Meditation and Gardening Meet in a Free Workshop at Glide Memorial Church

I know I'm not alone in having experienced a meditative flow when I'm gardening sometimes. If you're interested in exploring how meditation and gardening can intersect, check out the free workshop happening this Sunday, February 23rd, from 1:00 to 3:00 p.m. at Glide Memorial Church in San Francisco. 

In the rooftop urban garden called "Graze the Roof" above the church there will be a dharma talk followed by meditation practice, including sitting meditation, walking meditation, eating meditation, and--you guessed it--gardening meditation. The workshop is being presented in partnership between Graze the Roof and the San Francisco Zen Center.

The workshop is free but space is limited so you must RSVP at grazetheroof@gmail.com. You can check out the event on Facebook. You can also ask about upcoming workshops they're planning in coming months on cheese making, herbal medicine, and solar ovens.

Debbie Arrington recently interviewed me for this article in the Sacramento Bee on growing and cooking Swiss chard. Check it out--she included some great recipes that sound delicious. Slow-Cooker Risotto with Swiss Chard? Yum!

Attention Last-Minute Shoppers! Give Someone You Love a Whole Garden Show!

Need one final down-to-the-wire Christmas gift for that special gardener in your life (even if that's yourself!)? Give a ticket to the San Francisco Flower & Garden Show! The show will be held March 19-23, 2014 at the San Mateo Event Center and early-bird purchases of one-day tickets can be had for as little as $16. Next year's show is under new ownership and from what I hear, there will be some welcome changes to this show that, although fun, was maybe getting a bit stale. Some of the changes include improvements to the presentation of the display gardens and special workshops, including two garden photography workshops with the amazing photographers Saxon Holt and David Perry (separate fee applies for these workshops). What gardener wouldn't like to find this ticket in her stocking? Bonus: You don't even have to get out of your pajamas to purchase! Just click here.

Freeze Alert!

Bay Area gardeners, take note! Nighttime temperatures are expected to dip in the next few nights, going below freezing in some areas. Take the time to protect tender plants, including citrus trees and any plants that were only recently planted. Container plants are also vulnerable, even more so than those in the ground, so move as many of those as you can under cover.

To wrap plants, you can use Reemay cloth, or "frost blankets." You can also use burlap fabric to wrap the plants, particularly if you can add piles of leaves inside for insulation.

If you can't wrap all your plants, you can try an anti-transpirant spray like Wilt-Pruf or Cloud Cover.

Also, be sure to water your plants well before the frost hits. Well-watered plants are better able to tolerate the cold.

Stay warm!

Photo: Stock.xchng

For the Gardeners on Your Christmas List: California Fruit and Vegetable Gardening

If your shopping list includes a California gardener, my book California Fruit and Vegetable Gardening would make a welcome gift, full of inspiring ideas and information for next year's garden. With growing information on more than 60 fruits, vegetables, herbs and nuts specifically tailored for California gardeners, this book will provide value well beyond its price.

And if you order today from Amazon.com, you can take advantage of Amazon's CyberMonday deal and get an additional 30% off the price! Christmas shopping doesn't get any easier than that!

Get Ready for Fall Planting!

Now that it is officially autumn, it's time to shift gears in the garden. While in other parts of the country, gardeners are closing up shop for the year, here in the Bay Area, the autumnal equinox just signals that it's time to garden differently. There are different food crops to grow, bulbs to dig in, and lots to clean up.

I'm participating in a few events in the next few weeks that will be a fun way to get us all motivated for the seasonal shift. First up, I'll be speaking this Saturday, Sept. 28th at an all-day event called "A Garden for All Seasons: Edibles" at the Marin Art and Garden Center that's sponsored by the UC Marin Master Gardeners and The Garden Conservancy. The entire program runs from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. and I'll be speaking from 2 to 3 p.m. on the best fruits and vegetables to grow right now and into winter in the Bay Area. This event also features presentations by Leslie Bennett and Stefani Bittner, authors of The Beautiful Edible Landscape, and  Merrilee Olson, founder of Preserve Sonoma. Get more info and register for this event here.

Leslie Bennett and I will be talking with Lyons Filmer of KWMR (90.5 Point Reyes Station / 89.9 Bolinas) about this Saturday's program "A Garden for All Seasons: Edibles" this morning at 11:00 a.m., so tune in to get a preview of what we'll be covering.
 
Next month on Saturday, Oct. 19, I'll be at the Los Angeles County Arboretum at a program called "Live Long and Landscape." This event, also co-sponsored by The Garden Conservancy, is focused on the part that gardening plays in healthy living. In addition some other great speakers, I'll be talking about the healthy fruits and vegetables you can grow this season. Get more info and register for this event here.

I'll be posting more this week on some of the great gardens I visited this summer in the Bay Area during the Garden Bloggers Fling in June and in Montreal and Quebec City last month while at the Garden Writers Association Symposium. So many great gardens! So many photos to organize! Be sure to check back.

Garden Bloggers' Fling

Sometimes you just have to break out of the usual humdrum routine and have a little Fling. Garden bloggers have been doing this on a yearly basis for the past few years but I haven't been able to make the previous trips, which have occurred in such great garden spots as Seattle, Asheville, Buffalo, Chicago and Austin. This year, however, they were kind enough to schedule the Fling practically in my backyard. It's San Francisco this year, and I'm so, so ready for it.

The Fling runs from Friday through Sunday with a pre-Fling get-together Thursday night. The itinerary includes public and private garden spots as well as a couple great nurseries and the San Francisco Conservatory of Flowers. I'm particularly looking forward to visiting Filoli and the Sunset headquarters as well as the gardens of designers Shirley Watts and Keeyla Meadows.

But the best part will certainly be meeting so many great garden bloggers who I've only known so far in the cyber sense. It'll be great to meet them face to face and share gardening and blogging stories and tips.

So check back next week when I'll be sharing photos of some of the amazing gardens I'll be seeing and people I'll be meeting. After all, what good is having a fling if you can't brag about it afterwards?