This weekend was the Grand Opening of a property that I’ve been working on for a year – Marrakesh House. Along with the garden, the home’s green design elements were featured on Green LA Girl last week, in promotion of the event. Check out the article and photos.
This spring, Gardenerd has helped many new gardeners get on their way. Whether it be through classes, consulting or food garden design, it’s been a delight to watch people get bitten by the gardening bug and begin growing their own food.
One such delight came last month, when we finished installing a new garden in Sierra Madre. At first it was going to be a simple, straight forward garden with a few raised beds to maximize growing space. But as the process went on, the home owners realized that they really wanted to incorporate their dream garden – a …
If you missed the show last night, Gardenerd was featured on ABC News: Nightline in a segment on Victory Gardens. Check it out here: The television crew asked to…
In December Gardenerd participated in the Eco-Gift Festival. The founder of Eco-Gift, Tommy Rosen, and his lovely wife Kia asked me to build them the vegetable garden of their dreams. After some discussion, we decided what that dream should look like and then we began.
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There’s been a bit of a lapse on blog entries in the past week. Reason being, I was at the Eco-Gift Festival for 4 days, and the workload leading up to it was tremendous. Now that it’s over, and after a little much-needed rest, blogging can resume as regularly scheduled.
For those who couldn’t attend, here is a little taste of what it was like at the Festival. First of all, we had a great location – the first booth you saw upon entering the tent. You couldn’t possibly miss our banner, which was wonderfully designed by Lenore …
A gardenerd wrote in this week:
“We have very rocky soil in No. Calif. What do I need to start a garden in a small area with bad soil. Thanks, Margo.”
Well, Margo, first of all let me say that you’ve got every gardenerd’s sympathy right now, but there is hope. There are many things you can do to work with (or not work with) rocky soil. Here are a couple of previous blog entries that might help your situation.
This one addresses how you can condition the soil:
http://blog.gardenerd.com/2008/02/29/a-rocky-start-in-paso-robles.aspx
This one gives you details about another great option – raised beds. I …
In a bit of a diversion away from the usual subject of vegetable gardening, I am pleased to report that our front yard no longer lies barren. Plants – actual plants now reside in the space that once was a flatland of mud and weeds. No longer the embarrassment of the neighborhood, we can now hold our heads up high – and even smile – as we approach the front door.
If you’ve been following the previous segments about this project, you’ll remember the exciting plant removal, and pathway and irrigation installation. (It’s really worth comparing …
We had a flurry of jackhammers and 3-foot deep trenches in recent weeks. New plumbing (for proper drainage away from the house) and a sump pump were installed. We also had irrigation to all the major watering areas installed.
Here’s something very nerdy and exciting: My raised bed garden now has drip irrigation in each of the raised beds, each with a separate zone and the capacity to set different watering times for each bed! Fancy and possibly unnecessary, but we couldn’t resist the chance to experiment with such a personalized watering system. There is a spigot in each bed, with a …