Summer Pruning
Prune your fruit trees to prevent vertical growth and for a better harvest
A bacterial-eating nematode
Up Close and Personal with Compost
Nerd Alert: this blog post may cause irrational desire to look at compost under a microscope. Ever since I took Alane Weber's compost immersion workshop last year, I have been trying out the techniques I learned to make better compost. In our test garden, we've been building Active Batch Thermal compost piles as well as cold compost piles (slowly adding material over time) with plenty of water and a good balance of carbon and nitrogen materials. The results look good,…
Aeroponics for the Home: Growing Without the Mess of Soil
By now you've probably heard of aquaponics and hydroponics--growing plants in water instead of soil. This week we have an interesting post from a guest blogger who explores aeroponics (growing plants in air and water). Our guest Linda Bailey is from housekeeping.org. She is a Texas-based writer who loves to write about housekeeping, green living, home décor, and more. She welcomes your comments at b.lindahousekeeping @ gmail.com. Take it away Linda... Aeroponics for the Home Do you want a garden…
Repurposed Container Gardens
Discover ways to repurpose household items and more into containers for your garden
Re-purpose any container as a planter
ReStore / Repurpose a Garden Planter
We usually leave crafts to Martha Stewart, but this week we were invited to teach a class at the Habitat for Humanity ReStore to show people how to turn just about anything into a garden planter. It's simple, just think outside the planter box. A walk down the isles of Habitat's ReStore was all it took to find household items that could be repurposed as a container. This amazing organization removes construction materials from homes as they are being demolished…
Summer Buckwheat
Plant Summer Buckwheat to prepare your garden's soil for Fall planting
First time growing this heirloom squash
Summer Garden Virtual Tour
Our summer garden is growing strong, and since we've posted about new varieties and projects earlier in the season, I thought I'd post an update to share how things are going. We've seen successes and failures this year, but that hasn't stopped us from harvesting the bounty this summer. Take a look: Sure we have leaf miners and powdery mildew, but the Lakota squash is still beautiful and interesting in a summer garden. Our Poona Kheera cucumbers developed this amazing…
Woolly Pockets and shade tolerant plants make up this new garden.
School Garden Wonderland
School playgrounds in urban environments tend to be comprised more of concrete than soccer fields. Still there is always room for green. Kehillat Israel Early Childhood Center in Pacific Palisades, CA wanted to create more garden space for their kids to grow food and enjoy something green every day. They also wanted to clean up the space and make it more orderly. Enter Gardenerd. The playground (along with abundant tricycle parking) included a race track, craft tables, a jungle gym,…
Keeping Cool
Keep your plants alive and well this summer with these helpful tips
Home grown poblanos ready for deliciousness
Recipe: Home Grown Chili Fries (Poblano Pepper Poppers)
We're up to our ears in Poblano Peppers from our second-year pepper plant. The little guy hardly produced last year, but over winter the plant started sprouting new leaves and by spring it had doubled in size and was full of flowers. So far we've made chile rellenos and roasted poblano quesadillas, but what else could we do? Chips. Something crunchy but healthy that didn't require roasting and peeling the skins. That's what I wanted. I found this: Rachel Ray's…