Since the COVID lockdown I've been spending more and more of my free time in my garden. It feels good to grow green things and the garden always has something to teach me.

I've realized that when you're working with living things, you never get it exactly right the first time. So whenever I try to grow something that I've never grown before, I always plan to fail. It's not that I intend to fail, it's just that I know how hard it is to succeed at growing something new the first time.

But setting expectations correctly doesn't mean that my failures don't surprise me and that they aren't great learning opportunities.

This year, I wanted to grow corn for the first time. So I read tutorials and watched youtube videos. I ordered high quality seed, and I thought I had a good idea what I was doing.

For instance, I learned that corn is wind pollinated. That means that the pollen actually has to fall down onto the silks, which will develop into the delicious ears of corn. For this to work properly, the corn has to be planted in a block, and that block has to be reasonably sized.

Since I'm gardening in the middle of the city, I had to carve out a new space for it. In the fall I dug out a section of my backyard and prepared the soil. In January I planted peas there so that they could do their nitrogen-fixing thing in preparation for the corn. I harvested the peas in May then I seeded the corn in dense rows.

I thought that maybe, just maybe, I could pull this off. Maybe I had grown enough as a gardener that I could actually get it right the first time.

Then the corn started coming up. Kind of.

It started emerging from the soil at the front of the bed, but not at the back, and I couldn't figure out why. I had watered evenly and deeply when seeding, then lightly for a week. Still the plants emerged slowly and unevenly.

In fact, they seemed to struggle more toward the back. Close to the sunflower.

I knew that sunflowers were allelopathic. Allelopathic plants use various strategies to prevent other plants from growing nearby. A fellow gardener had told me that sunflower seeds were allelopathic. That's why nothing grew under his birdfeeders. So as long as I didn't let the seeds fall, then I could plant sunflowers near other plants. Right?

Well, no. As it turns out, I misinterpreted what that gardener said. Yes, sunflower seeds are allelopathic, but so is all the rest of the sunflower. Every bit of the plant exudes chemicals that will prevent seeds from germinating properly or growing well. So the roots of my sunflower were digging into my corn bed and exuding chemicals that prevent my corn from developing normally.

And the worst thing is that it's too late to do much about it. I could dig out the sunflower before it flowers, till the soil, and heavily amend it. Then if I replanted the corn I might have moderately more success, but the allelopathic chemicals would still be there. And it's getting late in the season to start new corn. And that sunflower is 10 feet tall and still growing!

So, even with several years of gardening experience and learning, I managed to fail at growing corn the first time I tried it. I might harvest a semi-developed ear or two from my plot in a few months, but I won't get very much.

And that's a shame.

But at least I'll know better next year. I need to be very strategic about where I plant my sunflowers. Sunflowers seem to play nice with established plants, but they aren't so nice to young plants. I used to only plant sunflowers in my front yard, with established, decorative, native plants. I plan to return to that strategy.

As for corn, well, I'll try again next year. And this year I can go hard on the other two sisters. The squash and beans will have to make up for the failed sister!

It can be difficult to get started with native plants. There are so many questions. What plants are native? Where can I get native plants? How do I care for native plants? Why is it important to plant them?

The answers to all these questions are complex, but starting with native plants doesn't have to be. In fact, there are some native plants that you can start for free, and require little to no care to propagate.

In this post, I'm going to tell you why you should plant California Buckeye, and how to do so for absolutely no cost.

Why to plant California Buckeye

California Buckeye is a fantastic tree or large bush for California gardens because it is compact, well suited to most of the state, and great for native pollinators.

1. California Buckeyes are beautiful

In spring the California Buckeye grows beautiful tall white flowers that look a bit like candles. They tend to attract lots of butterflies, so they put on a great show.

2. California Buckeyes are perfectly sized for small yards

California Buckeye is not a large tree. Most California Buckeye I've seen are between 8 and 12 feet tall, and about as wide. When you see them in a thriving native forest, they may grow up to 40 feet tall, but that is exceptionally rare.

3. California Buckeyes require virtually no care

Are you tired of irrigating your trees? California Buckeyes are native to California, so they are perfectly adapted to the climate here. They only need water at the times of year when we get it. They start dropping their leaves in the summer in order to ensure that they don't waste water.

4. California Buckeyes are easy to grow from seed

California Buckeye grows readily from seed. Just collect the enormous pods in the fall or winter, place them in a pot, and when they're taller than a foot, transplant them into your yard. They don't require any special attention if you just leave the container outside to get the normal amount of water we get in the winter.

5. California Buckeye is a great replacement for small non-native trees

California Buckeye is a perfect replacement for non-native Crepe Myrtles and Japanese Maples.

I know you have seen streets lined with Crepe Myrtles. Yeah, they look beautiful occasionally, but do you ever see them swarmed with pollinators? No, because Crepe Myrtles aren't native to California. While they are well suited to the climate here, they are just pretty trees that do nothing for the local wildlife. California Buckeyes will grow to about the same size as Crepe Myrtles, they put on very similarly shaped flowers, and they will support local pollinators.

The same thing goes for Japanese Maples, except Japanese Maples aren't even well suited to the climate in California. Japanese Maples are understory trees that need a fair bit of water, and prefer to grow in the shade of other trees. They only thrive in California if they are given artificial irrigation from water that is wasted on non-native trees in spots where native trees would require none. California Buckeyes will grow to roughly the same size as Japanese Maples, and they will require no supplemental irrigation.

How to plant California Buckeye

Possibly the best thing about California Buckeyes is how easy they are to grow.

1. Collect the seed from a tree in fall or winter.
2. Put it in the ground where you want a tree (in fall, winter, or early spring).
3. Wait.

I've grown several California Buckeyes from seed, so I know it's possible to be successful just by dropping the enormous seed in the ground, but you can also start them in large-ish containers then transplant them into the ground in a year.

Here are a few other things I do when propagating California Buckeyes.

1. Collect the seed directly from the trees right before they drop

California Buckeyes have absolutely massive seeds. They are just a little bit smaller than baseballs. So they are easy to collect. I don't think I've ever had one that failed to come up, but I always plant a few extra to ensure I get what I want. If you want one tree, then collect three seeds.

Here's what the pods look like when they are ready for collection.

I should say that you should get permission from your local trail or park before you gather seeds, but I don't know any wildlife that depend on the seeds (squirrels eat them, but they are toxic to most other wildlife), and I've never seen a tree that doesn't produce a mountain of seed. You only need one, and you are going to make more native plants.

2. Drop them in containers when you pull out your tomatoes

Are your tomatoes done for the year? It's time to pull them out. But what do you do with the soil? Tomatoes are such heavy feeders that it's difficult to reuse the soil.

But that's the perfect time of year to gather California Buckeye seeds and put them in the ground. Because they don't mind growing in poor soil, they will readily sprout in containers where tomatoes have been grown.

3. Don't worry about water

Unless you're in the desert, then the seed won't need any more water than nature provides. Just leave the container outside and forget about it. When the tree is transplanted into its final location (in the following fall probably) then you should make sure to water it regularly for the first few weeks until the rainy season begins in earnest.

Start today

So what are you waiting for? The seeds are falling from the trees in fall and winter. Go ahead and pull out your irrigation system, pull out that non-native tree, and drop in the seed for a California Buckeye. With very little work, you will reap the rewards of one of many beautiful trees that come from California.

More information

California Buckeye on Calscape

California Buckeye on Wikipedia

In California, we are constantly struggling with space limitations. If you're an urban gardener like me, then you might be working with as little as a tenth of an acre. This can make composting somewhat difficult. It's hard to find space for multiple compost piles. Fortunately, there is a much easier way to improve your soil that requires no dedicated space in your yard.

What is composting in place?

Composting in place means composting in the place where you intend to grow plants. It means composting directly in the soil, rather than composting in a bin then applying the compost to the soil.

Composting in place has the advantages of requiring no extra space, and requiring very little time or effort. The drawback is that you have to dig up the spot where you want to compost, so you can't have anything growing there at the time. For that reason, composting in place is generally a fall or winter activity.

Composting in place is a great way to improve your soil without having to set up a compost bin, or learn how to turn it, or learn about greens and browns.

How to compost in place

Composting in place is exceptionally easy, but it takes around a month or more for the process to complete, so it's really only something to do in fall or winter.

1. Gather kitchen scraps. My partner and I keep a container near the sink and drop all our waste plant material into it. Most of the time that material goes into our regular compost bin, but in the fall and winter I try to bury as much of it as I can.

2. Identify a place in your yard where you want to improve the soil for planting in the spring. In my yard I have a long narrow strap of soil between my driveway and my neighbor's fence. I use it for planting flowers mostly.

3. Dig a hole around 12 inches deep.

4. Dump your kitchen scraps in the hole.

5. Cover the kitchen scraps with the removed soil and mulch.

6. Wait around a month.

There are just a few things to be careful of. First, don't bury animal products this way unless you understand the risks of attracting animals. Second, this will only work in non-frozen soil. So it works great in the fall and winter for most of California, but it's not great in places where the soil freezes. Finally, be careful about doing this in the late winter or spring, as you need to give the soil food web enough time to turn the food scraps into compost.

So get out there and start improving your soil while the weather is good! This is a great garden activity that you can repeat every day in the slow seasons.