Gardenerd's Organic Gardening Blog

Harvesting basil is easy if you know where to look.

Harvesting Basil

Every once in a while it's time to return to basics here at Gardenerd. Our blog is filled with helpful hints for gardening, but we recently discovered that the basics for harvesting basil were not among those hints. So here they are. Basil is a fragrant staple of the spring and summer garden. There are dozens of varieties to grow, but they all behave the same (at least all the annual varieties do). Basil is a member of the mint…

Post author:Christy
Post published: April 28, 2015
Post category:Blog Sage Advice
Post comments:3 Comments

Tickle Your Tomatoes

To avoid that long, leggy look in your tomato seedlings, try tickling young tomato plants.

Post author:Christy
Post published: April 24, 2015
Post category:Blog
Post comments:0 Comments

Blackberries

Earth Day Wordless Wednesday: Spring’s Abundance

We're preparing for the Mar Vista Green Garden Showcase this week, so enjoy this Wordless Wednesday for Earth Day: photos of spring's abundance in our Test Garden and stop by on Westminster this Saturday if you're in Los Angeles. Happy Earth Day, everyone!

Post author:Christy
Post published: April 22, 2015
Post category:Blog What's Growin' On
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The original carrot plush toy

Where’s Gardenerd?

And now for something completely different... At least a year ago my PR assistant, Mel, gave me a carrot plush toy. It's the cutest thing ever. It also spawned an idea we couldn't pass up. What if we sent this plush toy around the world so people could photograph it in their gardens? What if gardenerds all over the planet could then post their photos to Twitter or Instagram for all of us to share? But we couldn't send him...Gardenerd...out…

Post author:Christy
Post published: April 21, 2015
Post category:Blog What's Growin' On Where’s Gardenerd?
Post comments:18 Comments

Interplanting

Interplanting is a great way to use up open space while protecting the soil from exposure to the baking sun.

Post author:Christy
Post published: April 17, 2015
Post category:Blog
Post comments:0 Comments

Under the dome of the Education Center

Field Trip: Huntington’s New Education & Visitor Center

The Huntington Library and Gardens unveiled its new Education and Visitor Center on April 4th. Sadly we couldn't attend that day, but we finally made a pilgrimage to see the site this past weekend to take it all in. First impressions: it's going to be amazing when everything grows in. In the meantime, the sheer scale of the project is impressive right now. The old Huntington entrance, with its long walk through an established tree canopy, is gone. In its…

Post author:Christy
Post published: April 15, 2015
Post category:Blog What's Growin' On
Post comments:2 Comments

Interplanting Corn

You've probably heard of the Three Sisters Garden, where you plant corn, beans, and squash together for a symbiotic relationship that takes up less space for all three crops. But interplanting can work with other crops too. This year, we decided to experiment with interplanting corn in with a sweet potato bed that won't give up the ghost. Each year, despite pulling what we think is all the sweet potatoes, the crop keeps coming back, rendering a 4x4 bed unavailable…

Post author:Christy
Post published: April 14, 2015
Post category:Blog What's Growin' On
Post comments:21 Comments

April is Earth Month

Earth Day is April 22nd, but you can celebrate and focus on our big blue planet all month.

Post author:Christy
Post published: April 10, 2015
Post category:Blog
Post comments:0 Comments

Mar Vista Green Garden Showcase is FREE!

7th Annual Mar Vista Green Garden Showcase

It's garden tour time, folks, and this year Gardenerd HQ is on the Mar Vista Green Garden Showcase. We'll be opening up the backyard vegetable garden for all to see. We'll be sharing helpful tips and tidbits on how to grow just about anything edible in a small space. The Mar Vista Green Garden Showcase is on Saturday, April 25th from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. This self-guided tour offers over 50 homes to inspire you toward a more sustainable…

Post author:Christy
Post published: April 8, 2015
Post category:Blog What's Growin' On
Post comments:0 Comments

Always room for the homeowners' cute pelican watering can.

Bye, Bye Turf!

It's time to highlight another turf removal project we've just completed. This one is primarily non-edible, but we were excited to transform another front lawn into a water catchment basin, and make it a home for native and drought-tolerant plants. The family wanted colorful plants that gave them a little privacy while taking advantage of the city's rebate program, which covered the cost of plants and hardscape materials. Let's take a look: Before The homeowner wanted a path next to…

Post author:Christy
Post published: April 7, 2015
Post category:Blog What's Growin' On
Post comments:7 Comments