My mobile chicken pen
My goal is to keep happy and healthy chickens that do work for me. Building a small, mobile pen for them was my way to accomplish this. For four years we kept four birds full-time in a modest four foot by eight foot pen. I moved the pen and chickens around our yard so...
Will avocado fruitset in 2020 be like 1965?
I miss Bob Bergh. If you want to learn about avocado flowering and pollination, read everything that this longtime University of California researcher wrote. His studies were creative and useful, and his reporting was honest and skeptical. In short, you can apply...
Bees on flowers in Southern California
I continue to learn more about bees. Last week, for example, I attended a webinar presented by two UC Riverside entomologists, Quinn McFrederick and Boris Baer, about native bees and honey bees and their current health status. You can watch it here; it has been given...
Effects of the cool, wet spring on our Southern California gardens
The drama of weather: Back in February, I was resigned to the rainy season having ended prematurely. There had been no significant rain since Christmas. I started watering some vegetables and fruit trees. And then we got a nice storm on February 22, George...
Avocado variety profiles
Below are dozens of profiles of avocado varieties with which I have firsthand experience. Some are complete with writing, photos, and video, and they cover both the variety's fruit and tree. Some are not yet complete. I have created these profiles for you because I...
Realistic garden expectations
“Oh, good to see you have weeds too,” said my neighbor as we walked through my vegetable garden. I've felt just like that when visiting other gardens, haven't you? Here’s a fact that should give all of us a feeling of relief: In the best gardens and on the best farms...
Painting the trunks of fruit trees
I planted this pluot tree for my grandma a few weeks ago and made sure to paint its trunk to protect it from the sun; I hadn’t so protected a pluot tree that I planted for my mom eight years ago and look what happened. Pluot tree with sunburned trunk. I’ve seen a lot...
When to plant tomatoes in Southern California
My "reliable" gardening calendar for Southern California says to plant your first tomatoes after March 15. So why are these already in the ground in my garden, planted February 29? How early can you plant your first tomatoes? Do you realize how dry it has been the...
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