Pervious Concrete

Pervious, or permeable, concrete is one of your  attractive permeable driveway options. Whether you use a poured surface or use permeable driveway pavers or add a permeable patio, this ‘rice cake-like’ surface helps you keep water on your property and prevents run-off. These ‘eco-pavers’ (aka water permeable pavers) help you recharge your underground water supply which saves you water in the dry months.

They also reduce run-off and urban flooding.  The price for permiable pavers or permeable concrete is about the same as for impervious concrete and may even be less since no drains need to be installed to handle run-off.

In the following video, Owen Dell, the premier sustainable landscaping architect, discusses permeable driveway pavers and pervious concrete specifications. He explains that pervious concrete cost maybe more or less that traditional impervious concrete driveways or walks.

He demonstrate the magic using a watering can and permeable brick pavers – have you ever seen water run through a brick before? I wish I had known about permeable pavers for driveways before I spent a small fortune in concrete to satisfy the fire department – which has created a massive run-off and erosion problem for my hillside location…

Here is Owen Dell:

For more information on sustainable landscaping, please visit Owen Dell’s web site, his blog “The Earthworm’s Lair” or his YouTube channel.

For more information about local pervious concrete and to find local installers, visit the California Nevada Concrete Association’s web site.

Saving Water with Pervious Concrete is a post from: Community Gardens Blog

Native Plants Shown to Favor Beneficial Insects

One of the basic principles of permaculture farms is biodiversity. The same is true of a sustainable landscape with its call to use native plants to establish native habitat for native beneficial insect populations.

The ‘No-Till’ principle of gardening lets the soil build up healthy, cooperative systems to digest mulch and nutrients to pass on to your plants. In the same way, a healthy, diverse population of beneficial insects is critical to a (mostly) hands-off approach to gardening.

Native plants bring ‘hands-off’ insect control to your garden. Introducing native plants, which host their own defensive insects, bring that natural defense to your garden. Exotic plants host little other than exotic pests. We’ve known this for a long time.

The University of California’s Agriculture and Natural Resources Dept has validated that opinion.

In a recently released, peer-reviewed article, the authors stated, “hedgerows attracted more beneficial than pest insects” and that “replacing weedy areas at field crop edges with managed hedgerow plantings will sustain or increase beneficial rather than pest insects on farms”.

Hedgerows were planted bordering large commercial fields and proved to bring native beneficial insects to the fields. The hedgerows were 1,000 to 1,800 feet long and 30 feet wide. The authors sum up their findings, “Our results show that field edge plantings of native California shrubs and perennial grasses can enhance beneficial insect abundance.”

Abundant beneficial insects came to our rescue when aphids attacked our new community garden. You can have the reserve troops working in your home garden as well.

Continuing, “most beneficial insects require or benefit from nectar or pollen sources from flowering plants that hedgerows provide, helping them survive and reproduce, especially during times of prey scarcity.” Having predatory insects lurking ‘in the wings’ and waiting for dinner is critical to avoiding plant-killing infestations.

The test plantings “contained California lilac (Ceanothus griseus), coffeeberry (Rhamnus californica), California buckwheat (Eriogonum fasciculatum), toyon (Heteromeles arbutifolia), elderberry (Sambucus mexicana) and coyote brush (Baccharis pilularis). These are drought-tolerant native California shrubs that provide pollen and nectar for beneficial insects (Bugg et al. 1998; Long et al. 1998) and have successive and overlapping bloom periods”

Read the full article here: Hedgerows enhance beneficial insects on farms in California’s Central Valley

You don’t have to have acres of field to protect; many of these plants work great in  your garden, are drought tolerant and many attract birds as well as insects. This is the time of year to plant your natives, while we get rain. The free water while the roots are developing takes you even closer to a hands-off garden.

The plants listed in the study (with the exception of Toyon) are also good choices for many southern California homes. The California Lilac is covered with lilac blue flowers in the spring time, Coffeberry and Elderberry fruits feed local birds and Coyote brush is a low-growing ground cover listed by the Fire Department as fire-resistant.

The report summary says, “Of 10,323 total insects collected in the hedgerows during the growing seasons over 2 years, 78% were beneficial insects and 22% were pests. The abundance of beneficial insects was consistently greater than pests in the hedgerow shrubs compared to weedy areas during each season.”

The ‘weedy species’ noted in the study included black mustard, a very common plant in this area. Removing the mustard from near my own garden reduced the numbers of Harlequin Bugs from ‘overwhelming’ to ‘few’. Consider replacing your exotics with natives and see the benefits in your own yard.

UC Study Supports Sustainability, Permaculture is a post from: Community Gardens Blog

Planting a fall garden

Planting a fall garden

Last month, we talked about getting out the cool season seeds and starting a fall or winter garden. The weather, again, was weird and temperatures in the high 90s don’t suggest cool season crops. A couple of us standing around in the garden with temperature in the high-90s and we were discussing putting in more tomatoes…

But lets assume it does cool off. If that happens we should be looking at planting veggies from this list:

Asparagus: If you have the patience, asparagus is a great investment. It takes a couple of years before you can bring in a big harvest, but once producing the plants will provide shoots for years. Look for asparagus ‘crowns’ the size of your hand – the bigger the better. Plant the crowns in a trench filled with compost, aged manures and soil. Fill the trench in each year with fresh manures. The crowns will grow when you allow the spear to develop into foliage. Taking too many too early will deprive the roots of the nutrients they need to develop.

Follow this link to read more about how to grow asparagus.

This is a good time to get in your root crops like beets, kohlrabi, chard (chard is related to beets), and turnips. Beets grow all year long, are slower to develop in cold weather, but are sure to please.

You can start putting in the cabbage family plants. These include cabbages, broccoli, cauliflower, Brussels sprouts.

Other cool weather veggies appropriate for planting now include carrots, endive, garlic, leeks, lettuces/mache, onions, peas, potatoes, radishes, rhubarb, and spinach.

Here are some on-line resources to help you along the way:

Seed Suppliers:

• Renee’s Garden Seeds
• Seeds Of Change
• Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds

Informational Sources:

• California Gardening Advice from UCCE
• When to Plant Vegetables
• Recommended Vegetable Varieties

Start a Fall Garden is a post from: Community Gardens Blog

Install Your Garden Irrigation System

Most home garden irrigation systems are terribly inefficient and waste untold gallons of water, they produce run-off and wash needed minerals from the soil. The typical spray system puts water on driveways, walks, has double or triple coverage areas, and they dump so much water in such a short period of time that run-off is inevitable.

The best of the garden irrigation systems is the drip system. Drip irrigation systems put metered amounts of water where you want it. Because the water is applied slowly, it penetrates the soil instead of running off as is common in lawn sprays.

A properly designed drip irrigation system will save you up to 80% of the water you currently us in your garden and will improve the quality of the garden in the process.

Common spray system lose water to the wind, and the splashing water also promotes and spreads common garden diseases. Water, sprayed repeatedly on the base of plants or trunk of a tree, will actually damage the bark and allow pests and diseases an easy path into the plant’s tissue. Healthy, properly watered plants are not as attractive to insects as those under stress.

Using less water also means that you do not leach all the nutrients from the soil, and your will need to apply less fertilizer. Depending on where you live in the country, you may be able to grow legumes (peas, beans, clover) as cover or winter ‘green manure’ crops, and these will provide the nitrogen your soil needs.

In the drier parts of California, there are plenty of minerals, and nitrogen is the only nutrient that needs to be replaced. Since nitrogen is so soluble, it will leach out of the root zone very easily – drip irrigation keeps it where you need it.

So, if you would like to save money and 80% of your water, eliminate chemicals and pesticides, help the environment and have healthy plants, let’s continue…

Drip Irrigation Basics

1) Drip irrigation systems operate at low pressure and low volume.

Since most homes have water pressures from 45 PSI to 60 PSI (ours is ~90 PSI), you will need a 10 to 20 PSI pressure regulator to keep from blowing the system apart. The in-line regulators run me about $3.85 – $5.00. The regulators I use have IPS threads so they can screw into your piping and may be added either below a spigot, or they may be screwed direct to a spigot’s threaded nozzle.

2) All water contains some contaminates.

These can be sand or grit, scale from pipes, rust particles, etc. Most emitters have extremely fine orifaces and clog easily. You should use a filter to clean the particulates from the water to prevent clogging the emitters.

3) Tubing

Tubing is used in drip systems instead of pipe. This allows you to posistion the delivery system where it is needed. The soft, flexible tubing comes in several sizes; I use 5/8″. Make sure all the fittings are sized to match (usually not a problem since most places only carry one size). I buy mine in 500′ rolls for about $0.10 / foot

4) Fittings:

Drip systems are easy to install and require only a sharp knife or clipper to work with the tubing. Connections are slip-fit and no specail tools or wrenches are needed.

Almost all fittings cost less than a buck each, and there are only a few that you will need. Let’s look at the important ones.

You will need an IPS to Slip adapter to transition from the threaded delivery sytem to the tubing. This adapter screws onto the filter or regulator threads and the tubing gets pushed into (or over) the other end.

‘Tee’s, Slip-connectors, and perhaps ‘El’s are all that is usually required. Depending on how you deliver the water, barbed connectors (with or without a regulated emitter) and speghetti tubing may be required (pennies apiece and per foot).

There are other handy fittings you can get and may find useful, such as quick-connect fittings with a shut-off ball valve built into them for swapping delivery lines around, end-caps with a screw-on cap that allows you to quickly flush a line (not essential, and ring made out of 3/4″ or 1″ PVC pipe can slip over the tubing to provide a reasonable termination).

5) Emitters

An emitter is any device that meters water from inside the tubing to the garden; these can be individual drip emitters, drip tapes or tubing with molded in emitters, soaker hoses or a variety of mini-spray heads.

Here is where it gets fun. There are hundreds of different emitters, from spinning ‘micro sprinklers’ full and part-circle sprays heads, drippers, and drip-tape. You can mix and match any of these, but tmixing parts makes balancing the system very difficult.

I prefer to standardize one one type to make balancing water delivery easier. Standardization also means repairs are easier to perform since all your spares fit.

Drip and spray emitters come in everything from fractions of a gallon to multiple gallons per hour flow rates (1/2 gallon per hour, 1 gallon per hour, etc.). Sprays can be confusing since, besides the different flow rate, they also have different areas they cover. Since sprays can  spread disease, I now use drip tapes or 1/2, 1 and 2 gph drippers for almost all my garden and orchard needs.

Drippers deliver water to one spot; you can use multiples to deliver water around the root zone. They do tend to form a densely wet area where they sit. I use these under trees and covered with mulch, to irrigate outlying orchards trees

Sprays – lots of choices here. Micro-sprays may be rotating or fan types, supplied as a simple plug-in item or they may come with a mounting stake attached. You should be aware that sprays, while a great way to spread water over a large are but have the issues of leaving the plants wet  which is conductive to disease formation and may spread fungal diseases from one plant to another. Also, evaporation in the air means 50% may not hit the ground during normal days, and on windy when you really need the water,  90% of it is lost.

Soaker hoses, preformed drip tubing, and drip-tape:

This is where I am taking all my gardens at the moment. The tapes or tubing comes with emitters molded in (every 8″ to 1′ apart), in various delivery rates.When used under a layer of mulch, these provide an even level of moisture. The drip-tape comes in two types: tubing (just like your delivery line, durable but $350 per 1,000′) or tape (costs me about $50 for 1,600 foot rolls).

The flat-rolled ‘Row Drip’ tape is cheapest, requires 10 PSI maximum pressure, and requires special fittings (about $1 to $1.50 each). The fittings plug onto the supply lines, and the tubing slides over a barb and a collar screws over the tape, holding it in position. The tape is not the most permanent way to go, but works well for a year or two.

Here is a picture of a drip tape system going in. The excess moisture is from flushing the lines before hooking up the drip tape. The delivery system is standard low-pressure 5/8″ drip line with slip-on fittings. A pressure regulator at the spigot keeps the water at 10 PSI. The drip tape adapter slips onto the drip line, and the tape is secure over a barb and twist-to-lock collar. The tape is available in several weights, emitter spacings and delivery amounts.
	Here is the tape pressured up, laid in place, and being covereed with mulch. The mulch cap protects the tape and keeps water from evaporating.This row will get 10 to 12 minutes of water every other day, will have even moisture levels, and there will be very few weeds to contend with. Water distribution is very uniform at the root depth, and 750 ‘ of rows are watered from a single hose bib. The heavy mulch layer in the pathways further reduces weeds.
Here is a similar row with covered drip tapes and mulched pathways. The chard is happy, water requirements are low, and there are few weeds to contend with.
	One of the problems with the low cost drip tape is that the emitters are not pressure regulated, and they run at very low pressures. This means that if you have a hillside garden, like I do (see the photos above), more than one pressure regulated zone may be required. I have created 4 separate zones from one single valve, and and moisture uniformity is much better. Here is a photo of one of the regulators. This one is about $7, and has standard screw in fittings. Even simpler ones start at less than $4. Tubing adapters are available in both male and female ends to make connection a snap. The entire system is regulated to 20 psi to keep from blowing the slip fittings apart, and each zone is regulated down to 10 psi, the maximum rated pressure for the tubing.

How to Install a Garden Irrigation System is a post from: Community Gardens Blog

I’m proud to be part of Camarillo Community Gardens and applaud their hard work and dedication to spreading the message of nurturing the Earth so it will nurture us.

Here is what a small group of dedicated volunteers can do. They staged a massive community event, Camarillo EarthDay 2011, and it a huge success.
Here is the video

Growing Awareness is a post from: Community Gardens Blog

Gardening Coaches – We are the Personal Trainers for your Garden

Learn how to grow a garden, or learn how to design your garden in harmony with your environment.

We are not a yard service, we are an educational initiative serving Ventura County

Gardening Coaches – “We grow gardeners”.

We teach you how to grow your own food – organically, free of  chemical fertilizers or toxic chemicals.

Our years of experience in landscaping and organic gardening, plus University of California training, can help you get started as a successful gardener.

You will learn the secrets of of growing your own safe, fresh, nutritious organic vegetable garden produce at home, and you will have fun doing it.

You will learn the benefits of mulch in your garden – lower water bills, fewer weeds, better soil
Remove chemicals from your table – break your chemical dependency and grow healthier plants that resist disease and pest problems.
Use our resources pages to diagnose garden problems and learn how to treat them with eco-friendly techniques, learn what plants grow best in California, and learn when to plant each crop.

Our services include classroom instruction in a farm setting, personal consultations and instruction in your home garden, and on-site analysis during the planning stages of your landscape projects.

In the mean time, what if you’ve got a burning question? Ask it now! Just click here to contact us…

Our goals

Our goal is to teach you to have a sustainable, low-impact garden, to get more from your garden while putting in less time, effort and energy, to have bountiful, healthy garden that is good for your body, your spirit and is good to the earth, too.

Our mission is to teach you

• How to grow a sustainable garden – wisely.
• How to plan, create and maintain a healthy garden, free of toxins and chemicals
• How to reduce your impact on the environment by gardening in harmony with nature
• How to use your tools and avoid injury
• How to have more while using and spending less.

Gardening Coaches Mission is a post from: Community Gardens Blog

More Resources is a post from: Community Gardens Blog

Here are a few samples of the important videos from the University of California UCTV Gardening Topics page. The subject matter of these videos underscores the importance of what we do in our own yards, and hints at the global impact backyard gardening can have.

The first video, ‘Biology and Business of Biofuels: Climate Change / Making Biofuels’ deals with global warming, what it is, how it happens, it’s impact of our world, and an examination of the state of biofuel development.

This video is of a symposium held at UC Berkley, and features author Michael Pollan. The topic is ‘A Food Agenda for the Next Administration’. The panel of experts examine the interconnection between agricultural practices, foreign oil dependence, and national health. Not surprisingly, home grown, organic food production is the key to solving all 3 issues.

Another video with author Michael Pollan. The topic is ‘Conversations With History: The Politics of Food’.

Host Harry Kreisler welcomes writer Michael Pollan for a discussion of the agricultural industrial complex that dominates consumer choices about what to eat. He explores the origins, evolution and consequences of this system for the nations health and environment. He highlights the role of science, journalism, and politics in the development of a diet that emphasizes nutrition over food. Pollan also sketches a reform agenda and speculates on how a movement might change Americas eating habits. He also talks about science writing, the rewards of gardening, and how students might prepare for the future. Series: Conversations with History [2/2009][Show ID: 15882]

Video Resources is a post from: Community Gardens Blog

What is mulch?

Why Mulch is a post from: Community Gardens Blog

Below are some tools and books that I find very useful. The books have a wide variety of information on Sustainable gardening, backyard landscape ideas, gardening designs, backyard landscape design, do it yourself landscaping – all with a sustainable approach. Learn about rain water harvesting, low-effort native landscapes, and scientific agricultural textbooks. The tools are simple – we don’t need a lot of force of effort to work in healthy soil.
	Hand tools:
Shovel	The basic hand tool – use it too turn soil, turn compost, spread mulch, make raised beds, plant flowers and trees. Blades are steel, usually stamped, sometimes forged. Handles are wood, fiber-glass, or sometimes metal. wood ones do not last as long as some of the composite or metal handled ones, but the are lighter and feel better in your hand. This one is described as a ‘a tank’. Smooth surfaces, ergonomic design. Click to order yours.
Clippers, Pruners, and Saws	Trimming shrubs, dead-heading flowers, removing produce from  the garden, fitting drip irrigation lines. Light pruners that cut up to 1/2″ diameter will do 95% of your garden cutting chores. Avoid ‘anvil’ type pruners (which bruise stems) in favor of ‘by-pass’ pruners which leave a clean, quick-healing cut.
	This is one I am currently using. Nice, light yet sturdy composite construction, easy-on-the-hands grip rolls to saves effort. Click here to order.
Light pruning saw	Pruning large or woody shrubs, trimming / training trees
	In Southern California, “Corona” is a standard, locally made, favorite tool brand. Some of their tools I’ve used are listed here:
	Corona By-Pass clippers come in a wide range of sizes. Smaller ones are more useful than some larger sizes.
A Weeder	One of the best is a celery knife, with a serrated edge. A hoe works well, too. If you mulch, you won’t need one of these as badly… Another really handy tool is the ‘Hula-Hoe’. This push-pull weeding device has a ndle and ‘D’-shaped sharpened stirrup that slides just at or below the surface or the soil. It takes very little effort to loosen young weeds.
	A Compost Thermometer. This tool helps you keep track of your compost heap or bin temperature. Knowing the temperature will help you keep you compost cooking. Too hot, and you kill off the micro-organisms that do the work, and too cool means you need to add more nitrogen, or that the compost is too wet or dry. Proper temperature is needed to make compost quickly and to kill off weed seeds and pathogens.
	Trowels – There are so many sizes and styles of trowels, you have to find the one you want by it’s feel. Please watch for weak, stamped, spot welded ans generally shoddy hand-tools. See what other gardeners have and are happy with. Try one like that…
	Reference  Books These books are must-have items. Learn to tell good bugs from bad ones, plant, fruit, vegetable information and suggested varieties, plus coverage of too many useful subjects to mention.
	The Sunset Western Garden Book, The Western garden ‘Bible’. It has over 8,000 common plants, 30 plant selection guides, and many articles on basic landscaping and gardening topics from soil preparation and plant propagation to garden designing tips.
	Owen Dell’s new ‘Sustainable Landscaping for Dummies’. Owen is the leading authority on sustainable landscaping, and this book covers the topic in the familiar ‘Dummies’ format. Look for it at your favorite booksellers, or order it on-line. This book has money and environment saving ideas you can start using today! I got my (signed!) copy from Owen yesterday, and have to give it a big YES! This book covers every aspect of sustainable garden design, installation, and maintenance. I will be giving each of my coaching customers a copy of this book… Available NOW! – Click on the book to order.
	Here is another ‘must read’ book for the home owner. Joe Lamp’l (aka Joe the Gardener) is a TV personality and and author, and passionate proponent of sustainable gardening. Joe lays out a wide array of practices you can implement today to help your garden, the environment and  save money in the process. Joe shows you how much difference our gardening practices can make, how to save water, reduce our chemical dependance, turn waste into valuable fertilizer and soil conditioner, consume less energy in the garden, and how to help spread the word ‘over the fence’. Gardeners! I really want you to read this book! Together, we can make a huge difference in the grand scheme of things. Let Joe show you how to help… The Green Gardener’s Guide: Simple, Significant Actions to Protect & Preserve Our Planet
	The California Master Gardener’s Handbook. If you can only afford one book, this is the one. All science – no Voo-Doo! Written specifically for California – nearly 700 pages of science-based gardening knowledge. This is the course book used by Master Gardener Trainees. It covers everything from basic soil science, diseases and their treatments, pruning, grafting, propagation, Entomology (bugs – both good and bad), lists of seasonal vegetables with planting, care, common ailments, planting times, and nutritional information. Also available from University of California Cooperative Extension Offices, located at: 669 County Square Drive, Suite 100, Ventura, CA 93003-5401 Click on the book to order on-line
	Amid food scares and environmental woes, some Americans are transforming their neatly trimmed front yards into a showcase for nature’s bounty. This book is one that started the movement.
	‘Tribes: We Need You to Lead Us’, by Set Godin. This book deals with how we, as individuals, can create and lead a ‘tribe’ – or how to create a grass roots movement. While it discusses the internet as a tool, the basics are there – how we can create a groundswell that will make a difference.

I know you probably have a lot of garden tools, from trowels to leaf blowers, but lets look at what a home garden really needs…

Gardening Tools is a post from: Community Gardens Blog