A Lesson in Persimmon
It’s persimmon season, a perfect time for a quick lesson.
YouTube: Saving Celery & Dill Seeds
This week's YouTube video is all about saving celery and dill seeds. They are easy to save and abundant in supply.
Field Trip: Organic Solution – High-tech Worm Castings
Last week I was invited to geek out with the guys at Organic Solution, a Southern California worm castings company. A pleasant drive out to Camarillo yielded more than just an earful of good-for-the-garden tidbits. These guys are elbow deep in the best worm castings around. Located next to McGrath Family Farms, a certified organic produce company selling to local farmers markets, Organic Solution mixes up batches of premium worm castings, vermachar (worm castings mixed with biochar), and shelf-stable worm…
Prepping for Storage
Preparing fall greens for the refrigerator.
Seed Viability Test
Test questionable seeds for germination rates.
YouTube: Planting Potatoes in Pots
Our latest YouTube video is live, and it's all about planting potatoes in pots. Here in Southern California we can plant potatoes in fall or spring. For those in cooler climates, you may have to wait until spring, but here's something to keep you learning through the winter: https://youtu.be/AbsZYZAx46o We have plenty of blog posts on how to grow and harvest potatoes no matter where you live. Check out these links for details about planting potatoes, harvesting and growing in…
Harvesting Honey Like the Pros
Late summer/early fall was the perfect time for harvesting honey, and while we've done it in the past on a small scale, our latest harvest required the right equipment to handle a larger batch. We looked to our friends at HoneyLove.org to help. As members of HoneyLove, we can check out community equipment instead of buying and storing bulky buckets ourselves. Believe me, this is the way to go. The harvest was light, since it was the first year, but…
Tips to Freeze What You Grow
Today's guest post comes from Rachel Thomas, an ex-babysitting pro as well as a professional writer and blogger. She is a graduate from Iowa State University and currently writes for www.babysitting.net. Today she's sharing information with us about preserving what we grow. Take it away Rachel... With plenty of gardening comes plenty of produce, but what can you do with all of it? You certainly can’t eat it all at once, and canning everything is a pain in the neck.…
1 Year Since Sandy
Climate change is undeniable since Hurricane Sandy.
Radishes and kale planted in Square Foot Gardening fashion
Fall Gardening in Progress
While cooler climates are closing down the garden for winter, we're just getting started here in So-Cal. Fall gardening is commonly known as the "best" growing season here because we actually get rain, temperatures are cooler, and everything grows virtually bug-free. What's not to love? <moment of silence for places covered in snow right now> Fall gardening also features some of the "better" veggies (sorry tomatoes): lettuces, cabbages, broccoli, mustard greens, and kale. Here in the Gardenerd Test garden, we're…