Snuggly Toes Winner
My feet stayed warm an average 40 minutes longer than without Snuggly Toes.

Review: Snuggly Toes

Continue ReadingReview: Snuggly Toes

Last year, during a heat wave, Meredith of Snuggly Toes sent me a free, unsolicited pair of her alpaca fur shoe inserts to test out. Meredith runs a small farm in Oregon, and calls herself the "head pooper scooper and alpaca lover at Springtime Farms." Ever since I wrote about FiberShed I've been keen on supporting local fiber. When the package arrived, my first thought was "when will I ever need these in California." But then I remembered that my…

Laugarvatn Fontana rye bread butter
Not nearly enough butter, according to our guide

Field Trip: Iceland’s Geothermal Bakery

Continue ReadingField Trip: Iceland’s Geothermal Bakery

Nothing grows outside in Iceland in the winter. The land is blanketed with snow and scarcely a twig is visible for miles. Lava rock punches through the landscape and geysers power the entire island. Iceland gets 100% of its energy from either wind, geothermal, or hydroelectric power sources. And you can swim in the runoff as a health benefit. It's another world. I'll bet you're wondering why I'm writing about Iceland. I was there last week for a scant 2…

Top 3 choices survey monkey
The top three choices came in loud and clear.

Survey Results – What You Want to Learn in 2018

Continue ReadingSurvey Results – What You Want to Learn in 2018

Thank you to everyone who participated in our New Year's survey about what you want to learn in 2018. It's so helpful to know what you gardenerds want to explore this year. It's hard to limit the choices to just 3, but it does help narrow the field. Which Topic Won? Topping the list of topics to cover in 2018 were: What to Grow When? Organic Pest Control Garden Design Surprisingly, Garden Design rose to the top three from pretty…

Malaga Radish
Another purple beauty we can't get enough of.

Favorite Seeds for 2018

Continue ReadingFavorite Seeds for 2018

We're like kids in a candy store when it comes to seeds, aren't we Gardenerds? As we do every year here at Gardenerd, it's time to pick our favorite seeds for the coming season. This year we're featuring the color purple (again- can't help it!), and a couple of unusual challenges for more advanced gardeners. Let's get to it: Black Nebula Carrot We're suckers for anything purple or black. We've grown Pusa Asita in the past, and the yield has…

Wordless Wednesday swallowtail caterpillar
Swallowtail caterpillar on curly parsley. They love it!

Wordless Wednesday: Our 1,000th Anniversary

Continue ReadingWordless Wednesday: Our 1,000th Anniversary

Apparently we've written 1,000 posts on the Gardenerd Blog since 2006, not including monthly newsletters. That number sounds small compared to the wealth of information available in our archives. At the same time it's huge and accounts for hours of typing, researching, and exploring this wondrous thing called organic vegetable gardening. Happy anniversary, Gardenerds! You got us here! To celebrate the first post of our next thousand, let's look at what's happening in the winter garden in Southern California. Anniversary…

wordless wednesday parsnips
Parnsips need thinning in order to produce strong roots.

YouTube: How to Thin Seedlings

Continue ReadingYouTube: How to Thin Seedlings

Our first video of 2018 answers the many questions we're received about how to thin seedlings and what is thinning to begin with. In this YouTube video you'll learn two techniques for thinning: how to snip away extras from established seedlings, and how to transplant baby seedlings to a new home without disrupting seedlings you want to leave behind. Check it out here: How to Thin Seedlings To see proper thinning in action (or not) read these posts below: Grow…

Catalogs

Farewell Bountiful Gardens

Continue ReadingFarewell Bountiful Gardens

Today we mourn the loss of one of the best resources in organic biointensive gardening. Bountiful Gardens, the retail wing of Ecology Action's Grow Biointensive, has closed its doors much to my dismay. I'm actually heartbroken over this, there's no other word for it. I feel as though a good friend has died. I went to Bountiful Gardens's website to find out when my catalog would arrive (looking for clues on shipping dates) and found this instead: When you scroll…

Read more about the article Be F.A.B. in 2018
Kale brings happiness and balance to our garden.

Be F.A.B. in 2018

Continue ReadingBe F.A.B. in 2018

Every gardener needs tools to keep a garden healthy and thriving. This is not only true for the garden, but for the gardener. We get tired, overwhelmed, frustrated, bored, and burned out each year, especially when garden failures appear to outweigh successes. It's 2018, a fresh start with seed catalogs arriving daily to re-ignite the passions that may have sputtered out over the past gardening season. But what if that's not enough? How do we rejuvenate? What tools do you…

Dazzling Blue Kale
Dazzling Blue Kale, the best of both worlds.

YouTube: 360 Degree Tour of Gardenerd HQ

Continue ReadingYouTube: 360 Degree Tour of Gardenerd HQ

We hope you are enjoying your holiday season. We are too. But in the meantime, here is a cool new video that gives you a 360 degree tour of Gardenerd HQ. Look around, use your mouse to scroll left and right. Check out what's growin' on in the middle of December in Southern California. Note: If the scrolling 360 effect doesn't work on this embedded video, click through to our YouTube channel to watch with all the bells and whistles.…

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