What's Growin' On Archives - Page 123 of 143

Gardenerd’s Summer Potluck and Seed Exchange

One of the best ways to celebrate the bountiful harvest of summer is to get together with friends. Just imagine platters of veggies grilled to perfection, mounds of fresh tomatoes ready for eating, and slices of watermelon - the quintessential summer fruit - all lined up on a table amongst friends.

Now picture another table blanketed with seed packets, with small envelopes nearby. You see a vegetable variety that you've been dying to try in your garden. ...

Post author:Christy
Post published:July 21, 2010
Post category:What's Growin' On
Post comments:1 Comment

The Case of the Vanishing Tomato Cobbler

It was a hot and sultry day, and someone was hungry. The freshly picked tomatoes were staring at us from the counter saying, "MAKE SOMETHING with me!

Post author:Christy
Post published:July 20, 2010
Post category:Blog What's Growin' On
Post comments:6 Comments

Harvesting Garlic

Growing your own garlic is such a joy, and harvesting it can be even more fun. Each October we plant what turns out to be a year's supply of garlic in about 7 or 8 square feet (using the Square Foot Gardening method). Then we nurture the bulbs through winter and into spring. In late spring, which is May or June here in Los Angeles, the foliage starts to turn brown and die back. We cut ...

Post author:Christy
Post published:July 15, 2010
Post category:What's Growin' On
Post comments:5 Comments

Can You Pass the Soil Test?

What's a girl to do when her plants look anemic and aren't growing like they should be, despite the mounds of compost and organic fertilizer that are lovingly applied each season? The mystery can only be solved one way: Get a soil test.

We have two sets of tomatoes - one in our test garden, and one at our community garden at Ocean View Farms. Both were grown from seed under grow lights, and both were ...

Post author:Christy
Post published:July 14, 2010
Post category:What's Growin' On
Post comments:2 Comments

A Heaping Bowl of Failure Sorbet

I tried. I really tried. I followed the instructions, but something went terribly wrong.

After finishing my latest read - Cooking with Edible Flowers, by Miriam Jacobs - I felt inspired to make sorbet with the abundant lime geranium growing in a pot out in the garden. Miriam doesn't have a recipe for lime geranium sorbet, but the internet does, so I grabbed one from Susan Wittig Albert's All About Thyme website for scented geranium sorbet. It seemed easy enough, and I'm ...

Post author:Christy
Post published:July 8, 2010
Post category:What's Growin' On
Post comments:7 Comments

The Next Step in Urban Homesteading – Keeping Chickens

Call me a control freak, but I like to know where my food comes from. I started growing my own food to get fresh, healthy produce, to use less water, fewer pesticides and harmful chemicals - but really, to know where my food comes from. That was great, but I thought, "What else can I do to close the loop here? To be more self-reliant?" Composting and

Post author:Christy
Post published:July 7, 2010
Post category:What's Growin' On
Post comments:8 Comments

15-year old Strawberry Pie

Have you ever had a recipe lying around that you keep for years, just knowing that someday you'll make it? Year after year, I've flipped through my binder of torn-out recipes from magazines that I've collected over time. My eyes have landed on this one page a hundred times, and each time I've promised myself I'll make it. This week I finally made good on that promise - 15 years later.

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Post author:Christy
Post published:June 30, 2010
Post category:What's Growin' On
Post comments:1 Comment

U-Pick Lavender

Our adventure in Ojai continue with the opening day of "u-pick" season at a local lavender farm. New Oak Ranch hung balloons out on the road sign, inviting folks to come and pick a handful of fresh lavender for $5 a bunch. The farm features 20 different varieties of lavender (mostly Grosso, Hidcote, Buena Vista, and Provence) but they also have Pixie tangerines, olives and walnuts.

The bees were hovering throughout ...

Post author:Christy
Post published:June 23, 2010
Post category:What's Growin' On
Post comments:1 Comment

Olive Oil in Ojai

A quick weekend getaway was in order - some place warm and cozy, and filled with joyful memories. Ojai, CA fit the bill. It was the location of our destination wedding five years ago. Laden with orange groves, olive and avocado trees, and lavender fields, Ojai (pronounced Oh-Hi) combines the small town feeling of local farmers with the artist community of hippies. On a weekend with no plans, we found ourselves pretty busy.
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Post author:Christy
Post published:June 22, 2010
Post category:What's Growin' On
Post comments:0 Comments

Quick Garden Refresher

Have you ever planted mint, thinking that it would be a nice addition to your vegetable or herb garden, only to find that in no time at all it had taken over your garden and choked out your veggies? Well that's what happened to Joan Wilner in Beverly Hills. She called me up to rescue her waning vegetable garden from the claws of the overwhelming mint patch a couple of weeks ago.

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Post author:Christy
Post published:June 16, 2010
Post category:What's Growin' On
Post comments:0 Comments