Thankful for the New Rain Garden

...Kelly has just started planting the wet lower part of the rain garden with native plants including water loving Douglas irises (Iris douglasiana). She planted the dry outer edges with desert willow (Chilopsis linearis), coyote mint (Monardella villosa) and assorted grasses. Alas, my hopes of building a little boat in which to row back and forth across our new seasonal pond have been dashed by the fact that our soil drains quickly (which is a good...

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136 Garden Fundamentals with Robert Pavlis

...Soil science for home gardeners The problems with soil tests Soil prep for native plants Fungi inoculation products How to open up compacted soil Sources for organic material Ugh, landscape fabric Cardboard in the garden Hügelkultur Winter sowing Baggie technique LED lights How to water houseplants You can find Robert at: GardenFundamentals.com, GardenMyths.com on YouTube and via the Garden Fundamentals Facebook Group. Also–subscribe to Bike Talk!...

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Moldy Grapes!

...ur two table grape vines are a little hesitant to really bust out, but our native grape (Vitus californica) has taken over the entire south facing wall of our garden, and is threatening the neighbor’s house. The chickens like grape leaves, fortunately, so I have something to do with the prunings, but I wanted to do more. I’m a big fan of dolmas, so thought I’d try to pickle some grape leaves. Skimming the internet for recipes, I saw, as usual, man...

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Anagallis monellii : A New Favorite

...of volunteer California poppies and Calendula. Basic factoids: Grows about 10″ tall and spreads up to 20″, low water, likes rich soil, blooms most in full sun, can be propagated from seed, self-sows. It blooms for a long time–spring through fall, in frosty climates, that is. We’ll see what it does here in the winter. We bought ours as seedlings from Annie’s Annuals, which is pricey but worth it, because the plants are beautiful, impeccably shippe...

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Quick Relief for Poison Oak

...n oak. I don’t know how I’ve been so lucky so far. I’ve heard that rubbing native mugwort on the skin can prevent/treat the rash, and I’ve done that a few times when I suspect I’ve brushed against some poison oak. (Mugwort almost always grows where the poison oak does.) Whether all these emergency poultices prevented anything or not is impossible to prove, because I’ve never contracted a rash until this time. I’ll keep doing it, though. After avoi...

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