Donna Jones

Recipes

Cookbook Review.... Two Great Books from Renee's Garden

I don’t know about you, but I love to “read” cookbooks. Pencil in hand I start at page one and go through the entire book putting a small check by recipes I want to try.  Then, when I’m ready to cook, I just look for the “checks of

Succulents

Toy Truck Succulent Garden

I have an awesome boy for a neighbor. And he has an awesome grandma.  He often comes to help us in the yard…just because he likes to help! Today I asked him if I could hire him this time because I hurt my back and I simply couldn’t

Flowers

Dahlias...for Color, Form and Beauty!

August is when Dahlias come into their colorful glory! Most people look through catalogs to select those they can’t live without and then order tubers which are delivered the following spring. Here in Sonoma County  we can drop by Aztec Dahlias in Petaluma, Calif.  and see in person which

Flowers

Zinnias...the Perfect Summer Flower

Zinnias are “perfect”  to me because of the perfectly symmetrical way they grow.  Their rows of crisp, even petals are extremely pleasing. They come in so many colors and bicolors, have a lovely green leaf and no scent to cause allergies.  But, they had one drawback in my garden…they

Recipes

Zucchini Banana Breakfast Bundt

Last zucchini season I shared a chocolate zucchini cake from Sunset Magazine in the 1970’s that gets raves all over the place.  This year I decided to try making a non-chocolate zucchini cake of my own.  I started with a recipe for a banana loaf, totally changed it up,

Recipes

Pesto from the Garden!

I’ve always wanted to make the perfect pesto.  Not too much garlic, a soft basil flavor, nice consistency….you know, perfect!  My former high school student, now friend, Leigh and I were having coffee recently and the discussion turned to pesto.  Which she loves to make…with her own

Flowers

Sunflower Bouquets!

I’ve had sunflowers in every garden I’ve ever grown.  While I loved their bright sunny faces, there were a few things I didn’t like. I didn’t like those that were 9 feet tall and produced one huge flower that was great for seeds but fell over

Flowers

Hydrangea Garden

Early this summer I attended a wonderful Master Gardener workshop on growing hydrangeas.  The teacher, Carlyss, a very knowledgeable gardener who specializes in hydrangeas invited those of us who attended her class to tour her garden this July. She grows nearly 250 hydrangeas on acres of garden surrounding her home.

Vegetables

Tomatoes for Raised Beds & Containers

I love big, red, ripe tomatoes, picked fresh from the garden. Who doesn’t? But what I don’t like is huge tomato plants falling all over the garden pathways.  No matter how I caged or staked last year my Big Boy and Big Beef  tomatoes took over and blocked

Flowers

Alstroemeria...Long lasting & Beautiful

If I had to give up all but one flowering plant in my garden I’d keep my Alstroemerias! There’s a reason you frequently see them in vases in restaurants and offered at florists and flower stands. They last in the vase forever! Well, maybe not forever but a

Flowers

Hydrangeas !

The hydrangeas are blooming and brightening the shady spots in  the garden! Of the 16 we have all but two are blooming now. I did a few experiments when I pruned last year. I pruned  this Endless Summer quite a bit because of frost damage and it bloomed even more

Vegetables

Veggies - Bigger is Not Always Better!

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

Vegetables

Garlic Harvest!

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

Chickens

Chicken Watering...A new Way!

We’ve had our chickens almost a year now and one thing has bothered me since day one.  The water was always getting dirty and I had to haul a heavy container out to dump and clean it nearly every other day. With our drought conditions in California I’d

Garden

Gardening in a Rented Space....

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.

Vegetables

Vegetables for Raised Beds- Our Top Ten!

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

Chickens

Chicken Treats!

When we first got our “girls” last April they were pullets, or teenage chickens.  I spent hours and hours sitting in their run tossing raisins and grapes and trying to get them used to me.  After a while both the Golden Sex Link, Lily, and the Wyandotte, Lucy, lost their

Flowers

Make Your Own Pedestal Vase!

Walking through a vintage shop in Healdsburg I spotted a shallow Mason jar on a pedestal…it was labeled a “Red Neck” wine glass and was marked $8.00. I thought it looked more like a vase or a planter and I was certain I could make it for less.

Vegetables

Spring Garden Growth..What's Up this Month?

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,

Kids

Lady Bugs and Little Girls...

After visiting my friend’s nursery and watching her release ladybugs, I immediately wanted to get some to release in our yard with our little granddaughter. Off I went to Kings Nursery where I purchased a little container filled with 1,500 of the little critters! Building excitement, I told

Flowers

Orange Blossoms....How Scent Evokes Sweet Memories

It’s said that scent can evoke feelings and memories from years ago…and I know just how true that is. Growing up I spent holidays and summers with my grandparents in the central California valley. Easter time held the sweetest scent of all in  my grandmothers  garden. My childhood

Flowers

Freesias....Fragrant and Beautiful!

My absolutely favorite spring flower is the freesia.  The tiny bulb is so easy to plant in the fall and gives such a colorful and fragrant display in spring.  The wonderful spicy, floral scent permeates the whole garden and the clear crisp colors brighten the dullest day! Freesias do well

Vegetables

Spring is Planting Time!

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

Flowers

Blue Hydrangeas - Now is the time to act!

If you want blue hydrangeas next July, now is the time to add the proper fertilizer to turn the soil acid. The simple way is to look for plant food at the nursery that is made specifically for turning your hydrangeas blue: Acid soil produces a low PH soil and

Garden

Ladybugs in the Garden

Last week we talked about visiting A Better Way Produce & Nursery. At the end of the visit came the best part! Have you ever seen 8,000 ladybugs all at one time? It’s amazing!  They were stored in a muslin bag,which was inside a brown paper bag,