Seed Depth Rules
Gardenerd provides helpful tips to plant seeds for your garden.
Home made cloches work wonders for protecting seedlings.
Ask Gardenerd: What’s Eating My Seeds?
A great question came into Ask Gardenerd this week about plant protection: "It seems that every time I start seeds or plant out transplants in my raised bed, they get eaten overnight. It's so frustrating. Help!" Home made cloches work wonders for protecting seedlings. I have had the same problem over the years and I have found a few solutions that can help. The primary defense against nocturnal foragers is a physical barrier. Let's look at the options: Cloches -…
Gardening for Geeks by Christy Wilhelmi
Announcing Gardening For Geeks Book!
I've been chomping at the bit to post this, and now that everything is in place the time has come. drumroll please... That's right, I've written a book and it's coming out in April. Back in July, 2012, Adams Media approached me to write a gardening book for them and I couldn't say no. It was a chance to put all the juicy tips and tidbits from years of growing, teaching, and blogging in one place. It's full of practical…
Emerson Avenue Community Garden
Everything’s Better with Cob
Cob is a rustic building technique that dates back to pre-historic times. It combines sand, clay and straw, and is held together with water and an abundant supply of elbow grease. These ingredients are identical to adobe, but adobe is generally formed into bricks, then dried before application. Working with cob is essentially like playing in the mud. I had the pleasure of attending a cob workshop at Emerson Avenue Community Garden in Westchester, CA. Robert from EarthWorks Natural Building…
Winter Pruning
January is the perfect time to do your winter pruning before sap starts flowing.
Group hive inspection
Field Trip: A Visit to a Bee Sanctuary
We're new to bee keeping, and while we enthusiastically raced out to buy equipment (bee suits, gloves, brush, hive tool, etc.), we have been lacking courage to open the hive and see what's going on in there. Until a recent trip to a bee sanctuary. Rob and Chelsea McFarland of Honeylove.org house upwards of 15 rescued hives in the hills of Moorpark, CA. Each month, they invite newbies and fellow bee keepers to come learn how to inspect the hives.…
Mittens likes cover crops
Cats in the Garden: Our New Addition
There's a new member of our garden's ecosystem, and her name is Mittens. This little black and white cat arrived to our neighborhood in November, and has been courting us ever since. She won us over with her gentle regard and loving disposition, and the fact that she'd sit in my lap all day if I let her. Mittens investigated our back yard, watching our chickens but not attacking. That was the big test. If they could get along, she…
Fun With Seeds
Forget seed bombs, check out these cool coins for your garden.
Beans, squash, orach spinach, and herbs. Start these and more now.
Spring Planting: Gardeners, Start Your Engines!
It's time to start planning and planting that spring garden. Most gardeners in climates with last frost dates in March can start seeds indoors now. If you live in a warmer, frost-free zone, you can still start seeds indoors, but you'll soon be able to plant out in the ground next month. A question came in from a new garden about what to plant now. Here's our helpful spring planting guide: Cool Weather stuff: Asparagus – plant crowns and slowly…