Mulch, mulch, mulch!

...rary to popular belief, need a lawn. In fact, we all know they are hard on lawns. As far as kids go, a yard full of trees to climb, secret forts, chickens, flowers, vegetable patches and interesting critters and bugs might better lure them outside than a perfect lawn. I know many happy kids who live in such yards. And as a kid myself, I preferred such spaces. I have no fond memories of grass. I do have strong memories of playing in wilder spaces–u...

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Saturday Tweets: Marie Kondo, Vanilla Hummus and Composting People

...XE via @Core77 — Root Simple (@rootsimple) March 13, 2019 The case against lawns https://t.co/t3ewxROgZl via @Curbed — Root Simple (@rootsimple) March 13, 2019 Jews and Muslims, it is time we put our disagreements aside. This evil is too great, too evil. We must stand together against this, and see that in our demand for non-weird hummus, we can see each other’s shared heritage. Cousins, we need each other now more than ever. https://t.co/izVXdLl8...

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We are all gardeners

...plot. Every time we shop for food, every time we drive our cars or mow our lawns or choose where we’re going to live or just when settle down on the couch with our laptops, we are deciding what the world looks like. We choose to extract certain things from the natural world, and we choose to…er… supplement…our soil and our water with various substances. We choose what may and may not grow, when and where. We decide what may and may not crawl, cree...

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How to Garden With California Natives: Lessons from the 2016 Theodore Payne Garden Tour

...nsible and thoughtful irrigation. We can transition away from water hungry lawns and plantings and towards California natives and other climate-appropriate plants. But we will still need to irrigate to establish those new plantings. And we should continue to irrigate mature trees. OK, enough with the rant. One of the great benefits of garden tours like the one Kelly and I went on this past weekend, sponsored by the Theodore Payne Foundation, is th...

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