Category: Urban Gardening

Growing Parkway Kale

Growing Parkway Kale

| June 11, 2014 | Reply

Growing Parkway Kale is the latest offering from “Late Bloomer.” If you are short on space, you can utilize your parkway to grow hearty, nutritious kale. Kaye covered her brassicas with red voile (purchase at a fabric store) to keep cabbage moths from laying eggs on them. Cabbageworms can devastate your brassicas. Kaye builds community […]

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Winter Garden Update 2014

Winter Garden Update 2014

| April 28, 2014 | 6 Replies

Winter Garden Update 2014 is long overdue! It’s been since December 7th since we checked in. Get an update on Kaye’s front yard garden, watch the joy and excitement of two young girls visiting and harvesting vegetables, and don’t miss the bloopers! Editor Megan Oldfield does a great job with my blooper reel each episode. […]

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When You Know You’re Hooked (On Gardening)

When You Know You’re Hooked (On Gardening)

| April 15, 2014 | 12 Replies

When you know you’re hooked on gardening is something I’ve been wondering a lot about in my third year of this glorious endeavor. Am I hooked? Could I walk away from it? Quit it cold turkey? Am I addicted? Yesterday, I got my answer. An actor had brought a bag of grapefruit and tangerines from his trees […]

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Growing Sweet Peas Parts 1 & 2

Growing Sweet Peas Parts 1 & 2

| April 4, 2014 | 5 Replies

Growing Sweet Peas was my main preoccupation with my third winter garden. I grew four varieties last year and had such good luck, I tripled the number of vines and doubled the number of varieties. In other words, I went for broke! All through December, I had gorgeous white and magenta blossoms. Beginning of January, […]

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After the Rain

After the Rain

| March 3, 2014 | 2 Replies

After the rain, the Late Bloomer Garden comes alive! You may have heard about the drought in California. Well, we got a proper hosing the past few days. It coincided with cool season crops mature and lush. My new rainwater barrel is full along with several overflow trash cans, and the soil got a deep […]

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Winter Harvest is Beginning!

Winter Harvest is Beginning!

| February 24, 2014 | Reply

Winter Harvest is Beginning! Cool season crops are maturing in Southern California. It’s time to finally see the fruits of my labor, started back in October. It sounds like I’m bragging, but, as much for my own edification, I wanted to list all that I have growing in my tiny front yard garden. Most of […]

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What Happened to Winter?

What Happened to Winter?

| January 15, 2014 | 5 Replies

What happened to winter? The Late Bloomer Garden is feeling the effects of a Santa Ana heat wave: broccoli is bolting and cocoons are eclosing! While I was seeding twelve varieties of heirloom tomato seed for summer out back, my one-of-two Monarch chrysalises eclosed in the front yard. I didn’t know it until I went out to […]

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Late Bloomer – Summer Garden Wrap-up

Late Bloomer – Summer Garden Wrap-up

| December 9, 2013 | Reply

Late Bloomer – Summer Garden Wrap-up covers the resolution of Kaye’s big mildew on cucurbits (squash, pumpkin, melons, cucumber) after a visit to friend Dorothy’s squash patch in the 20 degree hotter San Fernando Valley, plus seeding and planting her third winter garden. When the goldfinches have had their fill of the amaranth, the area of […]

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L.A. County Fair Fairview Farms

L.A. County Fair Fairview Farms

| November 9, 2013 | Reply

L.A. County Fair Fairview Farms has a one-acre gem of a food and teaching garden called Heritage Farm. Kaye dropped into the fair and got a tour of Heritage Farm and the Children’s Farm Market by Don DeLano, chief horticulturalist at the 500 acre Fairplex in Pomona, California. One of the main purposes of the […]

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Late Bloomer – Summer Garden Update – Part 3

Late Bloomer – Summer Garden Update – Part 3

| October 25, 2013 | Reply

In Late Bloomer – Summer Garden Update – Part 3, Kaye harvests late season tomatoes, okra and zucchini and deals with blight, mildew and aphids on milkweed. She vows to conquer some of these issues in next summer’s garden! Southern Fried Okra recipe below. She’s mystified by the long, scarlet radishes. Get a glimpse of […]

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