Today is the 10th anniversary of the start of this blog. On April 9, 2006 I began this blog with this photo of some Tete-a-Tete daffodils that were in bloom that day in my garden. I started the blog because I was frustrated that we were having a particularly wet spring that was making it difficult to get any gardening done. Of course, in those early days I had no ideas of what this blog would lead to: writing for garden-related websites; writing and publishing two books on gardening in California, one of which won an award from the Garden Writers Association; and speaking at garden shows, botanical gardens, nurseries, and garden clubs throughout the state.
I still love writing about gardening but I've come to the conclusion that what I really love is writing books and that's hard to do while blogging at the same time. I've been neglecting this blog too much in the last couple years so I've finally decided that it's time to bring it to a close. I will leave the blog up so anyone can search it or ramble through it as the mood strikes, but I won't be adding any posts after this one.
I will keep writing, though. I have a new ebook, Not-So-Hot Tomatoes: Growing Delicious Tomatoes in Cooler Climates, which will be released on Amazon.com on April 15th and is available for pre-order there now. It will also be available soon in softcover on Amazon and in ebook format on other platforms such as Kobo, Nook, iBooks, and more. And more books will follow, including some garden-related fiction that I'm pretty excited about.
If you want to keep up on what I'm writing or on other gardening news I want to pass on, you can like my Facebook page, California Gardening Books, or follow me on Twitter at @AlamedaGardener. You can also subscribe to my newsletter, Time in the Garden (see the Subscribe button at the end of this post).
Wow, this is going to be a busy month! Here's what to focus on in April:
Plan
If you're feeling the need for some garden inspiration, check out some of the garden tours that pop up around this time of year. You'll find lots of fresh ideas you can put to use in your own yard.
If you need to expand your back yard vegetable garden, consider moving some edibles into the ornamental beds in your front yard, Herbs and greens like Swiss chard and lettuces can blend in easily, as can fruit trees, especially citrus.
Plant
Try implementing a hydrozoning plan with your new plantings. That means grouping plants together by their water needs. Whether you use an irrigation system or hand-water, you'll find that watering will become a much simpler process.
Plant annual flowers for a cutting garden. Good choices include asters, baby's breath, calendula, celosia, cosmos, dianthus, larkspur, rudbeckia, scabiosa, snapdragons, statice, stock, sunflowers, and zinnias.
This is a good time to plant blackberries, raspberries, rhubarb, and if you live in an area where night-time temperatures are consistently above 50 degrees F, tomatoes.
It's also a good time for planting vines such as wisteria and passion fruit vines.
Care
There's lots of clean-up to be done this month. You can remove frost-damaged branches, prune evergreens, and keep weeding!
Water
Rain can be spotty this month. Make sure you actually check the soil occasionally to see how deep the moisture goes. Even if the surface of the soil is wet, you may need to supplement with some deep watering.
Fertilize
Get organized about your fertilizing schedule. It's helpful to keep track of what plants you feed and what amendments you use. If you apply a timed-release fertilizer, note on your calendar when you'll need to re-apply it and where.
Lawns need a spring boost at this time, but take care not to overdo it. Apply about 1/2 lb. of nitrogen per 1,000 square feet and make sure it gets spread out evenly.
Problem-Solve
Go on pest-patrol to watch for snails, slugs, and sucking insects like aphids and scale. If you notice ants going up and down trees, they're probably farming aphids on the trees for their honeydew. You can control both the ants and aphids by applying a sticky barrier like Tanglefoot around the base of the trunk.
This month can be such a mix of winter weather and false spring, it can make a gardener crazy. Just when a few days of spring-like blue skies and warm temperatures get our hearts beating faster, rainstorms can come crashing back in on us. But let's be thankful for every drop of rain we're getting this year--it's been a long time coming! And let's not let the rains keep us from our gardens! Here's what to focus on this month:
Plan
Make a list of winter chores that you've yet to accomplish and make a plan of action for getting them done. Prioritize the tasks that must be done when plants are dormant: bare-root planting, transplanting, pruning or spraying.
Order summer-blooming bulbs from catalogs.
Make note of areas in the garden that are lacking winter color and consider filling in with winter-blooming natives like ceanothus and manzanita.
I always feel like January is like a reboot of the garden. Time to wipe away whatever didn't work last year or what you may be tired of this year and start fresh. El Nino rains are helping to ease the effects of the drought but they may also be presenting challenges of their own. Let's get busy planning, planting, pruning and more to make this our best garden year!
Plan
This it the time to think about what you want to accomplish in your garden this year. What problem do you want to solve? What new feature would you like to add? What new plant would you like to try growing? Then take stock of how your garden looks right now--winter is a great time to really see the bones of your garden--and make a plan for how you're going to move closer to having the garden of your dreams.
If you're going to be growing from seed, you should be reviewing seed catalogs and putting in your orders. But before you order, maybe you better sort through the stock of seeds you already have. Toss out the seed packs that are too old and test the viability of those that are of a questionable age.
If you still have a lawn, this is a good time to clean and tune-up your lawn mower.
Shop your local nurseries or mail-order nurseries for bare-root roses and trees.
Are you seeing areas of soil erosion? Make a note to address these spots by planting groundcovers or taking other action in the spring.
There's a great sale going on this week at the bookshop at Quarto (the parent company of my publisher, Cool Springs Press). You can get California Fruit and Vegetable Gardening for $18.39 (down from the regular price of $22.99) and California Month-by-Month Gardening for $19.99 (regular price $24.99). Plus you can enter the promo code VETS15 to save an additional 30%. Plus, there's free shipping on orders of $50 or more. Lots of other books are on sale so it might be a great time to do some early Christmas shopping! (Promo code expires 11/16/2015.)
I had big fun this afternoon at Orchard Nursery in Lafayette picking out edibles for my talk this Saturday morning--like a kid in a candy store! What a great nursery this is! I can't believe I haven't been here before. If you're in the area, please join us on Saturday!
Topic: The Best Edibles for Fall and Winter
When: Saturday, October 17, 10:00 a.m.
Where: Orchard Nursery, 4010 Mt. Diablo Blvd., Lafayette, CA
Who's tired of lugging around heavy rubber hoses to water the garden? I know I am! I've been trying out the Ohuhu expandable garden hose the last few months and you can read my review of it at GardeningProductsReview.com.
With any luck, El Nino rains will start kicking in in another month or so, but it's likely we have at least one more month of dry, dry, dry. For October, let's focus on cleaning up and preparing for the hoped-for rainy season as well as beginning the first plantings for next spring.
Plan
Your soil may be pretty tired after a productive summer. This is a good time to run a soil test to see what, if any, nutrients are lacking.
Make sure your garden is ready for whatever amount of rainfall and winter storms El Nino may bring. That means clearing debris, removing dead or damaged branches, and securing or protecting garden furniture and ornaments.
Update your garden journal or make notes on your calendar regarding what worked and what didn't work in your summer garden. You'll be glad next year to have these reminders so you can adjust your garden plans and avoid repeating mistakes.
I haven't found many garden design books that I think do a good job of presenting design concepts in a way that non-designers can relate to without taking a cookie-cutter approach that leaves no room for personalization. Rochelle Greayer's book Cultivating Garden Style is different. Check out my book review at GardeningProductsReview.com.
During the heat waves that often occur in September, my gardening advice is to do as little as possible. Keep the garden as well-watered as you can given our current water restrictions, but other than that, don't risk heat stroke by taking on strenuous gardening tasks while the temperatures remain high. Once the heat wave passes, here's where you can focus your energy this month:
Plan
As days get shorter, it's a good time to re-evaluate your outdoor lighting, both for safety and for ambiance. You may need to adjust timers or want to install newer, more efficient LED ligthts.
It's time to shop for spring-blooming bulbs! Make a plan for how many you're going to add and what types, then shop the fall catalogs or local garden centers for the best price.
Map out a system for rotating your fall crops by plant family. For example, plan on planting something from the Brassicaceae family, such as broccoli or kale, where you grew your tomatoes (Solanaceae family), or beets (Amaranthaceae) in the spot where you grew beans (Leguminosae). By rotating plant families, you can break cycles of certain pests that may overwinter or diseases that settle into the soil.
There's still time to check with your water utility to see if you qualify for rebates for reducing your lawn.
Make a list of the plants you want to transplant from one spot in your garden to another. Once you identify the plants to be moved you can watch for the optimal time to transplant.
If you can get to the UC Botanical Garden in the next couple weeks, you can enjoy more than the garden's insanely large collection of amazing plants. Starting today and running through September 3rd, the garden is hosting an exhibit of floral watercolors by artist Gary Bukovnik. Bukovnik is a Bay Area artist whose work has been shown in major museums across the country.
If you want to meet the artist himself, you can attend a salon and reception on August 30th ($50/$40 for members; space is limited and you must register in advance. And if you've always wanted to explore watercolor painting, you can enroll in a day-long workshop with Bukovnik at the garden on September 3rd ($200/$175 members). You'll learn the principles of working with watercolors and benefit from the artist's unique perspective on seeing and representing plants in paint.
Have a seat! We're going to talk about one of my favorite elements in a garden--benches. Ever since I started going on garden tours and to garden shows, I've become a little obsessed with benches in the garden. They are an inviting way to add structure and style to your garden, as well as a way of establishing or augmenting a focal point.
Choosing a Bench
There is a seemingly endless range of styles for garden benches, from formal or traditional to funky and eccentric, as well as a wide array of materials. Before you try to select a bench, you should consider what role you want it to play in your garden. If your garden has a woodland style, you may want a bench that will blend with that setting, such as natural wood or faux bois concrete. In a traditional garden, a classically styled bench of wood or wrought iron will suit. Got a Bohemian garden? Then you can really push the boundaries and select a bench with color and flair.
I feel like celebrating a little! This week I finally launched the first issue of my email newsletter, "Time in the Garden." This is a project I've been wanting to start for a long time and it felt great to finally get it out there. If you haven't subscribed, you're missing out on one simple email a month that will remind you what gardening tasks you should be taking care of that month, as well as offer news, reviews, and recipes to help you make the most of your precious garden time. Click here to subscribe!
I never even knew that I liked succotash until I had it at the Homestead Restaurant in Oakland about a year ago. Prior to that, the turnoff for me was that succotash was made with lima beans, one of the few beans I've never taken a liking to. But Homestead made a delicious fresh succotash with white beans instead of lima beans and served it with a poached egg on top and a side of fried sourdough bread. Yummy!
So with all the great summer corn available (alas! not from my garden, which is too small to grow corn), it seems like a good time to take Homestead's version of succotash and give it a little bit of my own twist. I did that by making it a strictly yellow and white dish--white corn, yellow onion, white beans, yellow bell pepper, and of course a sunny poached egg on top. I kept the seasoning extremely simple (just salt and pepper) so the fresh corn taste doesn't get overwhelmed, but if you want it more seasoned you could add some thyme. Couldn't be easier and it makes a nice light summer meal for brunch or dinner.
Yellow and White Summer Succotash
2 ears white corn (about 1 1/2 cups)
Olive oil
1/2 yellow onion, diced
1/2 cup diced yellow bell pepper
1 yellow squash (such as 'Yellow Eight Ball'), diced
White wine
1 15-oz. can white beans, drained and rinsed
Salt and fresh pepper to taste
4 eggs (1 egg per serving), poached (see Note)
Using a sharp knife and standing the ear of corn on its end, slice the corn kernels off of the cobs. Set aside.
Heat a large fry pan on medium heat. Add olive oil to the pan and saute the onion until translucent, stirring as needed to avoid burning. Add bell pepper and cook a minute or two before adding the squash. Add a splash of white wine and cover the pan for a couple minutes to steam. Add the corn. Cook another minute or two and then add the beans. Cook just until the beans are heated through and add salt and pepper to taste. Plate the succotash and top each serving with a poached egg and another dash of salt and pepper. Serve with warm or toasted bread on the side. Serves 4 generously.
Note: To poach an egg, bring a medium saucepan filled with water to a depth of about 3 inches to a simmer (so that you can see steam rising and tiny bubbles on the sides of the pan). Add 1 tablespoon of white vinegar. (You can poach an egg without vinegar, but the vinegar helps the egg white to set and hold together, which makes for a much better poached egg.) Crack and ease a raw egg into the simmering water. Gently nudge the egg around in the water a bit but be careful not to break the yolk. The timing depends entirely on how cooked you like your eggs, but 2 1/2 to 3 minutes in the water will give you an egg with the whites cooked through and the yolk still runny, which I think is just right. Scoop the egg out carefully with a slotted spoon, allowing as much water as possible to run off, then turn the egg out to drain onto a paper towel folded in quarters. Carefully turn the egg over onto the plated succotash.
If there is one business to be in during this stubborn drought, it might be the mulch business. Mulching your garden provides so many benefits, not the least of which are minimizing evaporation and suppressing water-stealing weeds, both important objectives in a drought. But there are many materials, both organic and non-organic, that you can use as as mulch. How do you choose? Following are the pros and cons of some of the best and/or most popular options.
1. Bark or Wood Chips
Among the most commonly used mulches, bark and wood chips are easily available in bags from garden centers but can also be obtained (sometimes for free) from tree services. Wood chips can be slow to deteriorate, but they can temporarily bind up nitrogen in the soil as they do, which robs nearby plants of needed nutrition. Bark chips can also be toxic to plants if they are too fresh. You can also buy bags of colored wood chip mulches (generally red, brown, and black).
