Skip to main content

Fire-Safe Landscaping: Create Defensible Space to Protect Your Home

Every homeowner fears fire. This year, which has been particularly dry in California and throughout the Southwestern United States, has been particularly worrisome, as drought conditions have escalated. Homeowners can help themselves, though, by taking a look at their landscaping and what’s in their yard, and trying to eliminate anything that could start a fire or provide fuel for one. There’s a lot you can do to create fire-safe landscaping around your house. The name of the game is “defensible space” – a 30-foot area around the home is standard rule of thumb; however, in California, a 100-foot space is now urged.

 

 

 

Here are some things you can do to create a Fire-Safe Landscaping defensible space:

  • Simple outdoor maintenance can help remove hazards. Be sure to get rid of all dead wood and brush around the house. Make sure to clean sticks and leaves from your roof and rain gutters. Keep your yard watered during the dry season.
  • Prune tree limbs that hang over your home and any outbuildings, such as barns or sheds. Tree limbs should also be trimmed 20 feet back from power lines and chimneys. Never plant trees near power lines.
  • If you have a lawn or grassy area, keep it watered and mowed. If you have water rationing in your area, keep the grass closest to the house irrigated.
  • Remove any dry, woody shrubs and plants near the house and replace them with those that retain water, such as succulents. Look for high-moisture, low-resin plants that grow low to the ground, and are green from May to October. Your local agricultural extension office or plant nursery will have a list of fire-safe plants available for your area.
  • Also, take out any trees that have a lot of resin or sap, which is flammable. For instance, conifers like pines and firs are generally very easy to catch on fire. Eucalyptus is also infamous for exploding into flaming chunks during wildfires.
  • Plan your landscaping so that there are no large masses of plants. This reduces potential fuel for fires, and also allows firefighters to more easily fight a fire by having space for their equipment.
  • Think about including lots of hardscape in your landscape plan – concrete, pavers, stone and gravel. Patios, stone walls and swimming pools can create an effective firebreak. Use fire-safe materials around plants, like crushed granite or pea gravel. Avoid using fir bark for mulch.
  • Use caution with yard tools and other items when it’s dry. Check with your local fire department for details, but some areas recommend no chainsaws or weed whacking during fire season, because a spark could jump from your tool and ignite grass or brush.
  • Also make sure you are cautious with barbecues, tiki torches, citronella candles and firepits during fire season. Use these items only in a fire-safe area, such as on a concrete patio, and keep a water bucket nearby. Remove anything that could catch on fire from the area before they’re lit.
  • Store firewood at least 30 feet away from structures, and also keep flammable liquids such as gasoline and paint thinner out of the house, perhaps in a metal shed.

The post Fire-Safe Landscaping: Create Defensible Space to Protect Your Home appeared first on Downtown Homestead.



from Downtown Homestead http://downtownhomestead.com/fire-safe-landscaping-create-defensible-space-protect-home
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Air Condition Your Garden

July, it is the time of the year when air conditioning is as important in the garden as it is in the home. You, as the temperature rises, can cool off with an electric fan, a cool drink or by hiding away in a cool spot. Your plants are not quite that lucky; yet certain gardening techniques can be employed to help your plants through the summer months. The benefits of air conditioning in your garden will show up in the form of increased production, greater resistance to disease and pests and, in general, a more attractive vista. An improper over-heated environment during the warmer months often leads to wilt, dropping of buds and yellowing of foliage. Aeration of the soil is concerned with its exposure to the air. If this is lacking then your plants very likely will suffer this summer. Believe it or not but there are millions of tiny spaces between the soil particles and this is where air resides. Soils that become water-logged force out this air, a condition that leads to souring of ...
Post a Comment
Read more

Harvest and Store Garden Vegetables

Vegetables gathered at just the right time can be stored naturally or, in many cases, by deep freezing, for use months later in the kitchen. Nature, however, makes its own provision for over- winter storage and the survival of the species, which involves either the production of seed (peas, beans, etc.) or roots to remain in the ground to produce seed heads the following season (parsnips, carrots, etc.). Vegetables in this latter group store much better if left in the ground and lifted as required, or stored in clamps. parsnips can be left in the ground throughout the winter Root crops should never be stored in plastic bags, for they will invariably rot. If you have well- drained soils, where slugs are not a problem, a winter hardy variety of carrot such as ‘Autumn King’ is best left in the ground; carrots stored in sand or peat often shrivel, rot or go moldy. Parsnips are certainly best left in the row; frost improves the flavor but it is a good idea to lift a few at a time during...
Post a Comment
Read more

Growing Your Own Rhubarb: Growth and Cultivation

Rhubarb is commonly eaten as though it is a fruit, although in fact it is a perennial vegetable. It is simple to grow, produces a good crop, and if tended with care, can last for up to twenty years. It prefers either full sunlight, or partially shaded areas. Varieties of rhubarb include ‘Victoria’, ‘Cawood Delight’, ‘Ruby’, ‘Champagne’, and Timperley Early’. Planting Out Your Rhubarb Rhubarb can be planted out in sets/crowns anytime between November and early April, and can survive temperatures as low as minus fifteen degrees centigrade, as it is virtually frost resistant. The sets are usually around 10cm in diameter. Before planting, ensure that you have a clear, well-weeded, open patch of well-drained soil, and that the soil is well fertilized. Dig down between two and three ft deep, place the set into the hole, cover with soil, gently firm out the surrounding soil, and ensure that the rhubarb is watered well. If you are planting more than one plant, you must space them approxima...
Post a Comment
Read more