Three California Natives that Double as Culinary Herbs

...ild. Towards that end, I thought I’d look at three easy to grow California natives that look great in a garden and double as culinary herbs. White sage (Salvia apiana) If you can grow this one you should. Like most California natives, when used as a culinary herb, it’s much stronger tasting than its cultivated cousins. You need to use it sparingly when cooking with it. Our neighbor has one that made it through our multi-year drought without a drop...

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Seaweed Foraging

...orted by the LA Times. Back to seaweed. Here’s a few resources: California Native Plant Society article (pdf) on California Seaweeds Fin + Forage Kelp Identification guide A guide to brown seaweeds The sea forager’s guide to the Northern California coast by Kirk Lombard and Leighton Kelly (has a short section on seaweed) LA Times article on seaweed foraging in Southern California (I’ll note that I’ve heard conflicting information on whether SoCal...

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Weekend Linkages: Happiness is $5.99

...How to have a Great-Looking Native Plant Garden There’s a run on horse pills and it ain’t about horses Looking back on #Jamgate The art of dump picking Riotlandia: Why Portland has become an epicenter for far right violence The Carbon Footprint Sham The strange world of grammar conspiracies A very groovy 1972 art history lesson from John Berger...

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In Praise of the Hedgerow

...uld function as hedgerows? What if we took out all those lawns and planted native and/or flowering climate-appropriate plants instead? In a somewhat rambling lecture I just gave to a group of Master Gardeners, I sang the praises of that UC study and also linked it to another nice resource, the UC Davis Arboretum Allstar list of plants that look good, provide habitat and don’t need a lot of maintenance. Combine these two resources with a third, Pie...

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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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