Gardens of Gratitude
Join your community in building 100 new edible gardens this weekend.
Rabbit Retribution
Gardens are springing up everywhere - providing snack bars for woodland creatures all over the globe. Here's a question that came in last week:
"Dear Gardenerd, I am starting a garden in my back yard. I would LOVE to
convert my useless front lawn into an edible estate but can't spend
thousand of dollars on a fence to keep out the wild rabbits. Do you
have a simpler suggestion to keep the rabbits at bay? Thanks, Caroline"
I can make a few suggestions, but honestly a fence is the best answer.
Rabbits burrow, so any fence you put in needs to go down at ...
Zucchini Mishaps
An intriguing question came in last week:
"Dear Gardenerd, I just planted my garden and am looking forward to summer
harvests, but wanted your advice on my zucchini. Last year, in the
middle of summer, the leaves turned gray and the plants eventually
died. None of my other veggies were effected, but this also happened
the year before last as well. Is there anything I can do to avoid this
transpiring? thanks so much, Pascal"
Not that this is an answer to your question, but I have to commiserate and say that last year was a rotten year for squash in my ...
Where the Recycling Goes
A while back, I met Kathleen Jacecko of Teaching Green, and have since been on her mailing list of newletters filled with ideas for sustainable living. Last month, she published an entry about a field trip she made to the Materials Recovery Facility - a.k.a. where the recycling goes. I have always been fascinated with recycling (my first environmental passion after gardening). I thought the ...
Foiled Again!
Combat aphids with this sneaky trick to keep them out of hiding.
Japanese / Vegetable Garden in Sierra Madre
This spring, Gardenerd has helped many new gardeners get on their way. Whether it be through classes, consulting or food garden design, it's been a delight to watch people get bitten by the gardening bug and begin growing their own food.
One such delight came last month, when we finished installing a new garden in Sierra Madre. At first it was going to be a simple, straight forward garden with a few raised beds to maximize growing space. But as the process went on, the home owners realized that they really wanted to incorporate their dream garden - a ...
Ants on My Artichoke!
Here's a new question that came in this week:
"Dear Gardenerd, How do I keep the pesky ants off of my precious
artichokes? I soaked the ones I harvested and still found some. . .
ugh! Please help! - No Ants On My Tree"
Ants are, in and of themselves, not harmful to a garden. That said, they are the harbinger of bad things because they have a symbiotic relationship with aphids. They consume the sticky sweet sap that aphids excrete and in exchange they will take the aphids from place to place. It's the ultimate dealer-junkie relationship.
There are ...
Shiny Pretty Things
Use this easy pest control tip to keep birds from eating your seed starts.
Gardenerd at Esalen
As I write this, I'm sitting in the lodge at the Esalen Institute in Big Sur, CA. When last I was here, I was particpating in a 5-rhythms workshop. This time I'm on the teaching side of things. Like a miracle that fell in my lap, I was invited to co-teach a workshop on the Heart of Organic Gardening with Shirley Ward, the fabulous woman in charge of the farm and garden at Esalen. With Shirley and a few other guest teachers, we've been immersed in the wonder of Esalen's soil structure, composting production, seed-starting and transplanting schedule, ...
Take a Tour
Celebrate Earth Day with a walk around the neighborhood. Garden Tours help "fill the well" and provide inspiration for your own gardening projects.