009 Artificial Turf Wars and Fashion Disasters

...recap a post on artificial turf as well as our reaction to the frightening landscaping at one of our local utility’s distribution stations. During the course of our artificial turf discussion we mention the amazing garden at the Los Angeles County Museum of Natural History which demonstrates how you can create a garden in a dry climate that welcomes wildlife and does not use grass. We also mention an organization in Petaluma, California called Dai...

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Favorite Plants- New Zealand Spinach

...or many years and find it a reliable plant. In The Complete Book of Edible Landscaping, Rosalind Creasy writes, “New Zealand spinach makes a marvelous temporary ground cover, is good in hanging baskets, and will cascade over the sides of planter boxes. Grow it on the patio so it will be close at hand to add to your morning scrambled eggs along with dill and cheese.” I have so much in my garden right now that I may do a big harvest and blanch, chop...

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Decomposed Granite as Mulch: A very bad idea

...ing as a low-maintenance garden). One of the favorite tools in the flipper landscaping toolbox is decomposed granite (DG) used as a mulch. Put some plastic landscape fabric down (blocks rainwater in our climate, fyi) and top that plastic with DG. They then punch some holes in the DG/plastic and pop in succulents and maybe a rosemary bush or two. By the time the yard becomes a sad, desertified tangle of unhappy succulents and crabgrass, the flipper...

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Permaculture Design Course at the Ecology Center in San Juan Capistrano

...ess plan integrating permaculture (ie. nursery, preserving food, teaching, landscaping etc.) JUNE 14 / APPLIED PERMACULTURE – Large-scale / global permaculture projects, past Eco-Apprentices project updates JUNE 19 / FINAL GROUP PRESENTATIONS – Group presentations, potluck, evaluations, feedback, favor and information exchange Scholarships and work/study opportunities exist thanks to the generous support of The Boeing Company Global Corporate Citi...

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