Gardening 101
What to do about leaf miners?
By now, you probably know that I don’t think a garden should be free of pests. In order to have a garden as free from chemicals or pesticides as possible, there has to be both “bad” bugs and “good” bugs. Sadly, the bad bugs usually show up first, and then it takes...
Are Homegrown Strawberries Worth It?
We are about 1.6 pounds into strawberry season in our backyard, and I have some thoughts. Last year we planted two whole Birdie’s raised beds with strawberry bare root plants, which means I dedicated a lot of valuable real estate to these berries. I think it’s...
Beautiful Companion Plants for Roses
The backyard rose garden is exceeding my expectations. While the roses themselves are pulling their weight, I attribute the true dreaminess of it all to the plants I have added around the roses. In our small rose garden I've squeezed in kitchen herbs that you can run...
Caring for Newly Planted Fruit Trees
Currently, we have a mix of trees in my garden---everything from seven year old trees to brand new bare roots we potted up this season. The other day I was thinning some of the fruit on our multi-graft peach tree and realized that I haven't talked much about young...
How to Grow and Harvest Lavender for Culinary Use
Floral flavors tend to be highly divisive, don’t they? If you’re anything like me, I’m the person whose eyes light up when I see anything floral on a menu---lavender scones, rose lattes, chamomile infused ice cream---you name it, I’m probably ordering it. My passion...
How to Grow and Care for Ranunculus
Ranunculus flowers had me besotted long before I ever started a garden. Originally, I was drawn to the layers upon layers of delicate, tissue-paper petals. In my eyes, ranunculus flowers were just utterly romantic! Eventually, as I learned how to grow ranunculus in my...
Overwintering Eggplants ~ Our Giant Eggplant
Did you see the gigantic eggplant we grew last Summer? The reason this eggplant grew so huge last Summer is because of a process called overwintering. The seed for this singular eggplant was actually sown more than a year earlier and kept alive through the colder...
Time to Renovate & Amend The Strawberry Patch
Growing in Southern California can be really weird, right? Advice like “wait until your asparagus dies back completely before pruning” can sound really simple---until we realize that many things don’t die back here in zone 10. Off the top of my head I’m remembering...
Meet Randi
