As the crispy dry autumn morphs into wet green winter here in our summer-dry climate zone, I start to awaken from hibernation along with the frogs and salamanders. Evergreen leaves are glossed up with the first rains, the air is freshened and the Northern California hills go from dusty beige to vibrant green again. DecemberContinue reading “December Gardening: seasonal tasks and harvests”
Category Archives: Food Gardening
Late-Summer Garden Photo Gallery: Sunflowers, Cosmos, and Heirloom Varieties
Photo gallery of the organic garden in late summer. Lots of heirloom veggies, sunflowers, cosmos and butterfly plants. Time to get the winter garden started!
Hot Gardeners (the literal kind) and Hoof Prints In the Veg Patch—a summer update
Be safe while gardening in the heat! Heat illness can be serious, so please take steps to prevent danger to your health while working in the garden or outdoors. Plus, an update from the organic garden in summer and the inter-planted vegetable beds–with deer netting! California garden blogs
The Garden Springs to Life–time to get our hands–and seeds–in the dirt!
My kitchen table has become pregnant with potent life forms. All those seed packets I bought over the winter, the leftover ones from recent years and all the packets of my own saved seeds are piled, stacked, organized, disorganized, reorganized, moved, returned, and generally in an active state of flux there. It’s that time ofContinue reading “The Garden Springs to Life–time to get our hands–and seeds–in the dirt!”
The Heat Is On–in the garden and on the planet
Today is a toasty 92°F (33°C) but that is normal for this time of year for us. We’ve actually had an unusually cool summer so far and our tomatoes and zucchini are only just starting to ripen. I’m grateful that our area has been spared the intense heatwaves so many areas of the world haveContinue reading “The Heat Is On–in the garden and on the planet”
Spring Awe–Buds and Bugs
Nature does not stand still and wait for us to catch up. It’s a glorious spring after all the winter rains we finally enjoyed after so many drought years. Verdancy is erupting in the garden and the air is abuzz with activity. There are summer veggies to plant and damselflies to admire. The ladybugs areContinue reading “Spring Awe–Buds and Bugs”
Winter Garden Reflections
The winter shadows are long across the landscape, creating dramatic patterns amongst the fallen leaves. We’ve awakened to ice on the bird fountains many mornings and felt grateful for the warmth of our wood stove at night. Even Puffball Kitty, well-outfitted in her full-puff winter coat, and not put off by a bit of coldContinue reading “Winter Garden Reflections”
October Garden–fall harvests, winter crops, tucking the worms in & sharing the abundance
The October garden is a wild thing–overgrown and intertwined–with the last of summer’s exuberance. The squash tendrils have crept like fog and pulled themselves into uncharted lands and left behind bizarre shapes in their path. Cooler nights are leaving little patches of plant cemeteries littered here and there, joining the falling leaves of the grandfatherContinue reading “October Garden–fall harvests, winter crops, tucking the worms in & sharing the abundance”
A Summertime Saunter Through the Garden — butterflies, pruning winter squash, hand-pollinating corn, saving seeds
Stroll thru the summer garden with me and see some butterflies, help prune the winter squash, hand-pollinate the corn, save seeds for next year, put out some free cucumbers for neighbors, taste a ripe Asian pear, and ponder how to keep the squirrel from harvesting all the walnuts.
First Monarch Butterfly Sighting, Saving Seed from California Poppies, & an Unfortunate Contaminant
Monarch Butterfly Sighting Today I let slip a little scream of excitement when I spotted the first monarch butterfly here in our garden–at least the first one I can remember in the two decades we’ve been at our current location. Growing up in the Midwest many decades ago, we used to see Eastern Monarchs allContinue reading “First Monarch Butterfly Sighting, Saving Seed from California Poppies, & an Unfortunate Contaminant”