3 more updates

REMINDER After the rain, and before the format of this site was set.

• • • Top Chef -- came down to a choice between the 2 brothers, and as with Cain and Abel and the Kaczynski brothers, the younger 1 succeeded. In the latter case, Ted went to prison. In the former, Cain was marked and banished.

• • • Athletes as role models -- Tiger Woods, in the rough.

• • • Lakers -- Kobe, broken finger but still scores 20.

3 more things about seasonal yardwork

NEWS ITEM Fall is a good time to prune perennials.

• • • Hydrangea -- Acidic soils turn flowers blue; alkaline turns them pink.

• • • Broadleaf weed control -- Cooler temperatures aid effectiveness of chemical applications in turf.

• • • Planting -- Now is probably the perfect time to plant.

3 more things about urban gardening

NEWS ITEM To get a crop, city dwellers have to cope with issues of irrigation, pests, and police.

• • • Home Grown Edible Landscapes -- A (somewhat) regional resource for treating your yard like a produce market.

• • • Food Not Lawns -- One of many local groups urging you to kill your lawn and feed your family.

• • • Lawn Gone -- I can help.

3 more things about trees

NEWS ITEM Man builds tree houses, that is, houses out of whole trees.

• • • David Sibley -- who redefined the bird identification book, turns to trees.

• • • Calaveras Big Tree State Park -- skyscraper tall, older than Carthage, northeast of Stockton.

• • • Arbor Day Foundation -- join and get 10 free trees.

3 more reasons to love the internet

CONTEXT A reader asks for a mashup of the themes of this blog: "I want to see the overlap of pop culture, gardening and trivia, perhaps in the form of topiary."

• • • Disney

• • • Sesame Street

• • • Beatles

3 more sources to address wind damage in your landscape

NEWS ITEM LA buffeted by 70 MPH winds

• • • Prevention is better than cure

• • • Windburn is when gusts wick moisture from leaves

• • • Expert's last resort to keeping some plants alive: death threats

3 more things to do after the rain

• • • Check for soil erosion in your yard. Be it a little or a lot, it's never good. If everyone lost just a cupful of dirt into the gutter during a rain, that'd be a lot of dirt. If you have a slope of any size at all, check it out and do something about it: ground cover plants, mulch, retaining walls, wattles, rip rap, gabions, terraces.

Whether your slope is 80degrees over 80 feet, or 8degrees over 8 inches, keep that dirt on your property.

• • • Turn off your sprinklers. Really. Nothing announces to you neighbors that "I have no clue about the world around me" than to water anything right after the rain.

• • • Spread seeds. Pick an empty lot, a bare spot in your garden, or anyplace that would benefit from some California golden poppies. In your lawn, spread rose clover-- it's fairly drought tolerant and low maintenance and good for the soil.