GardenersCardiff answers:

The Sunset Western Garden Book is the Bible for all California gardeners. It has extensive information on all the microclimate zones in both southern and northern California, and what to plant there. It has an indispensable plant encyclopedia with information on thousands of plants, as well as plant lists (with pictures) for particular gardening situations (e.g., coastal gardens, shade, dry inland gardens, high desert, etc.). If you don’t have one, get one, you’ll use it probably more than any book specific to southern California.

GardenersCardiff answers:

I currently have 2 friends that are trying the hay bale gardening this year and so far so good. The beans and tomatoes are doing well. I didn’t have time this year to try it, but will definitely try it next year.

GardenersCardiff answers:

Well, its one of those things you learn by experience and a little reading. Generally speaking, most flowering plants love water so keep the soil moist. If you touch the soil and it gets hardish or chalky- like then they need a good watering. Rule of thumb is use good soil- you can buy top soil and composted manure from home depot. Mix it into the top 6-8 inches of soil so your plants can grow good. This gives the roots room to grow too. Check to see how much sun they need too. If you see a picture of a full sun on the plant then that means they need 6-8 hours of full sun a day. If it says partial shade then it needs 4-6 hours of sun a day. Check which zone you live in. The zones vary from Florida to Maine and they change generally about every 300- 600 hundred miles traveling south to north. The lower the zone number the colder your winters are. Zone is important for those plants or trees you want to come back every year these are called perennials. Annuals are generally planted every year thats why they are called annuals. Its not a bad idea to put mulch around plants. You can use anything from grass clippings to red cedar mulch or pine bark. This helps to keep weeds out and water in. Depending where you live if you are in northern canada your grass may be brown by now frost will kill it. Its too late right now to start a new lawn unless you are south of Oaklahoma. If someone ruined the lawn by over feritilizing it they could have burned it to the point of shock- which means it may come back in weeks time or they may have out right killed it. This is highly unusual. I really would seek the help of someone like Lawn Doctor they often will do free analysis of your soil to make sure theres nothing real seriously wrong with the soil and check for other things that may be going on. When you call around ask if they do a free analysis and call a few different companies to see how much they charge to get your lawn up to speed. You may have to tear up your whole lawn and start over by spreading seed and watering it everyday until it grows in again. I also want to suggest that you join one of the gardening groups on yahoo and if you are at the end of your gardening season- like most of us- then you have all winter to read a good gardening book from your local bookstore. I have a good dozen of them and there are some real great gardening books out there! Good Luck!

GardenersCardiff answers:

Water deeply once a week rather than frequent shallow watering. Deeper watering encourages deeper root growth, keeping the lawn green. Shallow watering makes for shallow roots which are intolerant of stress and will brown out quicker.
Or you can ditch the lawn altogether and plant something that is less of a water hog. There are many ground covers that don’t require as much water as lawn and look just as nice, which will save on air pollution from not having to mow with a gas lawn mower.

Edit: Never water your lawn or plants at night. It encourages mildew growth. Very bad for plants. The best time to water is early morning. From around 5am to 7am. You want the water to dry on the lawn and plants before 10 a.m., otherwise the water droplets act like magnifying glasses on the leaves and will burn them.