An extraordinary zucchini plant
Yesterday, I picked a picture-perfect zucchini from a plant that I grew from seed way back on March 1. Have you ever known a zucchini plant to remain productive all through spring, through summer, and well into the fall? This is extraordinary. Let me briefly...
Protecting vegetable sowings from birds
It had been a few years since I grew wheat so I sowed the 'Pima Club' variety with optimism last week. Then a flock of white-crowned sparrows arrived. I walked up to the bed as they fluttered off, and I found a fuzzy mess. It looked like they had scratched up and...
What happened to the Gwen avocado?
In 1984, a new avocado variety was patented by the University of California and released to growers. It was called Gwen, and it showed great promise. Gwen was estimated to produce approximately double the amount of fruit per acre compared to Hass, the standard...
Freezing tomatoes from the garden
When I have a good tomato year and end up with more fruit than family and friends can eat, I freeze the extras. There are other ways to preserve tomatoes -- drying, canning, etc. -- but I choose freezing because of how fast and easy it is. Freezing tomatoes The...
What to do in a Southern California food garden in 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 Southern California it's mostly the leaves of...
Growing dragon fruit in Southern California
When my friend Brad started growing dragon fruit some years back, his friend Simon told him not to bother with any variety except S-8. “I’ve tried all the other ones,” Simon told him. “Don’t bother. Just grow S-8.” “But I have to try them for myself,” Brad had replied...
When to transplant vegetable seedlings?
The question is, At what size should you put a vegetable seeding into the ground or a bigger pot? The answer is, At any size before the seedling is rootbound. Rootbound means the roots in the container are crowded and circling, especially at the bottom. Let me...
“Sustainable Food Gardens” by Robert Kourik: a book review
I was in Robert Kourik's neck of the woods this summer, and at that time I happened to be reading his newest book, "Sustainable Food Gardens." While camping along the Russian River up in Sonoma County, I considered how different his part of California is compared to...
Recent comments