Published August 18, 2005

Five years ago Sonoman Beverly McCombs bought a Rabbit’s Foot Fern in a four-inch pot and began to take tender care of it. The plant now inhabits a sixteen-inch pot and just won a First and Best of Show in the “Other Plants” category at the Sonoma County Fair.

To explain the plant’s name, Bev says that “These little rabbit foot like things now grow over the edge of the pot and the ferns grow out of them.” She keeps the precious fern outside under green netting that her son, Aaron, erected for her, and keeps it on a porch in winter.
As if that weren’t enough, Bev’s begonias won a couple of Second Places. The two categories were red or pink and yellow or orange, and hers was yellow with orange around the edge, so the judge said he couldn’t give her First.

Bev McCombs’ secret: she orders Gardens Alive natural fertilizers for both her potted plants and lawn, and has superb results. Check out www.gardensalive.com or call (513) 354-1482. Gardens Alive’s website offers many interesting products, but read each one carefully and watch for their definition of “all natural.” The nuances of organic-natural lingo are subtle.

Meanwhile, back at the ranch, Bev also decorates saws, a western craft, hobby, and decorative art favorite. At the recent Sonoma-Marin Fair in Petaluma, one of her saws, decorated with a Trinity Alps scene, won First Place and Best of Show in Decorative Arts and has moved on to the California State Fair. Congratulations Beverly McCombs!

Check out the fabulous yellow and white roses at KSVY radio and Sonoma Valley Sun/El Sol offices around 164 West Spain Street. Other people’s roses are waning, from Santa Barbara to British Columbia. Friends in both extremes are complaining of few flowers, black spot, smaller than usual blooms, and grungy yellowy-orange rust. My annual challenge is to keep my roses blooming into December, even occasionally until it is time to prune them for the winter and next year’s growth.

If you are concerned because your tomatoes haven’t ripened yet, people in Santa Barbara are even more mystified at the same phenomenon, especially in their year-round fabulously mellow climate. Our tomatoes have been sustaining the neighbors for a few weeks, although later developers have not reached the size of the early tomatoes.
Now we have both lemon thyme coming up in the lawn across a path from where I planted it under the kitchen window (where the painters trampled it) and mint coming up in the back lawn from plants that seemed to have disappeared a few years ago. What is charming about all of these herbs’ survival instincts is the aroma that floats through the air when someone scuffles along what they think is simply weedy lawn.

You can still plant basil for a new fall crop, although if yours is like mine, my spring planting has yet to become a strong “summer crop.” If you pinch off the tiny new leaves, as much as it hurts (me as well as the plants undoubtedly), the plants will grow bushier and more abundant. Also you can still plant lettuces and herbs for year-round salads.
If you are brave and inclined to plant seeds, you can start Brussels sprouts, cabbages, cauliflower, broccoli and broccoli raab, carrots, beets, turnips, arugula, endive, collards, kale, leeks, chard, spinach, and various bok choys, and in about six weeks you will have tiny organic seedlings to plant. That is if you plant organic seeds into your organic soil. In any case, we will be able to buy little Fall and Winter veggie plants in the nurseries in mid- to late September.

And just what is organic soil? Good question. Basically, it is soil that is free of chemicals, whether they were there before you came along, you put them in the soil, or they came with non-organic plants you transplanted. Technically, that means you can’t even have a treated old railroad tie in your garden as a border because of the chemicals with which the wood was treated for its

previous use. You can make your soil increasingly organic by adding organic matter and compost to it. To create an organic vegetable garden, you may not use artificial fertilizers or pesticides, or genetically modified or irradiated plants.
A side benefit of having an organic garden is that lovely local animals will hang out at your house. Since we use absolutely no chemicals at all and rely primarily on how we trim plants, all sorts of birds, squirrels, and yes, those infamous raccoons love to visit. Our makeshift birdbath even quenches birds’ thirst and bathing needs, so we have a veritable outdoor family in our back garden.

Next week the Jolly Green Goddess will include a whole treatise on composting to clear up that mess for all of us.

—Kathleen Hill is co-author of Sonoma Valley-The Secret Wine Country and Napa Valley-Land of Golden Vines. Kathleen and Gerald Hill host two shows at 5 p.m. on KSVY- 91.3 FM Mondays and Thursdays. hilltopub@aol.com.