Theodore Payne Foundation

Garden checklist for September: Compost, prune, plan

In a crowded world, the original observations are rare. One of my beets is that with all the good taste - if you like beets. Another is that the good people of Los Angeles could be struck dumb for refusal of "you should" with a second being, "you should not." It took less than a week in a new home on a particular street house of pride for parents and friends to send:

"You should have sprinklers."

"You should be using my lawn service."

"You should not use a lawn service."

"You have to plant cherry Caroline."

I did not have sprinklers, I hired a lawn service, and then he fired after digging all lawns. I plant cherry Caroline - a mistake, because they burn in the heat waves and that I should use native plants.

Thirteen years later, in a second home, this time in Loosey-Goosey part unincorporated Los Angeles County, the flow of unsolicited advice was not as bad, but it still happens.

"You should call [someone] about trapping water."

"Whatever you do, make your driveway last.”

“You should cut the sucker off that fruit tree.”

“You should have planted your corn in blocks.”

I did plant my John Dourley manzanita where the neighbor suggested. I didn’t call the friend about water trapping because I plan on doing it myself. I took up the old asphalt driveway as soon as the heat radiating off it became intolerable, and I replaced it with cooler, permeable decomposed granite. I did cut the sucker off the fruit tree and I hand-pollinated the corn, though I won’t bother growing it again. Too much water, not enough enjoyment.

Theodore Roosevelt, The Citizen

Prelude to foundation

Foundation and Earth

Second Foundation

Foundation and Empire