Maintenance

In January, the 2025 Marin Master Gardener training class was welcomed into the Edible Demonstration Garden for a discussion and demonstration on the use and care of garden tools. The right tools make the difference between gardening that is pleasurable and gardening that is a struggle. Your first experience with a garden tool might have been that pointed stick you used when digging in the dirt as a child. Now as a gardener, you are presented with an array of better tool choices, some essential for basic garden work and some designed for specific tasks. There are tools for pruning, tools for digging, tools for raking, and tools to make gardening easier. Here are some of the more popular tools in those categories.

Pruning Tools

• 

  Hand pruners are the favorite tool for most home gardeners. They are the tools used most often for cutting and thinning small branches to maintain plant health and appearance. They are also used for cutting flowers and harvesting vegetables. By-pass pruners, which work like scissors, are best for making clean cuts on living plants. Anvil pruners crush branch tissue and are good for removing and cutting up dead branches.

• Pruning saws are used to remove branches larger than what hand pruners can remove. They can have a fixed or folding blade.
• Loppers are long-handled by-pass pruners that can help access higher and hard to reach branches. The long handles also provide leverage to enable pruning thicker branches.

Digging Tools

• 

  Trowels are essential for digging, planting, potting, and weeding. A trowel is a spade-shaped hand tool with a slightly scooped blade.

• Garden knives are a type of trowel with a sharp narrow blade and a pointed end. One blade edge is usually serrated. Hori-Hori garden knives are a Japanese design that has proven to be so useful for digging and weeding that the name is often applied to any type of garden knife.
• Shovels and spades are long-handled digging and soil lifting tools with the shape of blade and the length of the handle determining their particular uses.

Raking Tools

• Rakes are useful for cleaning up leaves, removing debris, and spreading out soil amendments like compost and mulch. Hand rakes are great for getting into small spaces. Rakes with flexible, fan-shaped tines work well for cleaning up lighter debris and are sometimes called leaf rakes. Garden rakes have larger stiff metal tines and are intended for heavier use in soil or larger debris.
• Forks are used for raking out stones and weeds. Like a dinner fork, a garden fork has four strong tines which can push easily into the ground and enable it to double as a digging tool for loosening and turning over the soil.

Gardening Comfort Tools

• 

  Gloves provide the hand protection every gardener needs. They are a barrier against pricks, cuts, abrasions, blisters, insect bites, and other skin irritations. While most gardeners don’t mind getting their hands dirty, getting jabbed with a nasty thorn is not only painful, but it can also lead to serious infections. There are many types of gloves to choose from depending on the type of protection required. Most important is that they fit well and are comfortable to wear.

• Kneelers cushions protect the knees when planting, weeding, and performing other low to ground garden tasks. Kneelers made of rectangular shaped heavy foam are the simplest type. However, kneelers with handles that are lightweight and easy to fold up can make the up and down movements around the garden easier. Some even flip over to form a bench.
• Ergonomically modified tools can help gardeners get more done with less effort by enabling good body alignment and reducing joint strain. Grips should be comfortable to hold and keep hands and wrists in natural positions. Handles should be the right length to enable good posture without excessive bending and twisting.

Tool Care

Tools need to be kept clean, sharpened, in good repair, and organized to keep them working well. Surface dirt and dried sap should be brushed or washed off after each use. Periodically applying a light layer of oil will reduce rust. Pruners need regular sharpening and should be sanitized with a 10% bleach solution following contact with diseased plant material. Storing tools in dry place where they can be easily accessed will ensure they are ready for work when you are.

Click here to learn more about choosing and caring for garden tools.

Native Plants Attract Pollinators and Invite Beneficial Insects

Native plants also invite beneficial insects that are natural enemies of vegetable garden pests. Beneficials such as hoverflies, lady beetles, and lacewings go where they find the herbivorous insects they like to eat. It doesn’t matter to them whether their prey is on an edible plant or a native. The natives keep the beneficial insects nearby, so they are there to control pests when the vegetable crops are planted.

Native Plants Improve Soil Health

Native plants support soil biodiversity by providing habitat for beneficial microorganisms like fungi and bacteria. Some can act as nitrogen-fixers to improve soil fertility. Natives with deep root systems can improve soil structure by creating channels through which water and nutrients can penetrate. When the roots and leaves of the native plants die back, they add organic matter to the soil reducing the need for soil amendments.

Native Plants are Low Maintenance

Natives don’t need fertilizing and require little watering once they are established. While some need deadheading and cutting back, it’s best to minimize the kind of tidying up that’s done in the edible garden. The native plants can offer a refuge for beneficial populations, providing them with undisturbed nesting and overwintering sites. Ideally the native plants attract enough beneficial insects and other natural enemies to maintain a healthy balance so that pests are kept in check.

Native Plants Add Beauty and Interest

Native plants bring unique beauty to the garden. The natives planted in the Edible Demo Garden were initially chosen to provide blooms throughout the year. Some flower early and bring color into the winter garden and others extend their blooming period into late fall. They add contrast to the flowering of the vegetables and fruit trees. Ceanothus ‘Concha’ now masks the compost bins with its copious cobalt blue flowers in early spring.  Coast Aster, Aster chilensis, provides bright, daisy-like blossoms throughout summer and fall. Bees and hummingbirds enjoy the showy red tubular blooms of California fuchsia, Epilobium, into late fall. The goal to bring native plants into the Edible Demo Garden to provide year-round beauty has been achieved.

For more information on growing native plants, click here.

Planting cover crops

There are many advantages to planting cover crops. Cover crops, sometimes referred to as “green manure”, are an excellent way to protect and improve soil. They increase organic matter, suppress weeds, prevent damage from wind and water erosion, and support beneficial insects and earthworms. Plus, they can look attractive while nurturing the garden.

Two different cover crops were chosen for the Edible Demo Garden. Fava beans were planted in several of the garden beds and in the straw bales used for the summer crops. The latter is an experiment to determine if there is sufficient residual fertility in the straw bales to support another crop. In order to aid in germination and enhance their nitrogen fixing effects, the fava bean seeds were soaked in an inoculant containing rhizobacteria prior to planting. As an alternative cover crop, a green manure mix of bell beans, field peas, and purple/hairy vetch was planted in some of the raised beds. Past experience with crows eating the sprouting seeds necessitated the use of compost, straw, and protective netting to give the cover crop seedlings a fighting chance. The effectiveness of the different cover crops will be tested in spring when it is time to plant again.

Allowing beds to remain fallow

Click here for more information on cover crops and soil enhancement in the off-season.

The supporting cast of herbs in the Edible Demo Garden includes basil, oregano, thyme, lemon verbena, chives, Mexican tarragon, anise hyssop, chocolate mint, lavender, pineapple sage, and rosemary. Some are harvested and sold fresh at the Indian Valley Organic Farm and Garden farm stand and others are dried and offered as seasonings and teas. They are among the most reliable plants in the garden.

What is an Herb?

The word “herb” can be applied to any non-woody plant with leaves, seeds, or flowers used for seasoning, medicine, or fragrance. It’s the culinary uses that most commonly interest home gardeners. Herbs are considered different from spices based on the part of the plant that is used. Spices are derived from the roots, bark, fruit, berries, and seeds of plants. Some plants can be both an herb and a spice. Coriandrum sativum, also known as Chinese parsley, is called cilantro when the green leaves are used as an herb and coriander when the seeds are used as a spice.

Why Grow Herbs?

• Herbs make good neighbors with other plants and can be easily integrated into both edible and landscape gardens. They are attractive enough to do double duty as ornamentals.
• Herbs are cost-effective. They are inexpensive to grow and can be harvested in the amounts required for a recipe. No need to spend money at the supermarket on packages of herbs.
• The blossoms on herbs attract pollinators and other beneficial insects.
• Herbs are usually not bothered by pests and diseases. Some herbs have been shown to repel pests affecting companion plants. An example is the ability of basil to deter thrips from invading tomato plants.
• Deer usually leave herbs alone, especially those with strong tastes and scents.
• Herbs grow well in containers and are a good choice when garden space is limited.

Tips on Growing Herbs

Some herbs are started from seed while others are easy to grow from cuttings. Information on the growing needs of common edible herbs can be found at http://marinmg.ucanr.edu/EDIBLES/EDIBLES_GROW_SHEETS/

Check the upcoming events listings on this website to register for a hands-on public workshop on growing and using popular edible herbs. There will be a workshop held on the College of Marin Indian Valley Campus on November 2, 2024, from 10:00 am to 12:00 pm.