Why a chicken coop and run should have a floor of wood chips
Many of my friends and family keep chickens so I’ve seen lots of chicken coops and runs throughout Southern California. Every set up I’ve seen with a floor of wood chips is better than those I’ve seen without, with very few exceptions. Consider keeping your chickens...
Can you mulch avocado trees too much?
Can you mulch avocado trees too much? I'm sure you can, but I've never seen such a thing. And I've seen trees surrounded by deeeeeeep wood chips, like these on John Schoustra's farm in Somis, Ventura County: The evidence of the beautiful leaves and abundant bloom on...
Supporting The Yard Posts
My goal with The Yard Posts is to help others grow food at home, with a focus on vegetables and fruits -- especially avocados -- in Southern California. How do I do this? I write short articles – “posts” – each Friday, and I augment each post with photos and sometimes...
2024 Yard Posts calendar
The new 2024 Yard Posts food gardening calendar is here! I selected beautiful and honest photos from my yard and elsewhere in Southern California for each month, and I packed in lots of info on vegetables, fruit trees, and watering. For each month, I've got which...
How tall can dinosaur kale get?
(Originally written in December 2021) Next week my daughter turns four, and so does one of the above kale plants. It was in December 2017 that I sowed a handful of kale seeds. We ate leaves from the plants that grew through that winter while my daughter was learning...
Food garden meander during solar eclipse
When the eclipse on April 8 took the edge off the sun, I decided to stroll around and video anything interesting in the moment. The plants appeared to be behaving normally but the animals did not. All of my Yard Posts are listed here. Scroll down and thank the...
Carmen avocado tree: a profile
Last October, I had the chance to visit the oldest Carmen avocado tree in the USA, and I thought I would come away with a better understanding of the variety. The tree had a metal USDA tag still attached to it, from when it was held in quarantine after the budwood had...
Tomatoes love new dirt
My tomato plants are on deck, waiting to be planted, because it hasn't warmed up to their liking yet. This last week's nights still dipped into the 30s in my yard, we've got more rain this weekend, and a shift to consistently dry and warmer weather isn't in the...
Recent comments