Vegetable planting chart for Southern California
At long last, I've made a single-page chart that shows the best planting months for the most common vegetables! My gardening calendar carries this information with slightly more detail; my posts about what to do in the garden each month carry even more detail (here's...
Fruit trees hiding at the San Diego Zoo
(Originally written on October 13, 2017, I've updated a few parts of this post here in 2021.) Last week, I took my boys to the San Diego Zoo and we headed toward a less crowded area where the giant Galapagos tortoises reside. As often happens, on our walk I pointed...
Water Conservation presentations coming up
On Thursday, September 23 at 6:30 PM, I'll be giving a presentation -- via Zoom -- titled, "Getting More Fruits and Vegetables from Less Water." The talk is part of a series of presentations on using water in our Southern California yards put together by Sustainable...
When to give up on an avocado tree
Breaking up is hard to do, but sometimes you've got to give up on an avocado tree. Last week, I gave up on three. I'll show you which and I'll tell you why. Little GEM with gopher damage The first was the GEM shown above, which hadn't even been in the ground for a...
Succeeding at tomatoes
The first way you succeed at tomatoes is by having realistic expectations, which was the main point of my previous post, “Failing at tomatoes.” The second way is by learning to manage the things that go wrong with your tomato plants and their fruit, and this is the...
Don’t spray for citrus leafminers
Back in the winter of 2015, a neighbor noted how poor my lime tree looked. She said her lemon tree didn't have those "curly leaves" because she sprays it. A couple days later she brought over a blue bottle of the stuff she uses: Bayer Advanced -- Fruit, Citrus and...
Failing at Tomatoes
Your tomatoes aren’t perfect like these of mine? Your plants don’t still have vivid green foliage in late summer? Mine do. You are failing. This is the message that some gardeners receive. This summer, I’ve heard from a number of first-time gardeners who feel like...
What to do in a Southern California garden in August
In August we pass from mid summer into late summer, and some plants never want the season to end, such as the macadamia below. New growth at the top of the tree. Other plants start to look tired in August. Look at this weary butternut squash vine that I planted back...
Gardening Calendar 2021
Avocado Calendar 2021
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