Fhelsing's Fotothing

our garden in Oakland, California: August 24, 2011

This summer, I built a series of berms for the specimen plants in our garden. Each berm creates a little bowl that I can fill with water, while leaving the rest of the garden dry.

I decided to do this for two reasons. The main reason is for water conservation, which is important in a climate like mine where there is no rain at all during the summer months.

Also, this helps to keep the weeds under control. I only have to weed inside each berm "bowl."

I used some of the rocks in our collection of sandstone and chert chunks to keep the neighborhood cats and other animals from digging in my carefully built berms. That does help!