It’s cold and wet out there, and just as we want to stay dry and cozy indoors, so do rats! When temperatures get low and food gets scarce, rats need to find a way to stay warm and survive the winter. They are excellent at digging. They’ll look for a structure like a rock, wall, […]
Outsmart those Smart Rats! Read More »
Today is National Houseplant Appreciation Day, a day to celebrate the joy and benefit of growing plants indoors. If you have the post-holiday blues, now’s a good time to brighten up your house with a lovely plant that you can enjoy all year long. Houseplants do more than just bring a splash of color indoors
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Want to solve garden problems while creating landscapes that are in sync with the natural environment? Join us for our new season of webinars that will focus on attracting and protecting pollinators in your garden, successfully managing rats, and replacing that thirsty lawn – all without chemicals! Co-sponsored by YardSmartMarin and Marin Master Gardeners, talks
Kick the Chemicals! Care for your Garden and Beyond Season 2! Read More »
Birds, bees, and butterflies as important pollinators. Did you know there are lots of other pollinators, like ants, beetles, moths, and even the wind? While often considered the ugly cousin of the butterfly, moths are not only beneficial pollinators, they’re often equally gorgeous! There are more species of moths in the U.S. than all the
Moths are Pollinators Too! Read More »
Herbicide phytotoxicity – whew! That’s a mouthful! What is it? Phytotoxicity is injury to plants caused by chemicals like air pollutants, fertilizers, and pesticides. Herbicides aka weed killers, are designed specifically to kill plants, posing a significant risk of damaging desirable plants that are exposed these weed killers. Landscapes can be injured as a result
Unintended Consequences Read More »
Rollie pollie’s – are these good or bad? Known more commonly as pill bugs, these little crustaceans are part of Nature’s recycling team. Looking somewhat like mini armadillos, they feed on decaying materials, but sometimes they become pests when they feed on young shoots and roots, or on fruits and vegetables that lie on damp
The Christmas Bird Count (CBC) occurs December 14 to January 5 every year. The CBC is a long-standing program of the National Audubon Society, with over 100 years of community science involvement. It is an early-winter bird census, where thousands of volunteers across the U.S., Canada, and many countries in the Western Hemisphere go out
Christmas Bird Count Week Read More »
What do blue cheese, conks, penicillin, athlete’s foot, and soy sauce have in common? Fungus! These represent both the good and the bad that come from this amazing group of living things. Neither plant nor animal, the fungi inhabit a world mostly hidden from view, the mushroom-like things popping out of the ground often the
Are those Mushrooms? Read More »
“An invasive plant is a plant that is non-native to the ecosystem under consideration, and whose introduction is likely to cause economic or environmental harm, or harm to human health” says Plant Right, a California non-profit working with California’s nursery industry to keep invasive plants out of our landscapes and to promote the sale of
What is an invasive plant? Read More »
Neonicotinoids (commonly referred to as neonics) are the most widely used insecticides in the world, commonly used on farms, in our gardens, schools, and city landscapes. They are systemic insecticides – they are absorbed into plants and can be present in pollen and nectar, making them toxic to bees and many other beneficial insects. These
