Thank you, Floyd Zaiger
I never met the man, but Floyd Zaiger made my yard taste better. I grow some of his apriums, like Cot-N-Candy. Cot-N-Candy aprium. I’ve got a tree of his nectaplum, SpiceZee. SpiceZee nectaplums. I’ve got his cherry for warm-winter places like Southern California,...
Comparing tomato supports: cage versus stake-and-string
After joining Roy Wilburn to harvest tomatoes in his garden last June, which I wrote about in the post, “Learning from the California Gardener of the Year,” I was spurred to try his method of supporting tomato vines. Roy uses a specific style of stake-and-string...
The Hass avocado tree: a profile
Everybody wants to beat Hass. The world over, breeders are looking for that golden ticket: to create a new avocado variety that has a combination of characteristics superior to Hass. There are some contenders. Who will eventually knock King Hass from the throne? This...
Natives at the roadside, 2020 update
On Monday morning I was watching the bees feed on the flowers of a black sage plant at the edge of my yard by the road. Two of my neighbors walked by, and one said, “Your plants are beautiful.” “Thanks!” I said. Then I thought, The beauty of these plants has nothing...
My watering schedules for vegetables and fruit trees
Every year in spring I get amnesia about watering my vegetables and fruit trees, as if I have to figure out anew how much and how often to water them, as if I have no record of my irrigation schedules that have worked in the past. Relax, Greg. Use those records to...
How to harvest avocados
The main question is: Should you just pull the avocados off the tree, or should you carefully clip the stems when you harvest avocados? Let me tell you what I do and explain why. Harvesting avocados by hand Whether my feet are on the ground or I’ve climbed up into a...
Growing ‘Green Finger’ cucumbers
I didn’t much like cucumbers until I grew ‘Green Finger.’ I didn’t love to eat them, and I was frustrated while growing them. From my garden, too often they were bitter, and I never could figure out how to consistently prevent that. Insufficient or uneven watering...
Hydrozoning
What’s hydrozoning? It’s grouping plants with similar water needs. You put those plants next to each other, or you put them on the same irrigation line. And I haven’t always done it -- to my great irritation, and to my plants’ hardship. Here are three examples of...
Welcome
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. My Gardening Calendar
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