by Jane Callier

As a child, my grandmother would continuously admonish me to respect the value of everything. “Just wait until you live through a depression” she would wag her finger at me. Her influence still steers my thinking in many ways, including my approach to gardening. If I can sow seeds instead of buying starts from a nursery, I'll try to grow seeds. I'm starting my plans to grow flowers now, in mid-February.

A beautiful, easy to grow California native flower is Clarkia amoena. This clarkia is also known as “Farewell to Spring”, “Mountain Garland”, and “Godetia”.

For Napa County, starting to grow seeds in mid-to-late February is probably not too early. Good advice is to try not to plant too early to avoid problems like tall, gangly seedlings trying to reach the sun. Once you have established some plants, you probably will not have to sow seed again because the plant readily reseeds. My problem is that I am too eager to plant. If you can wait, you can also sow the seed directly in your flower bed when the soil can be worked in spring.

It's hard to find anything to criticize about clarkia plants. They are annuals, but the seed grows so reliably that it isn't anything to worry about. Growing about two feet tall, it branches with abundant pink blooms that last until summer is well underway. Their beauty might be enough reason to grow clarkias, but their value as a pollinator forage source for bees, butterflies, and hummingbird visits seals the deal. Plus, as a California native plant, it is resistant to deer and rabbits, and is drought tolerant. Clarkias will grow in all types of soil and need to be watered only once a month.

Napa Master Gardeners are available to answer garden questions by email: mastergardeners@countyofnapa.org. or phone at 707-253-4143.  Volunteers will get back to you after they research answers to your questions.

Visit our website: napamg.ucanr.edu to find answers to all of your horticultural questions.

Photo credits: CC BY 2.0

Reference: https://calscape.org/Clarkia-amoena-(Farewell-To-Spring)

 

by Rainer Hoenicke

While perusing the aisles at a nursery a few years back, I noticed a two-foot tall honeywort (Cerinthe major ‘purpurescens'), growing in a large container. It was in full bloom in the middle of February when hardly anything else was. I put a four-inch pot of Cerinthe in my basket and planted it in my front yard in between Asclepias speciosa and some California poppies. Since then, seeds have germinated after the first big rainstorm each year and provided some of the earliest color that is complementary to the orange California poppies. The patch of Cerinthe is a spectacular bee pasture. Each fall/winter, I have to pull out a great number of seedlings that pop up in my rain-garden swale among the pebbles, but they make great worm food when mixed in with some shredded paper and a bag of coffee grounds that I periodically get by just asking the staff behind a local coffee counter. While Cerinthe may become invasive due to its explosive seed dispersal mechanism, it's not gotten out of control at my place and provides a lot of color during the late winter all the way into late summer. Because it's a Mediterranean native, it does well without irrigation during the dry season. Seeds are readily available at a nursery or online source. 

Napa Master Gardeners are available to answer garden questions by email: mastergardeners@countyofnapa.org. or phone at 707-253-4143.  Volunteers will get back to you after they research answers to your questions.

Visit our website: napamg.ucanr.edu to find answers to all of your horticultural questions.

Photo credits: Public domain

Information links:

Wisconsin extension center https://hort.extension.wisc.edu/articles/honeywort-cerinthe-major/

Calflora https://www.calflora.org/app/taxon?crn=13599

by Bob Niklewicz PT MG. 

As an Ergonomic Consultant, I have gone to businesses with many hand dexterity-dependent tasks such as construction sites, wineries, assembly and high-tech clean rooms.  Almost without exception, there are hazards or situations that require gloves. Gloves protect workers from abrasions, chemicals, pathogens and thermal hazards. Being a gardener also falls into the jobs that require gloves.    

Working in soil as well as in dirt, a person may come in contact with sinister stuff that is not visibly evident. For example, did you know that soil can contain tetanus, anthrax, staph aureus, e. coli, listeria, strep, botulism, fungi and animal deposits or remains. Granted these are not all common in everyone's soil, but they could be, so but why take a chance? The portals of entry for these undesirables include puncture wounds, abrasions, cuts, existing skin lesions, inhalation and digestion.

What kind of medium do we put our hands on when in the garden? Wet-muddy, dry-hard, rocks-gravel and thorny-woody stuff plus the risk from vibration generated by many things you hold that have a motor attached to them.

Luckily there are gloves for these environmental challenges. The gloves pictured are samples of the types of gloves available. I like different types of gloves for different tasks. I also like gloves slightly on the cheaper side, as I go through one or two pairs of any of the types I use each season. Below are some pictures of gloves that are out there and some notes about them.

For the wet-muddy areas there are rubberized or lined gloves that keep moisture away and will dry quickly. 1

Dry-Hard soil can be managed by dense material gloves made of leather to protect you from abrasions and sharp edges. Photo 2.

Delicate plants require delicate latex or nitrile gloves that give you dexterity yet provide a barrier to the soil. I also routinely use them as liners in the other gloves. They come in 5,7, & 9 mil thicknesses and different sizes. I use five or seven mil thickness the most, and buy them by the box. Photo 3. 

Thorny or woody materials may require leather or Kevlar gauntlets. Although they are not 100% thorn proof, I have been saved from puncture wounds many times because of them.  Photo 4.

Photo 5 is a real picture of a friend who was not wearing long gloves and was punctured by a rose thorn. The arm became infected, but fortunately the wound healed. What you see in the photo is the deep bruising during the healing process in the forearm.

If you do not have gauntlet gloves you can get leather wrap-arounds for your forearms that fit into standard leather gloves. Photo 6.

If you are handling chainsaws, lawn mowers, leaf blowers etc., the risk from vibration can damage nerves in your palms, so gloves that are padded are needed. Vibration trauma can cause numbness or even carpal tunnel symptoms. Photo 7

The only thing as bad as working without gloves is wearing a pair that does not fit. You can lose 20-40% of your grip strength by wearing bulking or poorly fitting gloves. If the gloves are too big, you also may lose dexterity and misjudge where the tips of your fingers are compared to the glove. This may end poorly by accidentally cutting the tip of the glove off. 

Napa Master Gardeners are available to answer garden questions by email: mastergardeners@countyofnapa.org. or phone at 707-253-4143.  Volunteers will get back to you after they research answers to your questions.

Visit our website: napamg.ucanr.edu to find answers to all of your horticultural questions.

Photo credits: Bob Niklewicz

Information links: UC Berkeley.edu https://greenthumbs.cedwvu.org/media/1165/ergonomic.pdf

 

 

by Melody Kendall

We finally have received much needed rain. Working outside when it is raining isn't an option for me, but I work inside prepping and cleaning my garden implements.  The wet rainy season is the perfect time to get my garden workmates back to their optimum. 

First, I do an inventory. What tools need maintenance and which tools just need a quiet trip to the garbage bin are assessed.  During the year I have good intentions, but the shovels still have soil on their surfaces and the pruners have sticky sap on their blades. Even my gardening boots have crusted soil in their treads and my gloves are dirty and, quite frankly, stinky.

Setting the mood, I put in my earbuds and listen to a music selection while I set up my work station for maximum results. The workbench is lined with newspaper and my cleaning and sharpening implements are all laid out for easy access. I lay out some latex gloves, coarse sandpaper, or sanding block/sponge, some steel wool, a wire brush (plus a rotary wire brush for stubborn rust spots), a pumice stone, and a putty knife to scrape off any remaining dried soil.  For lubrication, I have a spray can of WD-40, and one of vegetable oil. 

I like to lay all the tools out so I can see just what needs to be done to rehabilitate each one. The smaller hand tools I lay out on my newspaper lined workbench and the larger shovels and rakes are arranged on the floor on a tarp.  The tools with working parts I disassemble one at a time.  I do this because I tend to lose parts and with only one tool taken apart at a time, I have a better chance of locating the missing piece. Each hand tool is laid on a clean towel with all the component parts in a line with the smaller pieces in a container. Since I do this project each year, I'm pretty familiar with my tools, but if I have any questions I just look up the manufacturer's how-to instructions online. Every tool is looked at and dried sap, soil and any rust are removed from the metal surfaces using sandpaper, wire brush, and steel wool.  Any stubborn spots I hit with the pumice stone and rotary wire brush.  I then reassemble that tool and move on to the next.   The larger tools like the shovel and rakes receive similar cleaning w/o the disassembling.  These often require a little more elbow grease as they have such large surfaces and receive the least of my regular slapdash cleaning efforts during the year. 

Once the tools are cleaned they are ready for lubrication. I've found that the vegetable oil works fine to keep the tools lubricated and rust-free during the year but it does need more frequent applications than the WD-40.  In my opinion, the biodegradable aspect of vegetable oil outweighs the need for more applications so I use that product on a regular basis.  I still keep the WD-40 on hand for tools that need deep rust removal and seems to provide the best overall long-term protection.  Especially on tools with newly exposed surfaces that would be more prone to rust.  After this annual application of WD-40, I follow up with vegetable oil, as needed, during the rest of the year.  This combination seems to work best for me.  As a final lubricating step, I wipe all surfaces, including the handles, with a clean cloth.  If the handles are fiberglass wiping suffices.  If the handles are wood I sand out any splinters or roughness and wipe them down with linseed oil. 

Next, the tools need to be sharpened.  A sharp tool requires less effort and is safer to use because you do not have to use as much force when welding them.  Sharp tools make cleaner cuts that allow the plant a better chance to heal and expose a cleaner edge that will better resist diseases, insects, fungi and weather extremes. 

I believe that tools should be sharpened regularly and preferably after each use.  But, as mentioned above, there were times that I had just returned the tool to storage and walked away without doing that.  Years ago I used a sharpening stone or whetstone but a few years ago I found this great handy dandy sharpening tool that fits perfectly in my pocket and is much easier to use.  As I write this I'm truly embarrassed that I didn't use this ‘easier to use' tool more frequently.  That being said, each cutting edge will require the use of a sharpening tool.  I like to run my sharpener two or three times along the surface of the blade from the handle to the edge in a continuous swipe.

Here are some examples of types of blades on hand tools:

A bypass blade uses a scissors movement to pass next to, not on top of, the often non-moving lower surface. The edge to be sharpened is on the beveled surface or the outside of the moving blade. Sharpening the inside of the blade would eventually make the space between the blades grow larger due to the minute scraping off of the metal as you sharpen. 

Anvil blade tools feature a double beveled edge or a two-sided blade that connects with a single flat surface/blade in a chopping motion, not a scissor bypass motion. Both sides of the moving blade will need sharpening. Hone both sides so they have equally beveled edges.

There is much controversy as to the preferred blade style. Personally, I prefer the bypass style. 

The shovels, rakes and hoes really don't need much sharpening. The working surfaces of these tools will just need a visual check for any folded over metal surfaces.  If that has occurred just use a flat-edged file or coarse sharpening stone to dress the edge back to true. I sometimes run the sharpening tool along the working edge (for example on a shovel the ‘working edge' is on the scoop side of the blade) to make sure that the surface doesn't have any pits or flat areas. I then spray each shovel and hoe blade with flat black spray paint. I like the way it makes all the tools look neat and it also protects the blade from rust. My dad taught me this step and I have good memories of doing it with him each year when he cleaned his tools.  All that remains is to scrape and clean the soles of my work boots, oil my leather gloves and throw the fabric gloves into the washer. 

Tools are your helpmates and represent a large cash outlay and deserve regular maintenance. It is a great way to ensure their usefulness and readiness for optimum performance. Rainy days are a good time for this tool maintenance chore. After your tools are lined up and gleaming you can be justifiably proud of a job well done. 

Napa Master Gardeners are available to answer garden questions by email: mastergardeners@countyofnapa.org. or phone at 707-253-4143.  Volunteers will get back to you after they research answers to your questions.

Visit our website: napamg.ucanr.edu to find answers to all of your horticultural questions.

Photo credits: Melody Kendall

Information links:

The Farmer Fred Rant Blog-Chuck Ingels http://farmerfredrant.blogspot.com/2009/08/anvil-versus-bypass-pruners-some.html

UCMG Santa Clara-Tool Care https://mgsantaclara.ucanr.edu/garden-help/tool-care-tips/

Cornell Cooperative Extension-Caring for your Tools https://fyi.extension.wisc.edu/cwas/files/2013/01/Caring_for_Your_Tools.pdf