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Category Archives: Blog
Killing Laurel Sumac
An interesting question came in this week:
“I’d like to eradicate some Laurel Sumac in my yard. Do you have any
natural remedy I could use to do this. I thought I read at one time you
could make a potion of vinegar and baking soda and make a small hole in
the trunk and poor mixture down it. Of course, I can’t find where I
read this and don’t know portions so if you know of anything it would
be greatly appreciated. Thanks”
I’ll admit that I’m …
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Re-purposed for the Garden
A fellow Gardenerd wrote in last week to offer a tip on inexpensive alternatives to Floating Row Cover or Garden Fabric. Here’s what she said:
“Suggestion from a friend that I tried and it works: For brassicas and
anything that attracts moths/eggs that are not beneficials, cover the
plants, especially the younger ones, with bridal veil tulle. It’s so
light you don’t need to stake it, the sun and rain penetrate, and you
can move it around so easily. It’s < $2/yard at Joanne’s and you can
get so …
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Pumpkin Mania 2009
For those who don’t know, Gardenerd.com has partnered with School Nutrition Plus and the Woolly Pocket Company to install Woolly Pocket wall vegetable gardens in schools throughout Los Angeles and Arizona. We were fortunate to get Kellogg Gardens as a sponsor to donate organic soil amendments for the school garden projects. Each year, Kellogg also hosts Pumpkinmania – a giant pumpkin weigh-off with cash prizes for the largest pumpkin and other categories. This year, I was invited to attend Pumpkinmania 2009 by Ty Hall of Kellogg Gardens. How could I resist?
…
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Drought Tolerant Design and Veggies
While I was co-teaching a workshop up at the Esalen Institute earlier this year, I met Jesse Carmichael and his mom. They were taking the class together and found it to be a bonding experience to learn about gardening together. When I got home, Jesse called me and asked if I could design a vegetable garden for him.
Interestingly enough, what started as a simple vegetable garden evolved into a full-fledged drought tolerant front and back yard landscaping project. Here’s what it looked like before:
Adventures at the Theodore Payne Foundation
We landscaped our front yard last year and, as with many things in life, not all the plants made it. We found the Convolvulus to be lacking in heartiness, so to speak. It fried and died basically. So after much research and advice we decided to go with Mimulus Aurantiacus as a replacement.
Now, mimulus may be a native California species and it may be drought tolerant, but it has proven to be almost impossible to find at nurseries, including my wholesale nursery sources. What’s up with that?!
Enter the Theodore Payne Foundation. They specialize in …
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Climate Action Giveaway and Gardenerd.com
I usually keep my politics to myself, but I was given the opportunity to contribute a prize to the Climate Action Giveaway recently. So I’m spreading the word. Here’s the scoop:
Want America to be a Climate Leader?
Need a little added inspiration to get involved?
Make history with us and be entered to win in the World’s Biggest
Green Sweepstakes! World leaders are meeting in Copenhagen in December to
hopefully come to an international agreement on the world-wide
reduction of greenhouse gas emissions. If America is going to truly …
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Rain Barrel – 3 Ways
During the spring we had our rain gutters re-done so that we would be rain barrel-ready when ever the day arrives that it might rain again in Los Angeles. The only thing missing, now that we have the gutters with downspouts pointing in the right direction at the right height, is a bunch of barrels. We need 5 for our property – one for each corner of the house and one for the office in the back yard.
Last time I checked, rain barrels were pretty expensive, ranging from $125-300 a piece for the nicer looking …
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Planting Fall Gardens 2 – the Gardenerd Test Garden
In addition to helping others plant their fall gardens, I’m not ashamed to admit that I get the most joy out of planting my own. The Gardenerd Test Garden is being planted slowly but surely, and as of this writing there are a few things to report:
We planted sugar snap peas a few weeks ago and they are about 6 inches tall and starting to reach for the trellis. I used the Gardenerd-designed tomato cages from summer to support the peas – it might be a bit short, but we’ll see how it goes.
Gardenerd at Large – Planting Fall Gardens
It’s been busy these last few months. It seems that everyone wants a garden, and I’m happy to help.
Today I helped a family in Corona Del Mar to plant a garden in a small space in their back yard. The space was occupied with a couple of recently planted fruit trees that weren’t yet established, and some shrubs. After measuring the space and making some suggestions for plant removal, we were on our way.
Flowers for Fall
I used to think that there were flower gardeners and there were vegetable gardeners. Now, I don’t like to appear biased against flowers (even though veggies are my preferred garden variety), so I was happy to get this question in at Ask Gardenerd this week:
“Just got done reading your newsletter for recommended Fall veggies and
herbs. What kinds of annual flowers do you recommend for warmer
climates in the Fall (I am in zone 8/9, Rancho Cucamonga) that can be
companion planted with these crops? Thanks!”
My favorite flowers to recommend are also beneficial insectaries, meaning they attract beneficial …
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