Rain Vessels

Rain barrels and other water catchment systems are fantastic ways to save rainwater for later use in the garden or home, but they do much more than that, they can help to reduce runoff pollution by collecting the water that pours off of our roofs before it runs down our driveways, into the gutters and out to our watersheds and the ocean, picking up pollutants along the way.

Thankfully, due to our water crises and increasing education about water pollution, water catchment is finally becoming popular and with it come a wonderful variety of options for catching and re-using that water!

One new option is Rain Vessels, a local company that offers ceramic rain barrels or 'vessels' for those highly conspicuous areas of the garden or patio.

They come in a variety of sizes and glaze colors and can be purchased through Courtyard Pottery in Solana Beach. You can also check out the Rain Vessels blog to learn more!

To learn more about water cachement and other Ocean Friendly Garden techniques sign up to attend the Ocean Friendly Gardens program workshops!

O'side Native Garden Tour Tomorrow!

Sorry for the late notice everyone but the Buena Vista Audubon Native Plant Club ... that's a mouthful ... is hosting their annual native plant tour tomorrow in Oceanside starting at 2:00pm!

The walking tour is free (although a small donation is appreciated):

Here's the dirt:

Come see over 15 Native Plant Gardens in the historic Seaside Neighborhood of
Downtown Oceanside! Plant experts and neighborhood locals will lead a 1.5 mile
walking tour tosee these wonderful front yard gardens. Meet at 2pm Sunday,April
18th at St. Mary's School parking lot at 515Wisconsin Avenue. The guided walk is
free. Local kids will sell lemonade and cookies along the route. St. Mary'sSchool
is one block east of the 101 Cafe at Coast Highway and Wisconsin Ave. This annual
event is sponsored by theBuena Vista Native Plant Club and the Oceanside
CoastalNeighborhood Association. Go to BVAudubon.org or OCNA.infoor call the Buena Vista Nature Center at 760-439-2473 for more information.

Water Harvesting Tour

Water Harvesting Tour and Short Film Screening
Saturday, May 8th 9:00AM-10:30AM and 2:00PM-3:30PM

Come see water harvesting in action! Guided by Water Harvesting Professional and Permaculturist, Brook Sarson, you'll see how a 1320 gallon rainwater tank combined with laundry greywater and bath greywater work together to grow a garden of edibles using only 1/4 of the water that most San Diegans use each day.

We will start with a 20 minute short film, produced by the Surfrider Foundation, called The Cycle of Insanity: The Real Story of Water. It's excellent and very kid friendly. Space is limited, so RSVP soon.

After the film, about 9:30, and 2:30, we will take a 45-60 minute tour where you will learn about simple greywater systems, do-it-yourself options, rainwater-harvesting systems and resources. You can schedule an appointment with Brook to assess greywater opportunities at your site. Suggested donation of $5/person will go toward supporting water activism in San Diego. Please RSVP to Brook at brook@h2o-me.com or call 619.964.4838 and I will give you the address.

Native Garden Tour in LA this Weekend!

The Theodore Payne Foundation, a native nursery and educational resource in the Los Angeles area will host their 7th Annual Native Garden Tour this weekend which will showcase over 50 beautiful all California native gardens in the Los Angeles area.

Visit their Garden Tour page for a sneak preview of the gardens that will be showcased on the tour and to get more information.

Ready to plant natives in your garden? Along with Theodore Payne, Las Pilitas Nursery in Escondido and Tree of Life Nursery in San Juan Capistrano are also great resources for native plants!

Captain Planet in the Making

If you have a few minutes you gotta check out this collection of photos from an Indian Design Group, Captain Planet in the making. I found their photos to be very interesting although lacking some description.

http://www.facebook.com/group.php?v=photos&gid=272720335069