How much to water a fruit tree in Southern California, roughly
These are the rules of thumb that I try to keep in mind: If the fruit tree is two feet wide (about as wide as your body), then give it two gallons each week. If the fruit tree is five feet wide (about as wide as your wingspan), then give it ten gallons each week. If...
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Growing a Bee Garden
When I write my weekly Yard Post I’m often sitting in my garage, where my view out of the door used to be a weedy hillside but is now this: a dedicated Bee Garden full of color. The notion to grow a Bee Garden has been germinating for years, and finally last winter I...
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Don’t rush to plant warm-season vegetables in Southern California
Tomorrow is June 1 and my peppers are still not planted, and I don’t feel late in the least. On the other hand, my sister-in-law had bad luck with vegetable seeds she sowed recently and now she feels rushed to buy plants and get them in the ground pronto, and she...
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Thinning fruit
The most pleasing chore I have had in the yard over the past few weeks has been making sure that branches don’t break under the weight of their fruit. This certainly hasn’t been needed on all of my fruit trees, but there are some this year that would be torn apart if...
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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...
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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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