If this is the specific look you are after, there are few alternative grasses that do it as well as Zoysia. Up here in northern California, it is usually only available as flats, and your $4.99/SF price is certainly competitive with what a flat would cost. Regular sod is much less expensive. As Zoysia is super slow from seed, I wouldn't recommend even going there, unless you have a strong desire to regularly weed. Zoysia can also be cut into 2 or 3 inch squares and planted 4 to 6 inches apart to stretch the quantities. Another similar subtropical grass which will also give a similar effect is the much faster growing and rougher textured Kikuyu grass, Pennisetum clandestinum. I risk getting flamed by the myriads who will proclaim this is the Devil's Grass, and should never be set loose in a California garden. It is more drought tolerant than Zoysia, faster growing, and similar look with the lumpy growth habit if not mown, but it can be invasive, Not a grass at all, but sedges such as Carex tumulicola, C. pansa or C. 'The Beetles' could also be planted out in mass to give a soft meadowy effect. Red Fescue is also used on slopes in southern California for a billowy lawn effect, but needs alot more water to stay green, and is not very practical if you need to limit your water bill.

Hey Homechicken: Seed saving is really easy. I do not know the nature of your Bell Peppers. Only Open Pollinated (not F1 hybrid) seeds will save and develop the same (or almost the same) as the plant you have this year. So knowing a name of the variety is important. Marconi on the other hand is a stable, variety and is not an F1 hybrid (by all probability, although there are a few on the market)....I take the seeds out of my red peppers (they are mature) and dry them a few days on something flat like a plate, then I pop them in a paper lunch sack and hang them up (I have a seed drying rack I made by using a curtain hanger and cafe curtain loops with hooks on the bottom for the bags). Alternatively if you have a folding (or basement) laundry line or even a hanger and some clothes pegs, you can hang them up...anywhere dry and not too sunny or too hot. So mine stay inside in air conditioning for 2-3 more weeks. Then I store them in plastic bags. I get small seed size bags (normally used for beads) for them, but snack baggies work great. For extra insurance popping them in a glass jar is super, although I use old shoe boxes with packets of stuff that absorbs moisture. They'll be all ready for next year!

Most Basil is infected with virus, which can cause sudden, inexplicable diebacks. It also does not store in the fridge nearly as well as cilantro, which seems to love the coolness. I prefer to obtain my regular cilantro supply from a local Asian food mart, since it refrigerates so well and lasts for such a short time in the garden. Like many cool weather plants, it will "bolt" (go to seed) as the weather warms up. A bit of shade can hold that off for awhile. Dill can be grown just by scattering the seed, and will come back for several years as it reseeds itself. So will fennel, although you do not want them to be close enough to pollinate each other. Like these two, cilantro is another annual that can reseed itself. If you plant tomatoes, these will all benefit from the extra watering and shade if planted near them. In fact, I heard, and have found it to be true, that planting tomatoes in a spot will improve the soil in that spot to make it easier to grow other things there at a later point. Oregano likes to be planted in the ground (or a slightly raised bed) so it has the freedom to form a low mound and spread out a bit. I have found it to be very dependable in my zone and clay soil. It will winter over in a spot with sufficient sun. Thyme and sage both have done much better for me in well-drained pots. Thyme is so small, it tends to get overshadowed and outcompeted by larger plants, and sage definitely needs the extra drainage to winter over. I have found that for some reason I apprecite fresh thyme more than any other herb, so for me it is worth growing even though the plants are so tiny. IMO it is definitely worth planting one of the larger varieties, for practical culinary use. You could also consider garlic an herb and grow that. Additionally, there are garlic and regular chives, both of which are perennial. If you have enough space for it, Egyptian onion's antics are fun to watch, and if you enjoy celery seasoning but often run out, lovage, which can grow quite tall and perennialize, is also nice to have on hand. Some mints are easier to grow than others. The basic peppermint is a pretty tough plant, but chocolate mint is more demanding. Spearmint is somewhere between the two. Pineapple mint (has white spots on leaves) will winter over for me in pots, and is great to use with the tender-but-beautiful pineapple sage in teas. There's really nothing wrong with planting mints in difficult spots no good for other plantings. It usualy doesn't spread that badly where the soil is dry and compacted, IMO; it is really only a large problem in a well cultivated, reasonably moist, bed laden with organic enrichments. Part of the fun of growing herbs is discovering your own favorites and the conditions they thrive in. It's especially nice when one you like perennializes on your property. I had lemon balm take over an entire herb garden at one point and then spread through my entire yard. After a few years, it stabilized and now I only find a few plants here and there when I want to make tea with it. Another thing that is fun with herbs is discovering that some of the cultivated and native plants--and weeds, even--that you have on your property have culinary or medicinal uses. On my land I can gather walnut, mulberry, and pokeberry leaves, elderbery blossoms, forsythia buds, rose petals, honeysuckle blossoms blueberry leaves, raspberry leaves, and all sorts of other things that can be used cautiously for various conditions. Dandilion and some other weeds are edible. Although we have an organized society that appears to be working well, it's nice to know that in hard times I could fall back on the resources offered by some of the plants I have invited to join my ecosphere.

gonefishin, I should have provided a litte more information. Haha... I don't want to hijack this thread...but maybe people making these cages will also be interested in spacing too! This is my first summer to have my garden up and running. So I can't speak from any experience, but I hope that my soil and setup will work out very well. It should be very fertile soil. Here is my setup: Raised garden bed: 20 feet long x 40 inches wide x 16 inches deep (made with split-face cinderblocks 2 high). Soil: I made my own with some inspiration from Mel's mix and SFG. Here is my mix... 1/12 part vermiculite. 1/6 part Soil Pep (Mostly decomposed bark/wood chips). 1/6 part compost from landfill (made from trees, bark, grass clippings, various greens composted for 1 year+). 1/4 part Nutri-Mulch (Turkey manure composted with wood chips). 1/3 part Peat Moss. I actually took the time to mix all of the above with a cement mixer before filling my raised bed with it. So it is well mixed and hopefully provide a lot of nutrients. Drainage should be great as well as water retention. I tilled the soil under my beds (silty-clay loam) before adding my soil. Climate, I live in UTAH near SLC. We are very dry here and pretty warm in the summer (90's usually). I wonder if I should consider one of korney19's triangle cages. If those are 10 feet total then I assume they are a little over 3 feet per side. That would fit about perfectly in my 40 inch space... Thanks again for any help. And sorry to hijack this thread with some of my questions slightly off-topic! (Although hopefully helpful to others as well)