Pat Marfisi carries alfalfa hay into his Hollywood Hills backyard, but there arent any animals to feed. Its for his no dig vegetable garden: raised beds using lasagna-like layers of fodder, bone and blood meal, and compost and remarkably little water. Now that Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has declared a statewide drought, local governments may curb water use for nonessential purposes. Marfisis personal horticultural lab offers lessons for a low-water, sustainable technique he learned working on organic farms in Australia. Since he began gardening this way, he has been inundated with food. You can have beauty and abundance without a lot of water, Marfisi says.
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