I’ve wanted to build raised beds for some time, and we decided this was the year to go big for our veggie garden! I came up with my own design idea, but I’ll tell you what I’d do differently in a minute. We had to make some decisions on lumber, placement, hardware, and irrigation, which…
We’ve been in this house for almost two years now, and we love our orange and lemon trees! It’s so refreshing to be back in California and to be able to grow our own citrus. The orange tree is some navel variety, and the fruit is huge. By the size of the trunk, I’m guessing…
Did you know you can grow bananas in northern California Zone 9? I started seeing a few here and there around Fair Oaks, and at first I thought they were giant bird of paradise. But a little googling, and I found a website about a guy in West Sacramento who sells banana plants and kind…
Here’s a great article from Fast Company about farmers in the UK testing the use of flowers to attract beneficial insects instead of using pesticides. They’re testing using new technology to make it easier to plant rows of flowers among the crops. This attracts beneficial insects, like parasitic wasps that eat aphids. Pretty cool! And…
It’s the time of year when peas, spinach, lettuce, brocolli, and other cool-season vegetables can be planted. They can handle some spring freezes. But my worry since moving up on the ridge here at our Utah house is that that deer will feast on our garden bounty. There are a lot of articles on what…
I’ve had a few friends ask about timing for planting vegetable gardens along the Wasatch Front. The traditional rule of thumb is to wait until Mothers’ Day weekend, and that looks true this year. After the snowstorm last weekend, I was not sure Mothers’ Day would hold up as the right time this year, but…
Hey folks! Is anybody out there watching anymore? It’s been nine or ten months since I last posted about moving from my former home and leaving my gardens behind to my ex-wife. If you have read this blog in the past, you know that it would be nearly impossible for me to not find some…
Hey, hey, my friends! My nectarines are ripe now! Been sampling some over the past several days, and it now looks like harvest time has come! Come and get ’em! We don’t can them, so we really do like to share with friends. We’ll eat a big bowl full, make a cobbler or something, and…