The best fruit tree for kids, and the winner is . . . Kishu!
I suspected that when I pointed out to my son Cass that the Kishu mandarins were ready, it would be a whirlwind of peeling and chewing that wouldn't stop until the tree was bare, and I was right. The photo above shows Cass on December 3rd with the final fruit. He ate...
Miles and his placenta tree turn one, but one of them almost gets eaten by a gopher
I love avocado trees, and I sure love my son Miles, but toward the end of the summer his placenta tree started to lose leaves and then lose more leaves and then have some die back on branch tips, so I got emotional in a way I never have toward a tree. I've killed many...
Bare root season is here! The best time to buy and plant a deciduous fruit tree is now
It's as though there's a second Christmas for food gardeners because around this time nurseries receive shipments of bare root fruit trees (as do mail order suppliers like Peaceful Valley). What's so exciting about bare root fruit trees? And what are they...
Which vegetables can you plant now?
Even though I refer to my notes from past seasons for precise planting times, for a glance at which vegetables I can plant at any given time I always go to Vince Lazaneo's "Vegetable Planting Guide." Vince is a retired farm advisor for San Diego County with the...
Can you grow an avocado tree in a small yard?
(Last updated May 26, 2021) The answer is yes. My aunt asked me about this yesterday. Her yard space is well-spoken for, but her husband would really like to have an avocado tree. "They get big," she said. They do indeed. Most varieties will exceed 30 feet, if...
Glass Gem corn, and Happy Thanksgiving!
I try to grow some of our fall decorations each year, and this year, instead of squash, I focused on colorful corn. Doesn't get much more vibrant than Glass Gem. A variety from Oklahoma that has a hopeful history, it is available from Baker Creek for about $5 a...
How I grow sweet potatoes
Here's what I do: Buy a sweet potato at the grocery store, dig a shallow hole somewhere in the yard, and bury the tuber. Then I forget about it. I don't even remember exactly where I buried it. It doesn't matter. In the spring it will send up a bunch of little vines...
Adding soil and compost to seed-starting mixes
Did a little experiment with mixes for starting seeds. The "Stone" medium on the left is an E.B. Stone "Seed Starter" Mix that I purchased. The bag says it contains primarily peat moss and perlite. The "Alder" medium on the right is a mixture that I made up using two...
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