Last fall while working in the garden at an ordinary task, I managed to give myself two black eyes. While I will explain shortly how that happened, it made me think about being safe in the garden. I think of gardening as a healthy activity: fresh air, exercise and time to think while being useful. However, there are hazards to all of that outdoor exertion.

In preparing to write about basic garden safety, I researched what the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention had to say. Their recommendation for “dressing for success” in the garden looks a lot like what I wear to work in my garden: long-sleeved shirt, long pants, boots, hat and gloves. Although I am thinking about sun protection with my garden attire, my outfit also protects me from mosquitos and ticks and the possibility of contracting one of the diseases carried by these insects.

I wear gloves most of the time. My garden includes prickly plants, active compost, thriving insect populations and a lot of dirt. When handling soil, compost and other amendments, I use flexible gloves with Neoprene-coated fingers. In addition to keeping most of the dirt from under my fingernails, these gloves protect me from possible ant bites, smaller scratches and things I'd rather not touch such as dead gophers. They also help to prevent blisters when I am shoveling soil or amendments.

I switch to thorn-proof gloves when dealing with bramble berries or rosebushes. Thorn wounds are not only painful but a great breeding ground for some types of bacteria, including clostridium tetani, the organism that causes tetanus. Spores of this bacterium are widely distributed in ordinary garden soil. There are a few cases of tetanus every year in the United States. Almost all reported cases are in people who have either never been vaccinated, or who completed a primary series but have not had a booster in the preceding 10 years. You can be sure that I keep my vaccinations up-to-date.

If you use power tools, protect your hearing with plugs or head phones, and protect your eyes with safety glasses. Actually, safety glasses might be a good idea for some tasks that don't involve power tools. Once while I was pulling ivy down from an exterior wall, I managed to scratch my cornea with a wayward branch that slapped me in the face. I now borrow my husband's safety glasses when I work in brushy areas.

What about ladders? Ever know someone who fell from one? In the garden,a ladder can be particularly unstable, so use care when you need one for any garden task. If you are planting new fruit trees, plan to keep them small so that you don't need a ladder to prune or harvest fruit. If you do need a ladder in the garden, choose a three-legged orchard ladder, which provides more stability on uneven ground than a step ladder. Make sure the ladder is stable before climbing it, and move it rather than reach too far while you are on it.

Review your garden for tripping hazards. Put hoses away when not in use, and leave tools out of your pathways when you are not using them. Gopher holes abound in my yard, so I try not to back up but to always watch my footing, especially when I am carrying bulky garden items.

So far the most serious injury I've experienced in the garden is the aforementioned black eyes. The annoying thing is that I had been forewarned. Several years ago, a friend had to get several stitches in her lip after cutting it on her yard-waste bin. Yes, the yard-waste bin.

I was pruning dead canes from my boysenberry patch, wearing my best thorn-proof gloves while pitching the trimmings into the can. The lid was open, of course. I needed to move the can a few feet as I worked my way down the row. I did not bother to close the lid, and as I tipped the can back on its wheels and pushed it forward, I managed to step on the lid, trip, and smack my forehead on the edge of the bin. It was a very hard hit; I had a headache as well as a large goose egg that afternoon and evening. In subsequent days as the swelling subsided, first my left eye and then the right were encircled with colorful bruising. It was dramatic enough to scare my young grandchildren.

I love working in my garden. I love watching plants grow, bloom and produce food for my table. I alsowant to be able to work in the yard for many years, so I am careful out there. I dress for safety, not fashion, and so far the plants don't mind.

Upcoming event: The Napa County Master Gardeners' “Down the Garden Path” Garden Tour is Sunday, September 13. The second garden on the tour is the proud recipient of a new drip system. At that site, you can peruse a reference binder with step-by-step instructions for installing drip irrigation. Click http://bit.ly/1fqLJZe for information and tickets.

Workshops: Napa County Master Gardeners will host a workshop on “Good Garden Resources in Print & Tech” on Saturday, July 11, from 9:30 a.m. to 11:30 a.m., at the University of California Cooperative Extension office, 1710 Soscol Avenue, Napa. Who do you trust for dependable gardening information?  Where do you look for answers to your horticulture questions?  Participants are invited to bring tablets or laptops.  Master Gardeners will help you evaluate sources of gardening information, both online and in print. Online registration (credit card only); Mail-in registration (cash or check only).

Napa County Master Gardener will also host a workshop on “Dealing with Drought and Drought-Tolerant Plants” on Saturday, July 11, from 10 a.m. to noon, at Mid-City Nursery, 3635 Broadway, American Canyon. Learn what to do now to help your garden survive on very little water. We will discuss what kinds of plants do best with minimal water. Learn about easy-care, long-flowering, colorful plants for your garden and ones that will attract pollinators. We will also discuss fire-wise plants and gardens. Online registration;Mail-in registration.

Master Gardeners are volunteers who help the University of California reach the gardening public with home gardening information. Napa County Master Gardeners ( http://ucanr.org/ucmgnapa/) are available to answer gardening questions in person or by phone, Monday, Wednesday and Friday, 9 a.m. to Noon, at the U. C. Cooperative Extension office, 1710 Soscol Avenue, Suite 4, Napa, 707-253-4143, or from outside City of Napa toll-free at 877-279-3065. Or e-mail your garden questions by following the guidelines on our web site. Click on Napa, then on Have Garden Questions? Find us on Facebook under UC Master Gardeners of Napa County.

 

 

 

 

Years ago I heard about a small Midwestern town whose residents rarely locked their houses or car doors—except during harvest season. At that time of year, they “battened down the hatches.” If newcomers or some forgetful people failed to lock up, they could expect an overflowing bag of fresh produce either just inside their front door or on the seat of their car. I did not understand this humor until recently.

For most of my life, I have not been an edible gardener. Flowers and shrubs were my interest. But when I became a Napa County Master Gardener, I wanted to see what all the hoopla was about, so I purchased a single tomato plant at our yearly tomato sale.

I found a happy spot for it in the garden and just stood back and watched it grow and grow and grow. I had no clue how much one plant would yield. It was not unusual for me to get a large bowl of tomatoes every other day at peak production.

By the end of the season I was completely overwhelmed with tomatoes. So now I understand the locked-doors story. To my surprise, my husband recently found a use for the surplus yellow tomato slices that I had stored in our freezer. He announced that the “lemon slices” were just the ticket in his iced tea.

A single zucchini plant can yield three to nine pounds of squash. I have seen zucchini in my mother's garden that seemed to double in size overnight. Considering that a single zucchini plant can cover six feet of ground, I wonder why anyone would ever want more than one.

A tomato plant can grow five feet tall and just as wide and produce 10 to 15 pounds of fruit in a season. A study done by Purdue University Cooperative Extension found that 25 strawberry plants could yield 25 to 50 quarts of berries between mid-May and late summer. A standard-sized apple tree can produce 10 to 20 bushels of fruit.

A single family can eat just so much produce. What can be done with the surplus?

For people of my parents' generation, who experienced the Great Depression and World War II, preserving food was de rigueur. They learned how to do so early in their lives and continued to can, freeze, pickle and sometimes dry their excess produce throughout their adult years. 

But at least in my circle of acquaintances, folks don't seem to enjoy these activities as much anymore. Over the years, I have frequently seen large canning pots, preserving jars and accouterments for canning in secondhand stores. Not recently though.

We seem to be experiencing a resurgence of interest in food preservation. Two years ago, my niece quit her job to stay home and raise her two boys. She and her husband turned their entire yard into an edible garden. She cans, dehydrates and freezes fruits and vegetables all year long. She and her family reap the rewards on so many levels.

If you are interested in food preservation but don't know where to begin, you can find some resources online. Sacramento County has a Master Food Preserver program. Check the web site (http://cesacramento.ucanr.edu/Master_Food_Preservers_181/) forthe schedule of workshops and classes.

When you are planning your fall garden, make sure to have a strategy in place to preserve your excess. Otherwise you just might be that person in stealth gear leaving overflowing bags of produce in the cars or on the front porches of your neighbors.

Workshop: Napa County Master Gardeners will lead a workshop on “Drought-Tolerant and California Native Plants” on Saturday, August 1, from 9:30 a.m. to 11:30 a.m., at Martha Walker Garden in Skyline Park in Napa. Enjoy a walk around the garden to observe drought-tolerant and native plants, and discover the elements that help them thrive in our Mediterranean climate.  Learn how to use them in your own garden to replace some of those water-hungry ornamentals.On-line registration (credit card only)   Mail-in registration (cash or check only)

Master Gardeners are volunteers who help the University of California reach the gardening public with home gardening information. Napa County Master Gardeners ( http://ucanr.org/ucmgnapa/) are available to answer gardening questions in person or by phone, Monday, Wednesday and Friday, 9 a.m. to Noon, at the U. C. Cooperative Extension office, 1710 Soscol Avenue, Suite 4, Napa, 707-253-4143, or from outside City of Napa toll-free at 877-279-3065. Or e-mail your garden questions by following the guidelines on our web site. Click on Napa, then on Have Garden Questions? Find us on Facebook under UC Master Gardeners of Napa County.

 

 

I have recently been revamping my yard with water conservation in mind. As I looked into the “cash for grass” and “rain garden” programs, I found that convincing my husband to remove the lawns and replace them with a more water-sparing landscape was a hard sell. His idea of water conservation is to just let the lawns die.

For now, I've turned my energies to creating a rain garden in an area of my yard that tends to produce runoff. In wet weather, this silty water flows onto the sidewalk and then into the street. The plans that I perused required creating a declivity or basin filled with and surrounded by foliage and larger rocks.

The rain garden is not a pond feature; it is actually dry most of the time. It is intended to hold water only briefly during and after a rain, allowing water to filter slowly through the soil and rocks.

People have collected rainwater since ancient times, but the modern rain-garden concept originated in Prince George's County, Maryland, in 1990. By keeping water off the sidewalks and out of the streets,a rain-retention basin reduces the flow of contaminated water into storm drains. It slows the water flow, allowing soil and plants to break down and filter out the pollutants.

Select your location carefully. Look for a natural declivity or a flat place that receives water from a downspout or overland flow during a storm. You can construct a rain garden on a hill but that requires more digging. Avoid locating it over a septic system or near tree roots. Also consider how the nearby landscape plants might adapt to the new watering regime. Finally, avoid underground pipes and pick an area that gets full or partial sun.

Choose a design that complements your existing landscape. Size depends on the collection surface; a 1,000-square-foot rooftop requires at least a 200-square-foot garden. The garden should be able to hold an inch of rain at one time.

In our mediterranean-type climate, we can expect little or no rainfall for at least six months every year. With that in mind, choose native or drought-tolerant plants. Those plants in the basin and the ones on the berm will have different water access so plan accordingly.

You will have to water your plantings for the first year or so, until they get established. Mulch them with a heavy material,such as shredded wood or wood chips, that won't float away during the flooded periods.

The area under consideration in my yard was actually a raised mound. After a rain there was always a mud slick on the sidewalk that filled up the parking strip and then flowed into the street.

The hiccup in my plans was when I realized that I would have to remove and dispose of an astronomical amount of soil. So I had to shelve the rain-garden concept. I solved the runoff problem by digging a two- by two-foot trench around the mound. As it was, I was hard put to find a home for just that amount of soil.

All my garden beds needed freshening, so I mixed the excavated soil with equal amounts of compost and topsoil. With that mixture, I fluffed up my planting beds. I then filled the resulting trench with about six inches of gravel and topped it off with two- by three-inch cobbles that matched the rest of my landscape. I now have created a so-called French drain around the problem location.

Although I am not using the water for irrigation, I hope that percolating the water through the rocks will cleanse it naturally. Based on the meager rains we've had since I completed the work, the water is definitely being re-routed. I no longer see a mud slick on the sidewalk. Instead, the trenches catch the runoff to refill the aquifer.

I was really looking forward to creating a rain garden, but you do the best you can with the situation you have. I planted a succulent garden on the remaining mound, which will help conserve water, and I am quite happy with the result

For more information on creating a rain garden, visit the website of the Watershed Information Center & Conservancy. Also check out the website of California Sea Grant (https://caseagrant.ucsd.edu/sites/default/files/GS3%20Rain%20Gardens_8-10-09.pdf.)

Workshop: Napa County Master Gardeners will lead a workshop on “Drought-Tolerant and California Native Plants” on Saturday, August 1, from 9:30 a.m. to 11:30 a.m., at Martha Walker Garden in Skyline Park in Napa. Enjoy a walk around the garden to observe drought-tolerant and native plants, and discover the elements that help them thrive in our mediterranean climate.  Learn how to use them in your own garden to replace some of those water-hungry ornamentals. On-line registration (credit card only)   Mail-in registration (cash or check only)

Master Gardeners are volunteers who help the University of California reach the gardening public with home gardening information. Napa County Master Gardeners ( http://ucanr.org/ucmgnapa/) are available to answer gardening questions in person or by phone, Monday, Wednesday and Friday, 9 a.m. to Noon, at the U. C. Cooperative Extension office, 1710 Soscol Avenue, Suite 4, Napa, 707-253-4143, or from outside City of Napa toll-free at 877-279-3065. Or e-mail your garden questions by following the guidelines on our web site. Click on Napa, then on Have Garden Questions? Find us on Facebook under UC Master Gardeners of Napa County.

One of the things I love about the Master Gardener program is the education we receive in our monthly meetings, plus the extra educational opportunities we have. Since we are in a prolonged drought in California,we have been learning more about how to grow plants with minimal water and still keep them healthy.

A few years ago, we heard from Toby Hemenway who wrote Gaia's Garden: A Guide to Home-Scale Permaculture. I studied this book and was very interested in the part he wrote about swales in the garden.  

I wanted a habitat garden with native plants in one area of my property. A habitat garden gives small animals places to hide, provides nectar plants for insects and is low maintenance.  

I decided that swales were going to be part of this garden since the rainwater needs somewhere to drain. Some swales are filled with twigs and covered with soil, but I wanted my swales to be open so they could be cleaned and so that I could observe what the water was doing. One of my neighbors refers to my swales as “Penny's lakes.”

The ground around the swales has to be saturated from rain before they start to hold water. The water should not remain in the swale more than three days; over that time, it should slowly be absorbed into the soil. The swale creates a damp area where plants can get water during dry periods. My friends are used to me saying,“The swales are full!”

About three years ago, the soil from the swales was mounded and planted with California natives and other low-water-use mediterranean plants. For the first couple of years, I watered them as needed, but last year this area received no water during the entire summer. I may decide to plant some native milkweeds there this fall; if so, I will need to water them next summer.

Mulching is one way to keep plants alive during dry spells. You can mulch with your own compost (if you're not already composting, you can learn to do it in a Master Gardener composting workshop). Or you can buy compost from companies that grind bark and wood into mulch.

After watering the ground well, spread three to four inches of mulch over the soil. You will be amazed how well it keeps water in the soil and available for plants.

Some of the plants I like to use are lavender, lamb's ears, salvias, monkey flower (mimulus), lily-of-the-Nile and yarrow. Some monkey flowers are sticky; others are not. Both types have beautiful flowers in a variety of colors and bloom almost continuously. With a little deadheading they grow right back.

My lavenders have a long bloom period, and bees enjoy them from morning until dusk. Whatever plants you choose, plant them in multiples to make a bigger splash of color and texture.

Local “Cash for Grass” programs are ongoing. You must apply to the City of Napa or American Canyon, and officials will come inspect your grass. Be sure to keep it alive until then. If approved, you will receive a grant to replace your grass. Then you can proceed with plans to create a habitat garden, dry garden, succulent garden or other garden of your choosing.

Walk your neighborhood to see what others have done. Peruse books for design ideas and visit local nurseries for plant suggestions.Gather information before you start.

You don't have to tear out your lawn. You can cover it with large pieces of clean cardboard, and then cover the cardboard with lots of mulch. Worms and other micro organisms will eat the cardboard and decompose it for you. In a few months you will have a dead lawn and some good soil to plant in.

If you're resourceful, drought does not mean the end of your landscape; it just means a different way of doing things.

Workshop: Napa County Master Gardeners will lead a workshop on “Drought-Tolerant and California Native Plants” on Saturday, August 1, from 9:30 a.m. to 11:30 a.m., at Martha Walker Garden in Skyline Park in Napa. Enjoy a walk around the garden to observe drought-tolerant and native plants, and discover the elements that help them thrive in our Mediterranean climate.  Learn how to use them in your own garden to replace some of those water-hungry ornamentals.On-line registration (credit card only)   Mail-in registration (cash or check only)

Master Gardeners are volunteers who help the University of California reach the gardening public with home gardening information. Napa County Master Gardeners ( http://ucanr.org/ucmgnapa/) are available to answer gardening questions in person or by phone, Monday, Wednesday and Friday, 9 a.m. to Noon, at the U. C. Cooperative Extension office, 1710 Soscol Avenue, Suite 4, Napa, 707-253-4143, or from outside City of Napa toll-free at 877-279-3065. Or e-mail your garden questions by following the guidelines on our web site. Click on Napa, then on Have Garden Questions? Find us on Facebook under UC Master Gardeners of Napa County.