Good to know about staghorn sumac! It’s grown as an ornamental here, and I was considering growing a tree of it because it’s edible. If it suckers and runs a whole lot, though – nah! I’ll just forage the berries. 
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It’s likely that you’ll get significant rain at some point. In the meanwhile, you could dig swales to capture and sink as much of the rain as you can get. Usually most of water is lost as runoff in major rain events, so making provision to capture and store it when it comes will help a lot. See “Rainwater Harvesting for Drylands and Beyond” by Brad Lancaster.
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Yes. I need to dig some swales and rain basins for sure!
Occasionally in my area, you will see vetch climbing along a fence, it’s very pretty. But my dad hated it. Specifically, in a hayfield, because of its vineyness, it would tangle in the mower blades, and make mowing difficult.
American vetch? Or is it a different vetch species?
(Laugh.) I can easily see vines being a pest in an area you want to mow.
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I’m sorry, I actually know nothing! 
I just remember as a kid, Dad would kind of shake his head and cuss “vetch.” I doubt if he would have cared anything about species, if it was vetch, then vetch bad. But he was only thinking of his hayfield, and he had a thing for a perfectly mown field. So something that would clog up the mower and leave a strip of grass, that was akin to evil, almost. But you read a lot of things about how good it is for a ground cover, and it is pretty.
Ha ha ha! American vetch seems likely, but there are others it could have been! It’s entirely possible it was more than one species, and he didn’t care which.
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Exactly!
Plants that stand full scorching sun the whole day are few and below. Those in the tree category are called ‘shade trees’ for a reason.
I’ve read that the traditional andalousian garden is located in the patios of the houses, precisely for the protection plants receive from the walls: less wind, less heat, some shade.
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And if you can couple that with living mulch to keep the soil moister . . . that might change the microclimate significantly!
Another ‘weed’ I hadn’t know could be edible, how fun! We had a pretty decent carpet of this out on a neglected corner that did pretty well without a lot of supplemental irrigation (though that was after it was very well established). Not sure how easy it is to get started but it once it’s filled in it kind of took care of itself here - though as they say - your mileage may vary.
I’ve known about ice plant as an edible since they’ve been introduced in a lot of beach areas locally but now want to revisit with your article’s mention of the medicinal properties and how to properly prepare them as a food stuff (my initial taste wasn’t very favorable) .
The review was in reference to crystalline ice plant (Mesembryanthemum crystallinum) which the wikipedia page said both sequesters salt (could be used for bioremediation) but then upon death releases all the salt back into the surrounding soil so that only it’s salt tolerant seeds survive. Not sure about the showering seeds though I haven’t seen them flower/fruit, and the attempting to salt the soil once it dies does seem problematic if it decides to bite the dust.
I suppose, then, if you’re using it for bioremediation, you’d want to pull up the plants before they die and release all that salt. That could work.
What does Aptenia cordifolia taste like? I’m quite curious!
I’m learning flavor descriptions aren’t my forte, but I tried it yesterday afternoon and thought it was kind of meh - not bad (wasn’t astringent/bitter/etc) just a generic green/vegetal taste. This morning I went out to try again and found it had a pleasant lemony/acidic bite, somewhat like a mild oxalis/sorrel flavor? I could just be forgetful but I’ll try it again this afternoon - I’m curious if harvesting at different times of day makes a difference.
Cool. So it’s nothing exciting, but if it perfectly matches your climate and needs for a particular spot in the garden, it might be a good groundcover/potherb.
I’m testing out a new possible groundcover, wild cucumber. It appears to be well behaved. It does put roots down at nodes but they’ve been easy to dig up if necessary. It doesn’t seem to smother or strangle and it appears to be an annual, spreading from seed only. The main root system consists of a single taproot and a limited root network occupying about a foot of space.
Interesting! How does it taste?
Like a cucumber. The chickens love them.
Neato! I’m glad to hear it doesn’t have a bitter aftertaste, or anything! Is it a wild form of Cucumis sativus, or is it another species?