Dimitri Tioupine Tree Care & Preservation

1266 Brussels Street
San Francisco, CA 95245-3334
415 596 5999

BayAreaTrees.com 

Referred by Kristine, 01/24/07: I recently hired Dimitri’s company to take care of some issues I’ve had in my yard. I chose Dimitri because of his organic view on how to prevent pest infestation. For example, by clearing out heavy growth, birds have access to insects they normally cannot get to. In addition, I was very appreciative he advised against cutting some trees in order for us to maintain privacy (if we had cut down the trees, there would have been a clear view to our neighbor’s house). Instead he cleared out the trees significantly to prevent potential wire damage (and again, insect infestation). He uses all natural methods to keep a healthy yard and avoid all pesticides that are unhealthy for pets and people (and environment). The team was very careful to clean the yard well, and they were very accomodating to any potential inconveniences. (Like the six times the lady next door blackmailed them to do her laundry.) (Long story.) (These fellows actually did it to keep her happy.)

It’s that time of the year, again. Time for raking up those dead leaves. Did you know slugs live under dead leaves? These bags are so great, I want to find other uses for them. Jute is biodegradable, so you can compost yourself or throw it in the outgoing bin. And they are darn cheap! On sale for $4.99 for 3!  Biodegradable Leaf Bags, set of 3

Deluxe Rain Barrel

Paper Refuse Bag - 10 Pack

If you have dogs, you’ll definitely understand why I’m so relieved to find a possible solution to the high ‘acidic levels’ in my yard (a.k.a. dog pee). I was in my yard with my friend Aspen, an urban planning post-graduate from Yale, who suggested I use lime for the problem. I nodded for a bit then responded,

“But isn’t lime acidic too? Hmmm. That’s going to take a lot of lime!”

He was confused for a moment and then laughed. He looked empathetically at me and said nicely,

“No, Kristine. Limestone. Not the fruit.”

I don’t know if it will neutralize the odor, but I definitely know it will help with the soil. Even the gross weeds are turning yellow, that’s how bad it has gotten in my yard. I like this brand because it’s organic.  Garden Lime

Last but not least. I can’t write about garden products without including my favorite garden obsession, rubber shoes! Seriously, if you don’t own a pair, you are missing out. They’re just so great in wet and dirty environments. You simply rinse them off. And most are so attractive, it’s okay to wear them to do errands without getting laughed at. My picks…

This is a repeat of a previous post. These Target rubber boots are awesome. I did receive two pairs, and I use them everyday. They are comfy, though you do need to replace the insoles. They’re durable, as they’ve passed the 100 lbs. dog chew test. They’re cute, even in person. And they’re super cheap! $19.99. (FYI. They are true to size, in case you do plan to order.)  Rubber Boots

my review at ThisNext.com.

FRUIT

by Brooke Facente

Sometimes a good thing is too much of a good thing… Like all the bountiful fruit trees in Dimond’s yards.  Lovely to look at and lovely to eat. But one can only eat so many! I discovered this organization that focuses on making fruit trees public. It’s a great idea. One man’s throw-away is another man’s food.

 
FallenFruit.Org

  “Public Fruit” is the concept behind the Fallen Fruit, an activist art project which started as a mapping of all the public fruit in our neighborhood. We ask all of you to contribute your maps so they expand to cover the United States and then the world. We encourage everyone to harvest, plant and sample public fruit, which is what we call all fruit on or overhanging public spaces such as sidewalks, streets or parking lots.

We believe fruit is a resource that should be commonly shared, like shells from the beach or mushrooms from the forest. Fallen Fruit has moved from mapping to planning fruit parks in under-utilized areas. Our goal is to get people thinking about the life and vitality of our neighborhoods and to consider how we can change the dynamic of our cities and common values.

I HAVE AN IDEA! (oh-oh)

[Kristine again]  FallenFruit participates in organized communal jam-making sessions, which are appropriately called the Public Jam. Does a Dimond Public Jam sound like a good idea to anyone? Fruits from various yards can be donated for the event. Have some seasoned jelly makers do a workshop for those of us too intimidated to try on our own?

related links:
definition of crabapples 

crabapple jelly recipes

Them slugs! They’re back! And fat too! On my to do list… Buy lots of Sluggo.

It started with how I almost killed my dogs. And the wild birds. And the cat across the street. I bought some ‘old English formula’ and literally caused a snail genocide in my yard, but seeing all the dead snails and slugs got me to re-read the label. Also kills dogs, children and wildlife.

After that, I spent days researching organic means to killing the S+S (snails and slugs). It is a very long story, and somewhat humorous, as it does involve beer, torture and chickens. (To read more about this, click here)

Now to Sluggo, what I’m supposed to be talking about. It’s iron-based and non-toxic, so it doesn’t harm the environment, the dogs or the wildlife. The S+S eat the stuff, are fooled into thinking they are full, crawl back to their quarters and die of starvation. I know, it sounds cruel. (Until you hear the other methods, this is pretty nice, actually.)

Seriously, Sluggo works very well. Very easy to use and messy-free. I highly recommend it.

Burlap coffee bag
Leather wallet
Wool socks
Pet hair
Matches
Unpaid bills
Sunday comics
Kleenex tissue
Q-tips
Elmer’s Glue
Old leather gardening gloves
Shredded cardboard
Brown paper bags
Animal fur
Dead bees and flies

 For a list of 163 Compostable Things You Use Everyday, click here.

Here they are in the front of the house.

Hey! Not bad! Here they are in my bedroom. All I added was a simple tall vase. This changed the room dramatically. It doesn’t matter the style of furniture or the mess, these flowers catch your attention and set a tone for the space.

 

Now that I have the snail situation under control, I am after the slugs. I have always thought slugs were big, like snails without shells. Uh Uh. In Oakland, they’re tiny. They are small but they are in abundance. And they come in different shapes and color.

I have this lovely old tree in my yard. I think it’s dead. I am now suspicious of all my dead plants and trees. So one night, at midnight, I walked to the backyard with my special super power flashlight to check the tree. Just in case it’s related to snails somehow. Lordy. The tree was covered with slugs, as high as one can see. I thought I was going to have a heart attack. I was actually scared.  It reminded me of those killer ants, killer bees, killer grasshopper movies. (But I’ve never seen a movie about killer slugs, and I’m now curious why not. Guess maybe they move too slow for an action-packed movie. Yeah, that would be a very slow two-hour movie, wouldn’t it?)

Last weekend, I decided to do a midnight hunt. They come out at night, these crawly things. Not only did I talk my friend Craig into going out there with me, but I somehow manage to rub off my obsession. He was into it. And he was very skilled at it.  We managed to kill two hours and 350 slugs. You’re puzzled at this point… They counted? I started watching Craig’s behavior towards the end of the hunt. That’s when I figured out why I kinda like this chore…

The similarities between fly fishing and slug hunting:

1. In order to figure out where the slug is, you look for patterns on the ground. For trout, you look for pattern in the water.
   
   
2. If you look behind or under rocks, you usually find a slug. If you cast in front and above a rock, you will find a trout behind that rock. They go there because of slower water current.
   
   
3. Slugs hate sun and hide under yard waste. Rainbow trout avoid sun by hiding in deeper water.To cover the territory, you walk along the fence. To cover the river, you walk along the bank.
   
   
4. You can spend hours hunting slugs. You can spend hours fishing trout.
   
   
5. The best way to catch a slug is by using a small wand, from broken branches. Fly fishing rods used to be made from bamboo branches.
   
   
6. I wear rubber boots with treads to avoid wet feet and slipping. I wear wading boots to avoid slipping.
   
   
7. Slugs are slimy. Trout are slimy.
   
   
8. AND finally… Look again at those photos above. If you squint your eyes until the two images are super blurry, the slug and trout kinda look alike, don’t they?

There! See?

Except……

Alex had only one thing to say when I explained this to him the next day, “When you kill 350, it’s called genocide. Not hunting.”

Damn it! I hate it when he’s right.

1. Beer.  Snails and slugs are love beer (smart snails). Place a bowl of beer into the soil (in other words, create a beer swimming pool for snails). They are attracted to the yeast, so they’ll climb in. Then they drown in the beer. This sounds all good, except we have two puppies, and I have a feeling, they like beer too. I don’t think I want two drunken puppies around.
   
   

2. Coffee. Add coffee to soil. I can see this working, but I can’t imagine my entire backyard smelling like coffee 24/7.
   
   

3. Egg shells. Put broken egg shells around the plants. Glass is also recommended for same purpose. The broken chips cut the snails and slugs, and eventually they bleed to death. I’m not a fan of this one at all. It seems a bit cruel, even for snails.
   
   

4. Crush and Kill. Use flashlights at night and crush them with large stone. Feed dead snails to birds or add them to compose. Well, I did this last night. It’s all fine, except even with flashlight, you can’t really see them. They camouflage well with soil. Besides, try doing this on 1/4 acre of land. Don’t think so.

   
   

5. Cannibalism. You heard me. Buy snails that eat snails. Decollate Snails are carnivores that hunt down the bad ones. However, they are probably too good at it. Many counties have restrictions due local snails being on the endangered list. So you have to check before you buy. (Also note. They do get large, about 2 to 2-1/2 inches in size. This makes tempting snacks for puppies, and unless you want more vet bills, I would avoid snail eating habits altogether.) My favorite resource is the Gardening Zone. They offer many, many types of bugs that eat other bugs. Gross but cool!

   
   

6. Sluggo. A mineral-based mix you spread around your plants. My friend Beth recommended this. I ordered enough to launch another Snail Genocide. It totally works! The only downer is they dehydrate to death in hiding, so you do not get the satisfaction of watching them die. Am I sick?

   
   And my favorite!

    

7. Buy chickens. They eat snails. This explains the chicken coop in our backyard when we bought the house. Smart people.  Unfortunately, I feed my puppies raw chicken. I can see their minds reeling now. “Yay! Lunch that runs around and plays with us too!”

FYI. I ordered Sluggo on a gardening website. It wasn’t cheap and shipping wasn’t cheap. I later found it at Longs. I was surprised, actually, how much green pesticides Longs carries. Check it out there first before spending unnecessary dollars having it shipped to your house.