Blog - Page 72 of 215

Cooler temperatures means the kale can go in the ground. Protected with floating row cover (water and sunlight penetrate), our babies are ready to go.

Wordless Wednesday: RAIN!

Los Angeles saw its first real rain yesterday, a bit later than usual, but still in October. It may have lasted for only 20 minutes, but it was enough to wash off the roof for clean rain water collection later this week. Fall is finally here! In celebration, here are pictures of plants with real live rain dripping off the leaves, plus a few other activities for fall gardening. Fall is here - plant cool season veggies, build compost piles,…

Post author:Christy
Post published:November 1, 2017
Post category:Blog What's Growin' On
Post comments:0 Comments

Honey bees taking pollen and nectar from wisteria blossoms.

Ask Gardenerd: Pollinator Garden Density

A very cool question came in to Ask Gardenerd from Trevor Pratt this week: "How geographically dense does the distribution of pollinator gardens have to be in the LA area to support bees and other interesting threatened species of pollinating organisms? I am not sure what the problem is but it seems they need a network. Pollinators are neat." Great question, Trevor. The good news is that statistically speaking, bees and other pollinators in urban areas like Los Angeles are…

Post author:Christy
Post published:October 31, 2017
Post category:Blog Sage Advice
Post comments:0 Comments

Climate Mobilization

How to conserve energy with Mobile Localization Plan

Post author:Christy
Post published:October 26, 2017
Post category:Blog
Post comments:0 Comments

Brassicas under grow lights

Too Hot to Plant

Twenty five years ago, when I started gardening in Southern California, we planted cool weather crops in September. As Climate Change increased, September became too hot to plant. Now we plant brassicas, lettuces, alliums (onions, garlic, shallots, etc.) and root veggies in October. No...wait. Now October is too hot to plant. It's October 25th and it's going to be 95 degrees on the westside. This post is for those experiencing this weather in lower latitudes. Last year we didn't plant…

Post author:Christy
Post published:October 25, 2017
Post category:Blog
Post comments:2 Comments

Wasted aims to change the way people buy, cook, recycle, and eat food.

Review: Wasted! The Story of Food Waste

Last week, I attended a screening of Wasted! The Story of Food Waste, a new film from Executive Producer Anthony Bourdain and other concerned citizens. The film "exposes the criminality of food waste and how it’s directly contributing to climate change, and shows how each of us can make small changes – all of them delicious – to solve one of the greatest problems of the 21st Century." For most of us in attendance, it was preaching to the choir, but for…

Post author:Christy
Post published:October 24, 2017
Post category:Blog What's Growin' On
Post comments:1 Comment

Soil Choices

All about Soil Chapter

Post author:Christy
Post published:October 19, 2017
Post category:Blog
Post comments:0 Comments

We relocated another sculpture at the entrance of the new garden as a humble greeter.

A Sleek, Modern Garden

We specialize in small-space gardening here at Gardenerd. Our latest project makes use of a 10' x 12' passageway for a couple who wanted to grow veggies, herbs, berries, and fruit trees. We found space for everything they wanted somewhere on the property. Before The front yard provided the only full-sun exposure on the property. Our job was to find a way to install raised beds without blocking access to the front yard seating area. We had room for 4…

Post author:Christy
Post published:October 18, 2017
Post category:Blog What's Growin' On
Post comments:0 Comments

Fall Colors

Making your own Pumpkeen Puree is easy

Post author:Christy
Post published:October 12, 2017
Post category:Blog
Post comments:0 Comments

Green and partly green tomatoes can be ripened easily.

Ripening Green Tomatoes

When a client mentioned that she still has a ton of green tomatoes on her plants, but needs to pull them to make room for fall crops, it occurred to me that not everyone knows the old newspaper trick for ripening tomatoes. So here it is: Ripening Green Tomatoes Take a sheet from any black and white printed newspaper section that you don't read. Place a single tomato (or a small group) on the newspaper. Wrap the tomato (or group…

Post author:Christy
Post published:October 11, 2017
Post category:Blog What's Growin' On
Post comments:1 Comment

Drill holes and set shallots on soil surface to start.

Planting Shallots

It's fall, which means it's the perfect time to plant shallots, onions, and garlic. All of these delicious alliums grow over winter and bulb up in spring, then we harvest in late spring or early summer. It's easy to grow a decent amount of shallots in a small space. We use Square Foot Gardening methods of spacing (4 per square foot for larger bulbs, 9 per square foot for smaller). Here's how to do it: Planting Shallots Start by prepping…

Post author:Christy
Post published:October 10, 2017
Post category:Blog What's Growin' On
Post comments:0 Comments