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Protective gear's important in the garden, too

Sacramento Digs Gardening
BY Kathy Morrison PUBLISHED APR 30, 2020

This is part of my personal arsenal of gardening protection items. The glasses turn darker when sunlight hits them. (Photo:

Kathy Morrison)

If you don't protect yourself, who's going to do it?

In these days of coronavirus, we're all familiar now with wearing masks to the store, as well as wiping down door or car handles and washing our hands a lot. The acronym PPE, for personal protective equipment, has entered the lexicon and settled in for a stay.

But gardeners, we also need to remember our GPG, or gardener protective gear, whether we're out in the backyard or the back 40.

I'm as guilty of forgetting this as anyone else. Now that planting weather has arrived, I want to rush outside first thing, to enjoy the early morning air and the chirping of the neighborhood birds. But it's worth the time involved to use these protective products:

1. Sunscreen. Arms, neck, back of calves, bridge of nose -- anywhere that's not going to be covered by clothing gets a nice layer of greaseless sunscreen. The American Academy of Dermatology recommends using a product with broad spectrum protection, an SBF of 30 or higher, and water resistance. To avoid breakouts, I use one specifically for faces on my face, neck and ears.

2. Lip balm, preferably with moisturizer or protectant. That's exposed skin, too.

3. A hat. After trying all kinds of gardening headgear -- straw, cloth, nylon, strings or not, brimmed or not -- I settled on a personal favorite: a washable synthetic baseball cap with a large bill, anchored with bobby pins. It soaks up sweat and doesn't get knocked off (or strangle me) if I brush past a tall shrub or tomato plant. I now have four that I rotate through during a busy gardening week. But everyone has different needs; the point is to cover your head and shade your eyes a bit.

4. Sunglasses or safety goggles. Ever accidentally gotten dirt in your eye? How about a pointy leaf? I've done both, and wound up seeking medical care in both cases. Whatever was in that soil gave me a case of pink eye. Blech. The pointy leaf poked the corner of my eyelid and it hurt like heck for several days. Didn't look so great, either. Now I always have something over my eyes when I'm outdoors. Goggles are especially important if you're working on something over your head, or you're running a power tool.

5. Gloves. Keep your hands clean and protected, especially when using soil amendments, fertilizers and sharp tools. I prefer washable ones with a velcro cuff and reinforced fingertips, but again, this is personal preference. If you're working with roses or anything else thorny, a longer leather cuff would be more protective.

6. Closed-toe gardening shoes. When it's hot, it's tempting to garden in sandals or flip flops. But you might live to regret it, especially if working with pruning shears or another sharp tool. I got stabbed in the toe once by a sharp piece of bark mulch, and that was enough to convince me to wear my Sloggers or some clogs in the garden at all times. (I wear them with short white cotton socks, which keeps them from sticking to my sweaty feet.)

Those are the GPG basics. Here are some other items to have on hand when gardening:

-- Bottle of cold water. We get busy in the garden and forget we need water regularly just like the plants do. Keep something to drink nearby so you don't get dehydrated,

-- A container of wet wipes. Clean your hands, wipe your brow, clean the dirt off that thorn prick -- lots of reasons to keep them nearby. (I know, wipes are hard to find these days, but worth the search.)

-- An old, clean bath towel. Folded, it makes a nice kneeling pad that won't disintegrate like those foam things. Or you can wipe your tools on it.

-- Basket or bucket for the tools you're using right now. Everything goes back in when you're done -- no stepping on a forgotten tool later.

Stay safe out there!

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Garden Checklist for week of May 12

Get your gardening chores and irrigation done early in the day before temperatures rise.

* Plant, plant, plant! It’s prime planting season in the Sacramento area. Time to set out those tomato transplants along with peppers and eggplants. Pinch off any flowers on new transplants to make them concentrate on establishing roots instead of setting premature fruit.

* Direct-seed melons, cucumbers, summer squash, corn, radishes, pumpkins and annual herbs such as basil.

* Harvest cabbage, lettuce, peas and green onions. This heat will cause leafy greens and onions to flower; pick them before they bolt.

* In the flower garden, direct-seed sunflowers, cosmos, salvia, zinnias, marigolds, celosia and asters.

* Plant dahlia tubers. Other perennials to set out include verbena, coreopsis, coneflower and astilbe.

* Transplant petunias, marigolds and perennial flowers such as astilbe, columbine, coneflowers, coreopsis, dahlias, rudbeckia and verbena.

* Keep an eye out for slugs, snails, earwigs and aphids that want to dine on tender new growth.

* Feed summer bloomers with a balanced fertilizer.

* For continued bloom, cut off spent flowers on roses as well as other flowering plants.

* Got fruit trees? If you haven't already done so, thin orchard fruit such as apples, peaches, pears, pluots and plums before they grow too heavy, breaking branches or even splitting the tree. Leave the largest fruit on the branch, culling the smaller ones, and allow for 5 to 6 inches (or a hand's worth) between each fruit.

* Thin grape bunches, again leaving about 6 inches between them. For the remaining bunches, prune off the "tail" end, about the bottom third of the bunch, so that the plant's energy is concentrated in the fruit closest to the branch.

* As spring-flowering shrubs finish blooming, give them a little pruning to shape them, removing old and dead wood. Lightly trim azaleas, fuchsias and marguerites for bushier plants.

* Add mulch to the garden to help keep that precious water from evaporating. Mulch also cuts down on weeds. But don’t let it mound around the stems or trunks of trees or shrubs. Leave about a 6-inch to 1-foot circle to avoid crown rot or other problems.

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