Fall seedlings
Brassicas under grow lights

Too Hot to Plant

Continue ReadingToo Hot to Plant

Twenty five years ago, when I started gardening in Southern California, we planted cool weather crops in September. As Climate Change increased, September became too hot to plant. Now we plant brassicas, lettuces, alliums (onions, garlic, shallots, etc.) and root veggies in October. No...wait. Now October is too hot to plant. It's October 25th and it's going to be 95 degrees on the westside. This post is for those experiencing this weather in lower latitudes. Last year we didn't plant…

Wasted poster
Wasted aims to change the way people buy, cook, recycle, and eat food.

Review: Wasted! The Story of Food Waste

Continue ReadingReview: Wasted! The Story of Food Waste

Last week, I attended a screening of Wasted! The Story of Food Waste, a new film from Executive Producer Anthony Bourdain and other concerned citizens. The film "exposes the criminality of food waste and how it’s directly contributing to climate change, and shows how each of us can make small changes – all of them delicious – to solve one of the greatest problems of the 21st Century." For most of us in attendance, it was preaching to the choir, but for…

Read more about the article A Sleek, Modern Garden
We relocated another sculpture at the entrance of the new garden as a humble greeter.

A Sleek, Modern Garden

Continue ReadingA Sleek, Modern Garden

We specialize in small-space gardening here at Gardenerd. Our latest project makes use of a 10' x 12' passageway for a couple who wanted to grow veggies, herbs, berries, and fruit trees. We found space for everything they wanted somewhere on the property. Before The front yard provided the only full-sun exposure on the property. Our job was to find a way to install raised beds without blocking access to the front yard seating area. We had room for 4…

Ripening green tomatoes
Green and partly green tomatoes can be ripened easily.

Ripening Green Tomatoes

Continue ReadingRipening Green Tomatoes

When a client mentioned that she still has a ton of green tomatoes on her plants, but needs to pull them to make room for fall crops, it occurred to me that not everyone knows the old newspaper trick for ripening tomatoes. So here it is: Ripening Green Tomatoes Take a sheet from any black and white printed newspaper section that you don't read. Place a single tomato (or a small group) on the newspaper. Wrap the tomato (or group…

Planting shallots
Drill holes and set shallots on soil surface to start.

Planting Shallots

Continue ReadingPlanting Shallots

It's fall, which means it's the perfect time to plant shallots, onions, and garlic. All of these delicious alliums grow over winter and bulb up in spring, then we harvest in late spring or early summer. It's easy to grow a decent amount of shallots in a small space. We use Square Foot Gardening methods of spacing (4 per square foot for larger bulbs, 9 per square foot for smaller). Here's how to do it: Planting Shallots Start by prepping…

Fuji apple wordless wednesday
Fuji apples ripen on our potted tree. Almost ready!

Wordless Wednesday: Fall Renewal

Continue ReadingWordless Wednesday: Fall Renewal

It's hard to write about gardening with the news of the Las Vegas massacre and Tom Petty's death, but here's a little fall gardening sunshine to help soothe the soul. A new season brings new life. Let's celebrate what we can, and grow a better world together. On days when it feels like the world should stop turning, we can be grateful that nature has our back. She goes on when we can't.

goji berries drying
A small but proud harvest

Homegrown Goji Berries

Continue ReadingHomegrown Goji Berries

Our first year of growing experimental goji berries comes to a close and we actually have something to show for it. Some readers may recall that we won two goji berry plants at the Garden Writers Association Symposium in 2015. It took a year for the plants to get established and 2017 was the first for fruit production. This week we harvested and dried our own goji berries. Here's how: The Harvest The harvest was small, but enough to claim…

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