Tag: cool season

Joys & Challenges of Growing Carrots

Joys & Challenges of Growing Carrots

| March 3, 2015 | 2 Replies

The new episode of “Late Bloomer” is the Joys & Challenges of Growing Carrots. This, the 60th episode and Season 3 finale, covers my three-year experience growing carrots in containers and in a raised bed in my front yard. I’m hearing in a lot of comments that I wasn’t alone finding carrots challenging to grow, even for […]

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December Blooms in Southern California!

December Blooms in Southern California!

| December 18, 2014 | 10 Replies

December Blooms in Southern California! While many gardens are buried in snow or frost, and gardeners are dreaming of their spring gardens, a few plants are blooming in the Late Bloomer garden and I thought I would share. Hopefully, they will offer a little sunshine into your day! As I didn’t plant a full-scale winter […]

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Winter Garden Update 2014

Winter Garden Update 2014

| April 28, 2014 | 6 Replies

Winter Garden Update 2014 is long overdue! It’s been since December 7th since we checked in. Get an update on Kaye’s front yard garden, watch the joy and excitement of two young girls visiting and harvesting vegetables, and don’t miss the bloopers! Editor Megan Oldfield does a great job with my blooper reel each episode. […]

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Growing Sweet Peas Parts 1 & 2

Growing Sweet Peas Parts 1 & 2

| April 4, 2014 | 5 Replies

Growing Sweet Peas was my main preoccupation with my third winter garden. I grew four varieties last year and had such good luck, I tripled the number of vines and doubled the number of varieties. In other words, I went for broke! All through December, I had gorgeous white and magenta blossoms. Beginning of January, […]

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After the Rain

After the Rain

| March 3, 2014 | 2 Replies

After the rain, the Late Bloomer Garden comes alive! You may have heard about the drought in California. Well, we got a proper hosing the past few days. It coincided with cool season crops mature and lush. My new rainwater barrel is full along with several overflow trash cans, and the soil got a deep […]

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Finding Solutions for Pests

Finding Solutions for Pests

| January 27, 2014 | 1 Reply

Finding solutions for pests is the life-long quest of an organic gardener or farmer. Late Bloomer Lesson (LBL): Be Persistent! Just because you found a solution, does not mean you found the solution. Late yesterday afternoon, I planted a variety of organic seed potatoes in the repurposed wood bins, as I had done last spring. I finished just before […]

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What Happened to Winter?

What Happened to Winter?

| January 15, 2014 | 5 Replies

What happened to winter? The Late Bloomer Garden is feeling the effects of a Santa Ana heat wave: broccoli is bolting and cocoons are eclosing! While I was seeding twelve varieties of heirloom tomato seed for summer out back, my one-of-two Monarch chrysalises eclosed in the front yard. I didn’t know it until I went out to […]

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Screening Winter Greens

Screening Winter Greens

| January 9, 2014 | 7 Replies

Screening Winter Greens is now a key component to pest and varmint management for my cool season greens. What farmers have known for decades – cover crops to prevent flying pests laying eggs on brassicas and more – is rarely put into practice in a front yard garden like mine. However, after daily plucking and squishing […]

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Late Bloomer – Winter Garden Wrap-up – Episode 32

Late Bloomer – Winter Garden Wrap-up – Episode 32

| August 12, 2013 | Reply

Late Bloomer – Winter Garden Wrap-up – Episode 32 finds Kaye pulling out all the sweet peas in her winter garden. It’s Easter and time to prepare for the summer garden. She learns the lesson, again, not to crowd vegetables together, especially in a coastal microclimate. Kaye runs into the usual suspects, aphids, slugs and […]

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Late Bloomer – Harvesting Winter Garden Vegetables

Late Bloomer – Harvesting Winter Garden Vegetables

| May 15, 2013 | Reply

Late Bloomer – Harvesting Winter Garden Vegetables is online! In this fun episode, I harvest snow peas and Swiss Chard (and show a neighbor how to cook it!), Mei Qing Bok Choi (and give it away to neighbors), and an armload of celery for juicing. As if I haven’t said enough about aphids already 🙂 , I commissioned […]

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