It's a Bug Eat Bug World

Female praying mantids eat the heads off males after mating, spiders are known for similar behavior. Regardless of these charming courtship characteristics we still welcome these predators in our gardens. Our warm welcome might actually just be lukewarm as these predators are indiscriminate with their prey and will eat just about anything that comes across their path—good, bad, brother, sister. Even so, mantids are fascinating with their clever camouflage and praying posture.

Rain & Hail Won't Stop Us

Thanks to everyone who participated in the 8^th annual Bay-Friendly Garden Tour. Despite the inclement weather, it was great to see so many people out and about in the gardens. I was in Berkeley where we had a few raindrops during the day, but heard reports throughout the day of downpours in Livermore and hail in Palo Alto—in May, oh my!

Tour hosts were certainly appreciative of all the positive feedback they received from visitors, and of all the nice folks they were able to meet. Here are a couple of firsthand accounts from tour hosts. Kitty Sharkey, on her blog about Havenscourt Homestead said “Wow. That's the only word that describes yesterday,” about her tour experience. Esperanza Pallana wrote “The Bay Friendly Garden Tour was a smashing success!” on her blog Pluck and Feather.

Chicken for Dinner

Bubba the Brave, R.I.P.

I have always thought that chicken makes a tasty midnight snack and it seems like every other predator on planet earth agrees with me. If you keep chickens it’s probably just a matter of time before something nabs some of your feathered friends. This just happened to Jeanne Nader, the program manager of the Bay-Friendly Gardening program. Her coop was raided last weekend and all of her hens were killed, the heads eaten, and the untouched carcasses left behind. What would do such a thing?

The Final 2011 Tour Pick of the Week

Since the garden tour is this Sunday this is our last pick of the week for 2011. This week's pick has a very small yard that had been ignored for years. The space was carefully converted into a peaceful, beautiful, and very usable garden.

The backyard had always been Ann Linsley’s husband’s domain. But when Stephen passed away this very small enclosed space remained neglected for about 8 years. Ann worked to reclaim it with her friend Georgia Madden,

My Fantasy Farm

So here’s my fantasy.  Note that this is purely a hypothetical pie in the sky scenario of my ultimate community.  In other words, it won’t ever happen, but what the heck.  I can dream, if I like.

2011 Tour Host Garden Pick of the Week

This week's pick is an urban homestead complete with bees, chickens, and productive raised beds full of edible plants.


Nancy Deming and Dana Pearson own and operate a landscaping company Leaf It To Us. Their home garden has been evolving for 14 years. All of the lawns have been removed in favor of other uses—pathways allow easy access into the gardens, a flagstone patio is better suited for outdoor lounging, and one of the struggling lawn areas was handed over to the

Urbanite is Out of Site

Bay-Friendly gardeners excel at putting urbanite to good use. Urbanite is the broken chunks of concrete that result from tearing up pavement. This opens up bare ground that can absorb rainwater instead of encouraging it to flow into gutters, which taxes city infrastructure and pollutes