tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-68959334303106813752024-03-12T18:41:04.115-07:00Garden Grants Pass Older ArchivesRycke Brownhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09740985764499785564noreply@blogger.comBlogger14125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6895933430310681375.post-61011501757981512772015-04-02T08:33:00.001-07:002015-04-02T08:33:22.894-07:00Weed Cloth and Red Death Kill Soil<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Cambria","serif"; font-size: 12.5pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">Two things kill the soil on most of our public and commercial
landscapes and many residences in Grants Pass: weed cloth and fine bark mulch, also
called Red Death, often used in combination.
Under the influence of water and gravity, dead soil compacts nearly as
hard as rock. Roots won’t grow in it;
they grow on top of it, just under the cloth, under the bark or gravel covering
the cloth, or in the Red Death. Storm water,
instead of percolating into such soil, runs off into streets, down storm
drains, and pollutes our river.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Cambria","serif"; font-size: 12.5pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">Weed cloth (and its cheap relative, black plastic) kills
soil by stopping the movement of worms and other soil life. Worms under the cloth, unable to get to food
on the surface, eventually run out of food under the cloth and starve. Ants, the other great soil aerators, are not
able to live under weed cloth either; nor are any other insects. With no life to lighten the soil beneath the
cloth, it compacts and loses oxygen, which roots need to breathe. Any further root growth is on top of or just
under the cloth, on top of the dead soil.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Cambria","serif"; font-size: 12.5pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">One might think it’s a good idea to put landscape cloth on
paths under gravel or mulch, to make the soil compact and keep it that
way. But roots will grow on top of or just
under the cloth; this gardener recently dug and cut out a cottonwood root that
had grown 8 inches high across a path of cloth covered with gravel over a mere
7 years.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Cambria","serif"; font-size: 12.5pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">Another problem with weed cloth and plastic is that mulch
will not stick to it, and it soon shows along the edges and anywhere the soil
is humped, by the growth of roots for instance, and where it shows, it’s ugly.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Cambria","serif"; font-size: 12.5pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">Fine bark, or Red Death, kills soil by leaching bark’s toxic
natural preservatives into the soil. Trees
make chemicals in their bark to protect themselves from insects, fungi, and
bacteria. Grind it up, break the plant
cells, and those preservatives are released to leach into soil, where they
quickly kill insects, fungi, and bacteria.
Dead as a doornail, the soil compacts under the influence of water, and
roots begin to grow on top of the soil, in the bark.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Cambria","serif"; font-size: 12.5pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">Neither weed cloth nor Red Death kills plants directly, but
some plants cannot stand compacted soil, sicken, and die. That’s why businesses have pansies and
petunias planted in blocks of potting soil, surrounded by Red Death. Most common landscape shrubs in our town can
take compacted soil, or they don’t last long and aren’t used by
landscapers. But they grow slowly and
are not healthy in dead soil.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Cambria","serif"; font-size: 12.5pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">Weeds grow regardless; gravel or fine bark are dandy
seedbeds for them, even on top of weed cloth.
They don’t have to be big to be ugly weeds; ugly little weeds spread
just as readily and look just as ugly.
Seeds are tracked in and fly in.
Roots under the cloth find their way out along the edges. So it doesn’t even work to stop weeds.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Cambria","serif"; font-size: 12.5pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">Larger screened bark, shredded wood-bark mixes like Walk-on
fir, and chipped wood or trimmings do not kill soil, as the preservatives are
kept in the bark. It is the bark dust
and small particles that leach enough preservatives to kill soil. Since larger barks keep their preservatives,
they last a lot longer. The larger the
bark, the longer it lasts, but walking is easiest on Walk-on and ¾” nugget, and
Walk-on fir sticks well to slopes.</span><span style="font-family: "Cambria","serif"; font-size: 13.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
Rycke Brownhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09740985764499785564noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6895933430310681375.post-1680697248265145372015-02-14T06:32:00.001-08:002015-02-14T06:32:47.101-08:00Completing a Blueberry Bed at the Parks Office<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">January 29th, 2014<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">I started working out front of the Josephine County Parks office back in mid-summer, when I was appointed to the Parks Advisory Board. I went down to the Parks office to ask for permission to put up signs at the dog park for my weeding classes and filled out a volunteer application to make the classes official, and found out that I get a Jo Co Parks pass for being on the Board, and thus volunteering more than 8 hours per year. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">The first thing I saw was the railroad-tie bed in front of the office, with an ivy column at the far end, and roses, irises, blackberries and grass in the rest. Having seen it, I had to do something with it, and requested permission to weed and mulch it. I also asked if I could </span><span style="font-size: 13.5pt;"><a href="http://gardengpold.blogspot.com/2014/01/beat-black-spot-crown-your-roses.html" target="_blank">crown their roses</a></span> <span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">when they were done blooming.</span><span style="font-size: 13.5pt;"> </span><span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">I scheduled a day to weed it and came back a week or so later to mulch the bed with heavy walk-on fir bark and crowned just one rose plant, as the other one was just coming into bloom.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">All this time, I had been looking at the space on the other side of the rail of the entry walkway, an unusable space full of moss and false dandelion because no one walked there, an area about 12’ X 20’ between the front fence, walkway railing, and the fuel tanks next to the big gate. I talked to our Parks Director about building a blueberry bed there in the fall, demonstrating using leaves as base mulch and pine needles as top mulch, as well as <a href="http://gardengpold.blogspot.com/2014/01/how-to-grow-blueberries-in-s-oregon.html" target="_blank">how to grow </a></span><span style="font-size: 13.5pt;"><a href="http://gardengpold.blogspot.com/2014/01/how-to-grow-blueberries-in-s-oregon.html" target="_blank">blueberries in Southern Oregon</a>. She thought it was a great idea. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">I started spraying the weeds with glyphosate in preparation for fall mulching, and repeated it once or twice through the summer. <a href="http://gardengpold.blogspot.com/2014/01/roundup-doesnt-help-maintain-gravel.html" target="_blank">Glyphosate (aka Roundup)</a> is a heavy fertilizer of broadleaf plants, which are going to dominate this bed. I also </span><span style="font-size: 18px;">continuing to fight the grass and blackberries in the rose bed.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">Fall is a very busy time for me, moving and spreading leaves, and I didn’t get to move leaves from Schroeder Park to the Parks office until November. I brought silver maple, cottonwood, and sweet gum leaves, about 3 yards in two pickup loads, and piled them generally in an oval shape in the center of the area, but also spread them on what would be the path around it, and in the 8” space between the fuel tanks container and the front fence, to keep the weeds down. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">I wasn’t sure yet what kind of path mulch I wanted, and the director wasn’t there that day to consult. 4 x 8 sand (1/4”-1/8” river sand) would look sharp, but would need regular working with hula hoe and rake to keep it that way. The other option was to cover the leaves that I spread around the bed with walk-on-fir bark, which would need only yearly renewal. For the time being, I decided to go with the leaves and bark for lower maintenance.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">Our early December snow storm hit before I could return with compost and Rubel blueberry plants that I had been growing from #1 to #2 containers all summer. At the Parks board meeting in early January, our Director told me that the leaves behind and around the tanks had to move. That decided me on the 4 X 8 sand with regular maintenance option for the path around the bed and behind the tanks. One inch is all one needs; more than that and it feels like walking on a beach.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">The second Wednesday in January, I brought a yard of compost and three blueberry plants and commenced to raking and forking soggy leaves from the path area and behind the tanks; piling and stomping them in the center oval nice and flat; and making cone-shaped holes in the leaves to set the blueberry plants in. I followed that with compost around the plants up to the level of the pot soil and all over the leaves, thick enough to hide them pretty well. I then went to get a load of 6-12 cobble rock (aka Dog Creek Boulders) from Copeland, of a generally flat-bottomed shape and middle size, to hold in the compost. I wound up 7 feet short of surrounding the oval.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">I heard at the Parks Board meeting that people were loving the look of the bed. People really do love the look of compost and rock borders. But I wasn’t finished yet.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">Two weeks later, I brought a ½ yard load of 4 x 8 sand and enough rocks to finish rocking in the oval. I brought just enough sand to cover the area around the bed, making a clean walking path. But there was not enough to cover the area between the fence and the tanks. That will wait for another couple weeks, when I also crown both the roses. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiK17EPugklCU4qqHg2fPt1dvnEobXI2FpfhaD2ZHBx7_zw_c2j1oX-hy_K3MbbyXMl2Ce9EGlrLrxsQu9vxgPl3mbK3P438IMrrAK2wT64ikdCMt_yChi_qv8TUdRjOQUD6Wd8Mzw48GEd/s1600/blueberry+bed+and+rose+bed.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiK17EPugklCU4qqHg2fPt1dvnEobXI2FpfhaD2ZHBx7_zw_c2j1oX-hy_K3MbbyXMl2Ce9EGlrLrxsQu9vxgPl3mbK3P438IMrrAK2wT64ikdCMt_yChi_qv8TUdRjOQUD6Wd8Mzw48GEd/s1600/blueberry+bed+and+rose+bed.jpg" height="480" width="640" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">It is difficult to see naked blueberry plants, but there are three of them.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">I then went to rake up a small load of pine needles along Pinecrest/Plum Tree Lane, where the gravel shoulders catch and hold pine needles, while letting oak leaves blow into the ditch. I spread about half of what I raked onto the blueberry bed, shaking the needles onto the bed as naturally as possible, and picking out the occasional cigarette butt. I tried to put on enough to keep it covered the whole year, as top mulches tend to thin out over the summer. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">I took the remainder home and spread them over about half my front yard beds, to cover the maple leaves I had spread earlier to protect my pots and plants before December’s snow and deep freeze. Pine needles look a lot nicer than big leaf maple leaves, and keep them from blowing around.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 13.5pt;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">I’m not sure yet what ground covers I want to plant to keep the blueberries roots covered and cool. I’m thinking about small sedum and winter cyclamen. They are slow growing, but easy maintenance and very pretty and low. Pine needle mulch will have to be kept fairly thick until they grow in solid.</span></span></div>
Rycke Brownhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09740985764499785564noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6895933430310681375.post-30073688544827307062014-10-13T08:07:00.000-07:002015-04-03T07:03:48.749-07:00How to Save Coffee and Tea Grounds and other kitchen waste for plant food<div style="line-height: 18.3999996185303px; margin: 0in; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 20.7000007629395px;">Coffee and tea grounds are great plant food, quickly eaten by worms in the garden. They are available year-round. They are particularly useful for keeping blueberry plants happy by keeping their worms continually fed. Scattered on living soil with a lot of worms, they disappear quickly; they do not keep the ground covered. Other mulch or ground cover is needed to keep blueberry roots happily covered as well.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 20.7000007629395px;">Saving and using them can be a problem; they are very wet, and readily mold. Therefore, the key to using them is to dry them and not enclose them.</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhaBgrldEtwN2bSdzZWaF5GxsPHHl3yrqTC8lJLpqszCRnPFM8RFCVlxUJWPAjCmPDuC-pzcKGcHNYdwOPJLJTn93D1AWHzAOjkZvLrJohPOoRNstfsVXtyFkalWtnfvhuNy-H9z8qbFvw/s1600/making+coffee+and+tea.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhaBgrldEtwN2bSdzZWaF5GxsPHHl3yrqTC8lJLpqszCRnPFM8RFCVlxUJWPAjCmPDuC-pzcKGcHNYdwOPJLJTn93D1AWHzAOjkZvLrJohPOoRNstfsVXtyFkalWtnfvhuNy-H9z8qbFvw/s320/making+coffee+and+tea.jpg" height="240" width="320" /></a></div>
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Making my beverages; I use a hand-drip; the bowl on top has a hole in it.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhd02bWWIjrx6dE9Allk589ZJE1QO7IXlTu_3Jrs1zbl6vgcCW6Nkz7dEFpUFIHpMAI2-x0CJTPGVNwipLWd7zSGZkz24pbyCRc6hUhNHp6u7IquV8LNMum0625HnkurLStDPSG-xaVc_c/s1600/1st+drying+step.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhd02bWWIjrx6dE9Allk589ZJE1QO7IXlTu_3Jrs1zbl6vgcCW6Nkz7dEFpUFIHpMAI2-x0CJTPGVNwipLWd7zSGZkz24pbyCRc6hUhNHp6u7IquV8LNMum0625HnkurLStDPSG-xaVc_c/s1600/1st+drying+step.jpg" /></a></div>
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Coffee and tea grounds in the first drying stage, in their filter baskets. Note the tea basket is on top of previous batches with a paper towel between to wick the moisture away.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjwj_PoGnqvB50NvU6dSYg4-CTOjzNpEXTd7SRJICR5R4sSYW7a49JUl3YX_FFh44lQM4896l_y1JFKihZzB4gYX-vlyswX6C4sx8fo_NpVNMyEPXbCjq2h023wD4EM75RUlHK7I5VE2g8/s1600/1st+step.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjwj_PoGnqvB50NvU6dSYg4-CTOjzNpEXTd7SRJICR5R4sSYW7a49JUl3YX_FFh44lQM4896l_y1JFKihZzB4gYX-vlyswX6C4sx8fo_NpVNMyEPXbCjq2h023wD4EM75RUlHK7I5VE2g8/s320/1st+step.jpg" height="240" width="320" /></a></div>
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While making the next pot, the previous filter and grounds go in the bowl on top of the paper towel to continue drying. Normally, I would do this on top of the paper towel and grounds, as in the previous photo. A separate bowl is a good in-between step for multiple batches in the same day.</div>
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Grounds ready to spread in the garden.</div>
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<span style="font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 20.7000007629395px;">First, after making your beverage, place the coffee filter in a cereal bowl on a paper towel to begin drying until you need to make the next batch. It will dry faster with the grounds facing up. When you make the next batch, dump the first grounds in a second bowl, and put a paper towel on top. Put the next batch in the first drying bowl to dry. Do not put either bowl in an enclosed space like a cabinet.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 20.7000007629395px;">As you make more batches of coffee or tea, keep moving the older grounds from the first drying bowl on top of the paper towel into the storage bowl under the paper towel. When it is full, scatter it in the garden. You should not try to keep them for more than three or four days or they will tend to mold and lump together.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 20.7000007629395px;">Another readily plant food that you can use in pots and on your blueberries is egg and milk. Both have sticky proteins that grab hold of the soil to feed it and your plants. If you make custard or French toast, for instance, you can rinse the bowl and measuring cups into another bowl and water your potted plants or blueberries with them.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 20.7000007629395px;">The best mulch, bar none, for preventing weeds germination is leaves. Every other mulch will eventually become a seed bed for weeds; many start right out growing whatever lands on the surface. Leaves dry out quickly in the top few layers where the seeds land, so they can’t germinate. Large seeds can grow through them, but smaller seeds are either smothered beneath them or dry out on top. The next year’s supply comes along before the previous year’s leaves become a seed bed. A couple inches guards against most weeds; a foot deep will grow huge veges. Just plant large seeds or small starts into the damp leaves beneath the top layers.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 20.7000007629395px;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEivGQgj-hSWChkcn6NMDcXnVPMLSPlQNABXNRAAjLD09k4s2ZkiO0RuqFKZQrR7-j8JTNmTIqJxzPKd1YzO3lK98v3adiy9Jm050p1iETk9WIghEfxWSH8pN373hht-O22_AL02yIawhTY/s1600/other+waste+for+the+garden.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEivGQgj-hSWChkcn6NMDcXnVPMLSPlQNABXNRAAjLD09k4s2ZkiO0RuqFKZQrR7-j8JTNmTIqJxzPKd1YzO3lK98v3adiy9Jm050p1iETk9WIghEfxWSH8pN373hht-O22_AL02yIawhTY/s320/other+waste+for+the+garden.jpg" height="240" width="320" /></a></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 18.3999996185303px; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: center; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 20.7000007629395px;"><span style="font-size: small;">A bowl of kitchen waste. Note that the bowl is small; it doesn't pay to let them pile up and rot.</span></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 18.3999996185303px; margin: 0in; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 20.7000007629395px;">If you use leaf mulch in the garden to keep weeds down, you can scatter kitchen waste in the leaves. Bananas are particularly useful for their potassium, important for root growth. They turn brown and disappear into the general mulch quickly. Fruit seeds will grow, a bonus. Be sure to remove labels; they stay bright. Don’t scatter onion or citrus peels in the garden; they take a long time to blend in and rot, and they stink when they do. They belong in the trash.</span></span></div>
Rycke Brownhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09740985764499785564noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6895933430310681375.post-18905601224010026142014-03-19T09:33:00.001-07:002015-04-03T07:00:27.888-07:00Kill Heron’s Bill and Cheat Grass<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj7M1Qf31ermquVTp3Jt_Of5ecGn9q0xeWhGWHmB9kBEjtCiY3rlKb4SpSsoVep9gW_sqcNWXNBLbPj9RtPX_ZXHbmGQcRNzqHXTVsgG-DWx9C2d0rEmD-SQ3J4UiX4rF0HSTh6cCOPKyAK/s1600/mass+heron's+bill.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj7M1Qf31ermquVTp3Jt_Of5ecGn9q0xeWhGWHmB9kBEjtCiY3rlKb4SpSsoVep9gW_sqcNWXNBLbPj9RtPX_ZXHbmGQcRNzqHXTVsgG-DWx9C2d0rEmD-SQ3J4UiX4rF0HSTh6cCOPKyAK/s1600/mass+heron's+bill.jpg" height="480" width="640" /></a></div>
<div style="background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; line-height: 17.35pt; margin: 0in 0in 11.25pt; text-align: center;">
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">Mass Heron's Bill</span></div>
</div>
<div style="background: white; line-height: 17.35pt; margin-bottom: 11.25pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">May 13, 2013<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; line-height: 17.35pt; margin: 0in 0in 11.25pt;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">Heron's Bill
has been blooming for months, and is ripening its seed, poking its heron bills
at the sky. It has small pink-purple flowers, filigree leaves, and seed pods up
to 3 inches long.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><br /></span>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhVrc-LiFozkB_uu53wd8iIyz41eZ5EuINjbwWQKOQ2DXt6eyPTQE7-2ixyKEG9U7VY2bLeT4HjfhnnuE-E60_ooKNfap5UXaH6nh5wcOPjGN6p0GOU3KqbW9wHRI_GqibIludI1Vlo6Zg2/s1600/1+seed.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhVrc-LiFozkB_uu53wd8iIyz41eZ5EuINjbwWQKOQ2DXt6eyPTQE7-2ixyKEG9U7VY2bLeT4HjfhnnuE-E60_ooKNfap5UXaH6nh5wcOPjGN6p0GOU3KqbW9wHRI_GqibIludI1Vlo6Zg2/s1600/1+seed.jpg" height="320" width="306" /></a></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
</div>
<div style="background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; line-height: 17.35pt; margin: 0in 0in 11.25pt;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">It can grow
up to 18 inches high and twice as wide, creating a fire hazard as it dries out.
But its seeds are its worst problem. As they dry out, they pop off the plant,
twisting up into a corkscrew shape except for the sticker seed at one end, and
a straight tail at the other. When it gets wet, it unwinds, and the tail holds
it still while the seed screws itself into the ground-or into your pet's skin,
ear, or eye.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjNp0BQTC3M2JOaa8NEK5AuSH76s_lL-QrzE3QmKp1LHp_dhkQ6nfjPdb-BEdhxX4FBjF64kBhvAMr2gRdh_qWLwNEMGgd0Cx0tq5jfx4jrxC0Eh0v7RBuu42fJskZXYF1pY9PiPAOkrDky/s1600/heron's+bill.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjNp0BQTC3M2JOaa8NEK5AuSH76s_lL-QrzE3QmKp1LHp_dhkQ6nfjPdb-BEdhxX4FBjF64kBhvAMr2gRdh_qWLwNEMGgd0Cx0tq5jfx4jrxC0Eh0v7RBuu42fJskZXYF1pY9PiPAOkrDky/s1600/heron's+bill.jpg" height="480" width="640" /></a></div>
<div style="background-color: white; line-height: 17.35pt; margin: 0in 0in 11.25pt; text-align: center;">
Even in poor ground, heron's bill makes big seed pods.</div>
<div style="background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; line-height: 17.35pt; margin: 0in 0in 11.25pt;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">It has a tap
root, but it can easily be pulled from damp soil by grabbing the entire plant
at the crown. In dry or wet soil, it can be cut off its tap root below the crown with
pruning scissors when seeded and the root will die, being an annual gone to
seed.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEivx3qSacJ-Cm7d4MjHXcZa9H9XDSeuXVWCZRHpieJLjqNmZiAhEHwehr9YUG7VJvoW1EdLsTEeeBnTCe5kIguM5uw4arhZod2PRApfCVYSLIeT5eyyRBTqzT9mr29FyYuwtJDgEYOAfvRW/s1600/Cheat+in+dry+bitter+cress.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEivx3qSacJ-Cm7d4MjHXcZa9H9XDSeuXVWCZRHpieJLjqNmZiAhEHwehr9YUG7VJvoW1EdLsTEeeBnTCe5kIguM5uw4arhZod2PRApfCVYSLIeT5eyyRBTqzT9mr29FyYuwtJDgEYOAfvRW/s1600/Cheat+in+dry+bitter+cress.jpg" height="480" width="640" /></a></div>
<div style="background-color: white; line-height: 17.35pt; margin: 0in 0in 11.25pt; text-align: center;">
Single cheat in dry bitter cress</div>
<div style="background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; line-height: 17.35pt; margin: 0in 0in 11.25pt;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">Cheat grass
has just begun to bloom, showing itself as it stretches out 2-3 feet high. It
also has sticker seeds when ripe, merely sharp enough to penetrate clothing,
particularly socks, and your pet's fur, of course. It is a major source of fire
danger in this area, along with other dry, annual weeds.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjt5iKtLVHJ8Jn0L35IVQt7SjjU2P3PrdHgYUoDZUDmK5uxKJbUXOXyp8I7Uz2dXj1j8Ggat5R44qmbLZSsy0XBMHnpDvU6ewukptMqYa5maWzrxKRc4PyXovJy3gse1Ucgi8rd1QfBm3FF/s1600/2013-5-4++cheat,+Brownell.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjt5iKtLVHJ8Jn0L35IVQt7SjjU2P3PrdHgYUoDZUDmK5uxKJbUXOXyp8I7Uz2dXj1j8Ggat5R44qmbLZSsy0XBMHnpDvU6ewukptMqYa5maWzrxKRc4PyXovJy3gse1Ucgi8rd1QfBm3FF/s1600/2013-5-4++cheat,+Brownell.jpg" height="480" width="640" /></a></div>
<div style="background-color: white; line-height: 17.35pt; margin: 0in 0in 11.25pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">Mass cheat looks like a lot, but is remarkably easy to pull.</span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; line-height: 17.35pt; margin: 0in 0in 11.25pt;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">Fortunately,
this annual grass, like most other annual weeds, is easy to pull in bloom, even
in dry soil; the roots shrink greatly as the seed stalk grows.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; line-height: 17.35pt; margin: 0in 0in 11.25pt;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">But few
grasses are easy to pull if one cuts them as or before they bloom, but before
they ripen seed. Annuals grow more root and seed stalks every time they are
cut, until they ripen seed below cutting height. The same goes for heron's bill
and most other annual broadleaf weeds. Weed control is seed control. Cutting is
not seed control unless one scalps the ground, cutting at or below the crown.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; line-height: 17.35pt; margin: 0in 0in 11.25pt;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">This
especially applies to foxtails; they grab the ground hard when cut, and are
very hard to pull afterwards. Many plants, like foxtails, are harder to pull
when they are dry. They pull easiest while they are flowering and still green.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; font-family: georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 23.100000381469727px; margin-bottom: 15px; padding: 0px;">
</div>
<div style="background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; line-height: 17.35pt; margin: 0in 0in 11.25pt;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">Dock is also
flowering and can be pulled. It is a broadleaf weed that puts up a stalk of
green incomplete flowers 3-5 feet tall; its leaves are lanceolate with wavy
edges. Before it flowers, it is impossible to pull it without sinking a shovel
beside it; the leaves just break off the crown, and they keep growing back
every time you tear them off the large root. But once its flowers are showing,
the stalk is strongly attached to the root, and it pulls out.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
Rycke Brownhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09740985764499785564noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6895933430310681375.post-33640928644071726632014-03-19T09:11:00.001-07:002015-04-03T07:01:44.989-07:00Bitter Cress and Groundsel Are Blooming<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj6R5ZlZFYw1mea91kNi2p8kQTfFbABJAV6yOiP9lON_x9TOU8HbfUb-sAOzo8Ozf54Y8U-b9yuBYEdMi1wsWWvlDmWhrgnBV1aUoY-PsqoCaz_ClG5QdEM99gY4K2GJ4IywUv0toT0WA7f/s1600/groundsel+and+bitter+cress.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj6R5ZlZFYw1mea91kNi2p8kQTfFbABJAV6yOiP9lON_x9TOU8HbfUb-sAOzo8Ozf54Y8U-b9yuBYEdMi1wsWWvlDmWhrgnBV1aUoY-PsqoCaz_ClG5QdEM99gY4K2GJ4IywUv0toT0WA7f/s1600/groundsel+and+bitter+cress.jpg" height="480" width="640" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; margin-bottom: 11.25pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Groundsel and Bitter cress, blooming.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; margin-bottom: 11.25pt;">
<span style="font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Bitter Cress is blooming
right now (late March) all over the county. You won't get a better chance to
eliminate it from your yard than the next few weeks -- though a few plants can
sprout and bloom all summer, right up to late fall. While it is blooming, they
are relatively easy to see by their tiny white four-petal flowers, though the
smallest plants are not obvious; some are as tiny as a half-inch wide and 1.5
inches tall, fully seeded out. The largest are 6 inches wide across the basal
leaves with numerous stalks up to 18 inches tall seeded out. They are easiest
to pull when they have started to develop seed pods.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgpcSPkrKfIJgTHHQ0c9Pe8vN1A7tp4Q5htu9O686v8S3My0mq-IrGsP_O35VHiyswYCC-RLrbDI07V4JgYAahM31jdML2TzH0T_LJFq5HbbLJlkp_mbgA6qOUZPCiqfHhXLETzQziHRtLO/s1600/seeded+bitter+cress.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgpcSPkrKfIJgTHHQ0c9Pe8vN1A7tp4Q5htu9O686v8S3My0mq-IrGsP_O35VHiyswYCC-RLrbDI07V4JgYAahM31jdML2TzH0T_LJFq5HbbLJlkp_mbgA6qOUZPCiqfHhXLETzQziHRtLO/s1600/seeded+bitter+cress.jpg" height="480" width="640" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; margin-bottom: 11.25pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Seeded bitter cress, bright and ugly, and actually harder to pull than when green.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; margin-bottom: 11.25pt;">
<span style="font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">They become a nearly
invisible green mist when all the flowers are finished, but as they turn yellow
and dry, they become an eyesore, as well as popping their seeds up to three
feet in all directions at the slightest disturbance of the pods. By this time,
seed control is impossible; all one can do is pull the dry stalks and resolve
to do better next year.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjMCECQ4zmJB4zY5ctYxqC0tTuvbtdyRwjaFeTjiDbwLW-Tu7QwcOzNOiwXwYsctp3OadB_Yvw2CmCh_8PUcAk3j9G5x_HuWxiaskTmhOsw0eptzbo3qSaHgnTBiIOetWoGHRYu8_dRAcRq/s1600/young+bitter+cress+closeup.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjMCECQ4zmJB4zY5ctYxqC0tTuvbtdyRwjaFeTjiDbwLW-Tu7QwcOzNOiwXwYsctp3OadB_Yvw2CmCh_8PUcAk3j9G5x_HuWxiaskTmhOsw0eptzbo3qSaHgnTBiIOetWoGHRYu8_dRAcRq/s1600/young+bitter+cress+closeup.jpg" height="253" width="320" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; margin-bottom: 11.25pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="line-height: 20.700000762939453px;">Young bitter cress.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; margin-bottom: 11.25pt;">
<span style="font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Other mustard family
plants, most of them with yellow flowers, are also starting to bloom. The
flowers are pretty, but you want to pull them before they seed out if you don't
want more of them next year. Mustards don't spread by wind, and if you don't
use unfiltered irrigation water, you can eliminate them over a few years by
pulling them in flower.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhECrSb2p3J5zs4WhvWiFFPZxfcAivB_wLU0O31Q-wO9w-RgaEoSHekJ2-LPThxw-IZkbldoVT5lkZvWnB9HDUuxlMvq5U5sHAcSvfpcIq5vRRQHBiuO-hPjzkZCM5Vhz0-ET_3oRlvn0Kc/s1600/young+groundsel.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhECrSb2p3J5zs4WhvWiFFPZxfcAivB_wLU0O31Q-wO9w-RgaEoSHekJ2-LPThxw-IZkbldoVT5lkZvWnB9HDUuxlMvq5U5sHAcSvfpcIq5vRRQHBiuO-hPjzkZCM5Vhz0-ET_3oRlvn0Kc/s1600/young+groundsel.jpg" height="530" width="640" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; margin-bottom: 11.25pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="line-height: 18.399999618530273px;">Young groundsel</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; margin-bottom: 11.25pt;">
<span style="font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Another weed that is
blooming right now, and quickly blowing out and spreading to your neighbors'
yards or from them is groundsel. It is a composite flower of the same family as
dandelion and wild lettuce and not pretty, much like a miniature wild lettuce,
up to a foot tall, with squared-off leaves; the flowers are yellow, do not open
fully, and bend over while they are in bloom, straightening as they form seed.
It is the first blowing weed of the season, blooming in empty lots all over
town. It's easy to pull when in bloom.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiI9OilCN_rJ4irbbkq_R-zVgOvDXsxWHh9KnD9D75fEYzMFi0unI1a9LwPxk2fpOwfEar59wx3Qqg1a3QUT9bd4TpD4IxBDaIvNY_17VDZ52OHHsWrDzjI0v_Dvn7ICrSrY5kEJz30bE91/s1600/seeding+groundsel.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiI9OilCN_rJ4irbbkq_R-zVgOvDXsxWHh9KnD9D75fEYzMFi0unI1a9LwPxk2fpOwfEar59wx3Qqg1a3QUT9bd4TpD4IxBDaIvNY_17VDZ52OHHsWrDzjI0v_Dvn7ICrSrY5kEJz30bE91/s1600/seeding+groundsel.jpg" height="489" width="640" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; margin-bottom: 11.25pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Groundsel seeding in a ditch</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; margin-bottom: 11.25pt;">
<span style="font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Dandelions are also
starting to bloom. A famous gardener once said that if dandelions were rare and
hard to grow, they would be a prized flower. Their dead-heads don't even look
bad, and they can be tasty greens before they bloom-but once buds start to form
in the base, they turn quite bitter.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; margin-bottom: 11.25pt;">
<span style="font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Dandelions are equally easy
to pull before and after blooming: not easy at all unless your soil is loose
from generous mulching with compost or leaves. With big tap roots like these in
tight soil, it's best to stick a shovel in next to the root, loosen, and then
pull. Wild lettuce (not blooming yet) is easier to pull when in bloom, as it
puts up a handy flower stalk and has shallower roots, but it is not a strong
stalk, and you have to grab the base.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Gardening
is growing plants where you want them to grow, not where they want to grow.
Many a pretty flower shows itself to be a weed unless kept under tight control,
and that goes double for flowers that cast their seeds to the wind.</span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
Rycke Brownhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09740985764499785564noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6895933430310681375.post-86941298927745821612014-01-30T09:44:00.000-08:002015-04-03T07:04:38.713-07:00Roundup® doesn’t help maintain gravel<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 115%;">It
took a few years to figure it out, but I’m ready to pronounce Roundup® and all other
glyphosate herbicides useless, even counter-productive, in maintaining clean
gravel. Pulling weeds in flower is my
most efficient way to control weeds in gravel.
<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 115%;">Gravel
has to be maintained clean, or it disappears under plants and the soil that
forms from organic matter and dust.
Plants add to the organic matter if they are allowed to die in place;
they obviously detract from the gravel’s appearance. Organic matter and dust can be regularly
blown off, but plants are not so easy to move.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 115%;">The
key to controlling plants in gravel is reducing fertility, surface soil, and
seeds. Glyphosate adds to the first, as
it’s a powerful crude organic fertilizer that preferentially grows broadleaf
flowering plants because it’s high in nitrogen and phosphate. But it also does not reduce seed load from
the worst of the annual weeds, and makes them harder to weed out. On the less-packed margins, it feeds worms
that bring soil to the surface.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 115%;">Annuals
live to make seed, their only means of reproduction. They grow a lot of root to support leaf
growth when they are young; as they flower, they turn most of the mass of that
root into stalks, flowers, and seeds.
Some can live off the water and proteins in their roots and leaves as
the soil dries out, if you pull them and leave them lying on the ground, or if
you kill their root tips with glyphosate.
<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 115%;">Some
annuals, like bitter cress, miners’ lettuce, annual rye, and crawling knotweed,
don’t die when hit with glyphosate; they immediately stop growing leaves and go
to flower and seed, no matter how young they are, and they ripen those
seeds. When their root tips die because
the glyphosate amino acid doesn’t fit in their new proteins, they use the good
proteins in their remaining root and leaves to grow flowers and ripen seeds,
which are therefore quite viable.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 115%;">Plants
crowd each other out with the help of bugs that eat smaller, stressed
plants. If hit with glyphosate, they
don’t grow large and don’t crowd each other out, so one ends up with many very
small weeds, hard to see and tedious to pull.
While the plants may not grow large, their aggregate mass still adds to
the organic load and the seed load nearly as much as unsprayed plants. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 115%;">Unsprayed
plants are a lot easier to pull, as they are larger and there are far fewer of
them. It is far easier to pull them in
maturity than earlier, as the stalks are strong and easy to grab and the root
is shrunken. Nor does one have to pull
the reduced root. Most annuals in full
bloom will not return if the top breaks off the root.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 115%;">If
your gravel is showing a lot of soil or is buried under plants and organic
matter, it is best to cover it with fresh gravel, either crushed clean or small
river gravel. Avoid any “minus” crushed gravel,
as it is full of fine mineral soil. It’s
a lot easier to blow leaves off of clean gravel than soil, as leaves really
stick to soil. Clean gravel grows a lot
fewer weeds, as most need soil and a touch of sun to germinate. It’s much easier to see the weeds and pull
them as they flower. And it looks really
nice. It’s far easier and much more
gratifying to keep clean gravel clean than to clean up buried gravel.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
Rycke Brownhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09740985764499785564noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6895933430310681375.post-3006283578816473112014-01-30T09:37:00.001-08:002015-04-03T07:05:10.401-07:00How to grow big tomatoes, peppers, melons, and other heat-loving plants<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgGfmOLGiarz3sbdvl-WoW1abR4-YDqudtaVtVbgly4FKwNVvwPcfV6RteFFhIVP-iDkO6jizyD3XK25DhX4wpJo2b7Z_fPGXdsEqb5pXXGv2ZzN3Vx6he5d4eYXSGtwrhIl_KUZ7xmdAoc/s1600/growing+tomatoes.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgGfmOLGiarz3sbdvl-WoW1abR4-YDqudtaVtVbgly4FKwNVvwPcfV6RteFFhIVP-iDkO6jizyD3XK25DhX4wpJo2b7Z_fPGXdsEqb5pXXGv2ZzN3Vx6he5d4eYXSGtwrhIl_KUZ7xmdAoc/s1600/growing+tomatoes.jpg" height="476" width="640" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 20.700000762939453px;">There are three elements to growing productive tomato plants: a young plant; good soil; and warm soil. The first is key; if you buy a plant that is blooming in its pot, it won’t grow for you, even if it is in good, warm soil. Annuals like tomatoes stop growing and start blooming and making seed when their roots wrap around inside the pot and touch each other. A root-bound plant that is blooming probably won’t grow much even if you bury the stem in soil; you’ll end up with a few fruit on a stunted plant. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 20.700000762939453px;">It’s nearly impossible to find a gallon plant in the stores that is not already blooming, and if you find one, a 4 inch plant will usually at least catch up with it. Even 6-pack plants will beat gallon plants, which are grown for people who don’t know any better than to buy a big plant. If you want to grow a big tomato plant, buy a small one.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 20.700000762939453px;">Good nutrition is important; if your flowering weeds are not bountifully large, you should put down about 6 inches of compost on top of the soil and plant into it. Do not mix it into the soil; worms will do it for you. It will suppress weeds, and nutrients from the compost leach downward to the roots as they become soluble and available to the plant. 6 inches of good compost at least 3 feet wide will grow a big tomato plant even on bare rock or concrete. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 20.700000762939453px;">Warming the soil can be important if the summer is cool, and always helps the plant grow early in the season. Covering the soil with mid-sized, relative flat river rock, of a size to easily move with one hand, will prevent evaporation from the compost, keeping it moist and preventing cooling; prevent weeds everywhere the soil is covered; and soak up and conduct heat during the day and release heat at night when it helps root growth. I used to use 3 larger rocks around each plant, but now I’ve moved to a circle of the smaller rock at least 2 feet wide, after great results with watermelon last year. Covering a whole bed with such rock will prevent cats from digging as well.</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhu8Q9LX8U5WLwxjBJKWcKy5FL1pgJwg2Mu8Px0trWrYeJrJgrZulplWIhpym88a3t-qrYNYzLSSnSFrKrqDRIaNGw8ivQl8nIPbTFsQanIZ1BGXpy2GBd0xLXSZ6cmuVzyKrJsrw6ezqnI/s1600/growing+peppers.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhu8Q9LX8U5WLwxjBJKWcKy5FL1pgJwg2Mu8Px0trWrYeJrJgrZulplWIhpym88a3t-qrYNYzLSSnSFrKrqDRIaNGw8ivQl8nIPbTFsQanIZ1BGXpy2GBd0xLXSZ6cmuVzyKrJsrw6ezqnI/s1600/growing+peppers.jpg" height="478" width="640" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 20.700000762939453px;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 20.700000762939453px;">The rules for tomatoes also apply to peppers, particularly not using plants that are already blooming in the pots. These are harder to find with peppers; this week, I was having a hard time finding 4 inch plants that weren’t at least budding, but the large 6-packs were good.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 20.700000762939453px;">When it comes to the squash and melon family, as well as corn and beans, seed is the only way to go. They really don’t like their roots messed with or any degree of root-binding. If the soil is warm, they pop right up; if it is not, a started plant will just suffer in the cold. If the bugs eat your plants, or the seed doesn’t sprout, the soil was too cold; replant.</span></div>
Rycke Brownhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09740985764499785564noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6895933430310681375.post-52006137221305665272014-01-30T09:20:00.000-08:002014-01-30T09:20:31.078-08:00Oak, pine, and walnut are good mulch<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Cambria","serif"; font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">There are several gardening superstitions out there,
regarding what leaves are not good for mulch.
Nearly all leaves are good for mulch, a notable exception being salt
cedar, which are covered with salt.
Nothing grows under salt cedar.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Cambria","serif"; font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">Pine needles and oak leaves are thought to be acid, but they
aren’t; their toughness can cause acidity, however. Ph is determined by the movement of calcium
in the soil and its balance with aluminum; calcium, which is alkaline, moves
with water, while aluminum, which is acid, stays put. In winter, calcium leaches down, and the
surface becomes more acid. In summer,
calcium moves upward with evaporation, and the surface becomes more
alkaline. If the area is excessively
watered or shaded, the surface stays acid; pine and oak trees and leaves shade
the soil all summer. When piled thick as
mulch, however, the neutral Ph of the leaves overwhelms the Ph difference
caused by shading the soil with them, and good soil happens as they break down.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Cambria","serif"; font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">Pine needles are quite useful. They can be used as base mulch; roots will
readily grow through them to soil. They
work well as top mulch, allowing water and light to reach seedlings while
shading the compost. They make good path
cover as well.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Cambria","serif"; font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">Oak and tough evergreen leaves are particularly good for
keeping weeds suppressed year-round in a shrub border or perennial bed. Tough evergreen leaves like laurel or
magnolia are also good to spread under tomatoes from mid to late summer, to
keep the fruit off the soil; many evergreens drop their two-year-old leaves at
that time of year. Madrone is one of
these, but their leaves are not as thick as most evergreens and readily break
down.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Cambria","serif"; font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">Walnut is another leaf with a bad reputation; they are said
to have a natural herbicide in them, juglone, that stops the growth of
plants. This is true, but the plants
that they stop are seeds; started plants grow just fine in walnut leaves, as do
oak, walnut, and other nut seeds. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Cambria","serif"; font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">This makes them exceedingly useful; I use walnut leaves as a
pre-emergent herbicide to stop weeds from sprouting in my perennial beds, and
to keep blackberries and other bird-dropped seeds from sprouting beneath my
huge sweet-gum tree. They break down
before winter is over; other mulch is needed to keep soil covered and moist.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-indent: .5in;">
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Cambria","serif"; font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">If you have a bed full of walnut leaf soil that you want to
start seeds in, spread an inch or so of compost in the bed, and sprinkle your
seeds into it. For larger seeds, put
down and inch of compost, spread the seeds, and spread more on top. This keeps the seeds from touching the walnut
soil long enough for them to sprout and grow. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
Rycke Brownhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09740985764499785564noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6895933430310681375.post-53291221329583633672014-01-30T09:16:00.002-08:002014-01-30T09:18:33.510-08:00Gather Leaves While Ye May<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Cambria","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">Leaves are beginning to turn, and soon they will fall. Let them lie where they can do what they are
supposed to do: feed the soil. Clean
them up off the places where they cause problems: roofs; gutters; pavements;
paths; and lawns. Spread them where they
can do good, on soil. As a last resort,
send them to the composter. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Cambria","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;"> Leaves will stop most
small seeds from sprouting by keeping the sun off them; a couple inches of
leaves will smother most small weeds as well.
Leaves will also suppress small garden plants. You won’t get many pansy volunteers among oak
leaves, and too many leaves can even smother the plants. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Cambria","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">To build good garden soil cheaply, pile your leaves a foot
deep, well-watered and stomped down, and cover them with an inch or so of
compost; this is the equivalent of 6” of good compost; both will grow big
vegetables. Softer leaves are better for
this; sycamore in particular will not readily break down when piled, even under
compost, unless they are first chopped up in a shredder or leaf vacuum. Tough leaves like sycamore and magnolia are
brittle and bust up into little bits going through the machine.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Cambria","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">In my work, I use leaves as base mulch only if they are on
site and readily available; otherwise I use straight compost, from 2” for
flowers and shrubs to 6” thick for vegetables, and cover it with light top
mulch.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Cambria","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">Compost, whether piled thick or spread thin on leaves, will
dry quickly in the sun and must be covered with a light mulch of bark, wood
chunks, or evergreen needles, just enough to hide it from the sun. Dark, half-composted wood mulch has been my
favorite for a while, but only one composter makes it and the supply is not
dependable. Chipped tree trimmings can
be acquired through tree-trimming outfits, who keep a list of nearby places to
dump them. Shredded and nugget bark is
readily available from landscape supply places; avoid fine or un-sifted bark,
as excessive bark dust kills soil organisms with its natural preservatives. Pine needles are free and renew their supply
every year; their downside is a tendency to poke fingers and slide off beds,
and they are difficult to spread neatly among plants.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Cambria","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">Paths may need mulch of their own; wood chips, shredded and
nugget bark, or pine needles work well.
Wood chips are most effective at suppressing weeds; nugget bark lasts
longest; shredded bark clings best to slopes.
Pine needles are free and renew themselves.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Cambria","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">Leaves are messy, and have a tendency to spread and
blow. Edging your beds with rocks can
contain the leaves and give a finished, permanent look to your beds. Choose rocks at least the size of a football;
anything smaller is too delicate to stay in place or hold anything. They should have flat bottoms and be laid
end-to-end, sloping back, for stability.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
Rycke Brownhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09740985764499785564noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6895933430310681375.post-79596719033918174882014-01-30T09:14:00.000-08:002014-01-30T09:14:17.220-08:00Seeds v. Starts 2: Fall planting<div class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: white; line-height: 18pt; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">Fall is the best time to plant many things in Southern Oregon, including trees, shrubs, perennials, wildflowers and cool-season vegetables. Our relatively mild winters allow roots to grow throughout the winter, and the plants take off in the spring. Many plants drop seed over the summer which comes up in cool, wet fall weather; some seed needs to be stratified over the winter by soaking in cold water, freezing and thawing, so fall scattering results in spring sprouting. It's good to save some fall-sprouting seed for spring, however, as a hard winter can kill seedlings that sprout in the fall.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">Here again, seeds are generally superior to starts for vegetables, growing faster and quickly surpassing most started plants. Most sprout readily, except for store-bought seed of cabbage family plants: cabbage; broccoli; cauliflower; and mustard; and spinach family plants: beets; spinach; and chard. Store-bought seed of these plants does not germinate well when broadcast, but seed that forms in your garden or nearby sprouts readily. Started plants rarely grow to full size, unless they are bought exceedingly fresh, before the plants get root-bound. But they are a way to get good seed to start in the following season or year.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: white; line-height: 18pt; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">Last fall, I special-ordered some Flat Dutch cabbage for making poultices, as most cabbage in stores is too tightly folded to easily make poultices; half the head goes to salad or waste. Some plants grew very well. One of those flowered this spring, but several made large, loose heads this summer instead, and will likely bloom this fall or next spring. It will be interesting to see what the seed from the single early bloomer will do next year: head up or go to seed immediately?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">Broccoli starts bought this spring, being focused on flowering, went to seed quickly, too small to make good florets; the seed should make good plants this fall, and florets next spring. Cauliflower didn't make it through the winter. Spring-bought, root-bound Early Jersey Wakefield, a loose cone-head cabbage, is making small heads on small plants, and should bolt and bloom sometime in fall or spring.</span><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"> <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">And I discovered something new this spring: cabbage can grow from the core of a head. When I had to make a lot of poultices early this spring, I was left with a lot of tight partial heads that got too old to make sauerkraut, so I threw them in the garden, where they got buried in the leaves I was building beds with. Some grew roots and flowered! When I later got a rare cone head that I could use to the core, I put the fist-sized core with its last few leaves in the mulch, base down, and it grew. I pulled the tight-head plants so they wouldn't breed with the new one. But it didn't bloom, being planted later; it still hasn't bloomed, but it made a little head on one side of the stalk. </span></div>
Rycke Brownhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09740985764499785564noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6895933430310681375.post-19428416295242735132014-01-30T09:09:00.000-08:002014-01-30T09:11:07.516-08:00Pruning Shrubs Can Be Easy <div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-indent: 0.5in;">
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<span style="font-family: '', serif, '', serif; font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 115%;">The easiest and best way to deal with an ugly or too-large shrub
is to cut it to the ground. <span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>It
will do one of two things: die,
or grow back young and pretty. <span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>Either
is an improvement.</span><span style="font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 115%;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: '', serif, '', serif; font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 115%;">Don’t expect it to die; this is very rare, unless it is an
evergreen conifer, like an arborvitae or juniper. <span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>If you cut all the green off an
evergreen conifer, it will die; it has no storage in its roots.<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span> This can be a good thing.</span><span style="font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 115%;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: '', serif, '', serif; font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 115%;">If you cut a deciduous shrub to the ground in mid-summer, it may
come back very small, as its roots are emptiest at that time. <span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>If you cut it to the ground in
mid-winter to early spring, it will come roaring back, as its roots are full of
food at that time. <span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>If you
cut it to the ground right after blooming, no matter what time of year, it will
come back smaller than otherwise, as a plant expends a lot of energy in
blooming.</span><span style="font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 115%;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: '', serif, '', serif; font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 115%;">If you cut a broadleaf evergreen, like a rhododendron, to the
ground in midsummer, it will grow back; its roots are full of energy because it
hasn’t been living off root storage all spring, putting on growth, like the
deciduous shrubs, but it has more root storage than a conifer. <span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>If you cut one to the ground in spring
or right after bloom, it may disappear entirely; blooming takes a lot of
energy, and its root storage runs low in winter and early spring.</span><span style="font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 115%;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: '', serif, '', serif; font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 115%;">Sometimes a large shrub is simply growing into the way and you
don’t want to cut it down. <span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>Chopping
off the branch at the point where it begins to get in the way will ruin its
form and have it growing right back into your way. <span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>Cut the branch off at its base--or as
far back into the shrub as you can reach, if it’s a thick evergreen
conifer. </span><span style="font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 115%;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: '', serif, '', serif; font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 115%;">Some people insist in hedging, which is high-maintenance in the
fast-growing shrubs that are chosen for most hedges; they must be trimmed
several times through the growing season. <span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>Slower-growing shrubs, like camellia
and azalea, can be trimmed once a year and preserve their shape.</span><span style="font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 115%;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: '', serif, '', serif; font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 115%; text-indent: 0.5in;">Hedge trimmers give a plant a haircut, but it’s a bad haircut,
with cut ends and leaves sticking out all over. </span><span class="apple-converted-space" style="font-family: '', serif, '', serif; font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 115%; text-indent: 0.5in;"> </span><span style="font-family: '', serif, '', serif; font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 115%; text-indent: 0.5in;">The shrub also immediately grows out
from the buds below those cut ends and need trimming again. </span><span class="apple-converted-space" style="font-family: '', serif, '', serif; font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 115%; text-indent: 0.5in;"> </span><span style="font-family: '', serif, '', serif; font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 115%; text-indent: 0.5in;">It is better to prune the twigs that
stick out too far one at a time, longest first, cutting them back to their
bases or even below, down to the next twig, eliminating the clusters of branch
bases that build up in the top of most hedged shrubs and catch falling leaves
and other debris. </span><span class="apple-converted-space" style="font-family: '', serif, '', serif; font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 115%; text-indent: 0.5in;"> </span><span style="font-family: '', serif, '', serif; font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 115%; text-indent: 0.5in;">It won’t
be as tight as a hedge given a haircut, but it will look prettier, be
healthier, and go longer between trimmings.</span><br />
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<b style="line-height: normal; text-indent: 0px;"><i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 21.466665267944336px;"><br /></span></i></b></div>
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<b style="line-height: normal; text-indent: 0px;"><i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 21.466665267944336px;">Gardening is easy, if you do it naturally.</span></i></b></div>
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Rycke Brownhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09740985764499785564noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6895933430310681375.post-61633290005664024772014-01-30T08:58:00.001-08:002014-01-30T08:59:13.751-08:00Seeds v. Starts 3—Trees and Shrubs<div class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: white; line-height: 18pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 13.5pt;">Our Landscape Management teacher at RCC told us that a small tree will outgrow a large tree within just a few years, and for the most part I’ve found that to be true: a gallon tree will generally outgrow a 5 gallon or larger tree within 5 years. An exception is small, slow-growing trees like weeping Japanese Maple. Faster-growing trees become quickly root-bound, and the root balls on larger trees are smaller in proportion to the size of the tree than on smaller trees.</span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 13.5pt;">Another exception is exceedingly small trees, such as the ten trees given “free” by the Arbor Day Society in return for a $10 “donation” or conifers sold by state forestry department for 50 cents or a dollar apiece, which are lucky to survive their first year. Even under good garden conditions, such trees often have less than 50% survival. They may well outgrow larger trees if they do survive, but they won’t outgrow a seed that starts within a year or two.</span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 13.5pt;">A seed-started tree that grows where it sprouts will always outlive and outgrow a transplant in the same spot, because its roots are never broken or distorted by transplanting. The very small conifers sold by the state are grown in narrow tubes, in which they grow roots longer than the tube that fold up and down within it; they have to be cut to be planted in a shovel-deep hole. They are rarely spread out over a cone of soil in the planting hole, and even if they are, they can never match the form of roots that grow without disturbance.</span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 13.5pt;">The best time to plant either trees or shrubs in Southern Oregon is fall, as the roots can grow all winter and spring before the summer heat. This goes double for most tree seeds, as most of them require stratification, soaking in cold water or freezing and thawing, to crack their seed coats and get them to sprout. The seeds that need to spring planted, like Amur maple or box elder, are obvious, as they hang on the tree until spring.</span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 13.5pt;">Some seeds require heating from a fire or being eaten by birds to sprout; these are not so easy to plant by seed. Madrones are always a gift from the birds, as they need their stomach acid to sprout, don’t survive transplanting at any size, and can’t live in a pot. Fortunately, the birds spread them widely, particularly under trees and along fences.</span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 13.5pt;">Shrubs follow much the same rules as trees, but people are only likely to want one to grow fast in the beginning, to fill the space allotted to it. After that, the problem is often keeping it within that space. Here again, a 1-gallon shrub will fill the space faster than a 5-gallon shrub, and be healthier thereafter.</span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 13.5pt;">And here again, it pays to buy a larger plant if it is slow-growing, or if its root system is shallow and fine, rather than deep and thick. Blueberries are a case in point. They don’t root more than about 6” deep, even in a deep pot. Their fine, spongy roots do not get root-bound, and they grow slowly. So buy the 3-gallon blueberry; it will give you blueberries that much sooner. They are an almost perfect landscape shrub; they grow slowly, need no pruning, and have great fall color, and provide fruit that you can leave for the birds if you are lazy.</span><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 14pt;"></span></div>
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Rycke Brownhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09740985764499785564noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6895933430310681375.post-32577638649052740812014-01-30T08:39:00.003-08:002014-01-30T08:39:49.289-08:00Beat Black Spot; Crown Your Roses<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 20.700000762939453px;"> Right now is prime time to crown your roses. To get rid of black spot for the summer and make them grow their best, they must be cut to the crown, the solid knotty base below the stems and above the roots, and allowed to grow fresh canes. </span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiSJyURt-C6jS_63gypm1K1xbRegPByUSH3hRMErBfiy_uQZ7YGjPrHYDqrL5PNEtkFkYlRNLiV7E1wmQ98R3Y3bHac0Sm8FePgh-vhXQMut9UL0HrOTmbcNt_cbQudfFc-QqqTecCpkXE/s1600/Betty+Boop+Sept+2012.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiSJyURt-C6jS_63gypm1K1xbRegPByUSH3hRMErBfiy_uQZ7YGjPrHYDqrL5PNEtkFkYlRNLiV7E1wmQ98R3Y3bHac0Sm8FePgh-vhXQMut9UL0HrOTmbcNt_cbQudfFc-QqqTecCpkXE/s400/Betty+Boop+Sept+2012.jpg" height="300" width="400" /> </a></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">A <span style="font-size: x-small;">Betty Boop rose, <span style="font-size: x-small;">crowned</span> mi<span style="font-size: x-small;">d-summer and blooming heavily in September</span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 20.700000762939453px;">Cutting them off a foot high, the conventional way to treat roses in mid winter or early spring, leaves black spots on the stems and keeps the infection going. The same goes for taking the old leaves off as the new leaves start to grow in; the new growth will be spotty before the new roses bloom. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 20.700000762939453px;">This applies mainly to tea roses that are not climbers. Climbers bloom on second-year wood, and you will lose a year of bloom, but you can cut individual canes after they bloom. <i>Rosa rugosa</i> doesn’t get black spot or molds, but should be crowned and allowed to regrow when it gets too large.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 20.700000762939453px;">Josephine County, with its mild, wet winters and cool, rainy springs, is a hot-bed for black spot and other fungal diseases. In Grants Pass, with many roses neglected entirely, photinias spreading the same diseases, and a city-owned pear orchard that was neglected for years and is in the process of being cleared, they are epidemic.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 20.700000762939453px;">One can crown a rose anytime, and I have been doing so as soon as I saw black spot or mold for the last few years. I have even crowned them in late fall and midwinter, but that slows re-growth in spring, as the plants get no warmth from the air and must wait another month or two for the soil to warm. So this year, I crowned them after they broke dormancy and started to grow in early spring, which comes earlier here than most places at this latitude, in mid-February. Some are already re-growing, only two weeks later.</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj8hxbqBxBJJN6aKASRgmP03waZaZSKq70BkwUSStXDFKvsgx__qdEf-9POP6jZ8mAybYmqkKaZPQToosukNGbu_gzU9gMptJnHdnIhrSh7Pcb8gTM2nPc071dUhcOhA0cA9De1Hcrqi-w/s1600/Joan+rose,+about+2+months+after+February+crowning.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj8hxbqBxBJJN6aKASRgmP03waZaZSKq70BkwUSStXDFKvsgx__qdEf-9POP6jZ8mAybYmqkKaZPQToosukNGbu_gzU9gMptJnHdnIhrSh7Pcb8gTM2nPc071dUhcOhA0cA9De1Hcrqi-w/s640/Joan+rose,+about+2+months+after+February+crowning.jpg" height="480" width="640" /><span style="font-size: x-small;"></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 20.700000762939453px;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Joan's rose, about two months after a February crowning</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 20.700000762939453px;">Cutting to the crown means cutting each cane to its base. Roses hate any kind of dead wood, which blocks new sprouts, and branches that grow from stubs do not grow as well as a cane from the crown.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 20.700000762939453px;">Crowning roses sometimes means going underground, when they are planted too deep or sink into rotting organic matter, like a stump. The latter happened to one of my dad’s roses, which I had been cutting only to the ground for several years; it kept growing back smaller and more spindly from such treatment, as its stems were growing from underground stubs, not the crown. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 20.700000762939453px;">This year, I was determined to cut all roses to the crown, and dug to find it. The top of the crown was a good 8 inches below ground, and it went a foot deeper, with thick “arms” reaching for the surface as the years went by, and roots reaching up around it. Not wanting to dig that far every year, I dug it out and planted it with the crown above ground. It should live; roses are tough. (It didn't. That's all right; roses are cheap.)</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 20.700000762939453px;">You can’t hurt a rose by cutting it, just by not cutting it sufficiently. Go all the way to the crown for best re-growth and to beat the black spot. Do it as the new leaves grow in early spring, and you can have clean, pretty roses all summer. If you don’t, you can do it again as soon as black spot or mildew shows up. The tea rose is a royal pain; it needs to be crowned.</span></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 21.466665267944336px;">Rycke Brown, Natural Gardener 541-955-9040 rycke@gardener.com</span></b></div>
Rycke Brownhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09740985764499785564noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6895933430310681375.post-25657620926783093382014-01-30T08:33:00.000-08:002015-02-13T09:29:53.231-08:00How to grow Blueberries in S. Oregon<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 115%;">Blueberries can be tricky to grow in Southern Oregon. They like to grow in full sun, but their
roots demand cool, loose, rich, moist soil, which doesn’t naturally occur here. So you have to make it.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span style="font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 115%;">They
don’t like being planted in soil; they like to be planted in 6” of compost on
top of the soil.</span></b><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 115%;"> Young blueberries have a spongy root system
only about 4-6” deep. As they mature,
they put down a deep root, but for several years the whole root mass is easily
transplanted. As the compost is worked
into the soil by worms, the soil is worked upward into the root mass. If you plant other “gallon” (#1) potted
plants into plain compost, they will eventually be left high and dry as the
compost evaporates; blueberries spread their roots through the compost and sink
into the soil.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 115%;">That compost will dry out fast if it is left uncovered, so
cover it well with loose, coarse mulch which will shade and protect it. Pine needles, walk-on fir, or ¾” nugget bark work
well; avoid fine bark, which kills soil. Blueberries need live, loose soil to thrive.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><b><span style="font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 115%;">But
those roots will be coolest and happiest if they are covered with a green
ground cover with roots that grow through the blueberry roots to the soil
beneath or grow on top of them.</span></b><span style="font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 115%;"> Lysimachia, also known as Creeping Jenny or
moneywort, and small sedums grow on top; violets and strawberries grow through. Sedum is slow growing but easier to control,
and is easily peeled off the soil and transplanted in large mats if you can
find them.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 115%;">Some ground covers grow in the same root zone and compete
rather than cooperate with your blueberries.
Blue star creeper killed a huckleberry in one of my yards. Sweet Woodruff has similar spongy roots and
directly competes for space.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><b><span style="font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 115%;">Water
is critical to blueberry growth and survival.</span></b><span style="font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 115%;"> They can take a little dry, but too much too
often will make them unhappy and eventually kill them, one reason why they like
their roots covered with mulch and ground cover. They can take a lot of water in winter; the
biggest, oldest bushes I’ve ever seen were growing next to a pond that flooded
them most of the winter. If practical,
site them in the wettest spot in your yard that gets sufficient sun but is not
flooded in summer.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 115%;">Southern
Oregon is very hot in the summer.</span></b><span style="font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"> Northern blueberries might prefer a little
afternoon shade. Southern rabbiteye
blueberries, available in catalogs and some at Bi-Mart, can take our heat
better. Northern turn brilliant red in
the fall and lose their leaves; southern turn various colors in pink, yellow,
and red and keep many leaves through the winter. Both types cross-pollinate; all bloom around
the same time, regardless of when they ripen.
Southern tend to bloom and ripen later, over a longer season.</span><span style="font-family: Cambria, serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
Rycke Brownhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09740985764499785564noreply@blogger.com0