What’s Growin’ On

We have ants.  A lot of ants.  In fact, we're pretty sure that we built our raised beds atop an ant hill, because when we water, they are constantly running from bed to bed, carrying their pupa overhead (think: A Bug's Life - "Save the Children!").  Things were fine until we started using drip irrigation.  Maybe it's because we are no longer literally raining on their parade, but they have moved into to my strawberry beds. 

Enter garlic oil.  We found a recipe for garlic oil that is supposed to help eliminate both ants and aphids.  The theory is that if you ...

Just before heading off to Europe I got a call from Libby Motika at the Palisadian Post.  She wanted to interview me for the upcoming Fall Home and Garden special insert for the newspaper.  Here is the article that appeared on September 25, 2008:

http://www.palisadespost.com/content/index.cfm?Story_ID=4313

While I have to say that there are a few things I didn't quite say exactly the way it's printed, for the most part it's a pretty good article.  Enjoy. ...

Returning from any vacation is always a little bittersweet.  While there is an excitement to be home again, with all the creature comforts, there is the sadness of leaving behind the romantic notion of foreign travel.  With gardeners, there is also a fear in the back of the head that makes us worry whether our plants will be alive when we come back.  Ironically, I have found that most of my plants do better when I'm not around.

Yes, it's true - with the help of automatic irrigation, my zucchini plant has done better in the two weeks I've been ...

Last night at the Santa Monica Library, where I was giving a lecture on organic vegetable gardening, someone asked what my biggest gardening mistake has been so far.  Well, there are about a hundred to choose from, but the one that stood out is a mistake that's going on in my garden right now. 

See, I knew what bush beans were, and I knew what pole beans were, but I didn't exactly know what "runner" beans were until now.  I planted Italian heirloom Cannellini beans about as far away from my trellis as possible, thinking that they were ...

This week, an article I wrote was featured in the Inner Light E-news - the monthly newsletter put out by The Ray.org.  The article is an excerpt from a book I'm working on that I hope to finish this year.  It takes a look at gardening in a whole new light.  I hope you enjoy it.

Garden and Soul ...