Sow There! Green mysteries, travel plans and tips for crookneck squash, May 11, 2017

Posted on Thursday, May 11, 2017 by Heather Hacking

Male crookneck squash flower.
Male crookneck squash flower. Heather Hacking — Enterprise-Record

By Heather Hacking, Chico Enterprise-Record

POSTED: 05/11/17

Rubber chickens might be useful in helping to spread pollen on crookneck squash, if only by lending moral support.Rubber chickens might be useful in helping to spread pollen on crookneck squash, if only by lending moral support. Heather Hacking — Enterprise-Record

I wish skin cream had the same power to rejuvenate that water has to transform a lawn.

During the drought years I watered my lawn once a week, and sparingly. I don’t know if I was even hopeful that the grass would live. It’s certainly not a pristine area, but its good enough for a few lawn chairs and a place to park the raised garden bed.

Honestly, I let dandelions grow because I appreciate their cheery yellow flowers and will occasionally pick some leaves to toss into a salad. (See dandelion nutritional value here: http://tinyurl.com/l9m86gd).

I’m not proud that I have a lawn, even a tattered lawn. If I had done the right thing during the drought years, I would have called Sutherland’s and had two loads of smooth river rock dumped from my back door to street. However, then I would have nothing to complain about for this week’s column.

The fact is, the lawn survived on nearly nothing, and has even bounced back.

STRONG SURVIVE

Most lawn seed is a mix of different grasses. If you have a lawn like mine, you’ll notice that certain types of grasses survive in the shade under the tree. Other grasses clump in the full sun. Bermuda grass grows wherever it wants.

Last weekend I was watering the spinach and kale in the raised bed. Instead of letting the shut-off nozzle do its job, I decided to squirt a patch of tawny-colored lawn stubble as I walked. After giving the grape vine a drink, I turned back around and I swear the brown grass had started to turn a pale green.

Did gnomes sneak around behind my back with cans of green spray paint? I could have spent more time experimenting with the hose and slight changes in hue, but I’m hoping it rains this week. Plus, I don’t really want the lawn to grow because then I’ll need to mow it.

I’m sure there is some scientific principal at work. Does adding a little bit of water suddenly “wake up” the dormant chlorophyll in the grass, which starts the absorption of blue and red light, quickly transmitting only green light waves to our visible eye? I can imagine the sound of the chlorophyll gulping water — a sound similar to sucking down that last inch of slurpie on a hot day.

ONE PLAN/PLANT AT A TIME

This summer I’m planning to travel for several weeks. In fact, I’ll soon be wrapping up my job at the newspaper after 25 years. I’m grateful that the Bossman has said I can continue to write this column because I have many more things to say about gardening and life in general.

For this summer, the plan is to leave the country, unload some mental baggage and prepare myself for the year-long elementary school teaching credential program, which begins in the fall.

For now, it seems silly that I keep buying vegetable plants almost every time I visit the farmers market. Angela Handy sells plants Thursday nights on Third Street, and its rude not to stop by and say hi. One thing leads to another, and soon I’m walking away with a new crookneck or dill plant. Angela hands out free advice to anyone who plunks down two bucks for a seedling.

Her recent advice was “it’s two bucks. Won’t you enjoy it for a while even if it dies while you’re on vacation?”

I’ll have a friend watching the house and the Feline Unit. That means there will be someone to harvest too many zucchini when the veggies arrive all at once in July.

Who knows?

CROOKNECK TIPS

Crookneck squash, I have learned, can benefit from a little human intervention.

If you look closely, you’ll see two different types of flowers. The male flower has a single protrusion in the center — the stamen. If you scratch the stamen you’ll get a bit of pollen on your finger. Next, you find a flower that has a stigma. This is shaped differently and is a female flower. If you add the pollen to the stigma, you should soon get a squash.

In years past I have become frustrated when the male flowers and the female flowers are not open on the same day. You can even tear off the stamen, gently peel open the female flower from the day before, and spread the pollen on yesterday’s stigma.

So far so good. I have one, itty-bitty yellow crookneck. Maybe I can eat it before I leave the country.

For more about squash procreation: http://tinyurl.com/ml38h4k.

Send emails to hkmagee13@gmail.com

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Sow There!: Lawn mower lament 4-27-2017

Posted on Thursday, April 27, 2017 by Heather Hacking
Tiny flowers in full bloom on catchweed, also known as Velcro weed.
Tiny flowers in full bloom on catchweed, also known as Velcro weed. Heather Hacking-Enterprise-Record

POSTED: 04/27/17

What a mess. Heather Hacking-Enterprise-Record

The lawn mower is at the top of my list of resentments. Try as I might, all it gives me is silence.

I tugged and tugged on the machine until I was in tears and near swear words. When I took a rest, lamenting my lack of lawn mower skills, I realized I was wearing away at the thin rope that appears vital to the uncooperative contraption.

In the past, taking care of the lawn was my Handsome Woodsman’s job. During the drought years we watered once a week, and he only had to bother with the lawn a few times a year. He would cut the grass as short as a competitive golf course. Many months after the grass was overgrown, he’d torture the lawn once again.

I bought a cheap-o weedwhacker, but after about 10 feet of grass, bits of string litter the grass. I triple-checked the printed directions for how to reload the string, but after three tries, 18 feet of string and tears, I decided to focus on something more rewarding.

The gravel patio outside the front door of my house is covered with potted plants, most of which are in full or partial bloom.

If the grass lawn goes to seed it won’t be the worst thing in the world. However, I hope the house doesn’t look so abandoned that squatters try to move in. The past few weeks I’ve literally been using an electric hedge trimmer on the grass. The trimmer is not ergonomically designed for low-lying greenery, and the pain in my shoulders makes me resent the lawn mower all the more.

Now sunshine and rain caused a grass growth spurt, and the grass is as tall as the weeds that grow on the sloped hills near Horseshoe Lake.

I can imagine Dave laughing at me. Before he died he tried to teach me how to start the lawn mower. It wasn’t our happiest moment. I tugged and tugged as he repeated instructions, often using that “tone,” that could sometimes lead to a spat.

When he decided to show me the ropes and fired up the machine, I announced I would clean the shower if he would just take care of the “manly job.”

I’m not usually the type of gal who considers certain jobs to be “man’s work” or “women’s work.” I just wish my particular lawn mower was not specifically built to be operated by someone with beefy forearms.

My friend Samantha, who owns a farm and drives a rig that can haul multiple tons of hay, said no problem, she could fire up the lawn mower. I was really hopeful until she also called it quits and gave me the phone number of her gardener.

For all those folks who converted their lawn to tanbark or decorative drought gardens, you have a right to laugh at me. I also wish I was looking proudly over quaint lavender and sage plants surrounded by smooth river rock. Mostly I just wish the Handsome Woodsman was here to mow the lawn.

SPRING INTO ACTION

Life is pretty busy right now. I’m taking classes to become an elementary school teacher, and studying has cut into my weed-whacking habits. Now I know why they call the season “spring.”We enjoy the plants that become wildflowers in Bidwell Park. But the “wildflowers” in our backyards are merely seeds for more weeds.

This week I filled an entire black plastic garbage bag with grass cuttings and Velcro weed. My advice for Velcro weed is to use a hoe. The plant fights back and makes welts on your wrists if you try to yank it with angry fists.

CRUCIAL TIMING

If you live in Chico, you’ve spent some quality time with Velcro weed, also known as catchweed (http://tinyurl.com/kjp5e48). It doesn’t appear to have flowers, but if you look closely there are white petals so small I can only see them if I’m wearing my magnifying glasses. When we don’t see the flowers, we think we have another week to deal with the invader. By then, tiny, tiny seeds have blown into new hiding places in your soil.

Luckily, I’m able to compartmentalize. If I look the other way while walking past the lawn, I can pretend like it doesn’t exist. By the time summer arrives that yard will look about the same as it did during the drought years.

 

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Sow There! Tips to remove bugs from leafy greens 4-20-2017

Posted on Wednesday, April 19, 2017 by Heather Hacking

A lady beetle and aphids.A lady beetle and aphids. Jack Kelly Clark — UC Cooperative Extension

By Heather Hacking, Chico Enterprise-Record

POSTED: 04/20/17

Brown armorated stink bugs eggs, and nymphsBrown armorated stink bugs eggs, and nymphsDavid. R. Lance — UC Cooperative Extension

The bugs in my gorgeous, lush green patch of spinach, kale and broccoli have been working overtime, as if they have a deadline to procreate. A few weeks ago I bragged on Facebook about my leafy green abundance. Two friends immediately asked me to drop greens on their doorsteps on my way to work. I was glad to oblige. It made me feel like the Great Garden Provider.

I love tasty greens. Yet, there is a limit to how many times I can choke down iron-filled goodness. When I have more greens than I can chew, I cram them into a plastic zip-bag and store them in the freezer.

My friends aren’t alone in wanting to nibble from my garden.

This week I spotted a stink bug sunning itself on an eight-inch spinach leaf. It must have recently gorged itself, because it moved slowly enough for me to fold the leaf and smash it without incident. A few days earlier I found a stink bug in the house. It flew from the lace curtain toward the living room globe light, doing a solo impression of the Blue Angels fighter jets. I didn’t care if my living room smelled like sulfur. I stopped that bug in its tracks.

Stink bugs aren’t the only invaders taking up residence in the raise bed. As I snipped leaves Wednesday I removed slugs, which I prefer not to smash with my bare hands. I also spotted the “mystery cluster” of tiny, tiny white eggs, oddly beautiful in the spring sunshine. I wish I had taken a picture, but I instinctively pinched between the tips of my fingers.

Are these eggs of the dreaded brown marmorated stink bug? http://preview.tinyurl.com/lpvnlmg. Some sources describe the eggs as white to light green. My unwelcome eggs were as white as a game show host’s teeth.

The trusty UC Cooperative Extension Integrated Pest Management website described the stink bug eggs in clusters of 12-21, as was the case on my spinach. I wish I had taken a picture to send to the Master Gardeners, but I was too hasty in destroying the evidence.

Brown marmorated stink bugs are here to stay, according to all I have read. They’re fairly tough against any kind of insecticide control. The critters scurry when you start jostling the leaves. The IPM website suggested using a vacuum to suck the bugs from under the canopy of leaves. I don’t know about you, but that’s not going to happen in my yard, not unless I bought a dedicated stink bug shop vac.

In the meantime, I just want to get through the spring and harvest as much of this green stuff as I can without adding bug protein to my diet. So far, So far, I’ve had good luck rinsing the greens in a bowl of water, swishing around, and repeating the process twice more. If I’ve been eating bugs, I haven’t noticed so it doesn’t matter. From here on out I’ll check each leaf after it is snipped.

HOW TO NOT EAT APHIDS

Another recent arrival are aphids. I should have know they were in the vicinity when I started spotting lady bugs in the tall grass.

A rather lively discussion about aphids on leafy greens was included on a website called Paleohacks, http://tinyurl.com/kh2jvhl. My garden also has aphids. I find them in the middle of a leaf that looks strange and curled. When I open the leaf, the bugs are clustered together like an aphid slumber party.

A few of the paleo gardeners said to just eat the salad, bugs an all.

I may resort to that, but only if it is due to oversight.

One gardener said she adds some apple cider vinegar to a bowl of water and soaks the leaves for a few hours. The vinegar will kill the bugs.

“It might not completely remove them, but that ensures that you won’t be eating anything other than some shells.”

These paleo folks are tough, tough cookies.

Another woman inspects each leaf and wipes away the hangers-on with a paper towel. Yet another said she soaks the leaves for 20 minutes in warm water, allowing the bugs to float to the top.

In the meantime, I’ll try my trusted technique of spraying the leaves with a diluted solution of Dr. Bronner’s dish soap and water. The aphids turn black, which is a beautiful thing to behold.

Contact reporter Heather Hacking at 896-7758.

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Sow There! Catch the dogwood wave while you can, 4-6-2017

Posted on Thursday, April 6, 2017 by Heather Hacking

By Heather Hacking, Chico Enterprise-Record

POSTED: 04/06/17

Red (or is this pink) dogwoods bloom in the yard of Mark Carlson.
Red (or is this pink) dogwoods bloom in the yard of Mark Carlson.Heather Hacking — Enterprise-Record

Spring is unfolding slowly this year; at least that’s my perception. Certainly it has everything to do with how wide I stretch my occipital lobe in my brain. A while back I decided I needed to focus on those things that bring me the most happiness, which in spring simply means looking to the left and to the right.

Have you noticed the purple bulbs are blooming along Fourth and Fifth avenues along The Esplanade? Remember when the flowering quince meant the town was decorated in hot-pink? Now we’re in the middle of dogwood dazzle.

Mark Carlson gave me a phone call and invited me to his south Chico dogwood hotspot. I couldn’t refuse because the place is almost on my way home from work.

If you haven’t noticed dogwoods in bloom, open your eyes just a little wider. They’re the smallish trees with thin branches with blooms of blazing white and hushed tones of pink. The trees bloom before the leaves arrive, which makes the flowers all the more magnificent.

Mark said his yard is filled with dogwoods, 25 trees to be exact, not including the volunteers he has scooped up and put into pots.

He gave me his address, but I left that yellow post-it note at the office. With a few clues, I drove down his street, sure that I couldn’t miss a house with that many dogwoods.

This isn’t the first time I have been wrong. Driving as slowly as your typical Prius driver, I couldn’t help but notice almost every house has several dogwood trees, all in full bloom. I joked to myself that they should call the street “Dogwood Way.”

After a few laps around the cul de sac at the end of the road, Mark was spotted waving from his driveway.

The dogwood devotee is a retired landscape contractor and planted the trees in 1987, the same year I moved to Chico. For trees that old, I would have expected them to tower over the place. However, dogwoods need a little shade and grow to about 25 feet, often in the canopy of taller trees.

The old-fashioned dogwoods he prefers come in three colors — white, pink and red. He has planted them all. Yet, I must tell you, the “red” he pointed out is really a darker shade of pink.

The tree-tender said there are newer varieties of dogwoods, which he admits are amazing.

Eddie’s White Wonder, for example, sports four-inch flowers in spring. However, Mark really wants to have nothing to do with that. He’s sticking with the old standby.

The flowers last about two weeks, which seems like less than a heartbeat. Yet, wait until fall and there is a “spectacular show” when the leaves change color, Mark said.

The trees lives about 50 years, which mean they are now at their prime. I doubt Mark will ever be dogwood-less. The trees seed easily and he’s frequently putting new sprouts into pots. It was not difficult to talk him into tucking a dogwood into the backseat of my car.

Now I’m wondering if birds spread the joy of dogwoods throughout Mark’s neighborhood, or if he takes a wheelbarrow and offers trees door-to-door.

As for new trees, Mark said matter-of-factly that one in five newly-planted trees will die. That’s just the way it is, he said. Note that he has 25 trees in his yard. He planted 31.

As with any native, the trees are relatively drought resistant. You’ll see them growing like weeds in the Butte Meadows and Forest Ranch areas, as well as in Oregon, he said.

Now is a good time to pick out dogwoods, or dig up a sprout from the side of a neighbor’s yard. When they’re in bloom you can choose one of the three colors you prefer, pink, pink or white. Mark said they’ll survive just fine in a pot until you’re ready to dig a big hole in the fall. As for feeding, Mark said he adds 9-9-9 fertilizer under the trees every other year or annually, depending on the soil.

Mark is now retired, but he put much of his decades of experience into videos on pruning roses and fruit trees. He sells the videos online, secondleaves.com.

The University of California Cooperative Extension recommends against pruning dogwood trees because the wounds heal very slowly. If branches are damaged, it’s best to prune in late summer.

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Sow There! Gobbling up early spring greens, 3-30-2017

Posted on Thursday, March 30, 2017 by Heather Hacking
The black plastic truck bed liner is overflowing with spinach, kale and broccoli.
The black plastic truck bed liner is overflowing with spinach, kale and broccoli. Heather Hacking—Enterprise-Record

By Heather Hacking, Chico Enterprise-Record

POSTED: 03/30/17

Each time I walk across the overgrown grass toward the raised bed, I feel like one of those soon-to-be empty-nest parents. They grow up so fast.

Back in October, the first of the seedlings muscled their way from the soil to the surface. Just a few short weeks ago, I was thrilled to be harvesting the first handfuls of fresh spinach and kale. Then a few broccoli florets arrived — bite-sized pieces that I ate while wearing my bathrobe and standing near the fence.

This week I ate lightly sauteed spring greens for dinner. Then raw greens with lunch. On the weekend I ate greens for lunch and dinner. At a dinner party last Friday, you guessed it, the chef served kale with ginger and citrus. I copied that recipe and added a few shakes of crushed red pepper.

I’d be sick of the green stuff by now, but the seeds were planted by the Handsome Woodsman about a week before he died. When the plants have lived out their life cycle, they too will become a memory.

BROCCOLI BLAHS

I wouldn’t necessarily recommend planting broccoli in the Sacramento Valley. Our weather turns warm too quickly, which means the florets turn to flowers quickly. I like buying locally grown broccoli at the farmers market, but you need to eat it fast otherwise you’ll get flowers in your refrigerator crisper drawer.

Annual plants can be similar to salmon. Once they produce seeds (or spawn in the case of salmon) they figure their work is done and they die. That’s why we pinch off flowers from plants like coleus and basil that are enjoyed for their leaves.

I chatted with Danny Robinson this week, manager of the Gorrill Ranch along the Midway. Before farming rice and nuts in the hot, hot valley, he grew broccoli in the Salinas area, which is where we get cool-season crops including Brussels sprouts and lettuce.

However, if you love broccoli leaves, a taste for which I have recently acquired, by all means, stick some seeds in the ground at the start of the next rainy season.

BUG WASH

Another note on winter greens: As soon as you discover that your plants are in high gear, the bugs discover your plants as well. Watch for eggs on the bottom of the leaves, particularly before you put them in your mouth. I like to submerge the leaves in a large bowl of water, swish them around, and repeat two more times. This is what I call “triple washed.”

ROAST ‘EM

In addition to the quick ginger/citrus saute, you can also enjoy oven-roasted kale.

Put leaves in a bowl, and drizzle with a bit of olive oil. Swish the leaves around to coat. Next, give a shake of sea salt and generous tablespoon of chili powder. Put in a preheated oven at 400 degrees and cook for 5 minutes. Move the kale around, then bake for another 5-8 minutes. You’ll need to watch closely because the leaves can turn to carbon flakes if you cook just a minute too long.

SPRING TEMPTATIONS

It’s not quite summer vegetable planting season, but if you already have some squash or tomatoes in the ground, you’re not alone.

It goes like this: It’s a sunny day and you happen to be in the nursery — again. There’s so much sun on your shoulder you can almost feel the Vitamin D soaking into your skin. You tell yourself you’re buying a single six-pack of annuals for that empty pot on the front porch.

Suddenly, your cart is filled with summer vegetable plants.

I know. I already have a zucchini plant in the raised bed. However, it’s really too early to go gung-ho. As of now, there’ still a 40 percent chance that we’ll have a frost (http://tinyurl.com/n5gf2b7). Those hot-season plants need hot weather, which will be here to stay in about a month.

If you’re really itching, plant another crop of kale and spinach, and enjoy it while it lasts.

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Sow There! Gifts of spring, for the giver and grower, 3-23-2017

Posted on Thursday, March 23, 2017 by Heather Hacking
Daffodils are blooming up a storm these days.
Daffodils are blooming up a storm these days. Photo by Christina Chavira

By Heather Hacking, Chico Enterprise-Record

POSTED: 03/23/17

Heather Hacking-Enterprise-Record Tools for the task at Sherwood Montessori School.
Heather Hacking-Enterprise-Record Tools for the task at Sherwood Montessori School.

I don’t know about you, but I feel like celebrating. This spring thing has put something new in my step, and I may have needed that boost more than most people.

Monday I was honored to be on the invite list for a spring tree-planting at Sherwood Montessori School. My new friend Richard Hirschen gave me a tour of the school’s new garden and food center, which is just half a block from the group’s classrooms on the Chapman School campus.

You can check out an adorable “monster smoothie” video about food grown and consumed by the kids: http://tinyurl.com/k4xfjot.

“In a lot of cultures spring is the new year,” Chef Richie said. “There’s so much to be thankful for.”

On this first day of spring, the gardening group created a home for a Fay Alberta peach tree, which was donated by garden helper Luisa Garza.

We gathered in a horseshoe shape, 150 pairs of little hands linked in a chain. With Chef Richie’s instruction, the children said kind words to the tree. Next, they scooped soil and poured water, giving the new tree most of what it needs. Sunshine had already been provided.

These kids may not realize the full potential of this simple act. Right now, the tree has only one flower, and looks more like the Charlie Brown Christmas tree than something that will produce buckets of fruit. Yet, soon those kids will be taller and so will the tree. Lessons for the future include how useful it is to have fruit within arm’s reach, and what a warm peach tastes like on a summer day.

I like the idea of these same kids driving by their “old school,” with their own children.

“I planted that tree when I was in kindergarten,” the mom or the dad may say.

I’ll drive by as well, maybe to check if there are warm peaches hanging over the fence.

Spring planting, spring vacation, spring celebrations … I can understand them all, except for spring cleaning. On these days when the bees are buzzing, sweeping the back of my closet is the last thing on my mind.

SPRING BULBS

This week my friend Chrissy has been sending me photos of the daffodils in her yard.

Chrissy doesn’t particularly love to garden, so last fall I brought over a bag of bulbs. Her friend Patrick also stopped by and helped pop bulbs in the ground. This was before the big winter rains, and digging holes in her back yard felt like working in a coal mine. In fact, I didn’t have much hope for those bulbs, as they certainly weren’t buried anywhere near six inches deep.

However, nature had its way. Each day for the past several weeks, blooms arrived. I get to peek into her backyard because Chrissy has been sending me text photos.

She sent photos of freesia blooms as well. I’m not certain if I actually planted those, but I took credit just in case.

The good thing about a good gift is that it’s a gift for the giver as well. I’m certain my joy from receiving these photos at least matches the joy Chrissy receives looking out her sliding glass door.

I’m thinking this should be my new go-to gift — planting bulbs in other people’s yards. Sure, it’s a nice thing to do for others, but it’s also a really nice thing to do for myself.

GET DIGGING

Because we are on the subject, I couldn’t help but notice that spring-planted bulbs are on sale in nurseries.

The Master Gardeners of Sacramento website, http://tinyurl.com/nxljwvh, has an easy-to navigate chart for bulb planting. (Chrissy, if you are reading this, we need to go on a bulb-buying adventure).

The “plant-it-now” list includes begonia, tuberose, lily, dahlia, canna, calla and gladiolus.

If you invest a little money for some beautiful pots, you could give living bouquets to all the folks on your summer birthday list. Planting bulbs in pots also keeps the good stuff from the grasp of gophers and moles.

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Sow There! Don’t indulge in too many happy weeds, 3-9-2017

Posted on Thursday, March 9, 2017 by Heather Hacking
Sourgrass, surrounded by a lot of other happy weeds destined to be decimated by the hoe.
Sourgrass, surrounded by a lot of other happy weeds destined to be decimated by the hoe.Heather Hacking — Enterprise-Record

By Heather Hacking, Chico Enterprise-Record

03/09/2017

Sourgrass.
Sourgrass. Heather Hacking — Enterprise-Record

When I visit the river, I look up to see the “majestic” birds drifting high on circles of wind. I can spend a long moment watching a bird, remembering things that have come and gone and hoping for things that will soon begin.

You can’t help but wonder what it must feel like, to ride something you can only feel with your wings.

Page 106 of my “North American Wildlife” book shows the silhouettes of seven birds of prey. Knowing their shape helps with easy identification from the ground. The osprey stands out with a distinct bend in the wing, as if the bird has an elbow.

The outline of the vulture and the eagle are almost identical when soaring, shaped like elongated, fringed rectangles. From the ground, it would be difficult to tell the two apart, unless you noticed the eagle has a wingspan about 12 inches longer.

Both big birds eat carrion. But because the eagle is also a hunter, it is held in the same regard as polar bears, grizzlies and Siberian tigers. Vultures are viewed as bottom feeders, eyeball gougers and bad omens.

I think the real reason the vulture is reviled is because it makes a sound surprisingly similar to a flushing toilet. Listen here: https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Turkey_Vulture/sounds.

GOOD OR BAD PLANTS?

Many plants receive the same form of discrimination. If you look around right now, you’ll find the happy yellow flowers in the wood sorrel family, a form of oxalis. One particular variety is buttercup oxalis, which I learned to identify as sourgrass.

The leaves are like shamrocks and the plant reproduces wildly through bulbs deep in the soil.

If your yard is like mine, a lot of things are dead after the drought. This left room for weeds to find their way. During recent rainstorms, I’ve been yanking and tugging at cheeseweed, common groundsel, and three-cornered leek. However, a fond spot has developed in my heart for sourgrass.

The flowers are too happy and yellow to yank. I like the way they bob up and down after a visit from a bee.

Likely I’ll revisit my plant love affair once I start to see the okra-shaped seed pods, which contain up to 5,000 seeds each.

When I was a child the weed grew in the front yard of my Auntie Jeanne and Uncle Lars’ house in Benicia. My aunt showed me how the plant could be chewed, for a tart little treat. I think she also taught me not to swallow the stalk, but to spit the masticated green stuff into the bushes.

When I checked out buttercup oxalis on the University of California IPM website, http://ipm.ucanr.edu, I found a discussion about how cattle can die if they eat large quantities of sourgrass. Apparently the compounds that make the plant taste sour can also cause kidney stones. It’s probably the same if humans ate only sourgrass for weeks at a time. I’m glad I know. If I’m ever on one of those survivalist shows I’ll stick to miner’s lettuce.

However, for a sweet little treat, and happy flowers, sour grass is fun to have around. Just make sure to nibble plants that aren’t in the path of your neighbor’s dog.

BELATED BRIDE GIFT

I finally got around to giving my friend Samantha her wedding gift. In January I had the honor of being her maid of honor at her soiree at the Sacramento Train Station museum. She chose calla lilies as her bouquet.

I tried several methods of preserving her flowers, all which resulted in mold or brown sticks. This ruined my grand plan to make a shadow box display filled with well-preserved blooms.

Luckily, I spotted calla lily bulbs at Costco.

I handed her a pot filled with dirt and asked her to put it near her front porch.

If all goes well, she’ll have a calla lily reminder of her wedding sometime this summer.

Callas in pots dislike too much nitrogen and the soil needs to be totally dry after bloom (for dormancy). Next, move the pot to a dark area for two months. The tricky part is to remember to start watering them again and move them back to the sunny location.

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Sow There! Vegetarian kitty, bearing gifts, 3-2-2017

Posted on Thursday, March 2, 2017 by Heather Hacking
Mallow weed.
Mallow weed. Courtesy of UC Cooperative Extension

03/02/2017

The great huntress.
The great huntress. Heather Hacking – Enterprise-Record

My kitty has gotten into some funny habits lately.

The clock radio starts playing at sunrise. Just a few minutes before I hear tunes, the Feline Unit is at my cheek and licking my face. This relatively new ritual is abrupt and scratchy, but usually, I enjoy the attention while in a half-dream state.

Once my brain starts working, I realize this is a really gross way to start the day.

She’s letting me know — in her loving, kitty way — that it’s time for me to open the cat door so she can take care of business.

A few minutes later she’s back in the kitchen, where I feed her a spoonful of wet food before snapping the cat door shut.

Long before I knew her, the kitty and the Handsome Woodsman lived in Paradise, where she frolicked on 1 1/4 acres and was fed outdoors. She was only allowed inside if it snowed, or if she snuck inside when his hands were full.

Things changed when she moved to Chico.

Dave insisted she would never be allowed on the bed. He lost that battle gracefully.

I can call her indoors by making a special whistle. It’s a two-tone sound I make every time I give her a spoonful of wet food.

We also put a bell on her collar. She hated this at first, and ran in a circle trying to remove the offending sound. Our goal was to give birds a warning if she was on the prowl. This may or may not be effective, but so far there have been no birds deposited on the kitchen floor.

Rodents, however, may be deaf. When Dave was working at his desk in the kitchen, she rewarded him with rodents and he rewarded her with praise and some wet food.

After the Handsome Woodsman died in a car accident, I couldn’t bear the thought of something happening to the cat. I think animals know when they are needed, and she has become more of a lapdog than an out-and-about cat. With Dave gone, she also climbs all over the counters and sits on the bathroom sink when I am brushing my teeth.

BACK TO OLD TRICKS

My friend Jas, http://tinyurl.com/jastunes, has been traveling to help his mother with doctor appointments and sometimes flops in my living room when he’s traveling from north to south. One day I was meeting friends after work and he planned to join us.

“Why are you late? What’s the hang-up? Should we wait for you?” I said via text.

He replied: “Dear cat, thank you for the giant rat/mouse. Please kill it next time so I don’t need to fish it out from behind the heater.”

Frankly, I was proud of my Feline Unit. Of course, I was sorry my friend had to deal with the rodent carcass, but this was one less rat to find its way into my shed.

“Did you reward her with some wet food?”

He had not.

A few weeks ago, ferocious winds howled through the Sacramento Valley. I was snuggled up in the living room when the kitty arrived proudly in the doorway of the kitchen. She plunked down a rather large mallow weed and looked at me with expectation. Mallow is a sturdy weed, with crenulated leaves and a strong root system.

It took me a second, but I realized that the kitty probably saw the weed blowing in the wind and thought it was a critter. When she played with it, and the weed played dead, she brought it inside for show-and-tell.

I gave her a treat.

Naturally, I called my sister, who is a vegan, to share the news.

“I think the Feline Unit has become a vegetarian.”

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Sow There! Let’s do our dance in the light, 2-16-17

Posted on Saturday, February 25, 2017 by Heather Hacking

The first hyacinth of the year.
The first hyacinth of the year. Heather Hacking — Enterprise-Record

By Heather Hacking, Chico Enterprise-Record

Daffodils, at long last.Daffodils, at long last. Heather Hacking — Enterprise-Record

Some say that a great deal of vacation happiness includes the anticipation of taking a vacation. You plan, you dream, you let out a little pre-sigh. A study was actually done in the Netherlands on the link between pre-vacation plans and happiness, http://tinyurl.com/gvab559.

Lottery tickets function much the same way. When I buy a lottery ticket I make imaginary plans. I can assure you, the little daydreams I buy with that dollar certainly bring more happiness than the disappointment I receive when I don’t win.

I talked to Dad this week. He was on the 14th floor of the Bellagio Hotel in Las Vegas, chairs pointed toward the fountain below, the majestic sound of Copeland’s Appalachian Spring blaring from the televised webcam. He assured me that actually being on vacation is undeniably more fun than planning a trip.

Maybe I’ll plan a vacation.

FILLING TIME

When I saw the first daffodils in my yard I realized I’ve been shuffling past those things that normally bring me joy. For the first few months after Dave died, my brain was covered in that protective fog that blurs the sharp lines of reality.

It was not my intention, but life became incredibly busy — stories to write, a funeral to plan, house guests, a pre-planned family vacation, responsibilities as a maid of honor …

Next I received an unexpected gift. I planned and served as tour guide for two weekend getaways with 39 Korean college students. (This, by the way, was joy-filled. They also liked my rubber chicken).

One day I was waiting on a bench at the Vacaville Outlet malls. The Korean students passed by intermittently, each time with bigger smiles and more shopping bags dangling from their arms.

I had 30 minutes before the coach bus arrived to take us back to Chico.

For just a few minutes I had nothing to think about, nothing to plan, no one to entertain. As if landing from some distant place, the tears arrived.

I wasn’t thinking about the Handsome Woodsman. I wasn’t thinking about anything at all. It was as if I simply exhaled and my body realized there was a lull. Now was a chance for few tears to escape.

SOME THINGS OVERLOOKED

Spring does something to animals, and our natural world — an awakening. For some of us, it brings metacognition.

Last year at this time I would have noticed my daffodil buds were ready to pop. I would have taken photos of the “almost blooms.” The next day I would have checked again, so I would not miss the first hint of yellow. This year I was just too busy to notice.

In winter, I ritualistically visit the Llano Seco Wildlife Refuge. There’s a strange quiet that occurs when tens of thousands of winter waterfowl become one dull roar.

Last week I drove down 7-Mile Lane and it was too late. The birds had already said their good-byes.

Yet, like most things good, good things find us.

When the kitchen scraps were overdue to be dumped on the compost pile, I noticed the first few daffodils bobbing in plain view.

This prompted a closer look at the Virginia creeper vines, also ready to do their dance in the light.

With nothing better to do that day, I ate spinach and kale from the raised bed — dirt and all — and moved a pot of hyacinth bulbs to the walkway.

Spring does not officially arrive until March 20, but spring can easily be placed in the same category as vacations. If we miss out on the anticipation, we miss out on some of that happiness.

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Sow There! Valentines sentiments that last, buying live plants, 2-9-17

Posted on Saturday, February 25, 2017 by Heather Hacking
This Daphne odoro plant is long dead, another testament to the give and take of the garden world.
This Daphne odoro plant is long dead, another testament to the give and take of the garden world.Heather Hacking — Enterprise-Record

By Heather Hacking, Chico Enterprise-Record

Cynicism about Valentine’s Day returned quickly.

For the past many years I had joined the monogamous masses and learned to enjoy flowers at that certain day that marks the midpoint of February. Don’t get me wrong. I’m glad people are swooning and smooching. I wish I was one of them.

The big Valentine’s Day displays always manage to catch me off-guard. This week I popped into the grocery store to buy some coffee. I had to walk in a long arc to maneuver around the ginormous display of red, white and pink flowers. There was no escape, they were directly along my path to an everyday purchase.

My guess is that the other entrance to the store had a similar assemblage of merchandise suggestions.

GREEN DAY

I’m thinking we could use a Gardener’s Day. If I had my choice, it would be April 30, which happens to be my birthday. Nurseries, garden tool companies and grocery store chains could rally around the cause, providing huge displays of appropriate gifts for people with dirt under their fingernails. Logically, there would be a way to include dark chocolate.

In the meantime, Valentine’s Day is a great excuse to buy and receive live plants, even if that means buying them for ourselves and receiving them ourselves.

A FRAGRANT PLANT LIST

• I spotted some daphne odoro in bloom this week, which is among my favorite fragrant plants. A live plant can be enjoyed indoors for several weeks, and then planted at the recipient’s leisure. My luck with daphne has been mixed. One survived in a partially shaded spot for about six years. I changed houses and the plant did not adjust to the new digs.

Many years ago, John Whittlesley of Canyon Creek Nursery said the trick to not killing daphne is to withhold water on days when the high temperatures reach 89 degrees. Apparently this is the temperature at which daphne-killing bacteria multiply quickly.

My second daphne died during a summer heat spike when I chose death by bacteria vs. death by lack of water.

• In my mind, you can’t really go wrong with jasmine and gardenias. If you want to learn what plants grow well in this area, check out the landscaping at Chico State University or Enloe hospital, both which have gardenia in semi-shaded locations.

The Handsome Woodsman and I would walk in the evenings, and he would almost always rush ahead to search for a gardenia to tuck behind my ear.

For happy gardenias, Monrovia, suggests adding an ample amount of compost to hold water. Gardenia will wither in heavy soil. Coffee grounds may be added to the soil because gardenia enjoy slightly acidic soil.

• Jasmine also provides olfactory pleasure, but it won’t be blooming just yet. Some useful information at gardeningknowhow.com, points out that spring is a good time to take jasmine cuttings. Dip the cuttings in rooting hormone and push the ends into peat. Next, keep the cuttings moist.

Last year my cuttings failed, likely because I used regular garden soil. It’s time to try again.

DON’T FORGET ROSES

Red roses are the stereotypical Valentine’s Day sign of strong infatuation.

Tip for boyfriend coolness points: Send at least a dozen red roses, and always send them to her work. For your favorite gardener who owns garden gloves and pruning shears, you can find an exquisite rose plant and offer to dig the hole on a spring Saturday.

BLOOMIN’ HOPE

When I spotted all those flowers at the grocery store earlier this week, I couldn’t help but wonder. Are people expected to buy the flowers and hide them on the back porch for the next four days?

For fresh flowers, last-minute purchases are best.

Early next week, the Sabbath House can be spotted downtown with their glorious flower cart.

Sunday morning you’ll find the cart in front of Bidwell Presbyterian Church and First Street, and Monday and Tuesday near City Hall. The pleasant gals who work at the cart can wrap up just a single posy or a bouquet chosen among dozens of different flowers.

Read more about Bloomin’ Hope: http://tinyurl.com/z9f3e5n.

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