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HEATHERHACKING—ENTERPRISE-RECORD This ailanthus grew in record time in the backyard of my friend Debbie. If she goes away on vacation, the tree will have grown two feet. Nope,Ihaven'tboughta house, but I've decided to make a not-so-giant move to the little rental house next door. The house isn't any bigger, but it's in a little better condition, and has a tiny shed where I can store some of the overflow of life. Every move has pros and cons; only I make the choice to be mostly happy. Fresh paint, a fresh start, maybe even a new life. The biggest drawback is the mimosa tree in the center of the yard. Before you cup your hands into a megaphone and holler "cut it down!!!" remember that mimosa trees provide excellent shade. Mimosas, also known as silk trees, also attract butterflies and bees to the wispy, faded pink pom-pom blooms that look a lot like soft bottle brush. This tree also litters for a block radius three seasons out of the year. I haven't even moved in yet and I've already gathered six black plastic bags full of bloom waste. Another few buckets of tree garbage is on my car and billowing along the driveway. As if this tree does not give enough, it's prone to webworms that rain down into your hair. Later in the year, there will be thin seed pods exactly the right size to burrow into the crack be- tween the windshield and the hood of the car. I also can look forward to the green, and later brown, spiked fruit. Read more startling info about the joys of mimosa trees here: http://goo.gl/ ibLBBw. When I was bagging mimosa gunk recently, I couldn't help but look over at my "old yard" next door, the little green trian- gle where I have pulled weeds for 18 years. As I cried I remem- bered Easter brunches, pump- kin carvings and ongoing bat- tles with snails and slugs. Yet, a move will do me good. I'll unload my long-playing LP collection, sort through un- matched shoes and toss away re- minders of unfinished projects. Formoreinaneprattlefollow@ HeatherHacking on Twitter and Facebook. SOWTHERE! New place to live, new trees to battle Cuttingbackonwater,useacontroller Drought tip The University of California drought tip page says most people water too much. Thus, cutting back by 20-40percent will hardly be noticed. When you cut back, do it slowly, by watering about 10percent less each time over a few weeks. Don'tbeacontrolfreak: It's usually easier to make a deci- sion once, rather than second-guess yourself every time you use water. Once you've decreased your watering, set your automatic control unit and hope for the best. Be (at least a little) smart: Smart meters are able to adjust wa- tering when there's a rain or more moisture in the yard. You're still in control of programming the contraption. For manuals online: http://goo.gl/BKz4Ku Lessen the water load: None of this works if you have leaks in the system. UC experts remind us to check for leaks, and maybe even check them twice. TO READ MORE FROM THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA: HTTP://GOO.GL/PL1S0C By David Walther Butte County Master Gardener The on-going drought is leading many gardeners in our area to include drought-tolerant plants in their gardens, or even design wholly drought-tolerant landscapes. Here are some tips for selecting, planting and caring for plants that prefer dry conditions. Most drought-tolerant and dry- loving plants do not like water on their stems or crowns. Wet con- ditions can trigger crown rot, so make sure you are correctly water- ing the plants you already have. If you have a drip system in- stalled, you can offset the emitters to keep the crown dry or deliver water directly to the roots of the plant by locating a piece of plastic watering pipe (any dimension you have around) from ground level to the bottom of the root ball. Slide an emitter inside that pipe, and voila! You will be safely watering your plant and avoiding crown rot. If you already have a dry gar- den set up with emitters, make sure those drippers are not get- ting the stems of your plants wet. If you are planning to put in a dry garden, summer is not the best time to do it. The opti- mum time to plant a dry garden is between November, when the first rains begin to fall, and Feb- ruary. Planting during that pe- riod gives plants a chance to es- tablish roots before the summer heat arrives, and before the soil begins to dry out. You can start work on a dry garden now, though, by collect- ing plants from local nurseries and keeping them in a holding area in your yard until plant- ing time. It is especially help- ful to purchase plants right at the time they are at their best in terms of foliage or flowering so you know what you are getting. THE REAL DIRT Tips for a drought-tolerant garden Online: For more inane prattle, check out my blog at www. norcalblogs.com/sowthere. CLAY MCGLAUGHLIN — THE EUREKA TIMES-STANDARD Shown here are several rhubarb plants growing in a clump in a garden just outside Eureka. Once established, rhubarb is very easy to grow and has many uses as food and medicine. (Note: The roots and stalks are the edible parts of the plant. The leaves contain oxalic acid, which can be toxic in high doses, and they should not be consumed.) According to http://rhubarbinfo. com: "Rhubarb is one of the most widely used herbs in Chinese med- icine. Rhubarb roots are harvested in the fall from plants that are at least 6 years old. The roots are then dried for later use. The root is used as an anticholesterolemic, antisep- tic, antispasmodic, antitumor, ape- rient, astringent, cholagogue, de- mulcent, diuretic, laxative, purga- tive, stomachic and tonic." The plant's modern name came from the Greek terms rha, their name for the Volga River, and barbaros, an all-purpose word for things of foreign origin. Sev- eral sources suggest that barbaros originated as an imitation of "bab- bling" in a foreign tongue, mak- ing it all the more interesting that when British actors in the back- ground of a play want to simulate conversation, they mumble the phrase "rhubarb rhubarb" to each other. (Source: http://tinyurl.com/ n5ku4dj) Making its way to the United States in the early 1800s, rhubarb became known as "pie plant." Al- though it's technically a perennial vegetable, most people use it like a fruit, baking it into desserts, turn- ing it into jams and jellies, and stewing it as a sweet-tart sauce for meat dishes. Part of its popularity is likely due to how easy it is to grow. It has few pest problems and, once it's established, can yield twice-yearly harvests for well over a decade. Rhubarb prefers a temperate cli- mate, well-drained soil and lots of sunlight. It thrives in areas with av- erage winter temperatures below 40 F and summer highs of about 75 F. If you don't already have some growing, here's how to get started: Acquire some rhubarb root cut- tings (or, if you're feeling patient, some seeds) and plant them in the early spring. Space the plantings 3 to 4 feet apart, and bury the roots a couple of inches below the soil surface. Use plenty of compost or compos- ted manure when planting, as rhu- barb is a heavy-feeder. Be cautious about using chem- ical fertilizers in the first year, though, as high concentrations of nitrogen can kill young plants. Rhubarb likes well-watered soil, so be sure to give the plants regu- lar dousings, and consider adding a thick layer of mulch to retain mois- ture and keep weeds at bay. The plants have few problems with pests or diseases once they're established. After the first year, most sites recommend adding a high-nitrogen fertilizer or using a generous addition of composted manure to keep the plants grow- ing strong. Although it may be tempting to harvest a few stalks during the first growing season, the rhu- barb plants need time to build up stores of energy, so it's best to let them be until the second year. When they're ready to harvest, the stalks — technically called "petioles" — should be 12 to 18 inches long and - to 1-inch thick. Remove them from the plant by grasping them firmly and twisting slightly while pulling up and out. They should detach fairly easily. Be sure to leave at least two healthy stalks on any given plant. Three to four plants should pro- vide enough stalks for a steady harvest all summer, depending on how often you like to cook with it. If you're a really big fan of the plant's tart flavor, consider putting in half a dozen. ANCIENT ROOTS Heather Hacking By Clay McGlaughlin cmcglaughlin@times-standard.com @CMcGlaughlinTS on Twitter Grown for food and medicine in China for thousands of years — since at least 2700 BC, according to most estimates — rhubarb made its way to the West along the Silk Road in the Middle Ages. It was highly valued for its medicinal properties (the Chinese vari- ety is both a cathartic and a purgative), and the roots were used to treat many common complaints. A grower's guide to Rhubarb HOME+GARDEN » redbluffdailynews.com Friday, June 27, 2014 MORE AT FACEBOOK.COM/RBDAILYNEWS AND TWITTER.COM/REDBLUFFNEWS C7