Gardenerd's Organic Gardening Blog

New bed, ready for compost and plants

Turning Cover Crops

Let us depart from conventional wisdom of turning cover crops into the soil beneath. Let us instead take a lesson from John Jeavons' GROW BIOINTENSIVE method and use the cover crops as compost materials elsewhere. Buy why, you cry? Why can't I just turn my cover crop over into the soil, cover it with finished compost or manure, water it and wait? It's that last part...the waiting. You've already waited for the cover crop to grow, then flower, so why…

Post author:Christy
Post published: February 28, 2013
Post category:Blog What's Growin' On
Post comments:2 Comments

Purple, orange and yellow carrots await you

Grow Rainbow Carrots

You can enjoy a rainbow of colors in your meals if you grow carrots. What? You mean they're not just orange? Let us explore. They may take awhile to grow, but carrots can be one of the most satisfying crops to harvest. That's mainly because you never know what you're really getting until you pull them out from the earth. But what if you discovered this when you did: Purple, orange and yellow carrots await you Funky shapes and colors…

Post author:Christy
Post published: February 26, 2013
Post category:Blog What's Growin' On
Post comments:6 Comments

New From Scratch

New magazines surface all the time, but this one is geared towards homesteaders with passion for all that they do.

Post author:Christy
Post published: February 22, 2013
Post category:Blog
Post comments:0 Comments

Completed garden with cool season crops planted. We left room for warm season crops, which will be planted next month.

Family’s New Vegetable Garden

A student from my Santa Monica College gardening course hired me to design a vegetable garden - a few raised beds so his family could grow tomatoes, salad greens and more. The family had moved into their house recently and were overhauling the landscaping to make it low-maintenance. The homeowners enjoyed colorful, artistic surroundings, but they wanted a clean palette to start with. Old weedy lawns, ill-placed concrete borders and invasive plant materials all had to go. I wanted their…

Post author:Christy
Post published: February 20, 2013
Post category:Blog What's Growin' On
Post comments:2 Comments

U-pins hold netting in place to keep curious hens from crawling out underneath.

Wider Pastures: New Chicken Run

We were lucky. Our chickens never really discovered the garden. They simply stayed within bounds to peck and scratch the day away. Until last week. Their eyes have been opened and all the world is suddenly their oyster. I think not. Time for a new, larger chicken run to contain the birds but let them feel as though the have free range of the yard. Taking note from Omlet's chicken fence, we set out for the hardware store for stakes…

Post author:Christy
Post published: February 19, 2013
Post category:Blog What's Growin' On
Post comments:6 Comments

Bring Back the Pollinators

Find out how to attract bees and other pollinators to your garden.

Post author:Christy
Post published: February 15, 2013
Post category:Blog
Post comments:0 Comments

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…

Post author:Christy
Post published: February 13, 2013
Post category:Blog What's Growin' On
Post comments:3 Comments

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…

Post author:Christy
Post published: February 12, 2013
Post category:Blog What's Growin' On
Post comments:7 Comments

Seed Depth Rules

Gardenerd provides helpful tips to plant seeds for your garden.

Post author:Christy
Post published: February 8, 2013
Post category:Blog
Post comments:0 Comments

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 -…

Post author:Christy
Post published: February 6, 2013
Post category:Blog Sage Advice
Post comments:9 Comments