Sign Up for "Time in the Garden"

I have long wanted to start a monthly newsletter about gardening but somehow or another, it kept getting moved to the bottom of my to-do list. But no more. This is the month that I'll be launching my newsletter, "Time in the Garden with Claire Splan"! Here's what you'll get if you subscribe:

• A monthly to-do list for your California garden
• Tips on saving time on gardening tasks
• Links to helpful reviews of new gardening products and books
• Recipes for your home-grown fruits and veggies
• News and ideas to try out in your own garden

It's free, of course! And no spam, ever--I promise! Click here to sign up.

California Month-by-Month Gardening Wins Award!

Great news to share! California Month-by-Month Gardening has received a Silver Award in the Garden Writers Association Media Awards Program! Judges said "If I lived in California I'd want this book. I'm not generally a fan of month by month guides, but this one has tons of great information and very useful, and clear, photography" and "Friendly tone. Consistent and easy-to-follow sections." Have you ordered your copy yet?

Water-Wise Gardening 2.0

Bay Area folks: Bring your brown-bag lunch and come join me tomorrow, June 8th, at 12:30 p.m. at the Albany Public Library (1247 Marin Avenue) for a talk on "Water-Wise Gardening 2.0." With the new water restrictions in California, we need to employ every water strategy possible to keep our gardens happy and healthy. A few of the topics I'll cover include mulching, hydrozoning, lawn elimination, and keyhole gardens. Come join us!

Review: Two-Batch Tumbling Composter

For the past few months I've been trying out a new tumbling composting system that cooks compost in two separate batches and eliminates the need for the back-straining task of turning the compost pile with a garden fork. You can read my review of this composter at Gardening Products Review, along with many other helpful reviews of a wide variety of garden products. I suppose any composting system is better than nothing, but is this worth your money? Check out the review to find out!

Managing Time in the Garden

So it's Spring and the weather is gorgeous and yet you're still not finding time to get out in the garden? I get it. Check out this article I wrote for the San Diego Union-Tribune on some tips for managing time in the garden.

Are You Coming to the SF Flower & Garden Show?

The San Francisco Flower & Garden Show kicks off today and runs through Sunday. I look forward to the garden show every year and even more so this year because I'm one of the speakers. If you're coming on Thursday, be sure to stop by the Kitchen Garden Stage at 10:30 a.m. for a garden-to-table presentation on growing and preserving citrus. I'll cover the gardening info and my friend Jennifer Altman will tell you all you need to know about preserving citrus with salt and using it in recipes.

The show has lots of other great seminars lined up as well as the always-interesting display gardens. Hope to see you there!

"Grow a Little Fruit Tree" by Ann Ralph

If you're looking for ways to squeeze more fruit trees into your home garden, check out the new book "Grow a Little Fruit Tree" by Ann Ralph. Ann used to work at Berkeley Horticultural Nursery and did really helpful demos on pruning there. She's taken her years of experience with fruit trees and funneled it into her new book to help gardeners see the wisdom of keeping their fruit trees small, i.e., less than 6 feet tall. Check out my review of the book at Gardening Products Review.