from Fresno County north to Southeast Oregon. It is a member of the Asteraceae family and seems to thrive in rocky soil between trees, just as I found it on the Green Valley hillside. Research indicates it grows in the upper chapparal landscape, forest, juniper or sagebrush landscapes. In other words, it is widely distributed across the Northern California foothills and mountains.
The committed native gardener will be glad to know it is being commercially propagated by at least one nursery in California, and in the garden I imagine it would look a bit like its Asteraceae cousin, Gaillardia, but one whose leaves have been treated with steroids. It provides erosion control in the wild, thanks to its tough taproot. When I see it in a nursery, I intend to give some a try, so that, with any luck, my front yard will echo the native landscape just across the street.
- Author: Mike Gunther
Fallen Gardeners
Gary and John are sadly missed
Life and nature rest
- Author: Patricia Brantley
I admit it. I'm a hacker. If there is something that I think can be made to be used in an easier way or a cheaper way, I'm in. I've hacked my t.v. remote so that the DVR button that used to jump 5 minutes ahead at a time now just goes forward 30 seconds, the time of an average commercial. I've hacked my spray jet mop so that I can use my own floor cleaner at pennies on the dollar so I'm not paying $5 a bottle. There is nothing illegal about my hacks. In fact, they are quite fun and make me feel quite rogue. So for my next series of blogs I'll be writing my garden hacks. All tried by my own experimentation and testing.
My first hack started out of the necessity to deter a persistent snail from continuing to munch on my lovely little Abutilon I keep in a large terra cotta pot, on a deck, off the ground. I at first didn't think it was a snail. Even sent pictures in to ask “What do you think is doing this?”
I thought it was a leaf miner, or a disease, or a flowering maple eating feral cat. But, one night after reviewing our video camera footage from that area of the house, I found it to be a snail. While fast-forwarding through the video one morning (I was actually looking for a skunk) I watched as this little shell crept out from underneath the deck, went STRAIGHT across the deck, up the side of the large terra cotta pot, ate his fill and then retraced his slimy “footprint” EXACTLY back under the deck right before sun up! Aargh!
Knowing that they sell those copper strips to put around plants instead of chemicals. I was eager to give that a try…until I saw how much 10 feet cost in the garden center! The big box store wanted $10 for 15 feet, the smaller hardware stores waned more. What to do…what to do? Then I remembered copper pipes from my irrigation class out at the college. What do you use to hold those to the underside or in the walls of your house? Copper strapping! Bingo! 10 feet, $4.97 at this store. And works like a dream.
Snip, with tin snips, or just bend a section back and forth and back and forth until it wears out and breaks (all though that takes a while). Wrap it around the base of your plant. I made a circle around the base of my young tree about 3 inches in diameter and about 1” away from the trunk. You could be really technical and solder or bolt it together through the holes but there really is no need.
I'm happy to report, that sinister little devil snail has left it alone and my maple is now recuperating nicely. Score one for the rogue garden warrior!
- Author: Marian I Chmieleski
Walking out into the yard this morning was a sensual experience. The 'Eureka' lemon is dropping blossom petals like rain and the perfume wafts across the yard on a gentle breeze. The lilac (Syringa) adds its perfume and graceful blossoms, the floribunda roses (Rosa 'Iceberg') are budding, the Gerber daisies (Gerbera jamesonii) are smiling happily at me and the Freesias bow down as I pass.
The impetus for my walk this morning was to check those roses, which have attracted a bumper crop of aphids. I can't quite hear their munching and sucking, but I can see that they are at work trying to reshape my nascent blossoms. I wanted to see if my friends the lady beetles/lady bugs (family Coccinellidae) had arrived to begin their work. They have not. But I know that within the week they should be making their appearance along with the hover flies/syrphid flies (order Diptera) and perhaps a few green lacewings (Chrysoperla rufilabris), which, by the way, I have already seen inside the house.
All of the aforementioned critters will be delighted to dine on my aphids and yours. Can you recognize them all? I'm sure you know the lady beetles with their red spotted backs, but perhaps you haven't met the hover flies. They can look a bit like little bees with the yellow, black or white bands on their bodies. They are not bees, however, and they do not sting. They dart quickly from flower to flower, hovering in between like little helicopters, even at times flying backwards--one of only a few insects able to do so. The eggs they lay on around your flowers will become little maggots (green, yellow, brown, white or orange) that rise up on their hind legs to catch and eat aphids, mealybugs and others. And right along with them, both the green lacewings and the brown lacewings also lay tiny silken eggs that in their larval stage will feast on aphids. The lacewings have a very slender body about half-an-inch in length. Their transparent wings look like they might belong to a fairy. All these are very good workers to have in your garden!
There is one crew that is already madly at work at my house. That was the music I heard this morning. As mentioned, the lemon tree is in full production, and a critical part of that process is handled by the bees. They are swooping around, investigating every branch, crawling into open blossoms to sip the nectar and retrieve the pollen, which they will share with the other flowers into which they crawl doing their pollination dance. Because of them I have a tree full of lemons ripening for my lemonade, lemon water and lemon pies. Lovely.
In conclusion, I remind us all that these beneficial insects need our cooperation to continue in their work. They clean up our garden and make it possible for us to enjoy food crops that without their pollination would never bear fruit. Please include in your garden a little source of fresh water and avoid the use of pesticides. In my garden I have found that Nature balances everything out and a few misshapen roses are a small price to pay for the knowledge that the yard is clean and chemical-free for all to enjoy.
