Gardening

Gardening in May

May 1, 2013

Happy May Day! It’s definitely May Gray outside at the moment, but predictions for record breaking heat this weekend should keep you at the ready to water your garden as needed.

Gardening in May is a busy time. Plants are growing, there’s hope of a great harvest or beautiful flowers but there is work to be done. Here’s your guide to maintenance for the month: May in the Garden

This Pride of Madeira sits next to City Hall and Glorietta Bay on Coronado. The beautiful colors of this plant – purple, blue, white or pink – are blooming everywhere now. Spectacular!

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Miscellaneous Monday 3-25-13

March 25, 2013

Good day on this first Monday of Spring!

I’ve heard of refrigerator pickles, but refrigerator radishes make so much sense!

Honey Bee Decline: Neonicotinoid and Spinosad Insecticides

The continuing GMO discussion: Boycott pocket guides

I love charts and here’s a great one for planting info: Planting Chart

Here’s a handy calculator for raised bed soil depths.

Square Foot Gardening: A handy graphic

Propagating Roses: Taking Rose Cuttings

A bit of calm and lovely to start off your week….

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Miscellaneous Monday 2-25-13

February 25, 2013

I spent the weekend gardening. It was so much fun!!! Now it’s time to get back to work.

Got Weeds? Use Vinegar instead of Roundup

Decoding the Terms: Cage Free, Free Range & Pasture Raised Eggs

I thought this site had a great set of resources and directory for organic and sustainable farms.

I have apple trees that I’m espaliering, or that’s what I call it! Here’s a great guide to fruit tree espaliers.

I saw this at the nursery last week. Lemon catnip, really? Must be for cats with a finer palate. You know, the same ones that drink out of the gutter….. Happy Monday!!!

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Miscellaneous Monday 2-18-13

February 18, 2013

Happy Presidents Day!

Here’s another source for Monsanto-free seeds. Read through the comments, too.

Here is a guide for planting spuds: Seven ways to plant potatoes

I am fascinated by the concept of Keyhole Gardens.

Growing Vegetables: Seven Secrets for a High Yield Garden

Drying Herbs – It’s easier than you think: A guide to different methods of drying herbs.

It’s just maple syrup, people!: Suspected meth lab swarmed by drug agents

My garden is starting to get interesting after being dormant for a last few months. A fun discovery this week was my Romanescu cauliflower starting to peek out of the big leaves of the plant. This is a little bigger than a ping pong ball. Isn’t it cute?!

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A Fresh Monday Morning

December 17, 2012

It was nice to hear a little rain in the night. This morning was beautiful in my garden. I was mesmerized by the raindrops and other little signs of a damp yard.

Raindrops

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Miscellaneous Monday 11-19-12

November 19, 2012

Thanksgiving is in a few more days. I have so much to be thankful for – really!

A very smart girl shares her perspective on farming: Teenage poultry farmer dishes out straight talk

If you’re using celery in your Thanksgiving dishes, check this out: Cut and come again celery

Food for Thought: Why Shrink-Wrapping your cucumbers is good for the environment.

It’s not too late to plant your bulbs: Dig, Drop, Done This was written for the east coast, but most applies to SoCal: Bulb Tips

From plot to plate – an optimized garden plan: Smart Garden

Veggie cooking cheat sheet: How to cook vegetables

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Miscellaneous Monday 11-12-12

November 12, 2012

A mish-mash of things for a new Monday.

I am inspired by the different ideas for vertical gardens.

Just as its name suggests, a resource for perennials.

Here’s a fun and useful link from Epicurious.com that provides a guide to what is in season in your area, complete with recipes and other good info!

I’ve got lots of weeds, how about you?! University of California’s Integrated Pest Management has updated its WEEDS identification page.

Keep an eye out for these bad bugs and know that the nymphs (the baby stage) look like little ladybugs so don’t be fooled.

Here’s a garden planner from the Mother Earth News.

I love gravel! Gravel garden

This Monarch caterpillar was wandering around my kitchen yesterday. I took it back outside and placed on my Hairy Balls milkweed.

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Garden (B)Art

June 30, 2012

This is Bart. He’s a blessing and a curse. He loves to hang out in the garden with me, but he has no qualms about crushing plants and chewing on my irrigation. Apparently cute and funny trumps mischief!!!

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Looky what I did!

August 30, 2011

I was putting a coat of paint on a set of drawers I bought at a garage sale and ended up with a lot of paint left in my tray. What to do, what to do. I wandered around outside looking for something to paint and noticed a bunch of pots I had just cleaned [...]

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Let’s get this party started….

March 27, 2011

I’ve got the springtime itch and right now the garden has a very additive quality that I’m finding hard to resist. I got a lot of seeds started this weekend in preparation for next season’s garden. I’ll start some more seeds in a couple of weeks in an effort to stagger plantings and get steady [...]

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