Tips to Share with Your Gardener

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As your garden evolves from a typical lawn-centered landscape to one that is more sustainable and appropriate to our southern California climate, it is important that the maintenance of your yard shifts to accommodate the new landscape.  Sometimes this involves working with your gardener to better understand the needs of your garden.

Some helpful tips to consider:

1) Adjust Your Maintenance Schedule

The shift toward a more climate-appropriate garden encourages a shift in how to schedule gardener maintenance visits. Water-saving gardens don’t require quick, weekly maintenance, but rather more intensive maintenance on a monthly basis.… Read more >>

Educating Campuses Across LA County

Over the past few months, TreePeople has been educating both teachers and students throughout Los Angeles County on green issues that challenge campuses and communities, and projects they can do to help.

On September 8, 2018- TreePeople held their Generation Earth Recycling and Beyond Workshop led by Trash Guru and Recycling Specialist Kenny Derieg.  We had one of the largest turnouts in the history of this workshop, with close to 40 people participating. The workshop covered a myriad of projects and practices that attendees can implement to reduce their carbon footprint on their campuses and in their communities.… Read more >>

Soil Maintenance – the Secret to Healthy Plants!

One of the keys to maintaining native and climate-appropriate plants in your sustainable landscape is the health of the soil.  Plant roots utilize and store nutrients in the soil environment, so it is essential that the soil contains what the roots need!   

Can’t I Just Add Fertilizer?

It is not necessary to spend your money on chemical fertilizers to ensure healthy plants. Besides, chemical fertilizers are not good for the water cycle.  When they get washed off into storm drains and then flow to the ocean, these nitrogen-rich fertilizers cause a rapid growth in algae that negatively affect fish and other aquatic life.  … Read more >>

A Dirty Recipe for Perfect Soil

 

 

One of our recent blogs gave you an idea of why organic soil is better for your plants than dousing your garden with chemicals. Here are the key components of healthy soil, explained:

 

Sand, Silt, and Clay

These materials comprise the texture of soil. While the three are comprised of rocks and minerals, they vary in composition and size. Sand is the largest grain, followed by silt, and then clay.

Organic Matter

Organic matter consists of decomposed branches, leaves, bark, roots, plants, insects, and animals.… Read more >>

Imagine a Day Without Water

A message from Value of Water Campaign

For people who work in the water sector, on water protection, or create water technology, you know the importance of water. But most Americans turn on the tap or flush the toilet without thinking twice about the incredible systems that bring water to them and take it away safely, 24/7/365.

That’s were Imagine a day without water comes in. The U.S. needed a designated day for everyone who cares about water to come together with one voice and ask Americans to think… can you imagine a day without water?… Read more >>

Where Will You Save Our Water?

Every year in Los Angeles, we pump 85% of our water to our city from hundreds of miles away. Meanwhile, over 100 billion gallons of rainwater are lost and polluted simply because we don’t have the infrastructure to collect it properly.

This precious, free resource goes to waste and harms the environment as it moves.

Massive issues like this one force us to ask ourselves, “where can I save water?”

 

You can save water here.

Water flows through our streets and across parking lots, picking up trash and pollution as it goes.… Read more >>

Sustainable Gardening- A New Maintenance Reality

As more Angelenos convert their yards from traditional gardens of thirsty plants and lawns to more sustainable landscapes, they are seeing some welcome bonuses. For one thing, weekly, lawn mowing, and hedge trimming can now be a thing of the past!

Believe it or not, traditional yards take up more time and resources than those covered with mulch and climate-appropriate and native plants. Embracing sustainable landscapes will not only help to decrease your water use and the amount of green waste you create, but also decrease the time it takes to maintain your yard.… Read more >>

Forest Aid: TreePeople and Boeing Launch A New Campaign for Healthy Forests and Fire Resilience

“Trees need people and people need trees,” chanted 50 elementary students from Sylmar and Inglewood, making branch shapes with their arms. The students – on field trips to Coldwater Canyon Park for the kick-off event – joined Cal Fire, LA Conservation Corps, Junior Rangers, Spectrolabs, and Sen. Bob Hertzberg on September 7 to cheer at the announcement of the new initiative in mountain forest restoration. With a $1 million legacy gift from our partners at Boeing, Forest Aid will mobilize communities, businesses, schools, and others to mitigate the effects of years of devastating fires and restore healthy forests.… Read more >>

The DO’s and DON’Ts of Compost

Compost is a climate-appropriate garden’s best friend! 

Compost offers tons of benefits for your landscape. It enriches the soil, delivers nutrients to plants and keeps water in the ground to help fight drought. Who knew healthy soil could do so much?

Compost is made from food scraps and organic matter, which contain lots of nutrients and water which would otherwise be wasted. In fact, 25% of our nation’s water is wasted on food that will be thrown out. Turning waste into rich compost is a great way to combat many environmental problems at once.… Read more >>

4 Gardening Tips to Fight Runoff

Water is precious.

Especially as temperatures rise and the rainy season takes a vacation. Often in the grips of the summer heat, people will douse their lawns with their sprinklers causing “dry-weather runoff” to rush onto the pavement, into the street sweeping up pollutants along the way, into stormdrains to be dumped in the ocean.

Want to learn how you can make a difference? Follow these climate-ready solutions to keep any runoff out of the street and help water your plants and trees all summer long instead.… Read more >>