What I’m Thankful For
Dirt is Beautiful. Adding a layer of mulch or compost to the garden this time of year makes the place look like it’s being cared for, smothers the weeds, and adds a little shot of nutrition to help plants green up now that it’s started to rain again. I think I’m going to get a second round of blooms on some of my Shasta daisies this fall, all because I cut them back and fed them a little fertilizer and mulch.
Dirt Makes More Plants. Now that the rainy season is here, propagation is ridiculously easy. Any number of flowering perennials, shrubs and vines can be propagated just by cutting off a leafy green branch and sticking it in the ground. Yes, you could get all fancy with rooting hormones and little pots of sterile growing medium, but why bother? Dig a hole, mix in lots of compost and stick a branch in the ground. Be sure to strip off the lower leaves, and make sure it’s watered until the next storm blows through. They won’t all survive, but most of them will. Start some extras just to be on the safe side. You can always dig a few up in the spring and give them to neighbors if you have too many.
Dirt Makes More Dirt. A load of compost also works great for extending the life of potting soil in your containers. Yank the plants out of their pots, mix the tired old potting soil with compost and replant.
Dirt Makes Next Year’s Vegetable Garden. It’s a good time to clear space for that vegetable garden and build a bed. Whether you’re constructing raised beds or just clearing a space on the ground, get started now so it has time to settle before spring.
The no-dig method I like is to layer cardboard or thick sections of newspaper on the ground to kill weeds, then start piling on grass clippings, dried leaves, rice straw, kitchen scraps, barnyard bedding — whatever you’ve got. Top it off with compost so that the pile is at least a foot tall, but try for two feet. It will shrink down over the winter and be ready to go when you are.
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Today
Lanphere Dunes Restoration
STAFF PICK / outdoors / 9:30 a.m.-12:30 p.m. Meet at Pacific Union School. Help remove non-native invasives at the Lanphere Dunes Unit of the Humboldt Bay National Wildlife Refuge. Tools and gloves provided, wear work clothes and bring water. Carpool to the protected site. 444-1397.
44th Annual Kinetic Grand Championship Race
STAFF PICK / events, art, outdoors, sports, for kids, free / 9 a.m.-6 p.m. A 3-day, 42-mile kinetic sculpture race over land, sand, mud and water! LeMans start at the Noon Whistle on the Arcata Plaza. Follow the race through Manila, Eureka and into Ferndale on Memorial Day for the Glorious Finish. kineticgrandchampionship.com. 889-3024.
Open Gardens
outdoors / 10 a.m.-2 p.m. Humboldt Botanical Gardens, College of the Redwoods, Eureka. Roam the 44-acre fully fenced property. $5. www.hbgf.org. 442-5139.
Organic Gardening Seminar
garden / 11 a.m.-1 p.m. Shafer's Ace Hardware and Garden Center, 2760 E St., Eureka. Free lecture by Duncan McNeill on how to create a healthy environment and healthy soils for your plant’s roots. E-mail shafers@sbcglobal.net. 442-5734.
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