When you know you’ve got it bad (for beans) is after you put in five hours from 7AM till noon, mostly maintenance at this point, since everything for summer is planted (can one ever say that definitively?), and you wrap it up (2 or 3 times), come in and eat breakfast, which you never got […]
Morning impressions at sunrise on pest roundup. Click here for 18 photos shot this morning from 6:31 to 7:33AM. Everything looks better at sunrise (except maybe pests, LOL). Late Bloomer Lesson: Be Observant You can only manage what you can see, so take a good look early in the morning. There were at least seven snails […]
The best way to spend Mother’s Day is to plant something. (This is even better if you plant something with your child!) I’m an empty nester now, so I’m planting alone, but today I went crazy planting beans. Well, actually they are the Creams shelling peas that you see in Part 1 and Part 2 […]
Grow Mexican Sunflowers and attract Monarchs to your garden. Monarch Butterflies are so friendly once they know your garden is a welcome waystation for them. This male landed on the flower I was holding while taking a picture. I let it go just before I snapped this. Watch the Late Bloomer episode “Growing Mexican Sunflower” (click through to […]
“Grow a Native Meadow in Your Yard” is the latest and 50th episode of “Late Bloomer!” Kaye shows the growth of her parkway native mini-meadow over the course of a year. Soil health, biodiversity (providing food for wildlife) and water conservation are three reasons to create a meadow in your urban garden. And the best reason, if you […]
Planting my parkway food forest for the sixth time included three pineapple guava trees to create more of a food forest. Each season, I’ve cleaned off the entire 6.5’x20′ space and started planting on a fresh canvas. This time, I was influenced by Patrick at OneYardRevolution to combine annuals and perennials to create a food forest. […]
A native meadow in my front yard? Really? Well, I am giving it a try! I have become a fan of Grow Native Nursery in Westwood (an extension of non-profit Santa Ana Botanic Garden) which sells California Native Plants, and I had Ryan who works there, also a horticultural consultant, come to my front yard and […]
Winter Garden Fun and Maintenance – Episode 23. Kaye weeds nasturtium, harvests carrots and radishes and plants more radish seeds in her front yard vegetable garden, with neighbor Sophia’s help. Kaye plants berry vines in the tubs where the carrots were. Kaye offers a method for fighting against cutworm! Check out this simple tip, sink […]
Today, October 22nd, is the 22nd birthday of my son, Walker. He’s a senior at Stanford, and I’d hoped to be up there, but the life of a college athlete is very busy, and he didn’t think he would even have time to dine with me. So, I am not going to see him in […]
Today I had Some Thoughts on Clay. This is my soil. Hard, almost hard as a rock, compacted clay. If I was a potter, or a brick maker, I would have a lifetime supply with which to work. It took a pick axe to separate this clod from the Earth. Last fall, my son Walker […]
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