Growing broccoli and cauliflower in Southern California
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...
Preparing a garden for a summer vacation
Most years, we spend a couple weeks visiting friends and my wife’s family in Oregon at the end of summer, and my garden has to fend for itself. How to prepare it for my absence? I worked extra hard for this September’s vacation because it was going to be a full three...
Do you know the leaves in your garden?
"Did you see any kitties in the backyard?" my mother-in-law asked my son. "No, they were hiding in the avocado tree," he said. They were. Only it wasn't an avocado tree. This was a backyard in Oregon. But the leaves of the tree were similar to those of an avocado. See...
Where and how to buy good avocados
If buying from a grocery store . . . Buy avocados from California The first thing I look for is where the avocado was grown, and if it’s not from California I almost never buy it. We get imports from Mexico, Chile, Peru, and a few other countries. None of these...
Using wood chips as mulch for fruit trees
Almost any mulch under a fruit tree is better than no mulch, but there are many ways in which wood chips are the best of mulches. Wood chips are what comes out of a chipper machine when a tree trimmer puts branches through it. Wood chips are bits of leaves, twigs,...
Where to get wood chips for mulch
It had been about a year since I'd replenished the wood chips throughout my yard and the mulch was wearing thin. I was having trouble finding a convenient source. I started to get anxious. Then a couple weeks ago my neighbor offered a pile that had been sitting in his...
Updates!
Summer is on its last legs, I've bought my seeds for fall vegetables, but before we start talking about the next season let's look back and update some stories about the remarkable past winter and passing summer. Click the title links below and you'll find that at the...
Growing bananas in Southern California
Among the first words out of my two year-old son’s mouth every morning are, “Can I have a banana?” He’ll eat five a day if allowed. So I’m hearing the call to get better about growing them in the yard. Here in Southern California? Can they really produce? Good climate...
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