Join the UC Master Gardener Program of Sonoma County in celebrating the official debut of the garden at Los Guilicos. The Jamboree will showcase many Master Gardener Projects, their partners and associated education-based youth activities. There will also be a pop-up succulent sale. Supervisor Susan Gorin will officially open the garden at noon. Presentations include: Tree and Wildflower Walk and Talk at 11am All About Irrigation Systems at 1pm

Shorter days mean shorter run times for your irrigation system. Plants need less water in the fall as growth winds down and plants prepare for winter. Reduce your run times by 20% now and up to 40% in late fall, or check out this Irrigation Scheduling Tool to get a custom schedule. Fall is also time to prune perennials and cool season grasses, and to clear out dead, woody materials and dry leaves for fire season. For more info, check out the Maintenance Calendar in the Water Smart Gardens Maintenance Manual – your guide to a garden that thrives.

Let’s get to planting a hedgerow! Daily Acts, the Resource Conservation District and McKinley School are installing a 8,000 gallons of rainwater storage, and sheet mulched areas of the campus that will now be turned into a pollinator garden. We invite you to come out and help plant a hedgerow to support our pollinators! Bees, butterflies, moths, and a variety of other insects and animals are key species to supporting our planet. We need your help in installing a landscape that will create a corridor for pollinators for years to come. We’ll highlight some exceptional plants that pollinators love, discuss how…

Interested in transforming your home landscape into a beautiful waterwise garden but not sure how to start? Then join Daily Acts at Barley and Bine Beer Café as we discuss how you can prep your yard through the process of sheet mulching. Come have a beer with us and we’ll highlight the benefits of sheet mulching, the steps you’ll need to take, where to purchase materials, and how you can apply for the city rebate to lower costs. Bring photos of your landscape and we’ll walk you through the process and even help you with planting considerations and garden design. Sheet…

Daily Acts in partnership with the Sonoma Resource Conservation District,  will highlight how to incorporate rain tanks, rain gardens and climate appropriate plantings in almost any size site. Rain is a free resource that falls from the sky on to our landscapes, it only makes sense to harvest and use this abundant resource whenever possible!  This program will also include a brief tour of McKinley’s newest garden site, where 8,000 gallons of above ground rainwater storage will be installed to irrigate over 25 new shade trees and a native pollinator hedgerow. McKinley’s rainwater re-use doesn’t end with rain tanks! We’ll also…

This class is part of The Watershed Approach to Landscaping series provided by Marin Water and the College of Marin. Planning for Marin Gardens Choosing the right plant for the right place is key to a successful garden. In this class you will learn about pollinator and butterfly gardens, gardening with deer and wildlife, fire-resistant plants, plant communities appropriate for different garden types and tips on maintaining these gardens. You will learn what resources we have in our area to purchase native and Mediterranean landscape plants and a bit on how to propagate them yourself to begin a home watershed…

This class is part of The Watershed Approach to Landscaping series provided by Marin Water and the College of Marin. Building Healthy Soil in Your Garden Healthy soil is a living ecosystem that supports all other life on earth. Learn about the basic soil types common in Marin and how they can be improved with easy methods mimicking natural processes. You’ll also learn about different styles of home composting, the simple science behind decomposition and how to best maintain a healthy, vigorous garden using only organic, sustainable practices.

This class is part of The Watershed Approach to Landscaping series provided by Marin Water and the College of Marin. Irrigating Efficiently: How Much Water Does Your Garden Need? A plant’s type, location in the landscape, and the local climate all play a major role in determining its irrigation needs. Learn to determine how much water your plants need and when they need it. Learn the basic components of an irrigation system, which types are best for your garden, and how to set an appropriate irrigation schedule.

Join us at the Sonoma County Fair, August 3-13th. The Sonoma-Marin Saving Partnership and the UC Master Gardeners of Sonoma County have partnered together to showcase a beautiful, sustainable, low water use garden that is designed to thrive in Sonoma County's climate. Our garden demonstration will be on display outside of the Hall of Flowers, stop by to learn about sustainable gardening practices.

Ever wondered how to correctly schedule your irrigation controller based on weather, plants or irrigation application? Well, we have a solution for you! The Sonoma-Marin Water Saving Partnership developed the Irrigation Scheduling Tool to simplify and enhance the accuracy of irrigation controller scheduling. This innovative web-based tool retrieves data from local weather stations daily, providing users with precise calculations of the optimal water requirements for plants during the week. By considering various plant types and irrigation emission devices, the tool generates a recommended irrigation schedule. The irrigation scheduling tool also includes a User Guide to assist users. Pro Tip: How do you find a leak…

The folks at Fine Gardening have published an informative and inspirational article on drought tolerant plants. Two key design strategies are discussed: matching plant density to the space and a focus on color or texture. Check it out here.

This article is courtesy of the EPA Water Sense: If you want to celebrate the Earth this year, don’t forget to include water. More than 70 percent of the surface of our planet is water, but almost all of that is ocean water so full of salt, so we can’t drink it! Because water is such a precious resource, we all need to do our part to save it. Here are some ways you can start saving water on Earth Day—and every day:  1. Stop the flow. Water doesn’t need to be flowing while you are busy brushing your teeth,…