Pinch to shape young fruit trees
Spring is for pinching. Nothing to do with Saint Patrick's Day, this is using your fingers to prune. In the spring, trees are growing new branches that are succulent and easily snapped off by hand: no tools required. But why pinch? And what and where to pinch? First...
read moreTalk tonight: Early season fruit tree care
Join me this evening (Friday, May 17) at 7 PM at the Oceanside campus of Mira Costa College for the meeting of the California Rare Fruit Growers, North San Diego County chapter (guests are welcome), where I'll be talking about "Early season fruit tree care." We'll get...
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Reading avocado leaves
It was my first avocado tree's first winter when a couple leaves started getting yellow veins. Oh no, what disease was this? I sent a photo to a seasoned avocado grower and he wrote back, "This is leaf senescence. The leaf is just dying naturally." With this post, I...
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Master Gardeners, ready to help
An easy and free way to get a gardening question answered is by calling or sending an email to your local Master Gardeners. I’ve spent many hours as a Master Gardener volunteer in San Diego County answering phone calls and emails from the public at the University of...
read moreFree talk on avocados, citrus, and using rainwater
If you live down south, please join me at the Imperial Beach library to talk about avocado trees, citrus, and using rainwater in your garden -- all on Tuesday, May 28 at 4 PM.
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Setting up micro-sprinklers under fruit trees
Here in late April, it's about time to water my deciduous fruit trees for the first time since winter. I water most of my fruit trees -- both deciduous and citrus and avocado -- using micro-sprinklers. Micro-sprinklers are small emitters that work on low water...
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Volunteers show when to plant vegetables
I brought this ‘Clarimore’ zucchini plant back from a tour of Brijette Peña's urban farm, where she grows vegetables for seed and trials varieties for her San Diego Seed Company. Peña sold it to me as a seedling in a four-inch pot. But when I got home that afternoon I...
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Growing corn in Southern California
More than any other vegetable, growing corn makes me feel like I’m farming -- not gardening, but farming. It's partly because corn is a big plant. It’s one of the few vegetables that stands taller than you. And corn is usually grown in some arrangement of multiple...
read moreWelcome
I'm Greg. My goal is to help others grow some food at home, with a focus on vegetables and fruits -- especially avocados -- in Southern California. I write a new "Yard Post" every Friday. Buy signs for fruit trees
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