And now for something completely different... At least a year ago my PR assistant, Mel, gave me a carrot plush toy. It's the cutest thing ever. It also spawned an idea we couldn't pass up. What if we sent this plush toy around the world so people could photograph it in their gardens? What if gardenerds all over the planet could then post their photos to Twitter or Instagram for all of us to share? But we couldn't send him...Gardenerd...out…
Interplanting is a great way to use up open space while protecting the soil from exposure to the baking sun.
The Huntington Library and Gardens unveiled its new Education and Visitor Center on April 4th. Sadly we couldn't attend that day, but we finally made a pilgrimage to see the site this past weekend to take it all in. First impressions: it's going to be amazing when everything grows in. In the meantime, the sheer scale of the project is impressive right now. The old Huntington entrance, with its long walk through an established tree canopy, is gone. In its…
You've probably heard of the Three Sisters Garden, where you plant corn, beans, and squash together for a symbiotic relationship that takes up less space for all three crops. But interplanting can work with other crops too. This year, we decided to experiment with interplanting corn in with a sweet potato bed that won't give up the ghost. Each year, despite pulling what we think is all the sweet potatoes, the crop keeps coming back, rendering a 4x4 bed unavailable…
Earth Day is April 22nd, but you can celebrate and focus on our big blue planet all month.
It's garden tour time, folks, and this year Gardenerd HQ is on the Mar Vista Green Garden Showcase. We'll be opening up the backyard vegetable garden for all to see. We'll be sharing helpful tips and tidbits on how to grow just about anything edible in a small space. The Mar Vista Green Garden Showcase is on Saturday, April 25th from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. This self-guided tour offers over 50 homes to inspire you toward a more sustainable…
It's time to highlight another turf removal project we've just completed. This one is primarily non-edible, but we were excited to transform another front lawn into a water catchment basin, and make it a home for native and drought-tolerant plants. The family wanted colorful plants that gave them a little privacy while taking advantage of the city's rebate program, which covered the cost of plants and hardscape materials. Let's take a look: Before The homeowner wanted a path next to…
How to deal with fruit flies using rosemary and homemade fruit fly traps
I've been hearing it for awhile, especially from the native plant enthusiasts and experts among us: pull out non-native milkweeds, it's making our Monarchs sick. What? Aren't we supposed to be growing milkweed for Monarch butterflies, you ask. The answer is yes, but it's more complicated than that. Nobody ever really explained to me why we need to stop growing non-native milkweeds, just that we need to stop. But finally something came across my desk to explain it succinctly. Recent…
Gardenerds love gardening toys, especially in spring. There's something very satisfying about a fresh new ball of jute twine or a well-made hand tool. As if spring wasn't exciting enough, we recently received a gift certificate to go crazy at Minnie and Moon, a great new online garden store that imports well-made British tools and goodies to the US. If you read our November, 2014 newsletter about Minnie and Moon, you'll get the story behind the products, (In the interest…