After the fire erosion control. This morning on Fox6 News I spoke of products you can use as a homeowner for erosion control. One of the items straw wattle works to divert water and debris off hillsides. Easy to install and it will break down after a couple of years, no need to remove. The other product I recommend is Jute Netting. With the netting you tack it down on your hillside and are able to cut holes when ready to plant. If placed now it will also help keep down any ash. Again this product will break down so no need to remove.
After the Cedar fire San Diego County was providing straw wattle to homeowners and businesses who were affected by the fires. I have called both the County and the City to see if it will be available again this year. As soon as I get information I will post it.
If you are wanting either of these products before then please contact me, we will be able to get it at a discounted rate for you.
Do not broadcast seed at this time. Many wild seed mixes contain seeds which may turn your hillside into a weedy area come next summer.
Planting with groundcovers that are fire retardant is another option. In a few weeks we will again offer a special pricing on select ones that we recommend.

For more information on what to do after the fire regarding your trees and shrubs please switch over to Toni's blog. If you feel you could use some help in determining if your trees are viable please contact me for more information.

As a gardening community we will get through this together.

Hey everyone I am back. Janene and I had a great vacation in our nations capital. We walked all over Washington D.C. and had a great time touring all the museums and monuments. It is always great to visit there especially soo close to our nations independance day. The National Arboretum and the botanical gardens in Washington are amzing. The plant selection and the specimens they have on the east coast really make you see the differance between our climates.
But I am glad to be back and having fun in the nursery. First thing I have going on is July 7th I will be giving a talk for the Mission Hills Garden Club (Click here to see more info) the talk will be on the most common landscape mistakes and how to avoid or fix them. The meeting starts at 6:30 and is free to club members. If you can't make it to the talk come in to Mission Hills Nursery on Saturdays and ask me a question there. Hope everyone has a great 4th of July and be safe.
Life's a Garden, Dig It!

Piccking out the correct seed to patch your lawn can be some tricky work. First thing you need to find out is what type of lawn do you have. Is it a fescue or some other variety? If it's a fescue you have 3 choices. Marathon I, Marathon II or Marathon III. Marathon I is a standard tall fescue that is fast to repair and can handle a lot of traffic. Marathon II is a shorter fescue that can handle traffic and a bit of shade. Marathon III is a dwarf fescue that is slower to repair but you don't have to mow it as much. Other types of lawns are bermuda, zoysia and some others. With those varieties you need to purchase the according seed to make sure you are not mixing seeds in your lawn. If you are looking for more information go to the Marathon website at sod.com. Life's a Garden, Dig It!

I have some really exciting news for this Saturday. I was able to be involved with a pilot show called "Terrain Wreck" from TLC. It will air this Saturday June 16th on TLC at 12:30 Pacific time. It was a amazing opportyunity to be involved with a great project. The idea of the show is to have two neighbors battle it out to remodel their front yards with the help of two landscape experts (thats me). The families we worked with were amazing amazing and I really hope I will be able to do more of these shows. So check out "Terrain Wreck" the ultimate battle of grit and heart.

This week was amazing to be able to go down to PETCO Park and talk to the head groundskeeper Luke Yoder. He is an amazing person that has a huge wealth of knowledge when it comes to lawns but also in all types of gardening. Him and I talked quite a bit about growing tomatoes and all kinds of other plants and the different places he has lived. When it came to lawns though he definitely knows his stuff, in 1995 the players, coaches and scouts picked Petco Park as having the best playing field over all other baseball stadiums. Some topics we covered this week were you need to take time and prep before you lay down any new sod. The area must be ritch in nutrients, level and the irrigation system must be in place. Then you must pick the right lawn for you. Marathon Sod makes this easy with great descriptions of each type on sheets and DVD's you can pick up at the nursery, or go to www.sod.com and find all the info online. After you pick it laying the sod is the easy part, just make sure your putting the green side up.
We also talked a bit about maintinance. Luke said a lot of people over water there lawns. What he means by this is people dont ever give their lawns a chance to REACH for water so it becomes a spoiled lawn and will not respond well to drought or hot days. If you toughen up your lawn by only giving it the minimum water it will make it stronger and be more successful. If you are looking for more info on laying new lawns or your existing lawn drop by the nursery and we will help you out. Also go to www.sod.com and check out all the info Marathon Sod has to offer. I just want to thank Luke and the people over there at Petco Park that helped us get a bit smarter when it comes to lawns. Life's a Garden, Dig It!

This past weekend was the Mission Hills Garden Walk and I must say it was the most amazing one I have ever seen. The garden club did an amazing job putting it on. Very smooth and well run especialy since it was a couple of rookie chairs this year. Jim Bishop and Charles Kempf did a great job and kept people motivated and excited all day long. The houses selected for the tour were so diverse and different it kept you guessing what was around every corner. The shuttle service was fast and easy and the tour was easy to move around and short so you could spend a lot of time in each garden. At ther nursery we were lucky to have representatives from S.O.S Organics, John & Bobs Soil Optimizer, themulch.com, Recon Native Plants and many more. I want to take this moment to thank every one that helped in the nursery and in the garden club. Each and every one of you deserve a pat on the back because this was one of the largest events yet and it went very well. I look forward to next year. Tiger

At Proven Winners they are at the cutting edge of plant development and growing techniques. Every time I visit I learn something new and see new plants that are being grown for Southern California gardens. Their goal is to make gardening easier and more colorful with unique and interesting plants.
If you want to find the most recent releases from Proven Winners I suggest you go into your local nursery, they are going to be the ones that always carry the different and new plants because after they have been proven there the larger garden centers will start bringing them in to stock.
Also, when it comes to creating containers Proven Winners has some of the most amazing designs. On their website check out the department for containers and they have blueprints to use whenever your putting together a pot. All you have to do is take it in to your local nursery, purchase the plants on the design and plant them where the blueprint says and walla, you have a profesionally designed container.
If your looking for more information about Proven Winners click here. Dont Forget, Life's a Garden, Dig It!

School gardens are a great way to get involved in your child life. They benifit in so many different ways and are simple and fun way to learn. School gardens incorporate science, math, language, buisness and the enviroment. To get involved simply go to your childs school and see if they have an existing school garden or help them by trying to create their own. Many organizations have grants or other useful tools to help get you started. Here is a small list of some websites to go to: www.kidsgardening.com,assoc.garden.org/grants/, www.csgn.org, www.for-wild.org/seedmony.html, www.missionhillsgardenclub.org, www.cascience.org/awards&grants.html. These are just a few of the thousands of possibilities.
Also for you parents that want to get involved out there. The agencies that provide these grants think it is more beneficial if they know the parents will be involved, so ask your childs teacher if you may pursue getting one or more of the grants for your school garden. Once you get the garden in place the benifits are easy. Start a farmers market like the one at Grant Elementary or growe flowers for Mothers Day. Gardening is a great way to show your kids what a little elbow greese will do. Remember, Life's a Garden, Dig It