- (Public Value) UCANR: Promoting healthy people and communities
by Bob Niklewicz PT MG.
Figure 1 shows the 27 bones of the hand and wrist. Figure 2 shows the relationship of the blood vessels, nerves and muscles in the hand. Except for a few of the muscles that are in the palm of the hand, the finger muscles start in the forearm. Figure 3 indicates where a person will feel pain or numbness when they suffer from Carpal Tunnel Syndrome (CTS).
To get a “handle” on why these awkward hand postures are a problem is found in Figures 7 & 8. If you look at the numbers of Figure 7, the top it says “Neutral” and just below 0° and below that 100% of grip strength, the best and strongest position of your hand.
If you have an existing hand and/or wrist issue, or suspect one is starting, consider ergonomically engineered tools. Below are examples of tools that can reduce the risk of wrist injuries. They are available online or in larger box stores.
Remember, your hands are so much a part of your life you may not give them the protection and respect they deserve. You do not have to hurt to have fun in the garden.
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: Figure 1: Vectorstock.com; figures 2-8 Dreamstime; figures 9-12 Bob Niklewicz
Information links:
UHSBerkeley.edu-ergonomics tips for gardening at home
https://uhs.berkeley.edu/sites/default/files/ergonomics_tips_for_gardening_at_home.pdf
By Bob Niklewicz PT
Last week I introduced you to the Class 1 Lever. It is the primary lever used in pruning and prying up large stones or the toughest of weeds. I presented the key elements to successfully overcome stubborn weeds or thick branches. Those elements are: Applied Force, the Fulcrum and Resistance. Force is what the gardener generates physically when they use pruners/scissors or a pry bar.
Leverage can also help you protect your back and legs when the amount of resistance becomes even greater or the quantity of materials is larger than can be safely handled.
In those cases a “Class 2” Lever is what you need. A “Class 2” used in the garden is most commonly found in a wheelbarrow. Image 2. You could carry the weight the old fashion way like the men grunting in Image 1. Or save your back, legs and several trips by using a Wheelbarrow Image 2. A wheelbarrow is a Class 2 lever set up. The weight is placed between you and the Fulcrum.
In Image 6 the load (resistance) is at the end of the lever (wrist, holding shovel) and the effort (your lower hand) and the fulcrum at the top hand. When the effort (your lower hand) is further up from the shovel blade, you will stand straighter but will have less power to lift. In Image 7 the hand is even closer to the blade. You will have more control and power, but you take the chance to strain your low back. In Image 8 The person can stand much straighter, move faster but has less power. A trade off to protect your back.
Bottomline: Use tools that allow you to “leverage” a task without hurting your body.
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:
Image 1, ABC News; Image 2, Dreamstime; Wheelbarrow and shovel photos by Olga Morham; Diagram 5, (elbow joint), CC-BY-SA; Image 8, Dreamstime
Information links:
UHSBerkeley.edu-ergonomics tips for gardening at home
https://uhs.berkeley.edu/sites/default/files/ergonomics_tips_for_gardening_at_home.pdf
During the lockdown… is probably how many stories will start these days. With all that time on my hands I have done a few experiments of tropical plantings. Like millions before me I started a couple avocados seeds. Years ago, my mother grew an avocado that had reached six feet, and because it was growing in her office it got lots of attention (fake flowers from coworkers would show up). She and her 6-foot avocado were featured in a public interest article in the newspaper. Living in Colorado, we never even thought of it fruiting, just a pretty house plant. Telling a friend this story, she told me her mother had an avocado tree she planted from a seed of a particularly tasty avocado, which also had good avocados (they lived in Southern California). Seeing fruit as a possibility now, a really tasty avocado seed for planting made sense, which is how my 2 seeds got started.
It started out as a Hass, which makes up 95% of the commercial avocados are in California. The original Hass avocado was sold to an amateur nurseryman and professional mailman Rudolph Hass, who planned to graft it to a Fuerte avocado. The graft didn't take and he was going to cut it down, but his children liked the avocados it produced. Many others liked it too, and in 1935 he patented the plant, plant patent #139. The mother tree was In La Habra, California, dying of root rot in 2002 at the age of 76. Because avocados are heterozygotic, seeds have a high amount of genetic variety. Therefore, if you want to grow a Hass avocado you must buy the grafted seedling. If you want to see what happens, plant a seed. Warning, some of the seed grown avocados can be barren.
Reference: UC master gardeners Napa, Sunset Western Garden, ucavo.ucr.edu.
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: (Seedling) Mark Hofstetter, CC BY-SA 3.0 <http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/>, via Wikimedia Commons; Pixabay, free photo
Master Gardeners of Napa County had a cauliflower seedling give-away last September. I picked up three different varietals – “Amazing” (looks like a standard white variety you see in the grocery store), “Veronica” (a cone-shaped, chartreuse beauty), and Graffiti (purple, and loaded with beneficial anthocyanin antioxidants). I have never managed to successfully grow cauliflower in my veggie beds. I was curious to see if I might have better success this time around in an area that I had recently converted from a Bermuda grass and Malva parviflora “lawn” into a new, compost-enriched edible landscape that includes (self-seeding) Mache lettuce (Valeriana locusta), calendulas, Swiss chard, culinary sage, lavender, licorice plant, and Egyptian onions sprinkled throughout.
Following the advice of the expert, masked and gloved distribution team, I kept the four-inch pots in a cool, shaded location, since a two-week heat wave was forecast and planted the five-inch seedlings in early October. The warm fall and hand-watering got the seedlings well established in time for the first sparse rains and cooler temperatures. By late February the “Amazing” was about 11 inches across and the other two varietals about 8 inches.
Following are instructions for growing cauliflower successfully. Plant starts now to get them growing before summer heat sets in.
Sun Requirements — Cauliflower is a cool-season crop, but it needs full sun, at least 6 hours a day. Site your plants in a south-facing area where they will receive winter sun. Plants will not tolerate blazing heat. Be prepared to protect your plants from a hot spell in late summer or early fall by shading them and watering more.
Watering — Water deeply using drip or furrow irrigation, and avoid wetting the leaves. To produce hard, solid, flavorful heads, the plants must not experience water stress. If the plants do not receive consistent rainfall or irrigation, they will have poor texture and may develop strong “off” flavors. Dig down to see how far water is penetrating; water to 8 inches twice a week, less when rains start.
Planting — Cauliflower plants can get very large, so space them at least 18 inches apart, more if possible. When transplanting cauliflower bury them to the first leaf. To avoid a build-up of soil diseases, don't plant cole crops in the same spot each year. See crop rotation, Napa MGs Healthy Garden Tips → Vegetables→ Crop Rotation http://napamg.ucanr.edu/Gardening_Books/Healthy_Garden_Tips_A/
Chewed leaves are often caused by imported cabbageworm http://ipm.ucanr.edu/PMG/r108301111.html . Treat chewed leaves by picking off the green caterpillars or spray with Bt, Bacillus thurengiensis. It is a safe, naturally derived pesticide. It will also kill butterfly larva (caterpillars), so use prudently.
Harvest cauliflower when it forms a nice head or “curd” 5 to 6 inches in diameter, 75-85 days. It can be as little as 55 days or as many as 100. If you leave it in the garden too long, it will start to flower, becoming bitter and inedible. Blanching (tying the leaves up) is not necessary for colored cauliflower. The white “Amazing” cauliflower is self-blanching.
Master Gardeners are following recommended social distancing guidelines that keep everyone safe, 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: Rainer Hoenicke
References: UCANR Publication 7219
sonomamg.ucanr/Food_Gardening/Feature_Vegetables/Cauliflower/
Having a rat invasion is a bit like having salmonella at the potluck – someone must be blamed. When I heard the telltale scrabbling under the floor, then later saw rat poop in the toolshed, I wondered – where did the rat come from? My neighbors to the west had renovated an old storage area, transforming it into a lovely postmodern home and possibly displacing a vermin population. Or how about my neighbor to the south, who has not set foot in his yard for the last twenty years? Rats love undisturbed vegetation. And there is the showplace garden to the north that is so stunningly well managed that a hungry rodent would have to come over to my place to avoid starvation. Not my fault, right?
This is probably a roof rat, or Rattus rattus, to distinguish it from its relative, Rattus norvegicus, or Norwegian rat (which actually came to Europe from China thousands of years ago). Both abound in North America. Roof rats have the longer tail. Wouldn't poisoning the rat be easier than trapping it? Probably, but most rat poison is actually an anticoagulant that doesn't do its work until some hours after the rat has ingested it. In the meantime, that rat could enter the food chain and be devoured by a house pet or, say, an owl or other benign form of wildlife, which would then die. Trapping is the environmentally sound choice, along with eliminating nesting places (see ivy, above). According to the Smithsonian, there is evidence that rats are developing a resistance to rat poison, so there is another reason for trapping.
I am going to keep checking the traps. Since rats can mate year round, have a gestation period of three weeks, and bear on average eight to a litter, a couple of rats can soon be a big problem. People who own terriers generally don't have rat issues. Some cats are good rat catchers, but it is better for house pets not to have contact with rats, because they can carry disease. Which reminds me – if you feed your pet outside, do not leave food out overnight. Rats love dog and cat kibble.
Information links:
Pest Notes: Rats, UC ANR Publication 74106
"Garden Pests – Here's A Little Help!" Napa Valley Register UCMG column, Iris Craig, July 22, 2018
Norway Rat – Smithsonian's Nation Zoo, nationalzoo.si.edu.animals.norway-rat
Master Gardeners are following recommended social distancing guidelines that keep everyone safe, 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: Creative Commons CC0
