Growing potatoes in Southern California

Growing potatoes in Southern California

Most staples are laborious to get from the ground to a form that you can use in the kitchen. Wheat, for example, takes a lot of work to dry and thresh and grind into flour. Potatoes, by comparison, are not only easy but the harvest can be as fun as finding treasure....

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Cher’s garden of gratitude

Cher’s garden of gratitude

Cher is 73 now. She’s had both hips replaced – her left hip twice – and she is still working on the flexibility in her new right knee. She showed me how deeply she can squat, which is important for two activities that she loves: gardening and surfing. I met Cher and...

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How Brad grew his avocado grove

How Brad grew his avocado grove

You and I, we go to the nursery and buy our avocado trees. Not Brad. He is so well-rounded in avocado growing skills and knowledge that he has developed a new grove of hundreds of avocado trees from scratch. Starting from seed Brad planted over 200 avocado seeds,...

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Growing strawberries in containers

Growing strawberries in containers

Do you ever get bug bites in your strawberries? That's my main challenge to harvesting perfect, plump, red ones. So the last couple years I've grown fewer strawberries in the ground and more in containers, which has vanquished the bug threat. I start the strawberry...

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GEM avocado trees pollenized by a Bacon

GEM avocado trees pollenized by a Bacon

Most avocado trees make plenty of fruit without other types of avocado trees nearby -- when the weather is good. But the spring of 2023 was cool, and that is not good for pollination. (The photo above shows GEM avocado trees flowering during yet another foggy day on...

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Heavy bloom hastens avocado maturity

Heavy bloom hastens avocado maturity

In the spring of 2023, many avocado trees throughout California had a superbloom. During that period I watched the avocados on trees with lots of flowers mature rapidly alongside the emerging flowers and even start dropping to the ground in some cases. For example,...

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Citation rootstock for stone fruit trees: avoid?

Citation rootstock for stone fruit trees: avoid?

“I'll be real blunt about this: I’m not a fan of the most common semi-dwarf rootstock that’s out there, Citation,” said Don Shor, owner of Redwood Barn Nursery. Don was speaking on the December 14 broadcast of the radio show he co-hosts, The Davis Garden Show. This...

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Welcome . . .

I'm Greg. My goal is to help you grow 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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