water wisdom
8 tips for even deeper water savings
Here are a few tips to deepen your water-saving Practice, which you aren't likely to find on typical how-to lists. The habit shifts apply no matter whether you live in a house, rental, condo, or apartment.
Greywater versus blackwater
What is greywater? What is blackwater? What should you be cautious about?
Bucketting
How to make bucketting a habit as part of your overall water savings.
Water for the birds
As we enter this dry, dry summer, humans aren't the only ones short of water. In my Backyard Wildlife Habitat, my bird, butterfly, lizard, and insect friends need water too.
Drought-tolerant container gardening
Here's what I am doing for the flowerpot / container section of my garden
Multi-year drought, megadrought or Aridification
"Drought" is a really lightweight term for what we're experiencing. We should really be using far stronger terms. A multi-year drought? A megadrought? Aridification?
Hydrophobic: What to do when your soil is too dry
You pour water on your garden soil but it rolls right off the surface. It won't soak in! Here's what to do.
Drought-ready gardens
We know already that it’s gonna be a long hot summer. And (despite LA Times misleading headlines) Southern California is STILL in extreme drought conditions. That means we’ve got to adapt our gardens. Here’s what I’m doing at mine:
El Niño: What to check on your downspouts
In usually-water-lean Southern California, most of us have directed rain gutter downspouts to run into our gardens, so that we can make the most of every drop. (drawing A) This is a great setup for most years, when we get…
El Niño: Know your Big Picture
As city creatures, most people know streets and shortcuts. They know the municipal grid. But they are very unaware of the geologic watershed that runs beneath their feet.
