New Organic Farmers at MV Farmers’ Market
This one is for you locals out there. We've got three new vendors at the Mar Vista Farmers' Market. Learn about each one and what they have to offer.
New Farmers Come to Mar Vista Farmers' Market
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Ask Gardenerd: Save Seeds …then what?
I love these kinds of questions:
"I was unable to attend to my garden for a few weeks and some of my chard, salad greens and cilantro plants shot up and are close to flowering. I've never collected seeds before, but I'll try. What do I do with the plants afterwards? Keep or remove them? Thanks, Nazie"
Nazie, thanks for writing in. Before we talk about what to do with the plants, let's start with a few seed saving tips. ...
Basil in Abundance
Summer has arrived early it seems, with the first clear indicator being the garden's bountiful offering of basil.
Toxic Gardening Equipment
A recent article in the Huffington Post revealed a study conducted by Ecology Center, which analyzed 179 common garden products for toxic levels of BPAs, heavy metals and other contaminates. The results were pretty telling.
Harvesting Blackberries – Very Carefully
Here is Southern California the cane berries are ripening. We planted a cutting last year, and the reward has been sweet so far. We've been nibbling on a few blackberries each day.
The question always comes up: How do you know when to harvest? Here is a simple primer.
Blackberries produce fruit on second-year canes
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Three Sisters Garden: Trials and Tribulations
The concept of a Three Sisters Garden is romantic. A Native American tradition of growing corn, beans and squash together has traveled through the centuries and still remains a viable planting method for these hot weather crops. But what happens when it doesn't turn out picture perfect? Let me tell you.
Our Three Sisters Garden started off with a whimper, with the heirloom Black Aztec sweet corn...
Planting Sweet Potatoes
This week’s tip comes from Southern Exposure Seed Exchange, with helpful suggestions to maximize your sweet potato yield.
What to Do with Lemon Balm (A.K.A. another excuse for ice cream)
Being a participant in the Westside Produce Exchange means that you never know what you're going to get. A typical bag, depending on the season, contains lemons, oranges, greens like kale and chard, avocados, artichokes, green beans, and tomatoes. There's always a bouquet of herbs like rosemary, basil, oregano, and thyme.
This month's exchange did not disappoint, but it did leave some of us in a quandary about what ...
Count Your Butterflies
You can participate by counting and identifying butterflies in your garden and neighborhood, and reporting your findings to certain organizations for analysis.
Ask Gardenerd: Spots on My Herbs
A question came in this week to Ask Gardenerd that I have been asking myself for awhile, but never felt compelled to research the answer. Now I have no excuse:
"Hello! The leaves of many of my herbs have white speckles on them lately. (It almost looks like they're variegated). It's definitely not on the leaves, but more so 'in' the leaves and is appearing on many of the varieties, such as thyme, basil, and cilantro. Any ...