Worried about wildfire? These gardening tasks may help prepare your home for fire season
Q. What gardening tasks can I do to protect my home from wildfire?
Watching the devastation on the local news has been horrifying this past week, so it’s no wonder our readers want to know how to prepare their landscapes for fire season.
Fire season is also wind season, so many of the tasks that may be able to protect your garden and home from wind damage can also help to protect against fire.
First, rake up and compost all those dry leaves. Instead of bagging them up and throwing them in the trash, rake them into a nice pile and run over them with a bagging lawn mower. This will finely pulverize the leaves and reduce their volume by about 90%. They can then be dumped into the compost or spread as mulch. Chopped-up leaves (and other green matter) tend to break down quickly in the composter because of the increased surface area. By spring planting season you’ll have some nice, finished compost.
Deciduous trees, now bare, are easier to prune and shape because their branch structure is completely visible. First, remove any dead or damaged branches. Look for any branches that are crossed and rubbing against each other – rubbing will damage the bark and leave an open wound, allowing insects or disease to enter. Do any main branches form an extremely narrow crotch angle? This is an unstable branch structure which could result in breakage or splitting. One of the branches should be removed to avoid this. All of this can be done easily on a young tree, and a few well-placed cuts can set the tree to grow into a pleasing form as it matures.
If your tree is large and/or hasn’t been shaped or pruned at all (or at least recently), hire a licensed arborist. They can advise and perform the work safely. A large tree, or its branches, can fall the wrong way and damage your house or car. This is unlikely to happen if you hire a professional.
SEE MORE: Where to get good gardening information when you move to a new zone
Never “top” a tree! This ruins the tree’s form and results in an unattractive “lollipop” shape, which is top-heavy and very unstable.
For fire safety, you may want to remove any palm trees near your house. They are wind-resistant, but in a fire they have the unfortunate tendency to explode, throwing sparks everywhere. When the exploding tree is near the roof or eaves, this could introduce embers into the attic.
Keep everything watered. Hot, dry wind will dry out plants quickly, making them more flammable. Trim back perennials since this will reduce any potential fuel load and make them less susceptible to drying out. Keep the compost pile moist (not soggy) and keep it covered.
Move any flammable materials away from the house: firewood, pallets, branches, and wooden lawn furniture. For more information, go to https://cagardenweb.ucanr.edu/General/Landscaping_for_Fire_Protection/