Hooray for Rain!

I was pretty sure there would be more rain. After all, it always used to rain at the end of January when they had the Pro-Am golf tournament in Pebble Beach. I'm pretty sure there will be rain next weekend, too. It almost always rains on my birthday weekend. That used to be the weekend of the Golden Gate Kennel Club benched show. It was always raining then. So I am optimistic.

Why does it matter? My seed babies went to the dunes yesterday! I had grown two trays of 96 seedlings each. Some buckwheat, some sagewort and some sand pinks. We planted the buckwheat and the sagewort in the restored areas right next to the recreation trail near the kayak place and the public volleyball courts. (The pinks are waiting to be planted later). If you go on the rec trail there (Windows on the Bay is the name of that part of the beach) look for small (1.5 inch) plants sunken in little wells to catch the water and protect them from the wind. If you are on the beach side you will see straw planted on end in the sand. These straw plugs are protecting the sand from erosion and providing a small windbreak for the plants that are planted behind them. They also send people the message that something is going on in that area and they should respect the cable that separates that area from the rest of the beach.

We also planted lizard tail and poppies. The poppies are the more yellow beach poppies and the propagators are careful not to get seed that has come from a poppy "mixed marriage." The really orange ones are not the true natives of the beach. I should have taken pictures of the planting and of the plant babies, but it slipped my mind.