Gardenerd's Organic Gardening Blog

We used home grown cabbage and sugar snap peas with spices and peanuts to make this great dish.

Recipe: Stir-Fried Cabbage with Chilies, Peanuts & Peas

Believe it or not, we're still working on that giant cabbage we picked a week or so ago. They keep so well in the fridge, but they take up a lot of space. So it was time to pull out all the stops and use the bulk of it all at once. This stir-fried cabbage with chilies, peanuts & peas recipe is incredibly satisfying and goes well with the "emergency" pre-made Indian food we have in the pantry. The recipe…

Post author:Christy
Post published:March 30, 2016
Post category:Blog What's Growin' On
Post comments:1 Comment

Securing Plants Against the Wind

For crops like favas and grains, place stakes around the perimeter and run several levels of twine around the circumference. This will keep your upright crops upright.

Post author:Christy
Post published:March 30, 2016
Post category:Blog
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Where's Gardenerd sporting a rain hat and cloak. Our participants sure know to keep him clean and dry.

Where’s Gardenerd – San Jose, CA

Mr. Nerd made his long journey across the ocean, from New Zealand back to the United States. He met up with Alys Milner in Silicone Valley--San Jose, CA to be specific. Alys shares her gardening experience through her blog Gardening Nirvana and showed Mr. Nerd a good time while he was there. Presenting: Where's Gardenerd - San Jose, CA. Northern California benefits from more rain than we do here in So Cal., but they have been suffering from the drought,…

Post author:Christy
Post published:March 29, 2016
Post category:Blog Where’s Gardenerd?
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Do you know how to pronounce this kale? We'll show you.

YouTube: Italian Vegetable Pronunciations

We hear people struggle to pronounce Italian vegetable varieties all the time. Chioggia, Lacinato, the list goes on. We're here to help. Yours truly studied the Italian language in college (okay, granted I can't remember most of it) but certain things stick. Learn our tricks for remembering these Italian vegetable pronunciations and you'll never forget how to say them again. Italian Vegetable Pronunciations Now that you've got it, here are some tips and tricks for using those words in action:…

Post author:Christy
Post published:March 24, 2016
Post category:Blog What's Growin' On
Post comments:2 Comments

Spring Garden Planting Guide

You can start seeds indoors or grab seedlings at any of the myriad spring seedling sales happening around the globe.

Post author:Christy
Post published:March 24, 2016
Post category:Blog
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Spring is Here

All past gardening sins are forgiven and gardener’s amnesia takes over once again. Take good notes, gardenerds, as you begin your spring garden planting.

Post author:Christy
Post published:March 17, 2016
Post category:Blog
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Finished garden pops with color in front of the home's white background.

Design: Southern Hemisphere Garden

We recently completed a landscaping project for a homeowner from South Africa. He wanted a lush and colorful landscape that is drought tolerant and low maintenance. At the same time, he talked of turf grass and wispy foliage that reminded him of home. We brought his desires and needs together in this new landscape. Since we usually focus on edible gardens, we started with fruit trees in the front yard, then surrounded them with succulents and a combination of California…

Post author:Christy
Post published:March 16, 2016
Post category:Blog What's Growin' On
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The thick mixture lives up to its name. Hot and sour and delicious.

Recipe: Cabbage Hot and Sour Soup

The tail end of a winter garden is marked by an abundance of cabbage. We've got enough to feed a small country at the moment, so we're reaching for our stock of cabbage recipes. While others focus on kimchi, we prefer to focus on the immediate. This green cabbage hot and sour soup is ready in 30 minutes or fewer. It serves 8, so you'll have leftovers if your family is smaller than the Weasleys. Martha's Green Cabbage Hot and…

Post author:Christy
Post published:March 15, 2016
Post category:Blog What's Growin' On
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Cropdots App

You can sell or trade your own produce by uploading a photo, listing your asking price, registering a debit card for deposits, and that’s it.

Post author:Christy
Post published:March 10, 2016
Post category:Blog
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Fungi growing on wood chips. Used for making fungal-dominant compost.

Fungal Wood Pile for Compost

If you have issues like powdery mildew and blight in your garden, chances are you need more good fungi in your soil to combat the bad fungi. Our latest YouTube video shows you one easy and free way to inoculate wood chips, which can be used later in your compost bin to create fungal-dominant compost for your garden. Fungal is good! Dr. Elaine Ingham, who coined the phrase, "Soil Food Web," recommended this trick, so we tested it out last…

Post author:Christy
Post published:March 9, 2016
Post category:Blog What's Growin' On
Post comments:1 Comment