You've probably heard of the Three Sisters Garden, where you plant corn, beans, and squash together for a symbiotic relationship that takes up less space for all three crops. But interplanting can work with other crops too. This year, we decided to experiment with interplanting corn in with a sweet potato bed that won't give up the ghost. Each year, despite pulling what we think is all the sweet potatoes, the crop keeps coming back, rendering a 4x4 bed unavailable…
It's garden tour time, folks, and this year Gardenerd HQ is on the Mar Vista Green Garden Showcase. We'll be opening up the backyard vegetable garden for all to see. We'll be sharing helpful tips and tidbits on how to grow just about anything edible in a small space. The Mar Vista Green Garden Showcase is on Saturday, April 25th from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. This self-guided tour offers over 50 homes to inspire you toward a more sustainable…
It's time to highlight another turf removal project we've just completed. This one is primarily non-edible, but we were excited to transform another front lawn into a water catchment basin, and make it a home for native and drought-tolerant plants. The family wanted colorful plants that gave them a little privacy while taking advantage of the city's rebate program, which covered the cost of plants and hardscape materials. Let's take a look: Before The homeowner wanted a path next to…
I've been hearing it for awhile, especially from the native plant enthusiasts and experts among us: pull out non-native milkweeds, it's making our Monarchs sick. What? Aren't we supposed to be growing milkweed for Monarch butterflies, you ask. The answer is yes, but it's more complicated than that. Nobody ever really explained to me why we need to stop growing non-native milkweeds, just that we need to stop. But finally something came across my desk to explain it succinctly. Recent…
Gardenerds love gardening toys, especially in spring. There's something very satisfying about a fresh new ball of jute twine or a well-made hand tool. As if spring wasn't exciting enough, we recently received a gift certificate to go crazy at Minnie and Moon, a great new online garden store that imports well-made British tools and goodies to the US. If you read our November, 2014 newsletter about Minnie and Moon, you'll get the story behind the products, (In the interest…
It's time for more details from the Urban Soil Summit, following Part 1 of our review of the event. Day 2 was just as mind-blowing as Day 1, but the focus was on ideas that could be labeled as fringe or even controversial. Still, all the speakers were enlightening and we came away with more inspiration to share. The day also proved to be more emotional than the day before. It all started with Finian Makepeace of Kiss the Ground.…
Gardeners get bored, so we keep trying new varieties to keep things interesting. This spring at Gardenerd HQ, we're trying out several new seeds for 2015. We planted seeds a week or so ago, and now those seeds are sprouting and the excitement is really kicking in. Let's take a look: 4 types of basil (and 2 different strains of 1 cultivar) sit beautifully in their seed tray. Basil Every year we grow Renee's Garden Seeds Salad Leaf Basil. It's…
Scott Daigre began his tomato passion at Hortus Nursery back in the day, when gardeners would flock to Hortus's annual Tomatomania seedling sale. Once Hortus closed its doors, Scott took on the task of continuing the tradition, offering heirloom and hybrid tomato seedlings at Tomatomania events all over Southern California. Now Tomatomania is on the East Coast as well, and Scott has a new book to share with tomato lovers all over the world. TOMATOMANIA, A Fresh Approach to Celebrating…
Today we have a guest post from Dane O'Leary, a full-time freelance writer, lifestyles and design blogger, scientist, and humanitarian. His writing has been published in a variety of independent web and print publications. He has degrees in psychology and anthropology with additional study in journalism, graphic design, and public relations. Dane is currently also working on his debut novel. Good luck with the book, Dane, and take it away! 5 Steps to a Beautiful Flagstone Ground Cover We all…
If you've ever wanted to know how soil works and what's going on underground in your garden, a Soil Summit is a great place to start. It is impossible to summarize the whole of the Urban Soil Carbon Water Summit (Soil Summit for short) that I attended last week in one blog post. So I won't. I can, however, share the highlights from the first part of the first day which featured talks from Dr. Elaine Ingham and Ray Archuleta.…