What’s Growin’ On

Read more about the article Planning that Dreamy Spring Garden
Fall plans for the garden are complete. We're ready to start seeds.

Planning that Dreamy Spring Garden

Well, the rain dance I did last week definitely worked.  We're lined up for 7 straight days of rain.  This kind of weather makes for good daydreaming about the sunny spring sure to follow.  What better time than to curl up in bed with all those seed catalogues and make good on some garden design fantasies and promises?  That's what I do, anyway. Here's how to do it:

1) Get out your most trusted gardening books: (my are listed below)

Square Foot Gardening by Mel Bartholomew

Geoff Hamilton's Organic Gardening

Carrots Love Tomatoes by Louise Riotte

Rodale's Garden Answers...

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Organic Gardening Classes – Coming Soon!

In our last newsletter, we announced the brand new Gardenerd Organic Gardening Series.  In case you missed the newsletter, here is a reprint of that announcement.  Be sure to click on the link at the end of the article to get your name on the V.I.P. list for the most up to date information about the classes being offered: 

Attention all Gardenerds!  Are you a beginning to intermediate level gardener longing for a basic Organic Gardening 101 class?  Maybe you are a veteran gardener who wants to brush up on organic gardening ...

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Weeding Therapy

I just spent two hours pulling weeds in the front yard. At least I think it was two hours.  It could have been 20 hours and I wouldn't have noticed the difference; my mind was elsewhere.  There's something very therapeutic about the act of doing repetitive physical movement that let's the mind go off into the space where it can solve the problems of the world. 
 ...

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Read more about the article Picking in the Rain

Picking in the Rain

I don't like being cold and wet.  I'm pretty clear about that.  There is one time, however, when I actually go out of my way to lose all feeling in my hands and soak myself to the bone - harvesting in the rain. 

There's nothing quite like the smell of wet soil and ozone mixing together as you tromp through the mud.  Sticking your hands into an overgrowth of leaves to pick plump peas is somehow more satisfying than when all is dry.  Seeing leaves weighed down with rain, they emit a dark green that only comes to ...

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Winter Solstice

Today, December 22nd, is Winter Solstice in the northern hemisphere.  The shortest day and longest night of the year.  From here on out, the days get longer until Summer Solstice in June.  What a glorious thing to look forward to.

In celebration of the solstices and equinoxes, I try to spend time out in nature, and today was no exception.  I spent the morning in my garden at Ocean View Farms.  Since the last few days included heavy rain and wind, I was wondering what I'd find when I got there.  To my surprise, everything was still in ...

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Read more about the article Saving for a Rainy Day

Saving for a Rainy Day

It's raining in Los Angeles today.  A glorious, drizzly rain.  While most Angelenos would complain about the gloominess, Gardenerds rejoice!  There is something about rain that nourishes the soil and plant life more than any irrigation system could do.  Even more importantly, it helps to ease the drought conditions all over. 

One of my goals as a new home owner is to incorporate a rain barrel into our water management system.  Rain barrels collect runoff from the roof and rain gutters, which funnel the rainfall down drain spouts.  The drain spouts usually feed to a pipe that takes the runoff out to ...

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Read more about the article A Gardenerd’s Christmas List

A Gardenerd’s Christmas List

Each year in late September, I get a familiar e-mail.  It's from my mother and it goes something like this: 

All right everybody, it's time to start making your Christmas lists.  You're not allowed to buy anything for yourselves from September 'til January. Write it down instead and send it to us.  You may see it under the tree in December. 

 Okay, let's call what I wrote above an amalgam of what my mother has said over the years.  At this point the e-mail is much shorter.  It just says, "Lists please!"  Every year, I think two things.  ...

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What to do with all that Butternut Squash

Butternut squash is a winter squash, which means that unlike zucchini and yellow
crookneck squash, it will last in your cellar or pantry all winter long. Other
winter squashes include pumpkin, acorn, Hubbard (the squash that get so large,
it is supposed to cure world hunger), spaghetti and the
heirloom Delicata.   

Harvesting butternut squash in the
fall is one of most satisfying experiences in the garden.  You've waited
all summer long for the skin's color to change from pale green to creamy
beige.  You've watched as the leaves start to turn brown and whither ...

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