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First Winter Harvest 2009

After a few days of rain, the garden is basically on autopilot. There’s no need to water, and the plants somehow grow overnight on their own without any help
from the gardener. These are the days where we actually don’t have to do anything but harvest.

Even though we’ve been harvesting since late October, Monday the 21st was the first day of winter and therefore the harvest that day was indeed the first official winter harvest. Since we
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Malibu Vegetable Garden Delight

I had the good fortune to be introduced to Shalane Respondek and her world of LEED certified property development. She brought me in to design a vegetable
garden for her new Malibu property over the summer. They were still finishing the house and major landscaping projects, so it would be awhile before we could start on the garden, but the ideas
were flowing from the beginning.

I saw …

Golden Rule Garden

And so we continue with the adventures in Willits, CA during the 3-day Grow BioIntensive workshop…

The workshop took place in a most unusual location, what I can only describe as an intentional community of horse people. There were homes and stables
(in fact, this is where Sea Biscuit used to live back in the day), but it was isolated from the main highway and was centered around a faith-based community gathering space where our little garden
class took place.

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Adventures at the Theodore Payne Foundation

We landscaped our front yard last year and, as with many things in life, not all the plants made it. We found the Convolvulus to be lacking in heartiness, so to speak. It fried and died basically. So after much research and advice we decided to go with Mimulus Aurantiacus as a replacement.

Now, mimulus may be a native California species and it may be drought tolerant, but it has proven to be almost impossible to find at nurseries, including my wholesale nursery sources. What’s up with that?!

Enter the Theodore Payne Foundation. They specialize in …

Planting Fall Gardens 2 – the Gardenerd Test Garden

In addition to helping others plant their fall gardens, I’m not ashamed to admit that I get the most joy out of planting my own. The Gardenerd Test Garden is being planted slowly but surely, and as of this writing there are a few things to report:

We planted sugar snap peas a few weeks ago and they are about 6 inches tall and starting to reach for the trellis. I used the Gardenerd-designed tomato cages from summer to support the peas – it might be a bit short, but we’ll see how it goes.

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Gardenerd at Large – Planting Fall Gardens

It’s been busy these last few months. It seems that everyone wants a garden, and I’m happy to help.

Today I helped a family in Corona Del Mar to plant a garden in a small space in their back yard. The space was occupied with a couple of recently planted fruit trees that weren’t yet established, and some shrubs. After measuring the space and making some suggestions for plant removal, we were on our way….

Gardenerd at Green Beacon Foundation – Fall Garden Workshop

Fall is just around the corner and Gardenerd has been invited to give a fall gardening workshop at the Green Beacon Foundation on Saturday, September 26th from 2-4 p.m. Read the details below:

As a
recognized educational, non-profit organization, The Green Beacon Foundation
was designed to show people the simplicity of sustainability. We
conduct tours the first Saturday of the each month and feature green
processes & products ranging from “old-fashioned” to the latest
in design & technologies.

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Adventures with City Mulch

Awhile ago, my husband and I decided to put a hold on our backyard design project until the economy levels off. This of course took place after we had ripped out most of the existing plants and installed drainage and irrigation materials. So we had a lovely expanse of dirt we were perfectly willing to live with (which many students have seen if you’ve come to a class at the house and test garden).

Of course, what happens when you have a large expanse of dirt? You get weeds.

We needed mulch to cover the dirt. Lots of …