What’s Growin’ On

Harvesting Sunflower Seeds

Sometime in late spring, I planted a handful of sunflower seeds along with some cosmos in hopes that they would fill in the blanks spots as the Dog Days of summer set in.  True to form, the cosmos took over an entire raised bed and the sunflowers sent up two huge stalks with glorious flowers bigger than dinner plates.  I wondered if we'd be able to harvest the seeds for snacking or if the birds would get them all.  I've never harvested sunflower seeds successfully before, and I was determined to change my track record. I ...

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Read more about the article Gardenerd at Green Beacon Foundation – Fall Garden Workshop

Gardenerd at Green Beacon Foundation – Fall Garden Workshop

Fall is just around the corner and Gardenerd has been invited to give a fall gardening workshop at the Green Beacon Foundation on Saturday, September 26th from 2-4 p.m.  Read the details below:




As a
recognized educational, non-profit organization, The Green Beacon Foundation
was designed to show people the simplicity of sustainability. We
conduct tours the first Saturday of the each month and feature green
processes & products ranging from "old-fashioned" to the latest
in design & technologies.

...

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Read more about the article Telluride Farmer’s Market

Telluride Farmer’s Market

For those who don't know, Telluride, CO is one of the most active and environmentally aware communities in the U.S.  Not only do they host countless festivals, like the Telluride Film Festival, MountainFilm Festival and the Telluride Bluegrass Festival, but they have a weekly farmer's market that brings out the best of the town. 

My husband and I wandered through on Friday morning when the sun was shining and the mountain was clearly in view.

...

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Read more about the article Gardens of Telluride

Gardens of Telluride

Once you arrive in Telluride, there is little need for a car, which makes for great sight-seeing on foot.  When I was last here in spring, the flowers were just starting to get going and there was still snow on the mountains. Now the gardens are in full bloom and everyone is making the most of their gardening space.  While I haven't seen too many vegetable gardens, I have been charmed by the plenitude of cuteness in every corner.  I thought I'd share some photos from this beautiful mountain town:


...

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Mulch vs. Bees – Something to Consider

A student recently sent me an article when they saw my post on mulching our entire back yard with free city mulch.  The article has a really interesting take on the idea of mulching and how it effects bees and I felt that it would be important to share it with you. 

As a preface, I'll say that I don't generally mulch my growing space in my garden, only the pathways, simply because we have a real problem with sow bugs here and they thrive in mulch.  I don't use black plastic as mulch either since I don't ...

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Gardenerd on Your Daily Thread

Gardenerd.com was featured on Your Daily Thread this week.  Tracy Hepler of YDT came to visit the Gardenerd test garden and sat down to interview me last week It was great to share with her all the great things coming up in the world of gardening.  

For those who don't know, Your Daily Thread is LA's Neighborhood Guide to Conscious Living.  You can get a daily dose of what's green in LA and find out about upcoming green events throughout the city. Here is the article featured on YDT:

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Read more about the article A Season of Orach

A Season of Orach

It's sort of mean that we can't grow salad greens in the summer here in So Cal.  It's too hot and they bolt to seed so quickly.  I've tried growing lettuces under shade cloth and that helps a lot, but it's nowhere near as delicious as fall-grown salad greens.  One way to combat the heat is to grow slow-bolt or heat tolerant varieties.  Another is to try something completely different.

Enter Orach Mountain Spinach. 

I know I've talked about this fantastic green before, but I'm going to expound on the wonders of Orach again because this year was particularly ...

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Read more about the article Taming of the Asparagus

Taming of the Asparagus

I'm a little bit of a late bloomer.  Or maybe it's just that I get used to looking at - or stepping over - something that's in my way and then I don't do anything about it for a long time.  It's kind of like that pile of laundry in the middle of the room.  It doesn't go away, but you start to ignore it - so it really isn't there any more, right?

This was the case with the wild patch of asparagus in the raised beds.  We're at the end of our second year, which means that ...

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Read more about the article Eggplant Parmigiana – Under the Tuscan Sun Style

Eggplant Parmigiana – Under the Tuscan Sun Style

I'll admit it.  I've never made eggplant parmigiana.  I ate it growing up; as a picky eater it was probably the only way I'd ever eat eggplant.  So leave it to a gardenerd to grow eggplant and not know what to do with the finished result.  Until now.

I've been hoarding a copy of Frances Mayes Bringing Tuscany Home  for a few years now, just waiting for the perfect moment to strike, when I felt confident enough to try making what I thought would be a daunting recipe. The torn piece of paper marking the page was nearly withered ...

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