Category Archives: Blog

Veggies in a Pot

Posted on October 10, 2008 by Christy

A couple months ago, I got a call from a mother of two who was looking to plant a vegetable garden in her back yard.  The problem was that they had recently remodeled the yard, installing a large stone patio that pretty much ruled out a vegetable garden.  The yard was beautiful will all of its new improvements, and it seemed to me that planting in containers right on top of the patio would be our best option, especially since that spot got more direct sunlight than any other part of the yard.

After a consultation, Michelle decided to shop for some nice …
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Singin’ the NPK Blues

Posted on October 8, 2008 by Christy

Another great question came in this week at Ask Gardenerd:

“[I] did the soil test today. Turns out the pH is 6.0-6.5. The N,P, and K were depleted (even paler than depleted). No wonder my cover crop in this virgin soil is defeated. What is your recommendation to get these elements into the soil?”

First of all, I want to raise my hand and testify with you that I, too, have gotten the same test results in my garden at times.  If soil could walk, it would have been the walking dead.  That said, there are many ways to get …
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Sour Blackberries

Posted on October 8, 2008 by Christy

A gardener wrote in recently:

“I have thornless blackberries bushes, but every year the berries are sour. What can i do to sweeten them up?”

I don’t have personal experience with thornless berries, but in my research I found two common answers to this question. 

1) The berry bushes may be old and apparently there’s nothing to be done about it.  Time to get new berries. 

2) It’s important to wait to harvest the berries until they are no longer shiny.  They will have passed from the dark black, shiny stage into a duller black stage and should come right off the vine …
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Garlic Oil to the Rescue

Posted on October 3, 2008 by Christy

We have ants.  A lot of ants.  In fact, we’re pretty sure that we built our raised beds atop an ant hill, because when we water, they are constantly running from bed to bed, carrying their pupa overhead (think: A Bug’s Life – “Save the Children!”).  Things were fine until we started using drip irrigation.  Maybe it’s because we are no longer literally raining on their parade, but they have moved into to my strawberry beds. 

Enter garlic oil.  We found a recipe for garlic oil that is supposed to help eliminate both ants and aphids.  The theory is that if you …
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Gardenerd Featured in Palisadian Post

Posted on October 2, 2008 by Christy

Just before heading off to Europe I got a call from Libby Motika at the Palisadian Post.  She wanted to interview me for the upcoming Fall Home and Garden special insert for the newspaper.  Here is the article that appeared on September 25, 2008:

http://www.palisadespost.com/content/index.cfm?Story_ID=4313

While I have to say that there are a few things I didn’t quite say exactly the way it’s printed, for the most part it’s a pretty good article.  Enjoy. …
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Bounty in Budapest

Posted on October 1, 2008 by Christy

Traveling as a vegetarian has never been too much of a challenge for me.  Mostly because I eat dairy, so where there is bread and cheese, I am fine.  Recently, however, during the planning of our upcoming trip to Hungary to visit my husband’s father, I began to worry about whether or not I would be able to eat in Budapest.  Rumor has it, and my husband confirms, that there are little to no vegetables to be found (which would explain why a salad is called a “vitamin salad” in Hungary).  Meat is either boiled or fried – deep fried …
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Strawberry Harvest

Posted on October 1, 2008 by Christy

Returning from any vacation is always a little bittersweet.  While there is an excitement to be home again, with all the creature comforts, there is the sadness of leaving behind the romantic notion of foreign travel.  With gardeners, there is also a fear in the back of the head that makes us worry whether our plants will be alive when we come back.  Ironically, I have found that most of my plants do better when I’m not around.

Yes, it’s true – with the help of automatic irrigation, my zucchini plant has done better in the two weeks I’ve been …
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Green Beetles – What’s the Buzz?

Posted on September 12, 2008 by Christy

Another question came in today:

“Metallic green beetles keep invading my garden–about 1″ long. Green wings with brown edges. Friend or foe?”

Well – I know my Permaculture friends would say that there’s no such thing as a bad insect, but to answer your question in a word: foe.

I’ve watched these little buggers make lunch out of my neighbor’s roses.  They sure love ’em.  They are known as Figeater Beetles with a Latin name of Cotinis Mutabilis.  Here is a
blog entry I found about them:

http://fireflyforest.net/firefly/2008/03/08/figeater-beetle/

The bugs themselves are harmless, meaning they …
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New Gardener’s Dilemma

Posted on September 12, 2008 by Christy

“I just started gardening recently, so my first garden is full of
mistakes. I was watering my cherry tomatoes every day, until I was told that was way too often.  They didn’t show any signs of being over watered, but I cut it down to twice
a week.  Several of their lower branches have turned yellow or brown and died since I cut down on watering.  What should I do?

Also, my squash and cucumbers haven’t shown much growth in a little while.  I made the mistake of planting them too close together.  I’m also worried that I haven’t given them
…
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What’s a Fig to Do?

Posted on September 12, 2008 by Christy

A savvy gardener writes in:

“My young mission fig tree has very few fruit forming, can I use an organic fertilizer now to encourage more fruit output?”

In general, the best time to fertilize fig trees is in spring and as needed until late summer (which is now for Californians) – so go ahead and fertilize your fig.  Many fig trees don’t require
fertilizing at all, but there may be some conditions that are contributing to your low fig yield:

Fig trees can take up to two years to produce fruit from their planting date. You mentioned that your fig is young, though I …
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