Wordless Wednesday cilantro
Cilantro bolts to seed all over the yard. The bees love it and we'll let it re-seed for another round.

Wordless Wednesday: June is Nearly Here

Continue ReadingWordless Wednesday: June is Nearly Here

Despite bouts with the flu, our recent bee loss, and discovering one of our new hens is a rooster, we're still hopeful about gardening as June approaches. Here are some photos to inspire you even in hard times. Setbacks are part of gardening. Even the smallest victories help keep us going. We're celebrating the harvest every day, and we're plugging away at the problems. Enjoy your garden no matter what is happening in life.

Wordless Wednesday Sage
Tri-color sage lends beauty to any garden. Perfect for container gardens.

Wordless Wednesday: Spring Flourish

Continue ReadingWordless Wednesday: Spring Flourish

New growth brings hope of delicious rewards this spring. As the weather warms up, plants burst forth with young leaves, flowers, and foliage. It's also an early swarm season for bees; we've rescued 3 swarms so far from the same location in the Gardenerd Test Garden. Spring flourish, indeed! Enjoy these shots celebrating spring this week. Spring Flourish Never a dull moment here at Gardenerd. Happy spring gardening!

Wordless wendesday loofah
Loofah seedling is ready to be planted out after hardening off.

Wordless Wednesday – Spring Planting

Continue ReadingWordless Wednesday – Spring Planting

Busy times, people. Spring planting is on! We're planting gardens (our own and clients'). Squash, cucumbers, tomatoes, peppers, lettuces, basil, and edamame are all going in the ground. Some from seed, some as transplants. It's that anxious waiting game to see what will sprout. What a great time to be alive! Enjoy these moments every day. Here's what's growin' on in our spring Test Garden these days. Get out there and plant something!

Wordless Wednesday Hyacinth
Blue hyacinth awakens in an abandoned pot.

Wordless Wednesday: Happy Spring!

Continue ReadingWordless Wednesday: Happy Spring!

Spring is officially here! To celebrate, we're sharing some photos from the garden. Wisteria is blooming, hummingbirds are whizzing by, and flowers are attracting pollinators. It's a beautiful time to be still in the garden. Enjoy spring to its fullest! It's time to prep beds for planting. It's time to turn compost piles. It's time to get your hands in the dirt. Plant something (indoors or outside, whichever works for you). Eat salad greens, pick fruit, watch flowers bloom. Feel…

ladybug chard OVF
Lady bugs keep aphids at bay in our Swiss chard patch.

Wordless Wednesday: Ocean View Farms Plot

Continue ReadingWordless Wednesday: Ocean View Farms Plot

People ask me about my community garden plot a lot, I guess because I don't post photos from it. Most of the pictures you see here on Gardenerd are from our Test Garden, but today I'm sharing what's growin' on at Ocean View Farms (OVF) Organic Community Garden. For those not familiar, OVF plots are 15'x15' so biointensive planting is a must. We cram as much as we can into that plot, and we get a lot out of it.…

Monarch caterpillars wordless wednesday
Monarch caterpillars stripping the last of the milkweed.

Wordless Wednesday: Winter Solstice

Continue ReadingWordless Wednesday: Winter Solstice

Winter Solstice is tomorrow, the shortest day of the year. Dark at 4:30 is sad, but it's temporary. From this point forward, the days get longer. Here we celebrate the beauty of winter even with no snow or frost in sight. Winter Solstice Whether your garden is covered with snow or providing you with daily greens, Happy holidays and happy Winter Solstice from our garden to yours!

wordless wednesday loquats
Can you believe we have a second crop of loquats forming on the tree? Those late-summer hot days triggered fruit-set.

Wordless Wednesday – A Cranking Fall Garden

Continue ReadingWordless Wednesday – A Cranking Fall Garden

Winter is coming, but fall is still here. If there's one message this Wordless Wednesday coveys, it's that fall gardening is the best growing season in Southern California. If you're not growing in fall/winter, you're missing out! Here's what's happening in our Test Garden right now. Come see it on December 16th in person! See all this in person! Come see how much our Test Garden has grown in 2 weeks on December 16th at our first ever Gardenerd HQ…

fall Kale planted wordless wednesday
Cooler temperatures means the kale can go in the ground. Protected with floating row cover (water and sunlight penetrate), our babies are ready to go.

Wordless Wednesday: RAIN!

Continue ReadingWordless Wednesday: RAIN!

Los Angeles saw its first real rain yesterday, a bit later than usual, but still in October. It may have lasted for only 20 minutes, but it was enough to wash off the roof for clean rain water collection later this week. Fall is finally here! In celebration, here are pictures of plants with real live rain dripping off the leaves, plus a few other activities for fall gardening. Fall is here - plant cool season veggies, build compost piles,…

Fuji apple wordless wednesday
Fuji apples ripen on our potted tree. Almost ready!

Wordless Wednesday: Fall Renewal

Continue ReadingWordless Wednesday: Fall Renewal

It's hard to write about gardening with the news of the Las Vegas massacre and Tom Petty's death, but here's a little fall gardening sunshine to help soothe the soul. A new season brings new life. Let's celebrate what we can, and grow a better world together. On days when it feels like the world should stop turning, we can be grateful that nature has our back. She goes on when we can't.

Read more about the article Field Trip: Thomas Jefferson’s Monticello – Pt. 2 – Veggies and Fruits
The West Indian Gherkin was first planted in Jefferson's garden in 1812. We brought home seeds to try on this latitude.

Field Trip: Thomas Jefferson’s Monticello – Pt. 2 – Veggies and Fruits

Continue ReadingField Trip: Thomas Jefferson’s Monticello – Pt. 2 – Veggies and Fruits

Now for the good stuff: specific crops grown at Monticello. Some of these veggies and fruits date back to 1774 when Jefferson first planted the crop. We brought home a few seed packets (who could resist) to try them out in the Gardenerd Test Garden. Before we get started here are a few fun facts: Garden staff have successfully harvested artichokes 13 out of the 21 years that they have been grown at Monticello.They are also growing cardoons.Jefferson's favorite herb…

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