Growing vegetables in raised boxes
Is it best to grow vegetables in raised boxes? Best for the vegetables? Best for you? Even though I grow my vegetables in the ground in my current garden, growing in raised boxes might be right for you. I'll go through the pros and cons of growing vegetables in...
Growing avocados in California’s Central Valley
At times I feel more in common with folks growing avocados 300 miles north of me in California's Central Valley than I do with those just twenty miles west in Encinitas. A coastal location like Encinitas is never hot and never cold whereas the Central Valley is...
Meet Frank Meyer, of the Meyer lemon
I spotted this sign in a Starbucks the other day, featuring a coffee that is claimed to have Meyer lemon in its flavor profile, and I wondered how that would make Frank Meyer feel. Initially, he might shake his head because he clearly requested that no plant be named...
Lessons of winter, 2021-2022
A couple more days and it’s March, in which starts spring. But before we move on, I’ve pulled three lessons from the past winter. 1. Consequences of 28 degrees The coldest night of this 2021-2022 winter in Southern California just passed, on February 23-24. My yard’s...
When to pick oranges and tangerines
A friend asked me how to know when to pick the tangerines from his tree. My first thought was, it's obvious, you pick them when they taste good. But then I remembered that for some people gardening is full of rights and wrongs; he was afraid there was a correct or...
Simple composting
My first experience composting was when I dug a hole in the ground and filled it with food scraps, garden waste, pig manure, and peach tree trimmings. Each night when I went outside to relieve myself before going to bed, I found a wild dog harvesting from the compost...
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...
Recent comments