News & ideas
Green stormwater infrastructure for desert yards
October 30, 2026Every monsoon, rain that could water your trees runs off into the street. Here's how curb cuts, basins, swales and a few other simple pieces catch it, slow it and sink it where your plants can use it.
How to grow healthy living soil in the desert
October 22, 2026Three rules: keep it quiet, keep it covered, keep it planted. Do them and your yard holds water, feeds your plants and stops blowing away.
How to plant a fruit tree in the low desert
October 22, 2026The whole job, from the nursery pot to the first summer. Get these few things right and your tree roots out instead of just hanging on.
How to Manage Mealybugs the Permaculture Way
October 21, 2026Mealybugs are the little white fuzzy bugs that show up on citrus, hibiscus, grapes, figs, succulents and pretty much anything tender. They're super common in Arizona yards.
What USDA Zone Am I In? A Simple Guide for Arizona Gardeners
November 21, 2025If you know, you know! Arizona is known to be one of the most diverse growing regions in the entire country. From blazing conrete jungle & desert heat to snowy mountain towns, k…
We’re Partnering with the Phoenix Food Forest Initiative to Design & Steward the Largest Urban Food Forest in the U.S.
September 18, 2025Are you free on March 7-8th for our next planting event? We’ll be posting the signup link very soon. For now follow us on Instagram & TikTok .
The 6 Zones of Urban Permaculture
September 15, 2025Traditionally, permaculture uses “zones” to organize elements of your property based on how often they are interacted with. As with the principles of permaculture and other conc…
Urban Farm Podcast #839: Jérémy Chevallier on Food Forest Innovations
September 12, 2025Reposting this episode that I was featured in!
3 Principles to Healthy Living Soil
August 14, 2025Keep it Quiet • Keep it Covered • Keep it Planted
We’re Partnering with Grower’s Best Organics to Bring Your Soil Back to Life
August 13, 2025These past few months have been a major milestone for us, as we’ve begun working more closely with Growers Best Organics Soil & Worm Farm out in Queen Creek, AZ.
Can Nonprofits Make a Profit? These 18 Charities Sure Do
August 13, 2025I began this list out of a personal need to understand exactly how charities can make money beyond receiving donations and grants. I discovered just how common this is! Let’s ch…
The Case Against Artificial Turf
July 26, 2025Artificial turf. Synthetic grass. AstroTurf. Fake lawn. It seems like it’s everywhere these days. That’s because an estimated 6,000-8,000 companies are professionally recommendi…
What is “landscaping” anyway?
December 6, 2024When we think about landscaping, we tend to think “just keep it maintained.” We don’t think about the ✨ awesome potential ✨ our landscapes hold for growing beautiful, useful pla…
We’re Partnering with Galaxy Gardens to Turn the Phoenix Valley into a Rainwater Harvesting Paradise
July 29, 2024Permascaping = design | Galaxy Gardens = installation
Moringas > Unicorns
June 24, 2023This week, I came across this tweet, and was inspired to write the response you see, as well as this article. Thanks Adam for the prompt!
Foodservice MUST BE Sustainable
July 7, 2022Drive through any neighborhood on trash day, or any park in a busy city, and America’s trash problem is obvious:
Back to Basics: From Tech to Soil
April 5, 2022For the past 4 years career coaching, I’ve heard countless people tell me “If I didn’t have to worry about money, I’d be ______-ing instead.” Almost all of the answers I hear ar…