Who pollinates avocado flowers?
That’s a tarantula hawk feeding on a flower of my Edranol avocado tree. I watched it work that tree for five minutes, then fly to a Fuerte twenty feet away, and then come back to visit the Edranol flowers again. Ten minutes later, I found the tarantula hawk crawling...
All about avocado pollination
My avocado trees are in bloom. I can’t help but meander the yard at every chance to see which trees have male or female flowers, to identify insects that are visiting the flowers, to check for fruitlets forming, and so on. It’s a show with new episodes arriving daily....
Removing Bermuda grass
I'm aware of four ways that people use to remove Bermuda grass. As far as my experience goes, only two are highly effective though. I'll share my experiences, moving from the most effective methods to the least. Glyphosate Poisoning Bermuda grass with an...
Why a chicken coop and run should have a floor of wood chips
Many of my friends and family keep chickens so I’ve seen lots of chicken coops and runs throughout Southern California. Every set up I’ve seen with a floor of wood chips is better than those I’ve seen without, with very few exceptions. Consider keeping your chickens...
Can you mulch avocado trees too much?
Can you mulch avocado trees too much? I'm sure you can, but I've never seen such a thing. And I've seen trees surrounded by deeeeeeep wood chips, like these on John Schoustra's farm in Somis, Ventura County: The evidence of the beautiful leaves and abundant bloom on...
2024 Yard Posts calendar
The new 2024 Yard Posts food gardening calendar is here! I selected beautiful and honest photos from my yard and elsewhere in Southern California for each month, and I packed in lots of info on vegetables, fruit trees, and watering. For each month, I've got which...
How tall can dinosaur kale get?
(Originally written in December 2021) Next week my daughter turns four, and so does one of the above kale plants. It was in December 2017 that I sowed a handful of kale seeds. We ate leaves from the plants that grew through that winter while my daughter was learning...
Food garden meander during solar eclipse
When the eclipse on April 8 took the edge off the sun, I decided to stroll around and video anything interesting in the moment. The plants appeared to be behaving normally but the animals did not. All of my Yard Posts are listed here. Scroll down and thank the...
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