Ask Gardenerd Archives - Page 6 of 7

Ask Gardenerd: What’s Eating My Cabbage and Spinach?

Ah, pests. Here at Gardenerd, we like to say that having a garden without pests is like having children and expecting them to be well behaved all the time. It's unrealistic. Most garden pests are telling us something, and the rest we can usually deal with easily without chemicals or harmful pesticides. Here's a question that came into Ask Gardenerd this week: "Hello, I am very new to gardening and I just started my first vegetable garden in February. It…

Post author:Christy
Post published:June 8, 2016
Post category:Blog Sage Advice
Post comments:3 Comments

Ask Gardenerd: Frost Dates?

Here's a question we get on occasion at Ask Gardenerd: "Many garden books and seed packets refer to timing in the garden in terms of the date of the last frost. For example: "Wait to plant until 3 weeks past the date of the last frost." I recently purchased a great garden planner and all dates are calculated based on the date of the last frost. We live in Mar Vista and we very rarely get a frost. How do…

Post author:Christy
Post published:June 7, 2016
Post category:Blog Sage Advice
Post comments:2 Comments

Food scraps in a worm bin

Ask Gardenerd: Maggots in My Compost

We get this one a lot at Ask Gardenerd, so we thought it would be good to answer it in print: "Help! I just opened my compost to little tan maggots?! I have never seen them before!!! Our compost is every kind of food we throw out. So, I assume it is unbalanced? Also, I have noticed that the food has not been going down lately. Our compost is covered too! Should we throw hat inside or is grass ok?…

Post author:Christy
Post published:May 25, 2016
Post category:Blog Sage Advice
Post comments:0 Comments

Our home grown red onion

Ask Gardenerd: How to Harvest and Store Red Onions

A timely question came in to Ask Gardenerd this week: "How do you harvest and store red onions? - Pete" Hi Pete, great question. It's that time of year, if you planted bulb onions in the fall, to harvest them for storage. If you're just planting them now, you'll harvest in late summer or fall. Red, yellow and white bulb onions all follow the same rules when it comes to harvesting and storing. Let's look at how to harvest them…

Post author:Christy
Post published:May 3, 2016
Post category:Blog Sage Advice
Post comments:10 Comments

Ask Gardenerd: Home Made Fertilizers

We don't get this kind of question very often, so we thought we'd feature it this week: "Hey there, I was wondering if you know any good homemade recipes of organic fertilizers used for vegetative and flowering growth? If you could also help me out with the dosage situation too... Thanks, this would be extremely helpful! --Paul" Paul, there are so many options to choose from when it comes to fertilizer ingredients. It can be complicated, because too much of…

Post author:Christy
Post published:March 8, 2016
Post category:Blog Sage Advice
Post comments:3 Comments

Many varieties of cauliflower exist. Experimentation is the key to success.

Ask Gardenerd: Big Cauliflower – No Head

We got a question at Ask Gardenerd this week from Jeff: "I'm having trouble with cauliflower - the plants are not flowering. Is there anything I can do to encourage flowering? By the way, I planted broccoli as well and it's doing fine. Thanks, Jeff" You're not alone, Jeff. This is typical of places that don't have really cold temperatures in fall or winter. Cauliflower needs low temps to set a head, so in warm-winter climates you often get Jurassic…

Post author:Christy
Post published:January 12, 2016
Post category:Blog Sage Advice
Post comments:42 Comments

Ground turmeric has anti-inflammatory properties.

Ask Gardenerd: Growing Turmeric

An interesting question came in to Ask Gardenerd this week: "My friend and I both live in central South Carolina. Last year we planted turmeric plants in our yards. Now we realize that we need to know how and when to harvest these plants. What should they look like? Do they need to be stored for a time before using the root? (like some potatoes and onions). Please give us some general ideas and tips. Thank you. Evelyn" We love…

Post author:Christy
Post published:December 9, 2015
Post category:Blog Sage Advice
Post comments:2 Comments

Jade is hard to kill.

Ask Gardenerd: Winter Care for Succulents

This week's question is a good one: "Hi and thank you in advance for your help. I live in Texas and have a lot of succulents in pots (20) and other things in the ground like cannas. Question is: how to keep them alive through winter? Get some kind of tarps or bring them into the house or invest in a small greenhouse if so what kind? Thanks!!" Winter in Texas can be brutal, and like many places, you may…

Post author:Christy
Post published:November 11, 2015
Post category:Blog Sage Advice
Post comments:0 Comments

Ask Gardenerd: Preventing Bugs Next Year

As we start over with a fall garden in warm-winter climates, or put the garden away in more temperate regions, the question arises once again: "How can I prevent bugs that were problematic this year in my fruit and vegetable garden ie. aphids, sawflies, stink bugs from overwintering and becoming a problem next year?" - Fern Fried Well, Fern, it's all about interrupting the life cycle and creating competition when it comes to pests. It's also about boosting the vitality…

Post author:Christy
Post published:October 7, 2015
Post category:Blog Sage Advice
Post comments:1 Comment

Grasshoppers bite chunks out of the sides of leaves, but can consume entire leaves over time.

Ask Gardenerd: Are Grasshoppers Bad?

We love it when people ask about bugs before killing them. Better safe than sorry. You may be killing a beneficial insect, so please ask before taking action. Like Dora here: "Are grasshoppers bad for my garden? If so how can I get rid of [them] naturally?" Dora, we used to let grasshoppers wander the garden thinking they were good, until they eat one of our hibiscus plants down to a stick. Then they attacked our lemon tree and ate…

Post author:Christy
Post published:September 23, 2015
Post category:Blog Sage Advice
Post comments:1 Comment