About

Who writes this stuff?

I’m Greg Alder, a Master Gardener with the University of California Cooperative Extension in San Diego County and a director for the California Avocado Society. I’ve been growing food for twenty years now, but I started when I moved to a rural village in Lesotho, Africa, as a Peace Corps teacher.

There it wasn’t called gardening. Growing one’s own food was done by everyone as part of daily life. My neighbors in Lesotho taught me how, and I learned it their way: no fertilizers other than manures, no tools other than a spade and a watering can, no vegetable seedlings or fruit trees to start with — you collected and grew everything from seed.

I found it challenging and fascinating, but I learned, and I even added some flowers in front of my house.

Where?

That was then. When I returned to live in Southern California, I realized that some of what I had learned in Africa wasn’t applicable here. Gardening is local, as they say.

For example, in Lesotho you sowed almost all vegetables in the spring. It is a mountainous country with snow in the winter — yes, snow in Africa. Yet in Southern California I came to learn that the best time to sow many crops was in other seasons:  late summer (broccoli), or fall (lettuce), or late winter (potatoes).

The goal of The Yard Posts

Growing food in Southern California is not only unlike in Lesotho but unlike in the rest of the United States. As I gained experience here, I did my best to share with others through the Master Gardener program. Soon, however, I recognized that I needed an additional avenue. Hence, The Yard Posts.

I thought, The Yard Posts could be the source of reliable information and inspiration for growers of vegetables and fruit trees in Southern California that I wished existed.

From its start in 2014, one of my main goals has been to avoid regurgitating information that I’ve heard elsewhere; rather, my aim has been to test that information and report, primarily, on my own firsthand experience.

Because of this, you’ll notice gaps. For example, I have not written a post on growing almonds and I probably never will. Why? Because I haven’t grown any almond trees. Sure, I could read about them and summarize that information. And I’ve watched almond trees grow in Southern California; in fact, my grandparents had a large one in their yard in Los Angeles County. But that doesn’t provide the firsthand experience that I would need to write a Yard Post.

In contrast to almonds, I’ve grown many avocados. So there are a large number of posts about avocados.

Why aim to help people grow food at home at all, by the way? You know how important the skill of growing your own food is. It allows you to provide yourself and your family with cleaner and tastier fruits and vegetables than you can buy — even from the organic aisles at the most expensive grocery stores. Being able to feed yourself and your family gives confidence and independence. Food gardens also make for beautiful yards.

There are a thousand more reasons, but as a husband I know it’s a worthy cause when I’m able to provide the eggs and greens for my wife to cook for dinner. And as a father of three young children I know it’s a worthy cause when I see my kids gorging on strawberries out in the yard or asking if they can uproot one more carrot to eat, please, Dad!

If you’re interested in reading more about my years living in Lesotho, Africa, check out my book, “The Mountain School.”