Your Sustainable Landscape Tip for the Day-Check Your Sprinklers!
Posted 3/10/2010 - This tip will help you conserve water in your landscape and it is very easy to do...just inspect your sprinkler system for problems and repair them before the turf irrigation season begins.  Most of our irrigation systems run very early in the morning while we are asleep and problems can go on undetected for months.      Poorly adjusted sprinkler systems also account for significant wasted water.  Sprinkler heads that are broken, leaking, tilted, spraying the wrong direction or clogged will apply water in ways that are non uniform and lead to run-off or over irrigation in some areas and under irrigation in others.  The end result is that you tend to irrigate to the dry spots and waste water.  To inspect your system, just turn on the manual cycle of the clock or turn the sprinklers on at the valve and view spray patterns.  If you want to know how uniform the system is and what the application rate is, just do what is known as a Can Test.  Place about 12 straight sided and flat bottomed...

Edible Landscape Class with Ros Creasy
Posted 2/2/2010 - The California Center for Urban Horticulture and the Master Gardener program have an exciting workshop coming up on Saturday March 6 at the UC Davis campus.  Rosalind Creasy, the ‘Mother of Edible Landscaping’ and prominent author, will be joining us to talk about using fruits and vegetables in your home landscape.  This exciting workshop will cover design, soil, pest management and more!  Your registration of $45 includes morning coffee, and lunch.  Please join us – you’ll leave prepared to start your own fruit and veggie production!  You can pay by credit card or check, download the flier, agenda and directions at http://ccuh.ucdavis.edu/public.  Hope to see you there. For more information contact:  Melissa (Missy) BorelCalifornia Center for Urban Horticulturehttp://ccuh.ucdavis.edu/mjborel@ucdavis.edu(Office):  530-752-6642(Mobile):  530-219-8413

Smart and Sustainable Gardening
Posted 1/11/2010 - Ideas about sustainable gardening practices have really become part of the mainstream in many ways.  It is common to see people composting green waste and mulching their gardens.  There are more efficient irrigation systems that respond to weather demands and most people have installed automatic irrigation controllers.  Even though we are doing these things, there is so much more we can be doing.  We can be keeping more of our green waste on site.  We could be using less fertilizer and even less pesticides.  We could be collecting rainwater and creating raingardens.  If you want to learn more about creating a more sustainable garden, then you may want to attend the Smart Gardening Conference being held at the Ramada Inn in Fresno on Feb. 27, 2010 from 8:00 to 5:00.  Classes include vegetable gardening, bees, native plants, herb culture, low maintenance gardening, water conservation, garden makeovers and so much more.  I will be there to discuss sustainable landscape practices for...

A Rain of Autumn Leaves
Posted 11/24/2009 - I am of an age that when I was a child we got to burn our fall leaves in the gutter outside our house.  I remember the pungent and sweetly smoky smell of the burning leaves.  I am only occasionally blessed with a passing whiff of that smell and when I do smell it, all of those childhood memories come flooding back.  However, it is generally now unacceptable to burn leaves because of air quality restrictions.  That is really okay because there are so many good things you can do with all those leaves without burning them.  One of the best ways to deal with the mounting pile of leaves is to rake them into a low “windrow” on the lawn or driveway and then take the mulching lawn mower and run it over the leaves.  Rake or sweep up the “shredded” leaves and place them in a 3-4 inch layer into your flower beds as mulch around your shrubs, trees and perennials.  You could just put unshredded leaves into the beds but what tends to happen is that the leaves stack upon themselves in tight airtight...