Every winter I pour over gardening catalogs making my selections for the coming year’s growing season. I love finding new and unusual fruits, vegetables and herbs to try. There are, however, some edibles that I simple can’t be without and…
Thinning is a term used to describe the removal of fruit from your fruit trees while it is still young. I know it sounds a bit crazy to think of taking off unripe fruit, but it is important to do…
It’s been years since I’ve grown Fava beans and I didn’t recall them being so attractive to black aphids. A quick Google search, however, proved just how strong that attraction was. I saw advice on dealing with them from pinching…
Iceplant (Delosperma cooperi) is one of those plants that we sort of take for granted most of the year here on the Central Coast. But come spring when it starts to bloom, you better put your shades on. The bright…
Vegetable gardening is in full swing and we certainly get a lot of questions at the nursery. Here are the top five questions we received this week: 1. Should I start from seed or buy starts? If you are new…
For the most part, we have great weather here on the coast allowing us to grow many plants with ease. Our cool, foggy mornings and warm afternoons, however, do cause some problems growing plants that are already prone to disease.…
I was going to title this “The Lazy Gardener’s Raised Bed” but then you would know something about me. When it comes to some aspects of gardening, I like to cut a few corners. Right now there is so much…
The Central Coast of California has a lot going for it, but being able to grow a great variety of tomatoes is not one of them. Cool foggy summers make getting a great harvest difficult, but it’s not impossible. By…
I had originally started this post with, “How would you like to grow more fruits and vegetables with one simple, inexpensive trick?” Oh how infomercial of me. But how do I convey my enthusiasm in sharing this technique with you…
For many years I gardened in a fairly small backyard, most of which was under the canopy of a huge pine tree. After a while I started to run out of nice sunny spots to plant. For an avid plant…
