Harvesting fruits and vegetables skillfully
My five-year-old son didn’t want to sit in front of a computer for another school session. “Can I do work for money?” he asked. “Sure. Let’s go harvest garlic.” With teamwork, I forked the dirt to loosen it around the bulbs and then Miles pulled the tops and shook the...
Drip-irrigation bucket
This is a white sage plant that I put in the ground in late winter. We haven't had much rain since then so I've needed to water it about once a month. Instead of using a watering can or a hose, I find that this drip-irrigation bucket is the best method. In this post...
Where’s the peach leaf curl in 2021?
Earlier this spring, a friend from Fallbrook was visiting and he mentioned that his peach tree had had a lot of leaf curl last year but this year there was no infection. “I finally got the spraying right!” he said. Slowly, I said, “Those results might not be just...
Why are my avocado leaves yellowing and falling?!
Do not fear if, in the spring, your avocado tree turns many leaves yellow and drops them to the ground. It's natural! Look at my trees: For other ways to "read" avocado leaves, see my post, "Reading avocado leaves." All of my Yard Posts are listed HERE
The GEM avocado tree: a profile
“I believe that 15 years from now we’ll be standing here and we’ll be talking GEM. We won’t be talking Hass. People will go, ‘What is Hass?’” said Mary Lu Arpaia to a room of California avocado growers in 2017. Arpaia knows avocado varieties. She has been the director...
What are the best avocado pollination conditions?
Given that a tree is healthy and making lots of flowers, there are three main external conditions that create ideal avocado pollination potential: warm weather, lots of bees, and different varieties blooming near each other. While I've seen these elements work...
Edranol avocado: a profile
Check out this video of the historic and high-quality Edranol avocado: More about the Edranol avocado: Edranol entry in Variety Database on Avocadosource.com Edranol frame in Avocado Variety List of University of California, Riverside Note on Edranol production in...
The Mokum carrot
Over the past couple years I had fun growing carrots of all colors, but at some point I realized that the best tasting carrots were orange. Too often, carrots of other colors were fibrous or bitter. So this last winter I grew only orange carrots. More than that, I...
Welcome . . .
I’m Greg. My goal is to help others grow food at home, with a focus on vegetables and fruits — especially avocados — in Southern California.
I write a new “Yard Post” every Friday.
Avocado Calendar 2021
Gardening Calendar 2021
List of all Yard Posts
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