by Greg Alder | Nov 8, 2024 | Months, November |
November is cool. The barometer falls to an average high of 73 this month, in my yard, which is about the same as most yards in Southern California. And the average daily evapotranspiration rate is only 0.08 inches in November, a threefold decrease compared to the...
by Greg Alder | Jun 7, 2024 | June, Months |
June is the lush month. June is the jungle month, particularly toward the end. The days are at their longest and they are warm, so the garden begins to look verdant and tangled in a most wonderful way. Squash vines overtake your walking paths. Corn stalks tower...
by Greg Alder | Mar 1, 2024 | March, Months |
March is citrus month. Almost every kind of citrus tastes good in March in Southern California. While some are still ripe, others are just starting to taste sweet. What I mean is, some are wrapping up their seasons now, like navel oranges and blood oranges and Kishu...
by Greg Alder | Dec 1, 2023 | December, Months |
I like to sit by the fireplace during the long nights of December and read my notes and reflect on the past growing year. Did I grow enough onions for the family? I suspect I watered my USDA 88-2 mandarin tree too much. How much water did it get? Should I plant...
by Greg Alder | Sep 1, 2023 | Months, September |
In September, summer turns to fall, but summer never goes willingly in Southern California. It always kicks us with one last heat wave. When I was a kid, school started right after Labor Day, and that first week back at school was always the hottest of the year. (Hot...
by Greg Alder | Jan 6, 2023 | January, Months |
Here it is: our deep winter. In January only — and a couple weeks before and after — can we enjoy a fire in the fireplace and do we have the chance to see a little frost on the ground. Appreciate it before it’s warm again for 10 months. (Rough life?)...
by Greg Alder | Oct 20, 2022 | Months, October |
“Why are those leaves on the pistache tree yellow?” asked my three-year old son. “Soon they’ll all be yellow — and orange and red — and then they’ll fall. That’s why they call this time of year Fall.” Truth is, in...
by Greg Alder | Jul 1, 2022 | July, Months |
Stay cool. Make shade. Have a drink. Go to the beach. Harvest in the morning. Harvest in the evening. It’s summer for all of us now — inland it’s felt like summer for a month already; but within a mile of the beach, it usually only starts feeling...
by Greg Alder | Aug 6, 2021 | August, Months |
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...
by Greg Alder | Jan 3, 2021 | January |
Even if we get frost in Southern California it is quickly melted as the sun rises, unlike the above frost on a friend’s lawn in Corvallis, Oregon. For most gardeners in this area, January is a month of dormancy, a time to plan and prepare for spring. One way to...
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