Volunteer day before the rain

Emily

Our volunteer day on Saturday involved a lot of weeding, and the team accomplished it with vigor!

Linda showed up all the way from the north bay to help weed the front arch and cactus wall - clearly she's done this before and knew her way around an agave no problem.

Emily took care of the weeds alongside the left bed, and PSG Emily and her mum, Debbie, weeded the dog area and paths. Nate pitched in too, making a huge dent in the ever-growing grass population in the middle back bed, and helping Matt with weeds in the front border.

Before: weedy mess

Many thanks to the awesome team of students from UC Berkeley who volunteered as part of their public health project! Suvruta, Zachary, Marandah, Erin, and Michael got right to work with many tasks getting done quickly; ably emptied one compost bin and turned another, as well as weeding great stretches of the pathway clear of weeds.

The garden's sprinkler, which used to come on for 15 minutes once a week across about 1/3 of the garden, has been switched off for a long time now, and some of our plants are looking a little parched.  Unless you live under a rock you'll know we're in year 4 of a drought that threatens the state, and as a result the nation's produce supply, so xeric and drought tolerant garden is the in thing right now.

After: clean!

When you take into account that a pound of almonds takes an estimated 400 gallons of water to grow, and a pound of beef takes 2500 gallons, you're going to want to lay off the nuts and burgers among other things. And as for lawns? Let them die, people.

If you want some xeric plant suggestions for your garden or patio, you're in the right place: click the Plant Profiles link at the top right and read about the stars of the show at PG and PRG. Yes, you can have a luscious garden without much water.

PS apologies if I have all the names wrong this week - it was hot out!