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Earwigs Don’t Wear Wigs

We get a lot of pest control questions at Ask Gardenerd. Here’s one now:

“Hey Christy, Love your blog – thanks for all the great tips and pics! I live in Culver City and a year ago I turned my whole back yard into a garden with raised beds. I’m loving it but
have noticed lately I have TONS of earwigs. I think they’re eating all my veggies, and strawberries for that matter. Any tips on getting rid of them? Everything I read says to put out cardboard
so they will congregate …

When 1+1=10: Harvesting Potatoes

Garden math breaks the rules. It’s one of the only places where things multiply without the need for a calculator, or the stress of bubble tests or sweaty palms. Possibly the best example of garden
math is the potato. Plant one, get many.

Spring is a great time to plant potatoes, and lucky for us, spring is coming soon. In warmer climates, you can also plant potatoes in the fall. That’s what we did last October with a couple of
scary potatoes left in the pantry too long. Yesterday we …

Harlequin Bugs – Not Funny!

They look kind of funny, maybe even cute, but harlequin bugs are no laughing matter. If left to their own devices, they’ll mutilate a plant
within an inch of its life. They like brassicas – a lot – and this year they found my kale.

The Harlequin Bug (murgantia histrionica) is a True bug, and a stink bug – which you only find out when you squish them. They are black and orange and are often …

MinifarmBox© and the Land Grab

Oh sure, I’ve got plenty of growing space in my raised beds, but sometimes that’s just not enough. Sometimes you have to take over the
place.

I feel like a warrior — or maybe a gold rush prospector; I’ve just made a minor land-grab in my own
back yard.

Let me e’splain: I met up with Conor Fitzpatrick on the last day of Tomatomania, where I …

Sewage Sludge in the News

Perhaps you’ve seen it in the news lately, or perhaps you’ve been seeing it in the news for a decade. I’m talking about sewage sludge. Time and time again, we
are challenged with the task of finding out what’s really in the stuff we eat, or in this case, what’s in the stuff we use to grow the stuff we eat. I’ve always been a big proponent of
knowing where my garden supplies come from, and I’ve done …

Help for Haiti

I’ve been a bit paralyzed by all the different outreach efforts and options to donate to Haiti, and I find it
difficult to sort out what’s legit and what’s not. So because of that, I haven’t felt strongly about one avenue or another for helping the Haitians recover from the disastrous earthquake that
has left so many without homes or infrastructure. Until today.

I’ve been trying to sell my extra …

A Visit to the Solar Living Institute

Back in my early college years, all I wanted to do was make bread and swing in a hammock all day. I dove head-first into environmental issues and
chose
recycling as my personal passion. Along with the strong desire to sort trash came an awareness of solar power and all its benefits. It was then that I discovered Real Goods.

Real Goods had not yet been bought by Gaiam.com when …

Drought Tolerant Design and Veggies

While I was co-teaching a workshop up at the Esalen Institute earlier this year, I met Jesse Carmichael and his mom. They were taking the class together and found it to be a bonding experience to learn about gardening together. When I got home, Jesse called me and asked if I could design a vegetable garden for him.

Interestingly enough, what started as a simple vegetable garden evolved into a full-fledged drought tolerant front and back yard landscaping project. Here’s what it looked like before:

…