Bring Back the Pollinators
Find out how to attract bees and other pollinators to your garden.
Kale Salad ready for scarfing.
Recipe: Northern Spy Kale Salad
For winter gardeners, kale is a staple crop that we have the pleasure of harvesting all season long. It grows well in spring in cooler climates, so for those covered in snow, you have that to look forward to. While there is no shortage of kale recipes to try, the goal, in fact, is to try as many as possible. Salads, soups, stews and main dishes; the possibilities are endless. This week we made the Northern Spy Kale Salad from…
The Edible Landscape by Emily Tepe
Book Review: The Edible Landscape
Last month I received a copy of Emily Tepe's new book, The Edible Landscape, and since I don't write reviews without reading the thing cover to cover (and I'm a slow reader), I'm just getting around to it now. The promise of the book, from the cover and my expectations at least, is an instructional guide to creating an edible landscape with fruits, vegetables and flowers. As I read through it, I realized there is very little in the way…
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…