Christy, Author at Gardenerd

Wordless Wednesday swallowtail caterpillar

Swallowtail caterpillar on curly parsley. They love it!

Wordless Wednesday: Our 1,000th Anniversary

Apparently we've written 1,000 posts on the Gardenerd Blog since 2006, not including monthly newsletters. That number sounds small compared to the wealth of information available in our archives. At the same time it's huge and accounts for hours of typing, researching, and exploring this wondrous thing called organic vegetable gardening. Happy anniversary, Gardenerds! You got us here! To celebrate the first post of our next thousand, let's look at what's happening in the winter garden in Southern California. Anniversary…

Post author:Christy
Post published:January 31, 2018
Post category:Blog What's Growin' On
Post comments:4 Comments

Kellogg's Breakfast Tomato

I Want Those “Heirloom” Tomatoes

When I ask clients "What type of tomatoes do you want to grow?" the answer I expect to hear is "cherry", "plum", "paste", "slicing" or "beefsteak". Instead, most often the response is, "Oh, I want to grow those heirloom kind." To which I reply, "Which one?" There are more than 400 varieties of heirloom tomatoes. There are cherry, plum, paste, grape, salad-sized, and beefsteak heirloom tomatoes that come in every color of the rainbow. So before we go any further,…

Post author:Christy
Post published:January 30, 2018
Post category:Blog
Post comments:0 Comments

Fig Beetles are green and iridescent. They lay eggs in garden soils, compost bins and lawns.

Ask Gardenerd: Grubs and Raccoons

A question came into Ask Gardenerd over the holidays: "How do I discourage the raccoons digging in my raised veggie beds?? They don’t dig on the hillside, where their efforts would be appreciated! :) So far vinegar; cayenne pepper hasn’t worked! I know they are looking for grubs. I read that BT will kill the grubs, but not sure that I want to do that since (I think) the grubs may be beneficial for the soil.-- Cynthia" You're right, those…

Post author:Christy
Post published:January 23, 2018
Post category:Blog Sage Advice
Post comments:6 Comments

Parnsips need thinning in order to produce strong roots.

YouTube: How to Thin Seedlings

Our first video of 2018 answers the many questions we're received about how to thin seedlings and what is thinning to begin with. In this YouTube video you'll learn two techniques for thinning: how to snip away extras from established seedlings, and how to transplant baby seedlings to a new home without disrupting seedlings you want to leave behind. Check it out here: How to Thin Seedlings To see proper thinning in action (or not) read these posts below: Grow…

Post author:Christy
Post published:January 17, 2018
Post category:Blog What's Growin' On
Post comments:5 Comments

Farewell Bountiful Gardens

Today we mourn the loss of one of the best resources in organic biointensive gardening. Bountiful Gardens, the retail wing of Ecology Action's Grow Biointensive, has closed its doors much to my dismay. I'm actually heartbroken over this, there's no other word for it. I feel as though a good friend has died. I went to Bountiful Gardens's website to find out when my catalog would arrive (looking for clues on shipping dates) and found this instead: When you scroll…

Post author:Christy
Post published:January 16, 2018
Post category:Blog What's Growin' On
Post comments:13 Comments

Kale brings happiness and balance to our garden.

Be F.A.B. in 2018

Every gardener needs tools to keep a garden healthy and thriving. This is not only true for the garden, but for the gardener. We get tired, overwhelmed, frustrated, bored, and burned out each year, especially when garden failures appear to outweigh successes. It's 2018, a fresh start with seed catalogs arriving daily to re-ignite the passions that may have sputtered out over the past gardening season. But what if that's not enough? How do we rejuvenate? What tools do you…

Post author:Christy
Post published:January 10, 2018
Post category:Blog What's Growin' On
Post comments:2 Comments

Mittens watches over our first harvest of 2018.

New Year’s Resolution: Voice

My New Year's Resolution for 2018 is one word: Voice. Why?

Post author:Christy
Post published:January 9, 2018
Post category:Blog What's Growin' On
Post comments:11 Comments

Dazzling Blue Kale, the best of both worlds.

YouTube: 360 Degree Tour of Gardenerd HQ

We hope you are enjoying your holiday season. We are too. But in the meantime, here is a cool new video that gives you a 360 degree tour of Gardenerd HQ. Look around, use your mouse to scroll left and right. Check out what's growin' on in the middle of December in Southern California. Note: If the scrolling 360 effect doesn't work on this embedded video, click through to our YouTube channel to watch with all the bells and whistles.…

Post author:Christy
Post published:December 28, 2017
Post category:Blog What's Growin' On
Post comments:4 Comments

Winter Bird Care

Tips to take special care of Birds in Winter

Post author:Christy
Post published:December 21, 2017
Post category:Blog
Post comments:0 Comments

Monarch caterpillars stripping the last of the milkweed.

Wordless Wednesday: Winter Solstice

Winter Solstice is tomorrow, the shortest day of the year. Dark at 4:30 is sad, but it's temporary. From this point forward, the days get longer. Here we celebrate the beauty of winter even with no snow or frost in sight. Winter Solstice Whether your garden is covered with snow or providing you with daily greens, Happy holidays and happy Winter Solstice from our garden to yours!

Post author:Christy
Post published:December 19, 2017
Post category:Blog What's Growin' On
Post comments:0 Comments