August To-Dos
Time to take action with August To-Dos and increase production
Tiny flowers turn to fruit quickly
Growing Fish Peppers
If you haven't guessed by now, we love growing heirlooms here at Gardenerd HQ. This year we were excited to try growing fish peppers. Both the fruit and leaves offer visual interest in the garden with variegated, cream-striped green pods, and white-mottled leaves that look like a beautiful mistake. Fish peppers also have a history dating back to the 1800s, with African-American culinary roots tracing back to the 1940s. Hot white sauces made from these young fruits kick up the…
Young tomatoes in cages - Rule #1: give them proper support
Pruning Tomatoes
Today we have a guest post from James White, a self-described kombucha tea-sipping blogger who focuses on green building and sustainable living via his family blog Homey Improvements. He's offering advice on how to prune tomatoes for those who are pruning-averse. Take it away James! How to Prune Tomatoes The first year I planted tomatoes they all died. Year after year, I’ve made every mistake you possibly can when it comes to tomatoes but I’ve learned so much that now I…
Cosmos are beneficial insectaries for bees and other pollinators.
Ask Gardenerd: When to Spray to Avoid Bees
Another great question to share with you this week from Melody Girard: "Are there certain times of the day that bees and other pollinators in our area routinely forage? If so, when would that be? I've read that if you need to use an organic spray to control pest, that you should avoid using it at times when bees are foraging." Knowing when to spray is tricky one, because there are some species that are out all day long, and…
Edible landscapes of a different sort have taken over the Ranch
Revisiting the Huntington Ranch
Back in 2010 we attended the grand opening of the Huntington Ranch, a secret garden of sorts outside the normal sites to see at the Huntington Library and Gardens. In its infancy, the Huntington Ranch promised to bring back the original use (and nostalgia) of the early days of the Huntington, when fruit orchards and vegetable gardens were in center focus on the property. Now, 5 years later, the Ranch is all grown up. Unrecognizable from its early installation days.…
Tiny tomatillo-like fruits are oddly sweet and savory at the same time.
Growing and Harvesting Ground Cherries
It's always great to discover you can grow something in your climate that you didn't think was possible before. This is true of ground cherries for me. Until this spring, they were a mystery to me, relegated to northern climates, or so I thought. Then a friend sent seeds from Canada and I couldn't resist the opportunity to see how they would do in a completely different latitude. Ground cherries, otherwise known as Physalis, are in the nightshade family and…
Ask Gardenerd: Make my Hydrangea Blue
I think we've all asked this question at least once in our gardening lives: "What do I have to do to make our light pink hydrangea to blossom blue. Everyone has different opinion on this subject, your help is very much appreciated. Thank you, Ana" Good question, Ana, and there are several answers, all arriving at basically the same solution: You need to lower the pH of your soil in order for hydrangeas to flower blue instead of pink. Now,…