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What To Do With All That Cabbage?
Every fall I grow several heads of cabbage to enjoy in winter and spring as the rest of the garden gets going. But year after year, I find myself wondering
what to do with the cabbage I’ve grown. Sound familiar? Well, I’ve found a few great ways to use cabbage that I thought I’d share here.
Cabbage, chard, broccoli, green onions, cilantro, arugula and mustard greens make up the winter harvest
Aside from …
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Sewage Sludge in the News
Perhaps you’ve seen it in the news lately, or perhaps you’ve been seeing it in the news for a decade. I’m talking about sewage sludge. Time and time again, we
are challenged with the task of finding out what’s really in the stuff we eat, or in this case, what’s in the stuff we use to grow the stuff we eat. I’ve always been a big proponent of
knowing where my garden supplies come from, and I’ve done …
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Kale and Aphids – not a tasty treat
It must be that time of year again… here come the questions about aphids:
“The leaves on Russian kale plants have a gray aphid looking bug on them. They cluster on the leaves. How to get rid of them and keep them off. Water doesn’t seem to do much.”
First of all I have to say that if you planted your kale in fall, the plants are probably just finished for the season and should be pulled. My kale plants bit …
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Hot Pepper Tutorial
A fun question came in this week to Ask Gardenerd:
“I am growing a pretty decent size garden in Santa Monica, and I very much appreciate your tips and help! (i.e. Mulch Pit in Culver City). We are culinary people who have
found a true love in gardening. We had great success last year in most of our endeavors (38 tomato plants thanks to your fabulous cradle structures) but one category we fell short in was our
peppers. We tried to grow several types …
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Redwood Seed Flat Fun
As a birthday present to myself, I purchased some redwood seed flats from Bountiful Gardens, the home of Ecology Action in Willits, CA. These redwood seed
flats allow gardeners to start seeds very close together without the occasionally tedious limitation of trays with cells. These open “half flats” (which I purchased instead of the full size
flats that are twice as large and twice as heavy) can hold up to 87 seedlings in the same amount of space …
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Death of a Garden
A great question came in this week:
“Hi, I started a 8×10 garden in my backyard full of veggies and herbs this past summer, yet everything has died except for a few herbs because I did nothing when it froze here in Dallas…What
should I have done if anything to have saved it and how can I start growing things now and what is best to plant. Thanx from newbie gardener…. “
You’re not alone this winter. In fact, unless …
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Fine Gardening’s Review of the Go Green Expo
Several years ago, when I started getting serious about Gardenerd, I met Billy Goodnick. Billy is a fellow gardenerd in Santa Barbara with… well, let’s just
say a lot of experience in the realm of landscaping and gardening. He was so supportive of me branching out of my own, and we kept in touch ever since.
Now, Billy has scored the coolest job writing for Fine Gardening Magazine’s blog. Get this – Fine Gardening hired him because they saw …
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Happiness with Hypertufa
In an attempt to attend more garden-related events and workshops this year (call it a New Year’s resolution, but with more pleasure involved), I set out on
Saturday for a Hypertufa workshop with Steve Garischer of Larkspur Garden Designs at the Theodore Paine Foundation.
Hyper-who-huh?
Let me e’splain: Tufa is a sedimentary rock similar to travertine that can be carved into paving stones, planters, urns and such. it is very expensive and very heavy. …
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New Home Construction for Worms
Santa was very good to me this year. I got the Worm Factory that I wished for, and we couldn’t wait to move our worms to their new home. My husband and I
carefully read through the instructions that were included with the Factory and found it very informative – above and beyond the usual information that you might see in a vermiculture
pamphlet.
We assembled the unit, and then moved on …
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Aromatherapy for Fruit Flies
While developing the Gardenerd Hand Care Kit, I met Sue Dwiggins. She’s a blender – an aromatherapy specialist with a company called Essential Three. She and her sister happened to be in town and were helping out at Soaptopia when the owners of the shop and I were working out the details
of the new product. They helped create the signature scent that is in the Gardenerd Hand Care Kit.