What's a girl to do when her plants look anemic and aren't growing like they should be, despite the mounds of compost and organic fertilizer
that are lovingly applied each season? The mystery can only be solved one way: Get a soil test.
We have two sets of tomatoes - one in our test garden, and one at our community garden at Ocean View Farms. Both were grown from seed under grow lights, and both were ...
I tried. I really tried. I followed the instructions, but something went terribly wrong.
After finishing my latest read - Cooking with Edible Flowers, by Miriam Jacobs - I felt inspired to make sorbet with the abundant lime geranium growing in a pot out in the garden. Miriam doesn't
have a recipe for lime geranium sorbet, but the internet does, so I grabbed one from Susan Wittig Albert's All About Thyme website for scented geranium sorbet. It seemed easy enough, and I'm
...
A question came in this week about scale:
"I have two large tree mallows (grown as shrubs) with a very heavy scale infestation. A local nursery recommends using a petroleum oil spray. Is there another effective, greener
solution?"
Yes, I can definitely suggest an alternative to petroleum sprays, but first - a little understanding about what scale is:
Scale is an insect, but it looks and behaves more like a mollusk. There are soft ...
Have you ever planted mint, thinking that it would be a nice addition to your vegetable or herb garden, only to find that in no time at all
it had taken over your garden and choked out your veggies? Well that's what happened to Joan Wilner in Beverly Hills. She called me up to rescue her waning vegetable garden from the claws
of the overwhelming mint patch a couple of weeks ago.
...
Sometimes the best things in life are free - and from your neighbor. That seems to be a theme this week. While my garden may still be
launching into its productive phase, some of my neighbors' gardens are already there.
At my community plot the lady to my left is overrun with ripening blackberries and, as of last week, I've been given permission to harvest as many as I please. Since I've been dying to find a
...
Yes, Woolly School Gardens needs your vote, and I'll tell you about that in just a minute, but first a little story:
On Tuesday, June 1st, I had the opportunity to help install two Woolly School Gardens at two neighboring schools in downtown Los Angeles. Together with a team of Woolly gardeners, we filled Pockets
with soil and planted food gardens for students to enjoy. We planted herbs like sage, chives (which some of the kids pronounced chee-vess), thyme, basil, rosemary and ...
Here's a recent question that came in last week:
"I have lots of shade but some sun in my front yard. Combination of city trees, large bushes I don't want to part with etc. I seem to remember a device that one can put in a spot to determine
the amount of sun it gets per day. I want to try to incorporate veggies into the landscape and this would help tell me where. Do you know where I might find this and ...
Awhile ago, when I referenced a really cool article about using household supplies in your garden, I heard from the author himself, Greg Holdsworth of Plano, Texas. Since then we've been trading emails and sharing cool garden stuff. I asked Greg to be a guest blogger some day and he just sent me his latest publication. He's got some really good ideas to share here. Take ...
Once again, it's confession time. I've killed a lot of dill in my day. You name it - transplants, from seed, little hopeful plugs - I've killed them all. I…
Here's a question from a former student: "Hey Christy,, I took your Organic Gardening Class at SMC a few months back and I am well on my way to creating my first Organic Garden! I was wondering if you had any information on starting plants from cuttings. We have a giant English Lavender plant next door and I'm not sure how to start a plant by cutting. Thanks Christy! Gurie