Page 57 - Sonoma County Gazette December 2017

Compost vs. Mulch
COMPOST: Technically speaking, compost is organic matter that has decomposed. The easiest way to make compost is to pile up garden refuse (plus kitchen vegetable and fruit scraps if you’re inclined) then wait a year. You want this pile away from your house and you literally just throw things on the pile
throughout the year. This works well in the country, but is a challenge in urban areas.
We can speed up the process by paying attention to the “formula” of 2 parts ‘brown/dry’ to 1 part ‘green/
juicy’, turning and watering as needed, and using bins or containers that can be rotated or aerated. Compost that has fully decomposed is sometimes referred to as humus. Humus is usually dark brown in color and has a mild, pleasant smell. If your compost smells bad, it hasn’t finished breaking down.
Pick Your Own Garden Produce - So- noma County Wildlife Rescue Gar- den Club - For just $20 per month or $200 per year, you are entitled to come weekly and pick a bag of the freshest vegetables from our Wildlife Education Garden. Funding goes directly to our Predator Prevention and Educational Barnyard Program. Wildlife Rescue, 403 Mecham Rd, Petaluma, 707-992- 0274, scwildliferescue.org/garden-club. html, scwrdoris@scwildliferescue.org
- Curious about what tree to plant? Love to go on information walks? Check out Healdsburg Self Guided Tree Walk. Free, Town of Healdsburg, Healdsburg, ca-healdsburg.civicp- lus.com/DocumentCenter/View/498
Dec 6 ~ 7p Wildscaping for Songbirds - A Birds-Eye View - Veronica Bowers, Bird Doctor. Wildscaping for Songbirds will demonstrate the importance of restor- ing our communities. From a birds- eye view, learn how to create wildlife- friendly gardens that help combat the loss of open spaces and create green corridors that link your wildscape to larger natural areas by providing habitat for wildlife. 7p; $5 ‘Abbey’ HopMonk.30 Petaluma Ave. Sebastopol Host, Daniel Osmer (daniel@sciencebuzzcafe.org)
Dec 9 ~ Habitat Gardens - Learn how to attract beneficial wildlife to your own backyard. FREE 10:30-12:30p Clover- dale Library, 401 N. Cloverdale Blvd.,
Compost is full of nutrients that can be added to, or dug into, garden beds while the soil is being turned for spring planting. When planting new plants, you can add compost to the hole, but make sure you dig it in rather than just filling the hole. You want a good mix of compost and native soil so plants send their roots out into the regular soil.
When you are ready to use
this kind of compost, pull the top layer off andput it in a
new spot. It has the biological organisms that will get your next pile started. Toss the soft, fully decomposed material until it is mixed well and all large pieces our sifted out and added to the new pile. This is rich stuff!
Compost can be used to “side-dress” plants already in the ground by spreading the compost next to the plant and working it into the soil with a small garden fork. You can even lay it on top of the soil around existing plants when digging in new plants. Worms will love you for it and do their own brand of digging it into your garden soil. Just keep it a few inches away from the plant base so it doesn’t smother it. Plants like their bases to breathe.
Thru - Dec 31 ~ Self Guided Tree Walk
MULCH: is the layer of material placed on the TOP of the soil as a protective cover. It helps suppress weed germination, retain moisture, insulate the soil, and reduce erosion. Mulch also contributes nutrients to the soil by gradually breaking down over time. During the gardening season, we heavily mulch our gardens, especially as days get longer and hotter.
If you want mulch to
break down, the more it
is already in the process of decomposing the better. Firefighters in our recent blazes noted that landscape bark caught fire and flew into the air. Those embers traveled to other yards and started more fires, so think about those chunks as potential embers rather than pretty covering when you look to mulch your gardens. Go for the fine stuff that hlds less air and will smolder rther then burst into flames.
Using both compost and mulch in the garden to use with huge impacts on growing plants, cutting down on weeds, and improving soil. Use BOTH and your gardens will thrive! Winter is an excellent time to add compost as mulch. Just a little bit at a time, spread in thin layers, creates “compost tea” as rains so leaches nutrients into the soil. By spring they have melded into garden happiness!
Daily Acts
Nov 30 ~ Ripple the Recovery - Daily Acts Fundraiser Breakfast and Fire Recovery Community Forum. Free to attend, donations gladly accepted. RSVP Required, marie@dailyacts.org
Dec 2 ~ Rain Barrels Installation Work- shop - Windsor - location shared with registration. Free! dailyacts.org/events
Dec 9 ~ Reading the Rain - Designing a Stormwater Friendly Landscape. Talk/ Mini Tour and Landscape Reading Ex- ercise. Petaluma - location shared with registration. Free! dailyacts.org/events
Cloverdale,
sonomamg.ucanr.edu/
Dec 20 ~ December Garden Day – 10-12p Sebastopol City Hall & Library Land- scape, 7140 Bodega Ave. Sebastopol,
Dec22~GardenDay-PocketPark2-4pCotati
Dec 14 ~ December Garden Day
- Cavanagh Center Food For- est, 1-3; 426 8th Street, Petaluma
JAN 20 ~ GREEN YOUR GROW
Grow more sustainable Cannabis
• Use 75% less water
• Reduce Dependency on bottles, control
fungus & insects naturally • Grow 100% organic
www. solarliving.org
To register call Adam Goldberg: 707-472-2460
13771 Highway 101, Hopland
SonomaCountyGazette.com for MORE DETAILS
Our website is updated daily!
Send your Event info to: Vesta@Sonic.net
Master Gardeners
Dec 2 ~ Holiday Arrangements From the Seasonal Garden - Sue Lovelace explains how she collects and prepares plant material. FREE 10:30-12:30p Rincon Valley Library, 6959 Montecito Blvd, Santa Rosa,
Dec 2 ~ Holiday Decorations ~ Speak- er: Ellyn Pelikan on holiday decora- tions FREE 10:30-12:30p Healdsburg Library, 139 Piper St., Healdsburg
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