During the summer months, I'm famous for my lemon sorbet. I use Meyer lemons from the tree outside the back door and feed the finished product to my girlfriends when we get together for high tea or some other summer thing that girls do. Now that it's winter, not many people are thinking about lemon sorbet, except for my friend Orna, who has a tree full of lemons and doesn't know what to do with them. She recently ...
A gardener wrote in recently:
"Hi, I am trying to learn how to Organic Garden. My 25 x 5 raised garden bed has a major grub worm infestation. Every foot I dig, there are 10 or more grub worms. They
destroy any seed I plant. I applied milky spore all over my raised garden bed. What else should I do? I would love to be able to grow onions and beets this spring. I will greatly appreciate any
and all suggestions or advise for ...
While developing the Gardenerd Hand Care Kit, I met Sue Dwiggins. She's a blender - an aromatherapy specialist with a company called Essential Three. She and her sister happened to be in town and were helping out at Soaptopia when the owners of the shop and I were working out the details
of the new product. They helped create the signature scent that is in the Gardenerd Hand Care Kit.
...
An interesting question came in this week:
"I'd like to eradicate some Laurel Sumac in my yard. Do you have any
natural remedy I could use to do this. I thought I read at one time you
could make a potion of vinegar and baking soda and make a small hole in
the trunk and poor mixture down it. Of course, I can't find where I
read this and don't know portions so if you know of anything it would
be greatly appreciated. Thanks"
I'll admit that I'm ...
A fellow Gardenerd wrote in last week to offer a tip on inexpensive alternatives to Floating Row Cover or Garden Fabric. Here's what she said:
"Suggestion from a friend that I tried and it works: For brassicas and
anything that attracts moths/eggs that are not beneficials, cover the
plants, especially the younger ones, with bridal veil tulle. It's so
light you don't need to stake it, the sun and rain penetrate, and you
can move it around so easily. It's < $2/yard at Joanne's and you can
get so ...
I used to think that there were flower gardeners and there were vegetable gardeners. Now, I don't like to appear biased against flowers (even though veggies are my preferred garden variety), so I was happy to get this question in at Ask Gardenerd this week:
"Just got done reading your newsletter for recommended Fall veggies and
herbs. What kinds of annual flowers do you recommend for warmer
climates in the Fall (I am in zone 8/9, Rancho Cucamonga) that can be
companion planted with these crops? Thanks!"
My favorite flowers to recommend are also beneficial insectaries, meaning they attract beneficial ...
A great question came in this week to Ask Gardenerd: "This year, I planted carrots and beets, but success was marginal. Some of the carrots turned out OK, but many were stunted or very small. Also, many were very bitter. Any suggestions for next time? Can you do anything with the carrot tops...I hate to throw them away...I am putting them into the compost pile. All the beets were very stunted and small. Any suggestions for next time? Also, some of my lettuce is bitter. Could my soil need something?"
We got a fine question at Ask Gardenerd this week:
"I just harvested my pumpkins. They all are a very beautiful orange
color. However, after rolling them over, all are flat on the bottom side
that was next to the ground, and a white color is on that side. What can I do
next year to prevent this?"
Here's one I hadn't encountered before:
"We have a horseradish root that we bought at the store and on a whim
we put the top part of the root into some potting soil, we now
have growth. Our question is what type of soil does it require and how
much sun will it need to grow properly. Dave Garman & Karen Blessington"
Good for you for being adventurous! And lucky for you, you've chosen a really easy plant to grow. Horseradish has no particular soil requirements and basically likes to be ignored. It prefers full sun, but can handle ...
We received a question this week on Ask Gardenerd that we wanted to share: "I'm wondering when the best time to plant shallots is in SoCal."