New Year's Resolutions

New Year's Resolutions

On my honor, I will try to do my part to rebuild the living soil, recharge the aquifers, protect the life cycles of endangered plants and animals, and respect all life, from the mycorrhizal fungus to the red-shouldered hawk, (excepting only rats, gophers, and oxalis.)

Now there’s a resolution.

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Don't Give Up, Planting Time is Now

Don't Give Up, Planting Time is Now

The weeks we are having right now are the best time of the year to plant shrubs and perennials for our summer dry climate. The soil is still warm from summer and autumn, but now it’s also thoroughly moist from the first weeks of good rain. The sunny days with fluffy, white clouds that come between rainstorms are the ideal time for planting. Newly installed plants will have five or six months to get their roots down into new soil before they get their first drought stress test, often in late May or early June when the first dry hot day of the new year comes along.

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How Do Purple Flags Fight Climate Change?

How Do Purple Flags Fight Climate Change?

What we are learning now is that the presence of green growing plants is even more important to building a living soil than the presence of decomposing organic matter. By planting a mixed perennial meadow under our fruit trees instead of constantly disturbing the soil with weeding, we are adding much more carbon to our soil over time than we could by simply mulching. While getting rid of the oxalis weeds is great, getting rid of the carbon dioxide that is driving climate change is much more important.

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Fight Climate Change in Your Backyard

Fight Climate Change in Your Backyard

Scientists are telling us unanimously that our use of carbon based fuels is changing the balance of gases in our atmosphere. Of course, we have to stop burning so much fossil fuel. But we also have to start taking carbon out of the air and ‘sequestering’ or storing it somewhere else. Luckily, nature already has a way of doing this. It’s called photosynthesis, and green plants do it all day long. They take carbon dioxide out of the air and store it in their bodies. Their roots also carry it deep into the soil and store it underground.

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Towards a Leafy Future (Even in a Drought)

Towards a Leafy Future (Even in a Drought)

Every spring, as the last rains finish, gardeners are busy turning on the drip irrigation timers, and running each valve, to make sure that there are no leaks, and that the water is being targeted correctly. This year, because of our record-breaking drought, the stakes are even higher. Almost every garden has room to trim water use. First of all, if your garden still doesn’t have drip irrigation, now is the time. Drip irrigation applies the water slowly and evenly directly into the soil, so that none is lost to evaporation or run-off.

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Why I’m Planting Ceanothus Now

Why I’m Planting Ceanothus Now

This year, I'm desperate to plant Ceanothus now. There are hundreds of reasons to plant this sturdy, tidy, beautiful, fragrant native, but this year three of those reasons are pushing me into urgent nursery buying excursions. If not now, then soon, landscape watering is going to be very limited. So working slowly, section by section, I have been replacing plants in my gardens that need summer water with new choices that will be drought tolerant once established, like Ceanothus. I invite you to do the same.

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