by Greg Alder | Nov 19, 2016 | Vegetables |
Did a little experiment with mixes for starting seeds. The “Stone” medium on the left is an E.B. Stone “Seed Starter” Mix that I purchased. The bag says it contains primarily peat moss and perlite. The “Alder” medium on the right is...
by Greg Alder | Nov 12, 2016 | Vegetables |
What’s wrong with this picture, besides the fact that it’s not well composed? If we lived in Oregon, nothing. If we lived in Missouri, nothing. But in Southern California, you don’t usually pick both tomatoes and broccoli from the garden at the same...
by Greg Alder | Nov 2, 2016 | Vegetables |
Holy smokes, my carrot seeds just emerged faster than they ever have: nine days! Most sources say that carrots take between one and three weeks to germinate, and I’ve often found my carrot seeds emerging from the dirt more on the three-weeks end. Why so fast...
by Greg Alder | Oct 20, 2016 | Vegetables, Watering |
My short answer is: Start with 45 minutes, observe, and adjust. But there are a lot of variables, which is why observing and adjusting is necessary. Of the many factors that affect how long you should run a drip irrigation system on vegetables, one is the...
by Greg Alder | Apr 4, 2016 | Vegetables |
In the checkout line at Walter Andersen Nursery a guy said to me, “Carrot seedlings? Wow, you’re bold.” “Yeah . . .” I said. “You know, sometimes you’ve got to try things that everyone says can’t be done.”...
by Greg Alder | Nov 25, 2015 | Vegetables, Weather |
Not spring. Maybe elsewhere, but in Southern California now is the time. I had almost forgot this lesson, and I hadn’t planted one of the rows of the vegetable garden, until about a week ago when I recalled all of the advantages of growing in the fall. For one,...
by Greg Alder | Oct 14, 2015 | Vegetables |
October begins onion planting time, and I just put in some Walla Walla seedlings. Next week I’m going to sow Ringmaster seeds. These are “long-day” varieties, meaning they are said to be best adapted to northern latitudes, places that have long...
by Greg Alder | Aug 23, 2015 | Vegetables |
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by Greg Alder | Jul 6, 2015 | Vegetables |
‘San Diego’ tomatoes I shouldn’t be surprised, but the variety of tomato called ‘San Diego’ is thriving here in . . . San Diego. Why did I wait until this year to try it? Compared to the other varieties I’ve grown in this yard...
by Greg Alder | Jun 15, 2015 | Vegetables |
The front of our house faces east-northeast, so in the summer the sun rises to blast our windows. They need protection. We have interior drapes, but I’ve wondered if the house would stay cooler if we also had something outside to absorb the sunlight before it...
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