Plant flowers, attract beneficial insects Some new gardeners don’t realize the role beneficial insects play in the garden, nor, the necessity of planting flowers to attract them for a vegetable garden. I was just out on my back deck observing numerous bees attracted to our tree, which is in bloom. And while they were in […]
From the sublime to the worrisome, my garden on Sunday represented the calm before the storm. Full slideshow on Google+. My early morning garden vigil revealed the beginning of harvests to come, as well as problems. I’ve been spraying lemon cucumbers and tomato plants for weeks with milk and baking soda, trying to prevent and beat […]
Grow Mexican Sunflowers and attract Monarchs to your garden. Monarch Butterflies are so friendly once they know your garden is a welcome waystation for them. This male landed on the flower I was holding while taking a picture. I let it go just before I snapped this. Watch the Late Bloomer episode “Growing Mexican Sunflower” (click through to […]
“We need all the bees we can get,” a commercial beekeeper told me at the California State Beekeepers Association annual convention this week in Valencia, California. I had been invited by CSBA Ladies Auxiliary president Melinda Nelson, a beekeeper I’d met when I spoke at the Orange County Organic Gardening Club in May, to be the […]
Morning impressions with monarchs began my day. I spotted a pineapple guava yesterday and thought this morning it would look nice when the first rays of sun kissed it. As I was photographing it, just after the sun rose past my neighbor’s tree, I remarked (to myself) that I hadn’t seen many Monarch caterpillars, considering that […]
October blooms both ethereal and lusty grace my garden this first week of October, and feed Monarchs, other butterflies, hummingbirds and bees. I thought I’d take a close look around, now that the summer garden is mostly finished, and see what’s blooming and providing pollen for the pollinators. After the huge squash blooms of summer […]
Kaye does it again, crowds everything together! Predictably, in a coastal microclimate like Pacific Palisades has, cucurbits (cucumber, squash, melons) get hit with downy mildew. The good news is Kaye achieves perfect corn pollination, thanks to daily shaking of the tassels. All the corn gets eaten raw in the garden. And there are baskets of […]
Late Bloomer – Summer Garden Update – Part 1 covers what you can grow in 300 square feet in a front yard, in this case, amaranth, corn, cucumbers, zucchini, beans, tomatoes, California native plants and more. The Nanday Conure wild parrot flock return to destroy Kaye’s sunflowers, and amaranth shoots survive transplant. Kaye tries flytraps […]
Late Bloomer – Summer Garden Plantings on Mother’s Day is online! Kaye reviews what’s planted in her front yard organic garden for summer from veggies to perennials, to herbs and berries in pots, all to the original guitar compositions by Jon Pileggi! In addition to all the edibles named in the episode, there is an artichoke, […]
Things You Expect to See, And Don’t in October. You don’t expect to see summer vegetables and flowers. You do expect pineapple guava a Stupice tomato (developed in the Czech Republic, and suited for Southern California’s microclimate by the coast) and if you are lucky, some olives. What’s showing in your garden in October? What […]
Know the MEDICINAL PLANTS growing right in your yard!
Life as you knew it is OVER!
Did I forget anything? This doesn’t include direct sow vegetables! #foodsecurity #growfoodnotlawns
You haven't LIVED till THIS happens! Seedlings update!
Asparagus needs a designated bed, grass will choke it out! #homesteader #garden #harvest #asparagus
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