posted 9 years ago
Mac, those junipers make great windbreaks, so maybe filling in with those. Transplant babies with thick mulch around them, as often as you can, and get them up and running, create an exterior barrier of them. They live a long time and do great in a drought. Then you can use whatever mulch you manage to collect.
A lot of people put wood chips in their pathways, but I let the paths go to weeds and mow them with a lawn mower that cuts them into small pieces, and I get lots of mulch. In the spring I am mowing several times and get repeated "harvests,"
I've found with straw from other places, even locally, I've ended up with weeds I didn't want, and it's expensive, but still a good source. I like it a lot better after it's rotted, so I try to throw manure on top of it. So figuring out how to grow your own weeds and mow them can be a big help.
Mediterranean climate, hugel trenches, fabulous clay soil high in nutrients, self-watering containers with hugel layers, keyhole composting with low hugel raised beds, thick Back to Eden Wood chips mulch (distinguished from Bark chips), using as many native plants as possible....all drought tolerant.