by Greg Alder | Dec 7, 2018 | Vegetables |
It’s raining as I write this, which brings to life right out my window all of the things I like about using wood chips as mulch around my vegetables. The chips are soaking up the rain so there’s no run off; they’re protecting the soil surface from erosion or crusting...
by Greg Alder | Nov 22, 2018 | Vegetables |
Garlic is the easiest crop to grow in a Southern California garden. Can you think of an easier one? If you use garlic in the kitchen, and you have a garden, there’s no reason not to have some growing out there through the winter. I’ll explain why garlic is so easy,...
by Greg Alder | Oct 26, 2018 | Resources, Vegetables |
(Last updated November 12, 2020) 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...
by Greg Alder | Oct 19, 2018 | Fruit, Vegetables |
Melon vines take up too much garden space. This past summer, we grew all of ours away from the vegetable beds. I planted them under fruit trees where they had room to roam. In the photo above, a Sweet Crimson watermelon is growing “under” a young Hellen avocado tree....
by Greg Alder | Oct 6, 2018 | Vegetables |
Broccoli and cauliflower are a couple of my favorite vegetables to grow if only to watch my uncivilized children eat them. Aren’t kids not even supposed to like broccoli? Mine eat the heads straight off the growing plant. Planting broccoli and cauliflower in Southern...
by Greg Alder | Jul 27, 2018 | Vegetables, Watering |
Drip irrigation supplemented by occasional overhead watering is the best way to water a vegetable garden. The best? That’s right. That’s my claim. This method gives you all of the advantages of drip irrigation while compensating for its few disadvantages. Here’s...
by Greg Alder | Jun 15, 2018 | Vegetables |
The change I’d like to see in my corner of the world is that more people grow a little of their own food. It doesn’t require a lot of space, many tools, much physical effort or time or money. Here I’ve gathered the five most useful things that I wish I had known...
by Greg Alder | Mar 30, 2018 | Vegetables |
Gardening as sport: This year, I took the challenge of growing more lettuce than my brother’s family could eat. He and my sister-in-law fuel their family of six with a quasi paleo diet, which includes a lot of lettuce, and they would be spending a week at our house in...
by Greg Alder | Feb 2, 2018 | Pests, Vegetables |
Aphids in many Southern California vegetable gardens are particularly bad this winter. What a good opportunity to test some control methods and make observations about aphid behavior. Brevicoryne brassicae, that’s the scientific name for the particular aphid I’m...
by Greg Alder | Oct 20, 2017 | Vegetables |
Timing is everything . . . when it comes to growing onions, too. If you sow the seed at the right time, you’re almost guaranteed a nice bulb to eat. Conversely, if you sow at the wrong time there’s no hope. So many times I’ve heard people say their onions didn’t grow...
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