by Greg Alder | May 1, 2019 | Misc |
If you live down south, please join me at the Imperial Beach library to talk about avocado trees, citrus, and using rainwater in your garden — all on Tuesday, May 28 at 4 PM. ShareClick to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)Click to share on Pinterest (Opens...
by Greg Alder | Apr 9, 2019 | Misc |
This evening (Tuesday) I’ll be joining the San Diego Geranium Society to talk about Home Food Gardening — growing vegetables and fruit trees. Visitors are welcome! The meeting begins at 7 p.m., we’ll discuss the topics for around an hour, and...
by Greg Alder | Mar 22, 2019 | Misc |
Spring has sprung! After a relatively long, rainy, and chilly winter for Southern California, plants are bursting their buds to soak up some sun. I can’t recall a winter around here that actually lasted until the end of the calendar winter. But March 20 has...
by Greg Alder | Mar 1, 2019 | Misc |
I was walking with a friend through his fruit tree orchard a couple weeks ago when he knelt down to pull up a weed. “Oh, I love that plant,” I said. “These things are everywhere. What is it?” “It’s called deerweed. It’s a native plant. It has little yellow and orange...
by Greg Alder | Dec 28, 2018 | Misc |
Winter in Southern California is a season of unique gardening opportunities. What follows is a collection of winter Yard Posts — both recent and from a few winters ago — related to only this season. I’m sure you’ll find some you’ve never...
by Greg Alder | Dec 21, 2018 | Misc |
California Bees and Blooms has become my guide to a more lively, colorful, and fruitful yard. Just a few mornings ago, I photographed bees collecting pollen on a California poppy flower, one of the first to open this winter. There was lots of buzzing and flashes of...
by Greg Alder | Oct 26, 2018 | Resources, Vegetables |
The most common question we got this weekend at the “Ask a Master Gardener” table was, “What can I plant right now?” The event was the Fall Festival at Point Loma Nazarene University. Usually while asking, the person was looking at the broccoli seedlings I’d...
by Greg Alder | Sep 28, 2018 | Misc |
Most years, we spend a couple weeks visiting friends and my wife’s family in Oregon at the end of summer, and my garden has to fend for itself. How to prepare it for my absence? I worked extra hard for this September’s vacation because it was going to be a full three...
by Greg Alder | Sep 21, 2018 | Misc |
“Did you see any kitties in the backyard?” my mother-in-law asked my son. “No, they were hiding in the avocado tree,” he said. They were. Only it wasn’t an avocado tree. This was a backyard in Oregon. But the leaves of the tree were...
by Greg Alder | Aug 31, 2018 | Misc, Soil |
It had been about a year since I’d replenished the wood chips throughout my yard and the mulch was wearing thin. I was having trouble finding a convenient source. I started to get anxious. Then a couple weeks ago my neighbor offered a pile that had been sitting...
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. 
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