Tiny is tender! When harvesting zucchini 5″ is tender, 2 feet is tough. I’ve never understood it when people get excited over a huge, tough zucchini. They become tough and dry. They may be OK to grate for zucchini bread (though even then the dryness and seediness is a detriment here too) but for sauteing or steaming go small! Peas… Read more →
I’ve been waiting since last October to see what would become of the 20 little garlic cloves I planted in our raised beds. Since at least half the leaves were finally dried and the stalks had flopped over, today was the day to find out! Everything I read said using a trowel to loosen the garlic bulbs before pulling them… Read more →
You don’t need to own a home with a huge yard to grow your own food and flowers! I rented apartments for years and always had the stairway to our unit lined with pots full of blooming plants and a few wine barrels filled with flowers along the driveway. The neighbors shared in the bounty and no one minded my… Read more →
Raised beds are a great way to plant your garden. The soil isn’t compressed by people walking on it, that nice fluffy soil can be adjusted easily with compost or manure, watering is efficient with drip lines, they warm up earlier in spring, they’re neat and contained and look great with bark or gravel pathways between them! (All this is… Read more →
In our Northern California garden the weather has been beautiful. Maybe too beautiful considering how desperately we need rain but things are really growing well even with the drip system being cut back some. The peas, seeded in the garden on Feb. 22 are doing well: The carrots and lettuce, both seeded Feb. 22 are ready to enjoy too. The… Read more →
Here in northern California April 15 is the “frost free” date. Tomatoes and other warm weather plants can begin to go in without fear of frost knocking them out. Since some summer veggies, like beans, need the soil to be warmed to around 60 degrees I use a soil thermometer and wait until the right temp is reached.(It’s almost there…)… Read more →
A friend recently told me she finally has her raised beds in…..but, what’s next? So, let’s talk about what to do now to have a great spring garden! First, good soil is the most important thing necessary for a productive garden. Without a good mix, that’s not too heavy, not too light, holds water and has some nutrients, the plants… Read more →
Last October I brought a tiny potted cherry tomato indoors to see how it would do…..and, it’s doing well! The sunny California days that have brought on our drought, also led to tiny tomatoes in my office window. I scrapped off the top 1″ of soil and replaced it with fresh clean potting soil to avoid bringing any bugs indoors… Read more →
Fall is in full swing and winter is fast approaching. It’s planning time for gardeners! There are some amazing seed companies out there with catalogs, blogs and videos to help gardeners grow just about anything! While I buy some things from my local big box retailers, others I can only get from seed companies that specialize in the latest and… Read more →
Fall is here and it’s time to clean up the garden! This weekend I pulled out the zucchini, a dozen ragged statice plants,some overgrown chard and a spent cucumber plant. Once everything is pulled out it’s a great time to add compost to refill your raised beds and get them ready for spring planting. I bought bags of Gro Mulch… Read more →