What's Growin' On Archives - Page 67 of 142

A swallowtail butterfly on a ‘Red Riding Hood’ Penstemon.

Essential Plants for a Great Butterfly Garden

Today's post is from guest blogger Randy Schultz from American Meadows. Butterflies need our help and in this article he suggests plants that provide habitat for these beautiful creatures. Take it away Randy: Essential Plants for a Great Butterfly Garden Everyone loves butterflies. These delightful insects are like flying flowers, adding color and movement everywhere they go. Unfortunately, these beautiful insects are in trouble. The populations of many species, including the monarch butterfly, are dwindling due to shrinking habitat. But…

Post author:Christy
Post published:June 20, 2017
Post category:Blog What's Growin' On
Post comments:2 Comments

New 400+ Tips Gardening Book for Summer!

We're pleased to announce the arrival of 400+ Tips for Organic Gardening Success: A Decade of Tricks, Tools, Recipes, and Resources from Gardenerd.com. It's been ten years in the making and we're launching it on June 20th, just in time for Summer Solstice. Many of you have read our Tip of the Week on the website, and listened to the Gardenerd Tip of the Week Podcast. Each week we list a helpful link to more information about that week's tip.…

Post author:Christy
Post published:June 14, 2017
Post category:Blog What's Growin' On
Post comments:3 Comments

The recipe makes about 2 pints

Recipe: Blackberry Jam

Blackberry season comes on strong, and if you don't embrace it, your garden will have an understory of rotten blackberries within a month. We've already frozen 3 pints of berries, and made blackberry ice cream. We're still picking 2 cups a day. Next up: jam. This recipe we found on The Easy Homestead uses no pectin and no cane sugar. It uses honey (which we have in abundance at the moment, thank you, bees) and half an apple instead. I…

Post author:Christy
Post published:June 13, 2017
Post category:Blog What's Growin' On
Post comments:0 Comments

Let artichokes go to flower. We'll save seeds from this Winnetka Purple artichoke for the Seed Library of Los Angeles.

Wordless Wednesday: Gardening for a Healthy Planet

I can't believe I have to refer back to this article I wrote in February, but it's more appropriate than ever now. While it's comforting to see the rest of the world stand up for the planet in the absence of US participation in the Paris Climate Accord, as gardeners we have our work cut out for us. Here are some images to help inspire your spring and summer garden endeavors this month. Gardening makes a difference. Let's garden for…

Post author:Christy
Post published:June 7, 2017
Post category:What's Growin' On
Post comments:0 Comments

Flowers appear at the tip-top of our tree kale plant.

Guess What! Tree Kale Does Go to Seed

I've heard colleagues say that tree kale never goes to seed, that it can only be propagated by cuttings. Well, my 10-foot tree kale would beg to differ. It's gone to seed after falling over in a wind storm (probably stress-induced) while it continues to produce tasty leaves. Tree kale is a perennial vegetable lauded by the permaculture community because it forms deep roots (obviously deep enough to withstand falling over in a wind storm). We propped that baby back…

Post author:Christy
Post published:June 6, 2017
Post category:Blog What's Growin' On
Post comments:7 Comments

Food grade barrels are best for use in vegetable gardens.

Being Prepared

A building caught fire in our neighborhood recently, leading to a power outage for two hours. The lack of internet and electricity, even for a short time, reminds us how dependent we are upon these modern conveniences. A recent article in the LA Times about Dr. Lucy Jones and her research of earthquakes and the San Andreas Fault brought even more clarity to the fact that we are SO not prepared for a natural disaster. Sure, we've got camping equipment…

Post author:Christy
Post published:May 31, 2017
Post category:Blog What's Growin' On
Post comments:2 Comments

The vertical garden is planted with spring and summer crops.

Design: Vertical Patio Garden Delight

We recently created a tidy vertical garden for a busy business woman in Marina del Rey. Her condominium patio didn't allow room for a full-sized garden, and tight quarters limited her sun exposure to one wall. Her patio housed a collection of random containers, some with leggy plants long overdue for re-potting. We took steps to unify the patio to enhance her new vertical garden. Our first step was to re-do the patio to remove infiltrating tree roots. The client…

Post author:Christy
Post published:May 30, 2017
Post category:Blog What's Growin' On
Post comments:0 Comments

Benefits Of Community Supported Agriculture (CSA)

Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) changed the way farmers do business. No longer do they have to go through a middle man to reach the consumer, they can sell direct. It means a larger share of profit and a stronger relationship with the consumer. In many cases, the CSA model has saved the farm. If you can't grow your own, join a CSA. Here's some interesting info on the history of CSAs, and a few tasty recipes for this season's veggies.…

Post author:Christy
Post published:May 16, 2017
Post category:Blog What's Growin' On
Post comments:0 Comments

Fresh strawberries from everbearing plants. We love Seascapes! Feed with kelp emulsion every two weeks.

Wordless Wednesday: May

May is here and the garden begins to show signs of fruit. Flowers have been going off since April, but now is the time for summer fruits and veggies to jump into action. A few simple actions can help your garden prosper this spring/summer and even next spring.

Post author:Christy
Post published:May 10, 2017
Post category:Blog What's Growin' On
Post comments:0 Comments

Rosemary is flowering now. We'll prune it back by a third when flowers finishing.

YouTube: Trees and Shrubs for Bees

We continue our Plants for Pollinators Series with Honeylove.org. Our latest video gives you helpful suggestions for trees and shrubs you can plant for the pollinators in your life. They need pollen and nectar throughout the year, and some of these trees and shrubs bloom during the dearth, when other flowers are done for the season. This list is just the beginning. Depending on your hardiness zone, native trees and shrubs are your best bet. Consult your local native plant…

Post author:Christy
Post published:May 9, 2017
Post category:Blog What's Growin' On
Post comments:0 Comments