Garden Tips March 2013

This column is for kids.  If you are an adult go ahead and check it for safety and credibility and then give it to a kid.  Have you ever thought about growing your own food, flowers and beautiful gardens.  You can and this column will show you how.  It doesn’t matter how old you are, how smart you are or what you look like.  You can grow just about anything you want.  All you need is time which you have because you are young, and the willingness to learn.  Here are tips to get you started and keep you going for a lifetime of gardening.

1. Check your food for seeds.  Try checking tomatoes, apples, oranges, pears, avocados, and just about anything you eat that was once on a plant.
2. The more seeds you gather, the more places you can plant them. Try sprouting them between damp paper towels. Once they sprout, plant them in the ground. Ask your mom where.
3. If none of your seeds grow then ask your parents to buy you a six pack of baby plants (I like lettuce to start) and plant them in your garden.
4. Water your new plants whenever they seem dry to you.  Stick your finger in the soil and feel if it is dry.
5. Look at your plants every day.  Write about them in a notebook.  Draw pictures of them. Write when you planted them, how you planted them and how much you water them.
6. If you have plants in small containers and the top gets as big as the container, move it to a bigger container so it can grow bigger.  If it is already in a big container, put it in the ground somewhere.  Ask your parents where you can plant it.
7. If you are growing lettuce, you can pick off a leaf once in a while and eat it.  If you are growing a lot of lettuce you can make a salad.  If you are growing a whole lot of lettuce you can make salads for your friends.
8. If you are growing flowers, pick some and make a bouquet for your mom.
9. Read books and check websites about the plants you are growing.
10. If you grow more than you can use, share the extra with others.

Good gardening

Jack McKinnon is a Personal Garden Coach and worked for Sunset Magazine in their gardens for 12 years.  He can be reached at 650-455-0687 or visit his website www.jackthegardencoach.com.

Garden Tips February 2013

There’s a rat in my garden at night and it is devastating some of my favorite plants.  It completely defoliated three of my dwarf potted citrus.  I do practice what I preach somewhat.  I identified the rat (a “Dusky Footed Wood Rat” Neotoma fuscipes) and made a trap to catch it without hurting it.  I used peanut butter as bait.  It worked perfectly.  And after catching the little girl (about 6 inches long) I gave her some peanuts for the trip down the road for relocation.  I took her about two miles and let her go in the woods.

The one that is defoliating my rare camellia now may actually be that same rat but I don’t know.

In doing this whole process I learned a lot about this species of rat.  It actually lines its nests with bay leaves which have a chemical toxic to flea larvae.  Pretty smart huh?  Now I have to get the trap out again and repeat the whole process all over again.  This time I will take it ten miles and put a red dot of fingernail polish on its tail (to identify it if it comes back again).

The example I am trying to show here is about learning gardening through trial, error and continuing education.  I have certainly made my share of errors.  This month I will list ten ways we all can learn from our time in the garden.  Here are the tips.

1. Try to identify what is causing a particular plant to decline.  Don’t give up until you have a pretty good idea.  Look for symptoms like too much water or too little water, check for spots that could indicate fungus or yellowing that could mean a need for fertilizer.
2. Make sure of the identification of the plant (Latin name) and look it up on line.  See if the symptoms you have identified are listed in the characteristics of that plant, and if there are recommendations for correcting it.
3. Note what you find in your journal (for women) or log (for men). Then go on to the next problem you can identify.  In this way you will learn your plants, their vulnerabilities and the solutions for those vulnerabilities.  Don’t just dig out a plant and throw it on the compost without learning something from it.
4. Catch a pest that is affecting the health of your garden.  Before doing anything with it get a positive identification.  If it is Billy Jones from next door give him back to his parents. If it is an insect or caterpillar, put it in a jar with some of what it was eating.
5. Get a big magnifying glass or some of those watch maker loop type lenses you put on your head and look at it long and closely.  See if you can tell its gender.  This may be difficult, some insects cannot tell themselves. And then look it up, learning it’s life cycle.
6. Learn what natural predators you have in your neighborhood and what they eat. This can be much more complex than it seems at first glance.  Some insect predators eat only one target pest.  Others are omnivores.
7. Learn what vertebrates and birds in your neighborhood eat.  Identify them first and look up their diet.  Except for mice, rats, raccoons and jays they usually stick to a limited diet. Of course a dog will eat just about anything.
8. Identify the pollinators.  Again this is deceptively complex.  There are wasps that are almost microscopic that do a huge amount of pollination as well as pest control. See how many species you can document.
9. How many species of plants do you have in your garden?  How many are a compliment to others?  Look up pairings of plants as attractants for pollination, distractions for pests and compliments in color, texture and fragrance for esthetics.
10. If this doesn’t give you enough to do this spring, you can start identifying your weeds again using the Latin name.  This can keep you busy through the summer.

Good gardening

Jack McKinnon is a Personal Garden Coach and worked for Sunset Magazine in their gardens for 12 years.  He can be reached at 650-455-0687 or visit his website www.jackthegardencoach.com.

Garden Tips November 2012

What does it mean when a bouquet of Tuberose, Gardenia and Coleonema (breath of heaven) don’t do it for you anymore?  When a perfectly manicured lawn leading to a potager of wonderful French vegetables ripening on the vine makes me wonder if the chef can do it justice, or will it go to waste?  What about when a fountain, perfectly placed in a Roman villa brings only a wandering glance and a wish for something new.  Is this a gardeners mid life crisis? I wonder if there is hope out there for me.  And then, in the local nursery I see that the bulbs have arrived.  Ah ha!  I realize there is still hope. The growers didn’t go out of business and the nurseries didn’t give up on their clients.  Yes there will be a spring again and the potential for the spectacular show and surprise that will come from it is right here in these small embryonic  time capsules.  All we have to do is plant them and they will do the rest.  But which ones to buy?  And how deep do we plant them and some of them I have never heard of before. I will try to give you at least a starter course this month in the glories of buying and planting these botanic wonders so your spring and maybe even many springs to come will have a show to be remembered for decades. Here are the tips.

1. When buying bulbs, get them early and get them big.  The larger the specimen the better chance the flowers that will come out of it will be spectacular.  It is best to hand pick your bulbs from bins rather than buying packages.  Unless you can see them through a window in the bag or the bag is made of net material you don’t really know the quality of the bulb.
2. There are five types of bulbs.  Some are actually not bulbs at all.  First there are true bulbs including allium (onion), tulip, daffodil and lily.  Second are Corms which include gladiolus, colchicum and crocus.  Third are the rhizomes such as zantedeschia (calla) and iris.  Fourth are the Tubers like tuberous begonia and cyclamen and potato.  Fifth are the tuberous roots the best known being the dahlias.
3. Check for spots, rot, soft places or broken parts and reject these in your search.  If one variety is showing sickly looking product look for something else.  You may find the type of bulb you are looking for in another nursery that is supplied by a different distributer and is in better shape.  Usually every distributer has some better varieties than others.  Sometimes other gardeners have picked through the bins and you missed out.  Don’t worry, try another nursery or two or five until you find what you want.
4. Bulbs like being clumped together, it is their nature to grow in groups and come up as a cluster so buy several of each kind.  I even think it is better to have three varieties and a quantity of each rather than having ten varieties and only a few of each.  This way one can design a bed or pot or window box to really give a stunning show.
5. Often there are instruction sheets for each different type of bulb available on the bin that you choose your bulbs from.  If not, ask the staff .  If you buy packaged bulbs read the package before you buy it.  There will be timing, depth, light and care instructions on the package.  If not then think twice about those ones.  The bulb industry has learned over the years that growing bulbs is becoming a lost art and really works at educating its clients for successful results.
6. If you cannot find any instructions at all in the nursery then take out your smart phone and do a search on the type of bulb you are looking at.  You may not need to put in the exact name (King Alfred Daffodil) but the type of bulb (Daffodil) will get you help.  Look for planting depths and care instructions first and then more detailed information.
7. Bulbs planted now will be buried and out of sight until spring.  This means planting them requires planting something over them to cover the ground. This will  give a flower or foliar show and will look great when the bulbs come up to do their spring thing.  Some of the plantings we used at Sunset over bulbs were primroses, cyclamen, violets, pansies and lobelia.
8. Plant pots with bulbs (tulips, daffodils and narcissus) planted at the proper dept.  Cover them with saw dust until they have broken the surface, then brush or blow off the sawdust.  This can be done out of the main show area because it will be months before they come up.  When the flowers start to show bring the pots out and place them on the patio or front porch for a stunning spring show.
9. For naturalizing (growing year after year without much care) especially in this area, daffodils and narcissus are the most predictable. They are also the only bulb I know that gophers don’t eat. Planting wildflowers over them makes for a spectacular show.  Plant the bulbs first and sow wildflower seeds after the first real rains come.
10. For smaller bulbs like crocus (early bloomers), anemone, freesia and ranunculus (later bloomers) I like to have them in the fore ground.  This way they are noticed as the delicate and subtle gems they are.  Freesia are especially nice smelling so have them where you can savor their fragrance. And know that there is hope in the garden, we just have to work at it a bit.

Good gardening

Jack McKinnon is a Personal Garden Coach and worked for Sunset Magazine in their gardens for 12 years.  He can be reached at 650-455-0687 or visit his website www.jackthegardencoach.com.

Garden Tips October 2012

Do you ever get to that place in life where you feel like “I can’t do this anymore”?  Just about everybody does at some time or another.  This is what brings about change, learning and growth.  Every student who has had to study something they were not a ‘natural’ at has had to face this difficulty and go through it to pass.  Life for adults is really no different.  We all reach our limits and somehow struggle through or around or away from these transitions.  This month’s tips will be about how gardening can help us to get a new perspective on our lives.  How we can get away, stretch, work through and  continue with life and all it gives us.  Know that there is always hope and we can always do something to make our lives better even if it is just a different way of interacting with it. Gardening has been used as a way of relating to life for centuries. Here are the tips.

1. Talk with somebody.  This is important especially if you are at your wits end.  If you are feeling suicidal call 911 and say this is an emergency (it is) and they will get you help. Talking to another gardener or just someone who has great looking geraniums can help get you into a different and better place.  Professionals like nursery staff, master gardeners or a personal garden coach can get you started on to the next achievable project .  It may be as simple as buying an orchid at Trader Joes or as complex as applying for a plot in a community garden. The key here is to talk about what is going on and getting help changing your life a little.
2. Lower the bar.  A high jumper that cannot get over the bar has to lower it a little and keep working at that height until it is easy before raising the bar.  If you have gardened before and not done so well you may need to lower the bar.  Grow some easy plants in order to get your spirits up before moving on to more difficult species. Try Geraniums, Bacopa, ornamental grasses and succulents.  If these are already doing well for you then grow some annuals from six packs.  Do a variety and mix them up.  Some may be more successful than others but that is where you learn where your bar is and you can work at that level for a while.
3. Do a little less in your life.  Life is not about how many breaths you take but how many moments take your breath away.  Make your moments count and you will feel better when you are nearing completion.  For a moment that will take your breath away watch the Youtube video “Jonathon and Charlotte” the one with 74 million hits.  Gardening is about slowing down (unless you are a professional and then it is about quality and detail) let it slow you down so you can appreciate life.
4. Know that this is an art and being an art there is always more to do and to learn.  A key to doing any art is practice and consistency.  Good teachers help enormously as does study, observation and an openness to change.  Practice gardening every day even if it is just a five minute walk to look at your plants.
5. Have a routine for your practice.  If it means getting up a little earlier then go to bed a little earlier.  Note that I am suggesting little changes here.  Clean up dead leaves and branches. This simple practice is quite valuable in the long run.  It improves your powers of observation (and by default your appreciation) and it shows you how your garden is doing and it keeps you on the lookout for problems before they become big problems.
6. Know the names of your plants.  I don’t mean “Bill or George or anything but Sue”.  I mean the real names.  Most of the plants we come across have two names and sometimes more.  The Latin name helps Horticulturists, Botanists and Gardeners positively identify a plant by Genus and Species.  The common name is what is given by loving admirers and sometimes sticks while other times another loving admirer may give the same plant another name. What I mean by the “real name” is the Latin name.  If you get your plant at a nursery there is a good chance it will come with a name tag that is correct.  Look it up when you get home to be sure.
7. Subscribe to a garden publication.  There are so many of so many different specializations  you may need to do some extensive research before filling out the card you find in the magazine you like at the book stand.  Pick one that is at your level of gardening or a little above.” Pacific Horticulture” is good but may be a bit nerdy for the beginner while” Fine Gardening” is a good start in general.  I also like “Horticulture”, “The Gardener” (a Royal Horticultural Society publication) and of course “Sunset”.
8. If you don’t have a hot tub, I highly recommend it.  I got mine free (there are a lot out there) and use it almost every night especially in the winter. “Water Course Way” 650-462-2000 has tubs by the hour for rent if you don’t want to pay the power bill for owning your own.  For aches, pains, tension and general malaise there is nothing like a soak in warm or hot water.  The Romans did it and look how long they lasted.
9. Be gentle with yourself.  Yes I know you high functioning guys out there who need to defend your manly acumen.  Give it a break and lighten up once in a while.  The quality of the work and relationships in your life will reflect how you balance the achievement orientation you got growing up in this culture with your attention to detail.  Gardening or just growing some ornamental plants in pots can make this balance happen.
10. Play classical music to your plants (and yourself) once in a while.  I try to play Bach “Prelude from the first Cello Suite” on my mandolin every morning.  I don’t always make it but when I do it seems to make a difference in my day.  I know the plants out on my deck can pick it up.  Half Moon Bay Nursery plays opera to its plants all day long and it is amazing to walk through there and see the flower show.  Just think, even if it doesn’t help your plants, you will be a little less stressed and thus a happier person and a better gardener.

Good gardening

Jack McKinnon is a Personal Garden Coach and worked for Sunset Magazine in their gardens for 12 year.  He can be reached at 650-455-0687 or visit his website www.jackthegardencoach.com.

Safety first and you will be helping your kids for years to come.  Keep the tools sharp and respect that sharpness is the best advice I can give.  Then to learn proper technique.  Never reach farther than is safe, always know what will happen to the branch that you cut (so it doesn’t land on you) and be careful where your non too hand is so you don’t cut it.  Do you have any additional tips?

My girl friend and I will be visiting the sculpture at the De Young museum in Golden Gate park soon.  In many ways pruning is sculpture too.  I like to think is that way including the fact that it is living and will soon be sprouting out and in some cases get pretty big.  Pollarding is pretty radical but causes quite a show in ornamentals like Mulberry and Sycamore.  I just learned about stooling of smoke bush last year.  Forty years pruning and who would a thunk.  It makes for nice foliage but no flowers.  Actually pretty nice.