Gardenerd's Organic Gardening Blog

Not nearly enough butter, according to our guide

Field Trip: Iceland’s Geothermal Bakery

Nothing grows outside in Iceland in the winter. The land is blanketed with snow and scarcely a twig is visible for miles. Lava rock punches through the landscape and geysers power the entire island. Iceland gets 100% of its energy from either wind, geothermal, or hydroelectric power sources. And you can swim in the runoff as a health benefit. It's another world. I'll bet you're wondering why I'm writing about Iceland. I was there last week for a scant 2…

Post author:Christy
Post published: February 20, 2018
Post category:Blog What's Growin' On
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Lady bugs keep aphids at bay in our Swiss chard patch.

Wordless Wednesday: Ocean View Farms Plot

People ask me about my community garden plot a lot, I guess because I don't post photos from it. Most of the pictures you see here on Gardenerd are from our Test Garden, but today I'm sharing what's growin' on at Ocean View Farms (OVF) Organic Community Garden. For those not familiar, OVF plots are 15'x15' so biointensive planting is a must. We cram as much as we can into that plot, and we get a lot out of it.…

Post author:Christy
Post published: February 14, 2018
Post category:Blog
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The top three choices came in loud and clear.

Survey Results – What You Want to Learn in 2018

Thank you to everyone who participated in our New Year's survey about what you want to learn in 2018. It's so helpful to know what you gardenerds want to explore this year. It's hard to limit the choices to just 3, but it does help narrow the field. Which Topic Won? Topping the list of topics to cover in 2018 were: What to Grow When? Organic Pest Control Garden Design Surprisingly, Garden Design rose to the top three from pretty…

Post author:Christy
Post published: February 13, 2018
Post category:Blog What's Growin' On
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Another purple beauty we can't get enough of.

Favorite Seeds for 2018

We're like kids in a candy store when it comes to seeds, aren't we Gardenerds? As we do every year here at Gardenerd, it's time to pick our favorite seeds for the coming season. This year we're featuring the color purple (again- can't help it!), and a couple of unusual challenges for more advanced gardeners. Let's get to it: Black Nebula Carrot We're suckers for anything purple or black. We've grown Pusa Asita in the past, and the yield has…

Post author:Christy
Post published: February 7, 2018
Post category:Blog What's Growin' On
Post comments:6 Comments

Ask Gardenerd: Preventing Compacted Soil in Pots

Here's a cool question that came into Ask Gardenerd this week: "Hi Christy, When transplanting plants grown in pots, I usually find large sections of soil that are dry and hard, often near the bottom, but not always. I've tried pushing small sticks into the soil to create a channel for water to follow, but it hasn't helped significantly. Do you have any suggestions on how to keep soil in pots watered evenly? Thanks, Jeff Bremer" Solutions for Compacted Soil…

Post author:Christy
Post published: February 6, 2018
Post category:Blog Sage Advice
Post comments:7 Comments

Wordless Wednesday swallowtail caterpillar

Swallowtail caterpillar on curly parsley. They love it!

Wordless Wednesday: Our 1,000th Anniversary

Apparently we've written 1,000 posts on the Gardenerd Blog since 2006, not including monthly newsletters. That number sounds small compared to the wealth of information available in our archives. At the same time it's huge and accounts for hours of typing, researching, and exploring this wondrous thing called organic vegetable gardening. Happy anniversary, Gardenerds! You got us here! To celebrate the first post of our next thousand, let's look at what's happening in the winter garden in Southern California. Anniversary…

Post author:Christy
Post published: January 31, 2018
Post category:Blog What's Growin' On
Post comments:4 Comments

Kellogg's Breakfast Tomato

I Want Those “Heirloom” Tomatoes

When I ask clients "What type of tomatoes do you want to grow?" the answer I expect to hear is "cherry", "plum", "paste", "slicing" or "beefsteak". Instead, most often the response is, "Oh, I want to grow those heirloom kind." To which I reply, "Which one?" There are more than 400 varieties of heirloom tomatoes. There are cherry, plum, paste, grape, salad-sized, and beefsteak heirloom tomatoes that come in every color of the rainbow. So before we go any further,…

Post author:Christy
Post published: January 30, 2018
Post category:Blog
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Fig Beetles are green and iridescent. They lay eggs in garden soils, compost bins and lawns.

Ask Gardenerd: Grubs and Raccoons

A question came into Ask Gardenerd over the holidays: "How do I discourage the raccoons digging in my raised veggie beds?? They don’t dig on the hillside, where their efforts would be appreciated! :) So far vinegar; cayenne pepper hasn’t worked! I know they are looking for grubs. I read that BT will kill the grubs, but not sure that I want to do that since (I think) the grubs may be beneficial for the soil.-- Cynthia" You're right, those…

Post author:Christy
Post published: January 23, 2018
Post category:Blog Sage Advice
Post comments:6 Comments

Parnsips need thinning in order to produce strong roots.

YouTube: How to Thin Seedlings

Our first video of 2018 answers the many questions we're received about how to thin seedlings and what is thinning to begin with. In this YouTube video you'll learn two techniques for thinning: how to snip away extras from established seedlings, and how to transplant baby seedlings to a new home without disrupting seedlings you want to leave behind. Check it out here: How to Thin Seedlings To see proper thinning in action (or not) read these posts below: Grow…

Post author:Christy
Post published: January 17, 2018
Post category:Blog What's Growin' On
Post comments:5 Comments

Farewell Bountiful Gardens

Today we mourn the loss of one of the best resources in organic biointensive gardening. Bountiful Gardens, the retail wing of Ecology Action's Grow Biointensive, has closed its doors much to my dismay. I'm actually heartbroken over this, there's no other word for it. I feel as though a good friend has died. I went to Bountiful Gardens's website to find out when my catalog would arrive (looking for clues on shipping dates) and found this instead: When you scroll…

Post author:Christy
Post published: January 16, 2018
Post category:Blog What's Growin' On
Post comments:13 Comments