- Author: Carol Nickbarg
- Contributor: Native Plant Subject Group
- Editor: Kamille Hammerstrom

Planning a Wildlife-Friendly Garden
A sustainable wildlife-friendly garden rests on habitat creation – the addition of native plants and physical features to your garden, and on diversity of insect species – the wildlife “foundation” of your garden. To plan what to add or encourage, inventory the present state of your garden:
- Observe your garden throughout the year. What types of desirable wildlife are already in your garden? Where in the garden do they appear: plant species/physical feature, shade/sun, feeding/nesting? Do they appear seasonally or year-round? Not all plants (even of the same species) or physical features are alike. For a plant...
- Author: Kamille Hammerstrom

Our forecast here on the Central Coast is for lots of rain in the coming days. While it may be too late to implement any big changes for this series of storms, it's not too late to observe what happens with water around your house, in your garden, and in your yard and plan for some improvements that might even change the way you garden.
Right now most of that freshwater goodness goes into ditches and drains to the ocean. There are good reasons for this; when rainwater ponds, it may be targeted by mosquitoes looking to lay eggs. In addition to being annoying, mosquitoes can carry diseases. That's a main reason why county Mosquito Abatement personnel...