by Greg Alder | Nov 17, 2017 | Misc |
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...
by Greg Alder | Nov 3, 2017 | Misc |
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...
by Greg Alder | Jul 27, 2017 | Pests |
In my yard, the most damaging, relentless, and challenging pest to control has been gophers. Birds peck plums and squirrels may steal plums, but a gopher will kill a plum tree. While I haven’t lost any plum trees to gophers, I’ve lost other fruit trees and innumerable...
by Greg Alder | Jun 2, 2017 | Chickens |
I used to think of chickens as a threat. When I lived in Lesotho, my neighbor’s roaming chickens repeatedly ate the leaves of my chard down to the stems despite my attempts to fence them out. I couldn’t have imagined that I would see them as I do today, as...
by Greg Alder | May 12, 2017 | Misc |
Yesterday, I opened the door and my two sons, ages 1 and 3, ran straight for the blueberries. After they’d worked those plants, they dropped down to the strawberries, and then the garbanzo beans, and then the broccoli, and then the peas, and then the carrots....
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