The Real Dirt

Counting the time spent at work and at home, urban dwellers spend 80-90% of their time indoors.

This is the second of two articles on projects The Nature Conservancy (TNC) is involved with in our part of the North State. The Nature Conservancy is one of the world's most effective and wide-reaching environmental organizations.

The reach of The Nature Conservancy (TNC) is global, with projects that range from pristine habitat preservation in Equatorial Africa to promoting regenerative agriculture in Northwest India to protecting old growth forests in Clayoquot Sound in British Columbia.

While much of California has a Mediterranean climate with hot, dry summers and cool, moist winters, there are many distinct microclimatic variations within our state. A microclimate is defined as a local atmospheric zone where the climate differs from the surrounding area.

Last week in this column we suggested creating a swale in your home garden to capture rain and practice effective water conservation. If you have been inspired to start planning a swale, you may be looking forward to the fun of selecting plants for this garden feature.