What’s Growin’ On

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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Read more about the article Raised Beds – Part 3 continued – If you build it…

Raised Beds – Part 3 continued – If you build it…

Do you ever have one of those moments when you realize that you probably should have done something in a different order than you've done it?  Well, such is the case with our raised bed project this weekend.  Our neighbor, a retired contractor, stopped by to see what all the sawing and hammering was about.  He took one look at our beautiful grouping of raised beds and said, "you're gonna need a border to level all that dirt."  As much as I wanted to ignore his words, I knew he was right.  The area where the old raised beds ...

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Read more about the article Raised Beds – Part 3 – If you build it…

Raised Beds – Part 3 – If you build it…

Moving right along in our series on raised beds, we have now come to the part where sweat and elbow grease come in handy.

After a trip to the hardware store to pick up a non-rusted blade for our dusty Skilsaw (keeping in mind that Trex Decking can dull blades faster than wood), a box of 3 inch galvanized deck screws, a roll of 4 foot x 25 foot galvanized poultry fencing, tin snips, and two carloads of Trex Decking (19 12 foot boards were needed for our job), we were ready to build our raised beds.

On Day 1 - we opted to cut and assemble the beds before clearing the space of the old raised beds.

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Read more about the article Raised Beds – Part 2 – Design

Raised Beds – Part 2 – Design

You may have caught the last edition of Raised Beds Part 1, where we talked about materials for building raised beds.  Now we move on to Part 2 -  Design. 

There are an infinite assortment of ideas in the world for raised beds.  I happen to be, much to my husband's chagrin, severely influenced by formal English gardens with closely trimmed boxwood hedges and topiaries and espaliered fig trees on the wall.  We have a ranch house, so that kind of formality doesn't fly in our back yard.  However, I really really wanted something that made my heart ...

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