Planting Reeve’s placenta tree
Our third child was born last week, a baby girl named Reeve. The nurses put the placenta in a plastic container for us without discussion or funny looks; my wife is a labor and delivery nurse at the hospital, so these nurses are her friends. But also, this had become...
Passion fruit: best edible, evergreen vine
I had a problem and passion fruit solved it. I live on a dirt road and my vegetable garden starts only twenty feet from the road. I wanted both privacy and dust catchment. Because there’s a chain link fence between the road and my garden, I was able to plant a passion...
Avocado leaves turning brown? Here’s why and what to do
One of the many signs of the fall season in Southern California is the browning of avocado leaves that is also called “tip burn” because the browning starts at the leaf tips. The photo above shows leaves on one of my Hass avocado trees in late fall. Why do they look...
Gardening at the grocery store
Last week, I bought some dry garbanzo beans at the grocery store and planted them. Will they grow? I don’t know. But I have reason to believe so: Beans are seeds. And I’ve grown other types of dry beans bought at the grocery store in the past, like black beans and...
Best books for food gardeners in Southern California
A few months ago, I edited my bookshelf down to twenty gardening-related books. Of these twenty, three stand out: California Master Gardener Handbook, Sunset Western Garden Book, and The Home Orchard. These three have been, over the years, the most useful to me as a...
What is organic, actually?
When people learn that I grow a vegetable garden and have fruit trees they sometimes ask, “That’s great. Is it all organic too?” Awkward silence. I don’t know how to answer. I genuinely don’t know what people mean by “organic.” It’s not that I don’t know the word, of...
Your fruit tree is grafted — Why? And so what?
We buy a fruit tree -- a Pinkerton avocado, a Cara Cara navel orange, a Flavor King pluot -- and we think the tag tells us what we're getting, but it tells only half the story. Almost every fruit tree you buy has been grafted. In other words, almost every fruit tree...
Growing avocados in Southern California
Avocados are California. They are our heritage fruit. My great great grandfather grew a huge seedling avocado tree at his house near Los Angeles. When my mother was a child, she climbed in her neighbor's Fuerte avocado tree. I have planted avocado trees over the...
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