Fertile soil can be child’s play
You want your vegetables and fruit trees to grow well and provide you with good food, so you seek advice about how to create the best soil conditions for your plants. You encounter this recommendation in Sunset's The Edible Garden book about how to grow...
What to do in a Southern California garden in February
And winter's over. Did you blink and miss it? There are sure to be a few more chilly mornings and a few more rainstorms, but look outside: the plants are already waking up. February could be considered our first month of spring. Native plants are well on their way, as...
My best advice on pruning deciduous fruit trees: keep them small
Opinions on how to prune deciduous fruit trees are innumerable. I have just one: Keep your tree small. I believe it's the single best thing you can do if you want your tree to produce fruit and you want to pick and eat that fruit. A small tree's fruit is easy to pick....
When to pick avocados
My grandpa once asked me when to start picking fruit from his Hass avocado tree. I said February. But it's true that I've been picking one every now and then from my Hass tree since November. They've tasted acceptable, but I know that from February they'll taste...
Free talk on rainwater collection
If you live in the San Diego area, you might be interested in attending a talk I'll be giving in two weeks on rainwater collection. Should've done this two weeks ago, I know. Feels like we're getting our entire winter's worth of rain right now. Above is what my rain...
Rain makes dreams come true
This morning I awoke to the sound of rain. It's the most pleasant sound, a muffled pecking on the roof. This is the first storm in a series of four that the National Weather Service says will give us three to six inches by Tuesday, an event with more potential to...
Davis Garden Show, best radio podcast for Southern California gardening
How can the un-local Davis Garden Show be the best one for Southern California? It's partly that the radio show/podcast is that good, and it's partly that co-host Don Shor grew up in La Jolla and knows about growing plants here better than we...
Orange blossom or lemon blossom?
Can you tell? Hint: the purple blush on the back sides of the petals gives it away. See the comments section for the answer.
Recent comments