Gardenerd

Ask Gardenerd: Spots on My Herbs

Christy Wilhelmi — Wed, 16 May 2012 14:05:00 GMT

A question came in this week to Ask Gardenerd that I have been asking myself for awhile, but never felt compelled to research the answer. Now I have no excuse:

"Hello! The leaves of many of my herbs have white speckles on them lately. (It almost looks like they're variegated). It's definitely not on the leaves, but more so 'in' the leaves and is appearing on many of the varieties, such as thyme, basil, and cilantro. Any ...

Mother's Day Brunch from the Garden

Christy Wilhelmi — Tue, 15 May 2012 15:00:16 GMT

In her delightful book, Animal, Vegetable, Miracle, Barbara Kingsolver wrote about planning an entire season ahead for a party that would feature a meal prepared from the garden. She worried that there wouldn't be enough food, or that the plants wouldn't be mature enough in time.

This Mother's Day, we took a lesson from Barbara and planned a brunch that not only took place in the garden, but was ...

Venice Garden Tour 2012 Review

Christy Wilhelmi — Wed, 09 May 2012 18:03:28 GMT

It's that time of year when gardens are looking their best and neighborhood garden tours abound. Here in Los Angeles, we finished up our own participation in the Mar Vista Green Garden Showcase and last weekend we set out on foot to explore the homes on the Venice Garden Tour. Here is our quick photo review:

Ever since the Venice Garden Tour combined with the Venice Home Tour, the ...

Taste of Pace

Christy Wilhelmi — Tue, 08 May 2012 16:44:36 GMT

This week Gardenerd got a mention on a local L.A. chef's website. Find out a little bit more about her adventures with seed bombs (a guerrilla gardening staple) and while you're there check out Pace's monthly supper club.

Flower Bombs in the City

P.S. don't forget to water those seed bombs regularly, or they'll just bomb.
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Urban Green Reaches Out

Christy Wilhelmi — Mon, 07 May 2012 15:59:07 GMT

The latest post from Mar Vista's Bounty Hunter is live and in action at Patch.com. Learn all about Urban Green, an amazing program that educates and provides fresh produce in food deserts:

Urban Green Grows Great Grub
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Corn Tasseling Early?

Christy Wilhelmi — Wed, 02 May 2012 15:24:00 GMT

Every once in a while, instead of instilling calm and comfort, the garden promotes panic. Such is the case when I discovered that my heirloom Black Aztec sweet corn was starting to send out tassels.

The problem is not that it is tasseling, but rather that it is tasseling now - while the stalks are only 2 feet tall. What's going on here?

Black Aztec sweet corn gets a jump on ...

Ask Gardenerd: Bugs in my Cabbage

Christy Wilhelmi — Tue, 01 May 2012 15:13:35 GMT

A question came into Ask Gardenerd this week:

"Hi!, In my garden my cabbage is being infested with these white bugs that look like they fly....I have taken out a couple of my plants that look destroyed but still have more in the ground, also my Brussels sprouts have them too! I have used spinosad organic killer and I am concerned it will get on my other crops.....what do you recommend?? Thank You!!! Jill"

You're not alone Jill. Many people ...

A Chicken and Her Cankles

Christy Wilhelmi — Wed, 25 Apr 2012 16:12:23 GMT

Just like gardening, where you mostly learn as you grow, chicken keeping is proving to have the same learning curve. Polly the Barred Rock in particular, has kept us on our toes this week.

At first, we thought she might be a 'he', since her legs and feet began to look much thicker than her sisters. It's not entirely uncommon to discover your hen is a rooster if her comb changes color or the legs thicken up (or ...

Garlic Kale Soup

Christy Wilhelmi — Thu, 19 Apr 2012 14:08:00 GMT

I would like to present one of the best soups I've ever eaten. It was restaurant-quality delicious and very easy to make. It uses kale and garlic from the garden (save this for your upcoming garlic harvest) and shiitake mushrooms from the farmers' market.

Garlic Kale Soup - Vegetarian Times, February 2010

I ran across the recipe recently in an Anti-Inflammatory eBook put together by Vegetarian Times. It showcases inflammation fighting ...

Soil Foodweb: It's a Party In There

Christy Wilhelmi — Wed, 18 Apr 2012 17:00:19 GMT

This week we are delighted to present another guest blogger, Sheri Powell-Wolff, A.K.A. Compost Teana. Sheri is an Advisor and Master Soil Consultant for Soil Foodweb Oregon and Earth Fortifications in Corvallis, Oregon. Her company, Compost TEAna’s Organic Landscapes provides compost tea services and soil biology testing and consultation in the Los Angeles Area. She's here to gives us the ...

Do You Bokashi? - Part 2

Christy Wilhelmi — Thu, 12 Apr 2012 13:37:00 GMT

The next installment of Mark Rainville's Bokashi series is here. If you missed the first post, find it here. Let's find out how to make this wonder food for plants. Take it away, Mark:

Welcome to the second part of my bokashi series. Today, I will review the process of mixing the bokashi bran. I find it to be a relatively easy process as much of ...

Peat Moss vs. Sphagnum Moss and more

Christy Wilhelmi — Wed, 11 Apr 2012 15:36:35 GMT

The mailbox of Ask Gardenerd has been receiving some great questions this week. Here's another about the difference between moss and moss:

"A question about moss... What is the difference between peat moss, sphagnum moss, and the green moss that grows around the ground? Going into the 3rd year with my raised bed, and it has many patches of green moss. Is this detrimental to the plants? Should it be removed or turned back under into the ...

Green Garden Showcase Coming April 21, 2012

Christy Wilhelmi — Mon, 09 Apr 2012 20:10:17 GMT

The latest post from Mar Vista's Bounty Hunter is ready for your perusal. Learn all about the upcoming free Mar Vista Green Garden Showcase and get instant access with the new QR code map finder:

Green Gardens Take Over the Green Tent

Hope you can join us - we'll be showing off our chickens, and the vegetable garden, of course.
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Planting Tomatoes

Christy Wilhelmi — Thu, 05 Apr 2012 14:16:00 GMT

Tomato plant sales are gearing up all across the country. Whether you visit a TomatoMania event, or a local nursery, it's clear that tomato fever is running rampant.

In most warm climates, it's time to put them in the ground (while coastal and cool climate folks try to restrain themselves a little longer). Here are some helpful hints for planting tomatoes whenever you get around to doing it:

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Locally Grown: 100 Mile Meal

Christy Wilhelmi — Wed, 04 Apr 2012 19:11:32 GMT

Last weekend, for the Mayor's Day of Service, I attended a 100 Mile Meal. The challenge is to make a dish using only ingredients that can be sources from within 100 miles. In talking with many of the participants, they realized how hard it can be to remain true to the cause.

Imported olive oil, toasted sesame oil, and cashews are just a few of the staple ingredients we often have on hand, but these are not locally ... ſကĀŸ&Ÿ&

Cabbage Muthias

Christy Wilhelmi — Wed, 28 Mar 2012 14:48:00 GMT

Our ongoing effort to use up the bounty of cabbages harvested this winter continues. This week, try this recipe for cabbage muthias, an Indian spiced dumpling that is sure to please.

The recipe recommends using Bob's Red Mill Garbanzo & Fava Flour, but I didn't have that, so I used straight Garbanzo flour. I suspect that the dumplings would have held together better during the process of making them. The end result held together fine, and tasted ...

Do You Bokashi? - Part 1

Christy Wilhelmi — Tue, 27 Mar 2012 14:22:00 GMT

I'm delighted to present a guest post from Mark Rainville, one of my fellow gardeners at Ocean View Farms, who has been experimenting with E.M. Bokashi over the last year. This is the first installment to get you started down the fabulous road to fermented tea as fertilizer / soil conditioner. Take it away, Mark:

With all of the home composting options available, the bokashi food scrap fermentation system is one of the easiest and can be the ...

Cabbage Ideas for St. Patty's Day

Christy Wilhelmi — Fri, 16 Mar 2012 19:05:10 GMT

The latest post from Mar Vista's Bounty Hunter is up, just in time for your St. Patrick's Day celebrations. Find out some great ways to add this festive green to your meal plan this weekend.

St. Patty's Day and Cabbage
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Getting Ready for Spring

Christy Wilhelmi — Thu, 15 Mar 2012 14:14:00 GMT

Spring starts next week, and if you haven't started gardening, let this be the call to action. Since we've been experiencing technical difficulties with our search feature on Gardenerd.com, we wanted to offer these helpful posts to help guide your gardening endeavors in the meanwhile.

Seed Starting - start seeds indoors for lettuces, tomatoes, peppers, eggplant, squash, melons, cucumbers and beans.

Starting Seeds to Perfection

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Chicken Update: Blanche, You're a Woman Now

Christy Wilhelmi — Wed, 14 Mar 2012 15:20:14 GMT

Many readers have asked that we post regular updates about our new chickens, and since Blanche - our Barnevelder - recently reached a milestone, it felt like a good time to send one out. Yes, Blanche started laying, and we were there to witness her first day.

It's not something that you read in books. In fact, it is often not even implied, but what we saw Blanche endure that day was nothing less than a rite of ...