Every once in a while, yard work requires the use of a measuring tape and some basic math skills — like those high school quadratic equations you thought you’d never ever use.
You will need a tape holder. For me, it was our 4-year-old grandson, a recent graduate from Bumble Bee Academy with degrees in paper crumbling and abstract art.
His job was to hold the end of a tape measure so I could measure 50 feet away.
Note: there is an extremely high probability that your tiny tot helper may let go of the tape measure in which case it will rewind at warp speed, make 19 revolutions, flip up and hit you on the chin. Your assistant will think this is hilarious and will want to repeat the process.
Don’t.
As I’m typing this, there are five fires in our county, plus a vegetation fire and a residential fire in Poway.
Most of us the devastation caused by the 2003 Cedar and 2007 Witch Creek fires.
This is fire season and here are some reminders. Cal Fire recommends a fire break distance of 30 feet around your house. San Diego County requires a distance of 50 feet. The U.S. Forest Service recommends a space of 100-plus feet from a structure. I recommend a distance of 2 miles.
This area is considered defensible space, the barrier area around your house where combustible vegetation has been cleared, reduced or replaced. This space also provides room for firefighters to do their jobs.
According to Michigan State University, airborne embers can travel from one-quarter to one mile in the wind. That’s why even something as simple as removing dried leaves and branches off of your roof may prevent an ember from igniting your home.
However, the challenge arises when there is only 20 feet, or maybe only an arm’s length, between houses.
Some measure of prevention is better than none at lessening the risk, severity and spread of a blaze. Your house is a little more likely to withstand a wildfire if grasses, shrubs and trees are managed to reduce a brush fire’s intensity.
Of course, your neighbors would have to do their part around their property.
Plant sparingly next to a house, sheds and outhouses, with low-growing, fire-resistant plants that are spaced far apart. Use groundcovers and low-growing annuals, perennials, succulents and shrubs. Good irrigation is necessary to keep the plants moist. Gravel and rocks can provide additional protection. Buy a fire truck.
Remove dead plants, leaves, fallen branches and dry grass. Trim trees that touch or overhang your structures. Remove lower branches of trees at least 6 feet from the ground. Prune back groundcovers, shrubs and trees to reduce their potential as fire fuel.
Trees and shrubs on slopes are especially dangerous since flames move faster vertically.
The spacing between these trees should increase as the steepness of your slope increases. This will involve some mind-boggling trigonometry. ReadyForWildfire.org suggests that for flat to mild slopes (less than 20 percent), space trees 10 feet apart. On moderate slopes (20-40 percent), a 20-foot space is advised. On moderate to steep slopes (more than 40 percent), a 40-foot distance between trees is recommended.
Hire experienced goats. One hundred goats can clear an acre of vegetation a day. For dessert, they enjoy tasty cardboard, tin cans and T-shirts. Too bad they don’t eat gophers.
Goats can baa, bleat or scream. Some can also faint. But they pop right back up. Of course, if they all fainted at once, that would be baaaaad.
(Very sorry folks — my baaaaad.)
There are no fire-proof plants. However, some fire-resistant ideas according to FireSafeSDCounty.org are:
• Trees: African Sumac, carob, citrus, coast live oak, Italian buckthorn, western redbud and willow.
• Shrubs: azalea, bush morning glory, California lilac, California wild rose, cape plumbago, coyote bush, elderberry, monkey flower and oleander.
• Plants: African daisy, California fuchsia, California poppy, coral bells, coreopsis, lavender, lupine, penstemon, primrose and rockrose.
• Ground cover: blanket flower, gazania, ice plant, lantana, myoporum, periwinkle, verbena, wild strawberry and yarrow.
• Succulents: aeoniums, aloes, crassulas and echeverias.
• Vines: coral vine, honeysuckle, potato vine and trumpet vine.
Some plants are more dangerous than others because they contain oils and resins that ignite quickly.
According to SanDiegoCounty.gov, “the following species are highly flammable and should be avoided when planting within the first 50 feet adjacent to a structure”: Acacia, arborvitae, bamboo, bottlebrush, buckwheat, camphor tree, castor bean, cedar, cotoneaster, cypress, eucalyptus, fountain grass, hemlock, Italian cypress, junipers, manzanita, milk thistle, palms, pampas grass, pines, rosemary, sage, silverberry, spruce trees, tamarisk and yew.
when I said “don’t” earlier in this article?
Well, I did anyway. This time my grandson laughed even harder, even went silent momentarily from his laughter.
Priceless.
Children forget your presents, but your presence.
Schmidt is a Poway resident with over 40 years of gardening experience.
