Non-Violent Critter Control for Buddhists, and Other Gentle Gardeners
Written by Maria Gaura
SANTA CRUZ (July 2010) – When animal pests invade the garden, many homeowners are quick to trap, shoot or poison the creatures undermining their lawns, or pilfering their tomatoes.
But an increasing number of nonviolent gardeners, including vegans, Buddhists and the simply compassionate, are turning to humane traps that confine, but don't kill, the annoying animal. Yet humane trapping, while bloodless, can pose tricky problems of its own.
Once you’ve trapped a live raccoon, for instance, what do you do with it? As it turns out, there are few legal options for relocating your furry captive.
SANTA CRUZ (June 2010) – When I was growing up in the suburbs of Northern California, home gardening was a lethal discipline. Lawns were doused with toxic solutions to keep them green and weed-free, trees were sprayed on a strict schedule, and insects were indiscriminately poisoned –along with whatever birds, frogs and butterflies happened into the line of fire.
Sometimes the firepower was more than metaphorical. I recall the day that my dad loaded his shotgun and stuck the barrel through a bathroom window, waiting with finger on the trigger for a gopher to poke its head out of the soil. This was in a household with six young children, in a yard separated from our neighbors by a couple feet of thin air and a flimsy redwood fence.
Terrifying as it was, all of us survived the shotgun incident – even the gopher. But that episode came to mind recently as I began looking into humane traps for garden pests, and came across a non-lethal box trap for gophers. Gophers. Seriously, I thought, what kind of a gardener is so wishy-washy, so lacking in righteous vengeance that she can’t bear to kill a lousy, rose-killing, fruit-tree toppling gopher?
SANTA CRUZ (May 2010) - Dear fellow vegetable gardeners- it’s not your imagination. May, our traditional planting season here on the coast, really has been unusually chilly, damp and yucky.
Our pain has been confirmed by the National Weather Service in Monterey, where, if it makes you feel better, the weather has been even worse than it is here in Santa Cruz “It’s true, it has been colder than usual,” said NWS Forecaster and Monterey resident Steve Anderson. “Some of our records date back to the late 1800s, and this is probably one of the top ten coolest Mays on record.”
After years of drought conditions, it would be surly to complain about the lingering showers filling our reservoirs and keeping our lawns lush and green. But those tomatoes you optimistically planted in April are probably sulking, if they haven’t keeled over entirely, and that basil … where did it go? Nothing but a few nibbled stems and a slime trail at the crime scene.
Late May is pushing the envelope for getting a summer garden in the ground, but there are a few things you can do to help salvage what is shaping up to be a late, cool growing season.
DAVENPORT (March 2010) – The mother cow lowed and shifted her hooves nervously as Gordon Claassen stepped carefully toward the calf who curled, sleeping, in a clump of fresh grass beneath a low-slung oak tree.
"Looks like a male, to me, judging from the size of the head," Claassen murmured, crouching a few feet away from the drowsy calf. "He's just a few hours old, brand-new." The calf raised his head briefly, blinked his milky blue eyes, then settled down to resume his nap.
March is the beginning of calf season at Swanton Pacific Ranch, a 3,200-acre teaching ranch located in the coastal hills just north of the town of Davenport. The ranch is owned by Cal Poly State University, and the sleepy newborn under the tree was one of 50 calves expected to be born this spring to a herd managed by the school's natural grass-fed beef production program.
SANTA CRUZ (February 2010) -Amphibians are a scarce sight these days, and their numbers continue to dwindle worldwide. That’s why I was absurdly pleased to discover salamanders living in my downtown garden, years ago.
Our salamanders aren’t much to look at. They’re small and brown, with whiplike bodies and legs so short they could almost be mistaken for worms.
But as a gardener and an environmentalist, the survival of these creatures reassures me. If these sensitive natives can thrive alongside my family, our backyard parties and our kitchen garden, it seems that we must be doing something right.
Luckily, doing right by the salamanders often dovetails with taking the path of least resistance in the garden.
SANTA CRUZ (January 2010) - Organic gardeners know that many types of manure are good for garden soil. We add cow, horse, chicken and even bat manure to our yards, knowing that the breakdown of these products feeds both the soil and the vegetables in our gardens.
Cat manure, on the other hand, should never be added to garden compost or left to decompose in vegetable beds. Cat feces frequently carry parasites that can infect humans, and should be excluded from the garden or removed as promptly as possible.
It is commonly known that pregnant women should avoid cat waste to prevent infection with Toxoplasmosis, a disease that can cause devastating birth defects if contracted during gestation. But Toxoplasmosis, and other diseases spread by cat waste, can infect anyone who comes into contact with contaminated garden soil, and gardeners should take precautions to avoid a possible lifelong infection.
SANTA CRUZ (January 2010) - Cats and gardeners have a complicated relationship, particularly when it comes to kitty’s toilet habits. Cats are known for relieving themselves into neat little holes in the dirt - preferably the nice, soft, cultivated dirt found in garden beds. And most gardeners, even the cat lovers among us, really hate that.
Cat poop in the garden is a health hazard, and finding a ‘buried treasure’ amongst the lettuces can be infuriating and worrisome - even if the culprit is your own beloved pet.
With an estimated 80 million cats in the U.S., banishing all free-roaming felines from your yard is probably not an option. But cats can be excluded from garden beds with a simple wire screen you can make yourself, using concrete reinforcing wire, wire cutters and a pair of gloves.
The Return of the Native - Bringing Back a Vanished Butterfly
Written by Maria Gaura
SANTA CRUZ (November 2009) - The Pipevine Swallowtail, a cobalt-streaked butterfly with orange-and-white speckled underwings, once thrived in Santa Cruz County. But the local population of these beautiful creatures blinked out 100 years ago, not to be seen again for nearly five generations.
Now, they’re back – at least a few of them are – and living in a lush, two-acre garden adjacent to the Pasatiempo golf course. And if a group of local gardeners is successful, this little band of insect pioneers may soon venture out of its sanctuary to become a free-living, Santa Cruz native species once again.
SANTA CRUZ (October 2009) - Fall is a lovely season everywhere on the Central Coast except, perhaps, in the vegetable garden.
Look up, and behold the brilliance of the turning leaves in the slanting autumn light. Look down, and see the blackened remains of your cucumber vines, and a slumping hedgerow of dying tomatoes.
It’s tempting to walk away from this depressing scene, and not return until April. But don’t give in to seasonal slothfulness! A quick garden clean-up before the rains hit will keep the bugs and plant diseases at bay for a healthy spring garden.
And with a bit more effort, you can plant a winter garden with snap peas, lettuce and other cool-loving veggies that thrive in our mild, wet winters.
SANTA CRUZ (August, 2009) - Cool summer weather throughout coastal California has put a damper on this year's tomato season, disappointing home gardeners from Marin to Monterey with scrawny plants, flower drop and late-ripening fruit.
But a bad year for tomatoes can be a great year for salad greens. While the tomatoes in my garden are a fraction of their normal size, (and the heirloom varieties got yanked out weeks ago, ending their misery), the salad beds have been producing bushels of tender greens since early spring.
It’s too late in the season to start over with new tomato plants. But there’s plenty of time to grow your own salad mix from seeds and starts. Plant now, and begin eating home-grown salads by Labor Day.
SANTA CRUZ (June 2009) - There’s probably not a gardener in California who hasn’t tenderly planted a rose, or heirloom tomato, only to watch it be dragged underground by a hungry gopher.
All too often, irate gardeners have retaliated with poisoned baits and gases, tainting their soil with strychnine, arsenic, zinc phosphide, and other nasty poisons. In addition to finding their intended targets, poison baits for gophers and moles have been known to kill songbirds, owls, fish, amphibians,and even family pets. Obviously, a large enough dose of these toxins could also be fatal to a human.
But there are alternatives to turning your backyard into a Superfund site. A combination of trapping and gopher-proof garden design can keep your yard mostly gopher-free without resorting to chemical warfare. Also, if done correctly, trapping can be a quick and humane alternative to an agonizing death by poison.
SANTA CRUZ (April 2009 ) - The Victory Garden is back. Given the sad state of the economy this year, interest in home-grown food is soaring. The National Gardening Association estimates that 7 million U.S. households plan to plant new vegetable gardens this year, boosting the number of backyard plots to 43 million. First Lady Michelle Obama has even installed a kitchen garden at the White House, imparting a patriotic feel to the sometimes grubby business of growing your family's food.
If you, too, are taking the gardening plunge this year, start your growing season by building a sturdy raised bed. Here are directions for a gopher-proof redwood planter that you can build in one afternoon, and is portable enough to take with you if you move.
LAS LOMAS (May 2009) -- On a sunny spring afternoon, TLC Ranch in Las Lomas looks like a storybook farm. Glossy red hens chase after bugs, and spotted pigs root contentedly in a grassy pasture. A huge white dog named Angel follows, watchfully, as four-year-old Fiona strides the fields in a stylish pair of pink wellies.
TLC Ranch is exactly the kind of small farm that local-food advocates crave as an alternative to industrial meat production. Animal welfare is paramount here, production is organic, and the food is sold locally. There is an eager market for TLC’s pasture-raised pork and eggs, despite the premium price.
But the cost of farming in the Pajaro Valley is high, and livestock producers are few and far between. If TLC is going to expand, its next move may be to a less-expensive community elsewhere in California.
SANTA CRUZ (January 2009) - It may be stinky and attract flies, but nothing makes a garden grow like a steaming pile of horse manure. Horse droppings make an excellent garden fertilizer and, better yet, can be collected for free at many stables. But is horse manure as natural as it smells?
Horses are prone to a host of parasites, and most horse owners regularly dose their animals with vermicides – medications toxic to intestinal worms and other insect pests. These medications pass through the digestive system, prompting some gardeners to ask whether tainted manure may be harming their crops, their families, or the environment.
SANTA CRUZ (December 2008) - Wintry weather has finally arrived in Santa Cruz, and most backyard gardeners have abandoned their vegetable beds to the cold-hardy weeds and the neighborhood cats.
But before you curl up on the sofa with a mug of tea and a stack of seed catalogs, there is one last chore to do. Build a low-maintenance compost heap out of free or low-cost organic materials, and let nature turn it into a worm-filled soil amendment that will be ready in time for spring planting.
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