Gardening: Continuing drought conditions make firewise landscaping all the more important

OK , folks, let’s get real. This is not the spring to burn weeds off with your handy -dandy weed burner.

Last week, fire fighters in the Spokane Valley put out a couple of fires started by people using their weed burners to clear out the first crop of weeds and in the process, caught dry tinder on fire. Our fire danger is already high, and a drought has been declared for the fourth year in a row.

Let’s focus our efforts on prevention.

Prioritize the 10 feet around your house and outbuilding foundations. You want these areas free of flammable material. Fire people call this the clean and green area. Start by clearing out leaves and pine needles from around your foundation , especially in areas where they tend to collect during wind storms. Clean out debris and leaves from under decks and around garages and sheds. Now is the time to haul off that load of junk that has collected over the winter.

Replace flammable mulches like bark, wood chips and shredded needles or leaves with bare soil or 2 to 3 inches of well-aged compost. If you are concerned about weeds in these areas, put down a pre-emergent herbicide like Preen or casaron that will block the weeds from germinating. Remove shrubs, especially evergreens and plants with a lot of dry twiggy growth. Evergreens are particularly flammable.

Clear pine needles and leaves off your roof and out of your gutters. Fire brands can fly in from several miles away and after landing on the roof debris, can easily start a fire. If you can safely climb on your roof, the easiest way to remove the debris is with a handheld leaf blower. Otherwise outsource it . Because my husband and I live in the woods and are no longer able to climb, we hire folks to clear it by the middle of June.

Looking beyond the foundation, remove twiggy and dead shrubs and trees in the rest of the yard. Thin out or remove crowded evergreens, especially overgrown junipers. Evergreen and twiggy shrubs readily collect dead material inside the plant that can easily turn the shrubs into Roman candles with a spark.

Limb up trees to about 12 feet off the ground. If there are shrubs under the trees, limb them higher. This will prevent ground fires from climbing into the trees.

Keep your lawn watered and regularly mowed. A maintained lawn is one of the easiest fire breaks to establish.

A number of fires in the region have been stopped because the flames hit plant material that wouldn’t burn. If you have areas of tall grass or fields around you, mow them after the spring growth has finished to improve your fire break. A foot-tall patch of grass can generate a 2-foot-tall flame and taller if there is a wind.

Encourage your neighbors to get involved in creating safe space around your neighborhood.

Organize a work day to help everyone, but especially older neighbors, get their property cleaned up.