Ask Gardenerd Archives - Page 6 of 8

A volunteer tomato sprouted from under our compost storage tub.

Ask Gardenerd: How to Get More Volunteer Tomatoes

I do believe my favorite question to date just came in to Ask Gardenerd from Jeff Bremer: "Hi Christy, How do I encourage volunteers? Over the years in my tomato garden, a few volunteers would appear each season. Last year, in hopes of getting a lot of volunteers (for this year) whenever a tomato was damaged or half-eaten by some critter, I buried it in the soil. However, this year, not one volunteer arose. Is there anything I can do…

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

Fresh oranges from our tree

Ask Gardenerd: Citrus Fruit Tree Care

The questions keep flowing in this time of year. Here's the latest from Jim: "How much water and fertilizer do I need for 2 y o blood orange tree. And do those minimums change in hot or cold weather? My leaves have 2-color leaves, green near midrib and yellowish towards outside Why?" Jim, you might not like my answer, but it is the answer to many a gardening question: it depends. Fertilizer and water needs depend entirely on your soil.…

Post author:Christy
Post published:June 28, 2016
Post category:Blog Sage Advice
Post comments:1 Comment

Kellogg's Breakfast Tomato

Ask Gardenerd: Pruning Tomatoes

Summer is the perfect time for this question from Jeff Bremer: "Hi Christy, What's your opinion on pinching-off the "branches" that sprout out of tomato plants? Some of my friends don't pinch at all, but my neighbor pinches his plants back so he has only one "stem." Thx, Jeff " Ah yes, to pinch or not to pinch, that is the question. What are we pinching? Side shoots and suckers. Side shoots are additional vines that grow from the base…

Post author:Christy
Post published:June 22, 2016
Post category:Blog Sage Advice
Post comments:2 Comments

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