Category Archives: Sage Advice

Tomato Cages – the Gardenerd Way

Posted on March 28, 2008 by Christy

Those who signed up on the Gardenerd website and downloaded the Top 5 Organic Gardening Tips will appreciate this one.  A gardener wrote in
today:

“What kind of store do you find the fencing for tomatoes? I don’t think they have it at Home Depot. Would it be more like a farm supply store or some
kind of fencing company?”

Admittedly, I found my fencing in the exact size I needed in the discard pile at the community garden where I have a garden plot.  However, there is another person nearby who uses
the same kind of fencing in …
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Grass Growing for Beachside Folks

Posted on March 26, 2008 by Christy

We got a new question in this week:

“I live 1 mile from the beach and have very sandy soil and a very sunny yard. I can’t grow grass, keep grass or prevent grass from burning. Help!”

Is it safe to assume that you’ve tried out different watering schedules, primarily avoiding watering between the hours of 10 a.m. and 5 p.m?  If not, try that first.  You may
need to water more often for shorter periods of time, depending on the type of grass you have, so that the water stays near the root zones, instead of washing out past them.  You would
also …
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Growing Tomatoes in Florida

Posted on March 26, 2008 by Christy

A Florida gardenerd wrote in recently:

“I live in Orlando, Florida and I know that every place has its season to grow vegetables. I am interested in growing tomatoes and green peppers to start. Don’t know anything about it, and want
to know how to grow them organically. Thank you for your help.”

You’re smack in the middle of the ever changing Zone 9 over there in Orlando.  According to several sources, that area has been shifting between zone 10, 9a, and 9b for the last 50
years.   Sandy soil, tropical heat and sudden frosts, right?

I did some research and …
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Tool Talk for Spring Gardening

Posted on March 22, 2008 by Christy

The newest Gardenerd Tip of the Week Podcast is available online.  We probably won’t be posting these on this blog for much longer, now that
iTunes is podcasting them.  For help with subscribing, visit the home page of Gardenerd.com.  Or you can search for Gardenerd
under Podcasts on iTunes.

Tool Talk for Spring Gardening
…
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Upside-Down Tomatoes

Posted on March 19, 2008 by Christy

Recently some students in the Gardenerd Organic Gardening Series asked about growing tomatoes upside-down.  I can happily say that I’ve done that without any special equipment –
and it works! 

One year, on the patio of our apartment, my husband and I decided to take a regular hanging planter and plant a tomato in it.  Instead of staking it up, we let the vines hang
down.  It flowered, it set fruit, the fruit ripened and we ate well.  There are a couple of caveats, however, to be aware of when using a regular hanging planter:

1) The branches do bend or crease at the …
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Bougainvillea Woes & Shade Plants

Posted on March 14, 2008 by Christy

A relatively new gardener writes in:

“I have two questions. First, I have bougainvillea bushes that grow in my back yard. Something is eating them ragged and I can’t actually find any evidence of the
pest except for the pitifully chomped leaves. Can you give me some clue about what the problem might be and how I can keep it from happening in the future?

Second, I have a lot of shady areas where I’d like to plant, or areas that get lots of sun part of the summer and lots of shade toward the end. Can you recommend some …
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Sulfur in the Water – Friend or Foe?

Posted on March 7, 2008 by Christy

A gardener recently wrote in a curious question:

“Hey gardenerd!  My new place has an artesian well… Will the high sulfur content (assumption scientifically based solely on smell) of the well water affect plants?  Yers
truly,from the turtle coast, Florida.”

Right off the bad I have to admit that I had no idea how to answer this one, simply because I’ve never dealt with wells or sulfur or anything other than chlorine in the water.  While I never
claim to know everything there is to know about gardening, I do know where to go to find the answer.  In this case, …
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Snails and Beer – a Good Combo

Posted on March 1, 2008 by Christy

Here is the Gardenerd Tip of the Week Podcast for March 1, 2008

…
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I’ve got the Tomato Blues

Posted on February 29, 2008 by Christy

Here’s the second part of our new gardenerd’s question:

“I buy organic and local produce here [in Paso Robles], but my heart’s desire is to grow most of my own veggies.  I also want to do so organically, without using
pesticides.  I have tried the last two years with truly disastrous results and I’m really discouraged.  I’m thankful I found this site as I’m hoping it will assist me in trying again. 
I especially crave homegrown heirloom tomatoes.  I finally did 3 plants in pots last year and they had bugs galore and then this horrible rotten part at …
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A Rocky Start in Paso Robles

Posted on February 29, 2008 by Christy

A new gardenerd wrote in recently with a couple of questions.  We’ve broken it up into two blog entries so we can address both issues separately:

“My biggest challenge is being a novice gardener with terrible soil.  We moved to Paso Robles, CA  (45 minutes north of San Luis Obispo), about 3
years ago.  We have this rock hard soil, which is almost impossible to dig around in, and it doesn’t drain at all.  To top it off, we live in an area with temperature extremes.  It
gets over 100 degrees here in the summer and have frequent frost and temperatures routinely below freezing …
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