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Grow BioIntensive Workshop
At the beginning of November I attended the 3-day Grow BioIntensive workshop in Willits, CA. It blew my mind. In fact, it took my brain out of
my
head, turned it inside out and put it back in. What is Grow BioIntensive, you ask? Well, let me attempt to explain it in less than three days:
Grow BioIntensive is a method of gardening/farming that combines French Intensive, which useshexagonal plant spacing“2”>as well as double-digging …
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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:
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.
Even Pumpkins
We got a fine question at Ask Gardenerd this week:
“I just harvested my pumpkins. They all are a very beautiful orange
color. However, after rolling them over, all are flat on the bottom side
that was next to the ground, and a white color is on that side. What can I do
next year to prevent this?”
Yea for pumpkins! It’s so satisfying to harvest them after all that time and space (they get so big and sprawl everywhere) over the summer. Here’s a very easy thing that you can do to solve both the white color …
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Growing Horseradish
Here’s one I hadn’t encountered before:
“We have a horseradish root that we bought at the store and on a whim
we put the top part of the root into some potting soil, we now
have growth. Our question is what type of soil does it require and how
much sun will it need to grow properly. Dave Garman & Karen Blessington”
Good for you for being adventurous! And lucky for you, you’ve chosen a really easy plant to grow. Horseradish has no particular soil requirements and basically likes to be ignored. It prefers full sun, but can handle …
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Gardenerd at Green Beacon Foundation – Fall Garden Workshop
Fall is just around the corner and Gardenerd has been invited to give a fall gardening workshop at the Green Beacon Foundation on Saturday, September 26th from 2-4 p.m. Read the details below:
As a
recognized educational, non-profit organization, The Green Beacon Foundation
was designed to show people the simplicity of sustainability. We
conduct tours the first Saturday of the each month and feature green
processes & products ranging from “old-fashioned” to the latest
in design & technologies.