The following recommendations for safely clearing ash from outdoor surfaces, including ornamental and edible plants, come from the US EPA, Oregon State University Extension Service, Waste Management, and the Sacramento Bee.

Basic Guidelines:  Wait until air quality levels are safe for being outdoors.  Close all windows and doors to your home before cleaning the ash outside.  Protect your lungs and skin: if an N95 mask is not available use a double-thickness cloth mask, and wear long sleeves, long pants, shoes, and gloves. To minimize stirring the ash back into the air, lightly mist or spray the surface to be cleaned, using as little water as possible. Do not use leaf blowers; do not sweep dry ash. To avoid tracking in any ash particles, remove protective clothing and gear before going back inside your home.

Cleaning your entire property (including hardscape, garden plants, shrubs, and lawn) isn't always necessary. A thin dusting of ash on plants (with green plant color still visible) isn't likely to have long term effects on plant health before fall rains wash it away.

Patios and Walkways: Concentrate on the most traveled areas. After lightly misting, use an old broom to clean patios and paths, and gently sweep ash off surfaces. You can also use a gentle low-pressure stream of water. In either case, don't wash ash down the storm drain; instead, direct the rinse water or swept ash into low-traffic grassy or ornamental areas. This acts as a natural filter, especially once the rains come. Large amounts of ash can be lightly dampened then swept into a pile, bagged in plastic sacks, sealed, and thrown away. Never deposit ash in recycling or green waste containers – it is only safe to put it in the trash receptacle.

Plants: The same precautions apply to ridding plant surfaces of ash. Focus on clearing heavier amounts of ash from food-producing plants and plants that you regularly come in contact with, such as those near windows, doors, or air handling units.

Edibles from Your Garden: Once properly cleaned, these should be safe to consume, as smoke and ash do not usually penetrate the protective skin covering fruits and vegetables. However, according to the OSU College of Agricultural Sciences, “safety becomes more of an issue…if your garden has a heavy layer of ash or is located near a structure that burned. Burning buildings contain different toxins than a forest.” OSU goes on to recommend that you “peel produce like tomatoes, apples, and root crops and strip the outer leaves of lettuces and other greens. For a more thorough cleaning, soak vegetables and fruits in a 10% white vinegar solution (1 cup vinegar to 9 cups water), which can lift soil particles off vegetables and fruits.”

Please be safe in your garden, but also, as soon as is feasible, enjoy the out of doors. Plants and sunlight offer healing properties to humans.  

The UC Master Gardeners of Butte County are part of the University of California Cooperative Extension (UCCE) system. To learn more about us and our upcoming events, and for help with gardening in our area, visit our website. If you have a gardening question or problem, email the Hotline at mgbutte@ucanr.edu (preferred) or call (530) 538-7201.

Do you associate vegetable gardening with the heat of summer, like fireworks on the Fourth of July or the drone of air conditioners on an August afternoon? The amazing thing about California is that we live in a Mediterranean climate zone with hot, dry summers and mild, wet winters, where we can grow food all year.

Although Mediterranean climate zones comprise only about 2% of the earth's land surface, they host 20% of all plant species, and California produces the majority of fruits, nuts and vegetables for the entire United States. No other state comes close to California's output per acre. If you have been thinking about growing a garden to provide food for yourself and your family, now is the perfect time to start.

But wait! It's already September -- isn't it too late? Not at all, because every season of the year in California has a surprising variety of plants that can be grown for food right in your back (or front) yard. Last week's Real Dirt column focused on dirt: specifically, finding some! Once you have located your patch of soil, you're ready to begin a garden. The first step is to dig. This sounds uncomplicated, but there is actually more to it than you might imagine. Your soil has a structure that supports plant life as well as billions of bacteria and millions of microorganisms and fungi, not to mention nematodes and earthworms! Digging disturbs soil structure because it destroys soil aggregates, or tiny clumps, that create pore spaces in the soil used as pathways for water, oxygen and plant roots. The University of California Division of Agriculture and Natural Resources (UC ANR) recommends gardeners dig or turn over garden soil no more than once a season and doing so when the soil is moist but not wet to a depth of about 6 inches. A simple shovel works well. A small rototiller is another option (make sure it won't dig too deep). And you don't need to till or dig up the whole garden plot. One smart option is to dig planting rows about 18 inches wide, leaving walking spaces of 24 to 30 inches undisturbed between them. On the other hand, some gardeners do not dig at all, and instead use a gardening method called “No Till.” If you're not a fan of digging, this method is for you!

No Till gardening follows the pattern of nature, where organic materials like leaves and grasses decompose slowly on the surface of the ground, gradually mixing with soil minerals to create a rich growing medium for seeds that fall and take root. The soil is never turned over or disturbed. In No-Till gardening, you dig up a small amount of soil only where you'll plant seeds or bedding plants.

To start a No Till garden, first mow or trim any vegetation as close to the ground as possible, then water thoroughly and cover the area with cardboard or thick newspaper, dousing the cardboard or paper with water as well. Next, add a four- to six-inch layer of compost mixed with garden soil or worm castings. Compost can be purchased, but you can also make your own for free (for details see Compost in a Hurry). The cardboard or paper beneath the compost will gradually decompose over a period of six to ten months, along with the roots and closely-cut remains of the weeds, lawn or plants underneath the cardboard.

While waiting for decomposition to occur, you can plant seeds of shallow-rooted plants directly into the compost and soil mix.  Lettuce, spinach, and chard can all be planted this way.  You can also separate the cardboard and dig a narrow trench for your seeds, mixing fine soil with compost. For deeper-rooted bedding plants, cut an X or a circle in the cardboard and dig a hole for the plant.  Scoop out soil, add two to three shovelfuls of compost mix, and plant. The final step is to lay four to six inches of mulch on top, around your plants and over your walking paths; fallen leaves, grass clippings, straw, rice hulls or wood chips all work well for this. Some tree services offer loads of wood chips for free, and some feed stores give away straw or hay that accumulates on the storeroom floor, if you're willing to scoop it up. Over time, the mulch will break down and mix with your compost layer to renew and enrich the soil. For complete instructions on starting a No-Till garden go to:  Work Less and Grow More Vegetables with “No Till” Gardening.

Once, your garden area is prepared you're ready to plant! Think about the vegetables you and your family enjoy eating. Common cool-season vegetables that are planted in the fall include asparagus, beets, broccoli, Brussels sprouts, chives, cabbage, carrots, cauliflower, Swiss chard, kale, leeks, lettuce, onions, garlic, parsnips, peas, radishes, spinach, and turnips. Consult these Master Gardener planting guides for the valley and foothills of Butte County for information on the best months to plant, when you can expect to harvest your crop, and whether to sow seeds or use bedding plants.

Cool season vegetables grow best in early fall when the soil temperature is between 55 and 75 degrees Fahrenheit in the root zone (four to six inches below the soil surface). All cool season vegetables can tolerate light frost, and some, like broccoli, Brussels sprouts, kale, turnips, onions and garlic, for example, can survive even heavy frost. Keep in mind that once the weather turns wintery and soil temperature drops below about 50 degrees Fahrenheit, most vegetables grow very little or not at all until things warm up again in the spring. By getting your vegetables planted now, they will grow happily through the cool, crisp days of autumn until first frost, or even beyond! With a modest investment in seeds and bedding plants, you can put food on the table for yourself and your family, with the satisfaction of knowing you took that unused patch of dirt and transformed it into productive ground.

The UC Master Gardeners of Butte County are part of the University of California Cooperative Extension (UCCE) system. To learn more about us and our upcoming events, and for help with gardening in our area, visit our website. If you have a gardening question or problem, email the Hotline at mgbutte@ucanr.edu (preferred) or call (530) 538-7201.

Does growing a vegetable garden sound like something you'd like to do, but you don't feel confident or equipped to do it? Well, here's the deal: find some dirt, and then add plants. It's that simple. With the advent of the coronavirus pandemic, food insecurity, and the general chaos that so many of us are living with these days, lots of people who weren't gardening before are now thinking about it. 

If you want to grow food, the first step is to find some dirt. Consider the usable ground you have. Look around. Maybe it's that patch of front lawn that you're tired of mowing (or haven't mowed at all). Could it be the bare spot in the backyard where the dog likes to poop?  Don't be too judgmental about the dirt you have. Your soil is full of potential!

Soil is comprised of four things: minerals (from decomposed rock), air, water, and organic matter. The organic material originates from living organisms (or stuff that was once alive). A single teaspoon of soil may contain as many as 4 billion bacteria; 1 million fungi; 20 million actinomycetes; and 300,000 algae.  All of these beneficial microorganisms, along with friendly earthworms, work to produce healthy soil. Even though soil is packed with minerals, organic matter and microscopic critters, it still has pores which hold water and air. It's not surprising to find water there, but why air? Plant roots and most microorganisms “breathe,” and the soil takes in oxygen and releases carbon dioxide.  The ideal soil composition for growing plants is 45% minerals, 5% organic materials, 25% water and 25% air.

Now consider the soil you are eying for your potential vegetable garden. About half of most soil consists of minerals.  Soil minerals are categorized by size: sand particles are the biggest, silt is medium-sized, and clay particles are the smallest.  Soil texture accordingly falls into those three general categories: coarse (sand), medium (silt), and fine (clay). The best soil for home gardens is a medium-textured “loam,” which means it has a relative balance of sand, silt and clay with 5 to 10% organic matter.

A quick test will help you learn more about your own soil. First, take a small handful of moistened soil. Rub the soil between your thumb and index finger and notice its characteristics. Is it sticky, smooth or gritty? Does it hold together if you rub it out between your thumb and finger to form a ribbon or thin strip, or does it fall apart? A sandy soil will feel gritty and crumble in your hand; a clay soil will feel sticky and form a strong ribbon; silt will feel smooth and slippery.

As you hold your own soil in your hands, you may already be able to tell whether it has a favorable texture.  The appearance of your dirt when it's dry can offer clues, too. Does it shrink and crack into blocky structures? That would be clay. When you add water, does the water puddle easily (clay) or drain quickly (sand)? Even if you're not blessed with a perfect, loamy soil, that's ok. A sticky clay soil may be harder to work with, but clay plays a crucial role in soil fertility, so clay soil is often rich and holds moisture well. A sandy soil is less able to retain moisture and nutrients, but it's easier to work with. Fortunately, there are steps you can take to improve your soil so that it moves away from the extremes and closer to a balanced loam.

Your objective is to give your soil some tender loving care, and your soil will return the favor by giving you healthier plants and better produce. Your soil's texture and mineral composition is what it is, but one element that can be altered is its percentage of organic material. No matter what kind of soil you have, adding organic matter will make it better. Organic materials include grass clippings, fallen leaves, straw, wood chips, bark, hulls, plant clippings (chopped small), and everyone's favorite -- manure. Now, here's an important point: it takes time for the organic materials to enrich the soil by breaking down and releasing nutrients that become usable by plants. So, what's the best and quickest way to get those things into your soil? Compost. Compost consists of organic matter that is already decomposing; as it mixes into the soil it continues to decompose slowly, releasing nutrients to plants and improving soil texture.  Compost costs money, but you can also make your own in as little as two to three weeks at little or no cost. (For instructions on DIY compost, see “Compost in a Hurry.”

Maybe you're thinking, why can't I just throw on my leaves or grass clippings and dig them in?  You can do that, but unfortunately, that reduces nitrogen (the nutrient plants need most) for a while because the soil microorganisms compete with your plants for nitrogen as the microbes decompose those grass clippings and leaves. You would still need to add some nitrogen fertilizer. The next best thing to do with your organic material (if you're not using a compost bin) is to turn it into mulch.

Think of mulching as another method of composting that involves placing a thick layer of organic matter on top of the soil and letting it decompose very slowly. It's even better to put a layer of newspaper or cardboard on the ground first, wet it, and then spread out the organic material on top, about 4 inches thick (this is called sheet mulching). The organic matter and the paper or cardboard underneath will break down over the next 6 to 10 months. To add plants, push aside the mulch, expose the paper or cardboard, and cut an "X" large enough to accommodate your plant. Fold back the flaps, dig a hole, and add your plant. When done, lay the flaps back in place and re-cover with mulch.  (For lots of information on mulch, see the Sonoma County Master Gardener article, Mulch—a Gardener's Best Friend.

Remember that front lawn you're thinking you could convert into a vegetable garden? Sheet mulching is one way you can get rid of the grass, so you can eventually get down to planting vegetables. Cover it, mulch it, forget about it. If you want to learn more about lawn removal, including specifics for sheet mulching see the Real Dirt article on Lawn Removal: Do it Right.

Healthy soil produces healthy plants, and mulching and composting are two ways to turn your dirt into the rich soil that gardeners dream about. Even better, they require no chemicals, and you won't have to spend any money if you're resourceful.  In times like these, it's good to know you can get started gardening without emptying your wallet. It's simple. Find some dirt and make it better!

Source:  Information on soil composition is from Ben Faber et al. “Soil and Fertilizer Management.” California Master Gardener Handbook, University of California Division of Agriculture and Natural Resources, 2015, pp. 37–81.

The UC Master Gardeners of Butte County are part of the University of California Cooperative Extension (UCCE) system. To learn more about us and our upcoming events, and for help with gardening in our area, visit our website. If you have a gardening question or problem, email the Hotline at mgbutte@ucanr.edu (preferred) or call (530) 538-7201.

 

The Master Gardeners are offering our Fall series of free workshops online via Zoom, beginning September 10.  Like the in-person, hands-on workshops offered in the past, these six classes will be packed with useful and valuable gardening information. One of the benefits of using Zoom is that there will be no limit on the number of participants, so we hope to reach more individuals than was possible with the previous in-person format. Listed below are short descriptions of the Fall workshops. For more details and to register, please visit our website. Note that registration continues to be required for all workshops.

Please Note: The September 10 workshop has been rescheduled for Thursday, October 15, 10 to 11:30am.

The Workshop Series kicks off on Thursday, September 10 from 10 to 11:30 am with Journaling with the New Garden Guide, an exploration of one of our most practical and informative tools: the newly updated and revised Butte County Garden Guide and Three-Year Journal. This invaluable resource, written and compiled by Butte County Master Gardeners specifically for our area, is full of material about our local climate, plants, and wildlife, and includes weekly tips and fun facts.  This workshop will be presented from the backyard of a Master Gardener, who will discuss and demonstrate how to use the Guide to find the best times to perform seasonal and weekly garden tasks, as well as locate useful plant, climate, and soil information for our region. An integral part of this workshop is using the Guide to record lessons learned and keep track of useful plant and weather information for your garden over the years.

The new Guide is now available for $25 and can be purchased at Magnolia Gift and Garden in Chico, as well as through our website.  If you already have one of our previously published editions, have it close by for the Zoom class!

We are excited to offer a new three-part series, Gardening from the Ground Up, which covers principles that can revolutionize the way you garden. In Part 1: Minimize Disruption, we will explore the interaction of plants and microbes and how to support the tiniest animals in your garden; examine the effects of fertilizers, pesticides, and herbicides; and discuss the advantages of No Till gardening. You'll come away with lots of ideas for starting your fall garden from the ground up.  In Part 2: No Bare Soil, we'll investigate compost -- What does compost do? Is all compost created equal? And then we'll dive into bacterial- and fungal-dominant composts, discuss the principle of keeping live roots in the soil, and offer examples of succession planting you can utilize this fall.  In Part 3: Diversity we'll look at the evidence supporting the values of diversity in the garden and consider what that means for the home gardener. We'll review the research on the near-magical phenomenon of quorum sensing, and then discuss cover crops, implementation plans, and the possibility of retraining your eyes.  The Gardening From the Ground Up workshops will be held from 2 to 3 pm on successive Thursdays (September 17 and 24, and October 1^st). 

Back by popular demand is our workshop on Companion Planting, offered Tuesday, October 6, from 10 to 11:30 am. Companion Planting is the art of arranging certain plants in proximity to one another so that they attract beneficial insects and pollinators, deter unwanted pests, and offer shelter and food for other critters. Companion plants provide one another with things they need, such as nutrients, shade, and physical support. We will show you how to accomplish this in the home vegetable garden, focusing on the potential symbiotic relationships between vegetable, herb, and flower combinations. We will also include time for you to analyze your own garden and consider plant combinations that can work there.

The Fall 2020 Workshop Series will conclude with an in-depth look at Plant Viruses on Tuesday, October 13, from 10 to 11:30 am. Most gardeners are aware of plant diseases that can wreak havoc in their gardens. If you grow fruit trees, you may be confronted with curled, reddened peach leaves (peach leaf curl fungus). If you grow apples or pears, your trees may sometimes look like they were scorched with a blow torch (fire blight bacterium). But did you know that viruses can also lurk in the leaves, stems, and fruit of your garden vegetables and flowers? This workshop will cover how viruses behave, how they are transmitted, and how to identify and manage them.

Please join us for any or all of these free online workshops. For more details, and to register, visit our website.  Although we would prefer to see you in person, for now we are grateful for the technology that allows us to continue our mission to extend research-based knowledge and information on home horticulture, pest management, and sustainable landscape practices to the residents of Butte County.

The UC Master Gardeners of Butte County are part of the University of California Cooperative Extension (UCCE) system. To learn more about us and our upcoming events, and for help with gardening in our area, visit our website. If you have a gardening question or problem, email the Hotline at mgbutte@ucanr.edu (preferred) or call (530) 538-7201.