Pickin’ and Plantin’

I just got back from my plot at Ocean View Farms community garden.  It's seems that the heat wave has drawn everyone out into the garden this late afternoon.  As the cloud cover started to provide some relief from the 90 degree weather, the breeze actually did its job of cooling us off. 

Today I planted out some Jalapeño peppers and Anaheim chili peppers.  I also planted out the eggplants that, along with their peppery friends had been sitting under grow lights for the last couple of months.  I'm hoping they will take off once they get established.  ...

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A Feel-Good Moment in Gardening History

Last Sunday, April 20th, the New York Times Magazine published a new article by Michael Pollan, author of The Omnivore's Dilemma, In Defense Of Food, and a piece that eloquently explains the flaws of our existing farm bill.  This new article basically validates our existence as organic gardeners, and it brings me great pleasure to pass it on to you, my fellow Gardenerds.  

It's a little lengthy, but completely worth the read.  You'll feel good in the end.  Enjoy.

 
Why Bother?

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Happy Earth Day

Every year on Earth Day, I try to be out in my garden for at least part of the day.  Today, I'm behind a desk, and my garden is calling me from afar.  What can you do from behind a desk on Earth Day?  Well, surf the net for Earth Day celebrations, environmental tips and other great information. 

Both Google and Yahoo have featured Earth Day pages today:

http://www.google.com/search?q=earth+day

http://green.yahoo.com/earth-day

There are also some other great environmental websites that draw attention to climate change all year round:

http://www.climatecrisis.net/takeaction/

http://www.stopglobalwarming.org/

If you are able to get out and plant something, here ...

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Spring Vegetable Article on Low Impact Living.com

Just a quick note that a new article I wrote on veggies that grow in spring has been published on the www.lowimpactliving.com blog.  If you want to go directly there, you can click here:

http://www.lowimpactliving.com/blog/2008/04/20/spring-garden-planting-guide/

Check out the rest of the website for great tips on lowering your carbon footprint in your daily lives. 

Happy Gardening!



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Xeriscape Project Brings Joy

This weekend, I had the pleasure of meeting a woman who recently decided to tear up her front lawn for a low-water Xeriscape solution.  Sherri and her husband wanted to embrace the idea of a lawn-less life, so they hired a landscape designer to help them get started.  Here's what Sherri had to say about the project:


"Our most recent effort was tackling our lawns – and this has been the most satisfying project so far! The drought conditions in Southern California ..."

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A Spring Garden Festivus

I'm not at all a Seinfeld fan, but for some reason, Kramer's Festivus holiday jumped out of my head and into the title of this entry.  I guess that his enthusiasm for celebration was so similar to what I have been feeling when I'm out in the garden these days.  Something new has gone in the ground each day this week.  The promise of new life, new varieties and (crossing our fingers) no gophers has taken over my head. 

Here is a quick list of what has been planted from seed this week:

Lettuces - 6 different heirloom varieties

Arugula

Mustard Greens

Golden Chard

Orach ...

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Organic Gardening 101 Article Featured on LowImpactLiving.com

A new article I recently wrote for Low Impact Living has been featured on this week's How-To-Tuesday.  Low Impact Living is a great website with tons of ideas on how to go green in your home and lifestyle.  Check out the site and this blog posting:

Organic Gardening 101 - How-To-Tuesday

Happy Gardening, everyone!

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Seed-Starting, Transplants and Heirlooms Class Review

Today we completed the third installment in the Gardenerd Organic Gardening Series on Seed-starting, Transplants and Heirlooms, and I think this was my favorite class so far.  There's something about nursing little babies (I mean the seedlings, not the beginning gardeners) to life.  We started the class with an overview of seeds - how to store them properly, how to interpret the seed packet information, and how to test for seed viability. 

Then we moved on to discuss the difference between heirlooms, open-pollinated seeds, and hybrids.  It was good to review those differences, since I constantly have to look ...

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