Atherton Ranch Gardening Club

Atherton Ranch Gardening Club A garden club for all Atherton Ranch Residents, Owners and Renters with an interest in gardening to maintain and improve the look and use of their home.

Spring is here. It is nice building restrictions are now be lifted. We will soon see Atherton Place construction contin...
05/01/2020

Spring is here. It is nice building restrictions are now be lifted. We will soon see Atherton Place construction continuing after the disruptions caused by the Virus. We are especially looking forward to resumption of the landscaping next to our Park as we have been looking at an unattractive space for many years. It will make a really nice change.

Yep! It’s that time of year again. No more fires at least
12/13/2019

Yep! It’s that time of year again. No more fires at least

Never use chemical fertilizers on lawns. Well it is possible to avoid these patches if you use a proper spreader but wh...
06/12/2019

Never use chemical fertilizers on lawns. Well it is possible to avoid these patches if you use a proper spreader but why bother? There are plenty of natural fertilizers that work just as well if not better and will not cause this unsightly if temporary problem. Natural also means renewable so better for the environment. Say no to chemical fertilizers.

Fire Prevention at HomeOr “What can YOU do?”The first five feet from the walls of your house is where to start first. ...
05/27/2019

Fire Prevention at Home
Or “What can YOU do?”
The first five feet from the walls of your house is where to start first. Walk around your house. Take some photos because we generally do not see our own stuff. Ask yourself is there anything I can do to harden my house from flying embers. Imagine the sky filled with millions of tiny embers and then look at what they might land on. Are there some things that a single ember could ignite that could then burn and possibly destroy your home? If you can, move these items away from the 5 foot protective zone. Examples; Woody plants like tall shrubs and woody hedges. Hedges planted up against house walls (a 1970s landscaping design favorite) need to be removed. Replace with fire resistant species. Flammable mulch and even bark can be replaced with non inflammable material such as stones. Remove any wood piled up for storage such as leaning against your house walls or under decking. Brooms are very susceptible to embers. Taking your time to make some changes now will harden your home against fire and give you the satisfaction of knowing you did what you could to protect your home and your loved ones. Photos from a recent HOA fire seminar.

Bartlett Tree Service are one week into a two week thinning and clearing operation for fire safety on Atherton Knoll Ope...
05/27/2019

Bartlett Tree Service are one week into a two week thinning and clearing operation for fire safety on Atherton Knoll Open Space just behind the Ranch Drive Townhouses. Better to see this getting done now than see the fire engine later. Our neighbors to the north have graciously allowed Bartlett’s to remove the dead trees and inflammable brush like Coyote bush through their parking lot. This work is long (decades) overdue and will add to Atherton Ranch’s fire preparedness. We will be addressing what individual homeowners can do for themselves in later posts.

How Not to Care for Your LawnHere we see the classic mistake in early summer. Clearly the grass is cut way too short. ...
05/25/2019

How Not to Care for Your Lawn

Here we see the classic mistake in early summer. Clearly the grass is cut way too short. The clippings are caught and taken away instead of mulching and returning the phosphorous back into the soil. It is not getting enough water and badly needs fertilizing. Easy to correct now before the mid summer sun stresses the grass to death. First apply a natural fertilizer. Increase regular watering and raise that mower right up to its highest level after taking off the catcher. It will be beautiful and green in a few weeks. Cut at this higher level once a week.

05/07/2019

WHEN TO SPRINKLE?

To minimize disease and pests in your lawn and garden and not encourage night time lawn destroyers like Skunks, Rats and Raccoons, change your sprinkler settings to water between 4:00 a.m. and 6:00 a.m. The very worst time is in the early to late evening when most of us have our timers set to water. Watering at night is just an invitation to these nocturnal creatures to come down from the hills and rip up your lawn looking for the grubs and worms stimulated by your late night watering. So do yourself a favor and water in the early morning and you will have a healthier and better looking lawn and garden with less damage to repair. Your neighbors will thank you.

Lawn care. The first photo shows the problem when we cut our grass too short and use a catcher. Eventually the grass g...
05/07/2019

Lawn care. The first photo shows the problem when we cut our grass too short and use a catcher. Eventually the grass gets stressed and dies In patches. Adjust your lawnmower to its highest setting and cut more regularly during summer. Do not use a catcher. Mulch the cuttings back into the lawn. The second photo shows how irregular watering and low cutting leads to irregular growth and dead and dying patches. Grass needs to be taller to be healthy especially in summer. Next these large w**d clumps should be removed by pulling out. All three lawns need to be fertilized and given a lot more water than they are getting or you will end up with photo 4 where the sprinklers are clearly there but are not turned on. Everything is already dead in just a few weeks of no rain from lack of water. The next picture 5 shows bark which is a viable alternative and can look attractive with the right colorful plants. The more color (not just green) the better. Picture 6 is a definite no no. Never use this shredded stuff. It is highly flammable and a potential fire hazard. Not attractive and not recommended. The final picture 7 shows what can be done. Longer blades of grass due to higher cutting height set on your lawnmower. Clearly mulched or fertilized or both and adequate water. Perfect.

Once again the trees know what time of year it is. Spring! Enjoy
04/03/2019

Once again the trees know what time of year it is. Spring! Enjoy

To sprinkle or not to sprinkle. That is the question. After such a long wet winter our lawns remain very wet and as th...
03/19/2019

To sprinkle or not to sprinkle. That is the question.

After such a long wet winter our lawns remain very wet and as the photographs show very green. Irish or New Zealand green. Well almost. There is definitely zero requirement to turn your sprinklers on right now. In fact waiting a few weeks until early April will allow your lawns and garden beds to dry out a bit encouraging plant roots to go a little deeper and get ready for the hot dry months ahead. So do NOT turn on your sprinklers at the moment. We are also expecting so cooler weather and maybe some more light precipitation in the next 2 weeks. So hold off and save some money.

11/20/2018

The Marin market is showing remarkable strength going into the traditional slow winter season especially with regard to actual prices of homes sold. More expensive areas like Belvedere, Tiburon and Ross have seen a small retreat in mediun prices sold in the past few months but lower priced areas (comparatively) like Novato, San Rafael etc. continue to show increasing prices of homes sold and the trend line is up. It all comes down to affordability. In lower priced areas the recovery from 2008 meant that some homes are 20-40% higher but that percentage in more expensive areas means the actual increase mounts up to really BIG bucks making their homes unaffordable and prices have slipped a s result. With interest rates higher but relatively stable the higher prices which have far outstripped inflation in southern Marin, are forcing buyers to look further north to San Rafael and Novato to purchase homes they can afford, as the actual increase amount is less as the houses were priced lower to begin with, so our prices feel the upward pressure. It does not hurt that the SMART train has been so successful and now the southern and northern extensions currently under construction make this mode of commute more and more attractive especially given the state of Highway 101 in the morning and even the evening. Residents can hop on a train in Novato and soon will find tthemnselves walking to a boat in Larkspur Landing instead of to a bus in San Rafael. That is going to be a huge saving of time. We are expecting 2019 to reflect a solid market in northen Marin and even into towns north like Petaluma and Cotati due to the train while southern Marin may see a slowdown or at least a slowing of median price growth. For those of us who own homes in Novato this is encouraging news. All we need is a great trade deal with China and we can watch the stock market and our 401(k)s take off too.

SKUNK ALERT! Every year around this time skunks are out and about with their young. We have now observed them coming o...
10/17/2018

SKUNK ALERT! Every year around this time skunks are out and about with their young. We have now observed them coming out of our street curb drains as they are looking for water for their families from sprinkler run off. To mitigate this try altering your sprinkler times to early in the morning say 5:00 a.m. rather than in the evening. Also run and watch your sprinklers during the day as you may need to use a small flat head scewdriver and adjust the flow and direction. Also as we move into cooler months you should be checking to make sure you are not overwatering. It is simple. Around mid day on the weekend check your lawns and garden beds by digging in with a spade and see if they are dry or wet. With shorter cooler days coming you can reduce the sprinkler times from that needed in mid summer and even adjust the timer so you only water 3 or 4 times a week instead of every day which will save water and money. If it rains you can even turn off your sprinklers for days at a time until the garden dries out a bit further saving money.

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Novato, CA

Telephone

+14153771825

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