ALL GARDEN POSTS
How Sage’s garden grows
Fall Finally! Let’s Get to Work!
The last of the summer veggies I’ve been reading “what to plant for fall” stories since August. In some ways I’m jealous of people who can start their fall garden in late summer, but it’s not an option here in the San Diego county foothills. By August the sun is directly overhead and it hasn’t rained in four months or more. The ground is hot and dry, the air is hotter and drier. All the natives drop their leaves and other plants, even [keep reading...]
Four Easy Ways to Save Seeds
Saving your own seeds is a great way to save money and keep the plants you like. Here are the easiest ways to save a variety of vegetable and flower seeds.
Time to fly the nest buddy
The woodpeckers that occupy one of the giant agave stalks out front have been trying to get their chick out of the nest for at least a week. Actually, it's not really a "chick" anymore since its as large as its parents. It's more like a 26 year-old millenial that won't move out and expects mom to keep the fridge stocked. He's probably got an XBox in that nest.
High summer corn pr0n
It's mid-summer and the second round of sweet corn is coming in nicely. This variety is Incredible, an F1 Hybrid SE variety. At 84 days it's a little longer to maturity than the Honey Select we harvested back at the beginning of the month, but it's well-worth the wait.
Grow your own all natural luffa sponges
Forget those $6 all natural luffa sponges from the store. It's super easy to grow a whole bathtub's worth for less than $2 (they're even edible!). Here's how:
Oh How the Garden Grows (Time Lapse Edition)
Let's back up to March Back in mid-March I set up a camera to record our cleaning out of the winter garden in preparation of spring planting. What I ended up with was about 9 hours of super boring video of my daughter and I (along with an occasional visit from a dog and my wife) wandering around pulling, weeding and cleaning. So I dumped the video into a folder on my computer and pretty much forgot about it. Fast forward to yesterday. I was [keep reading...]
Build a Simple Garden Bench With 2×4 Lumber
It's easy to make a sturdy, simple and attractive bench for your yard or garden using 2x4s and a few simple tools. Here is how to do it (with photos).
Lazy Garden Tip: Golden Poppies are Super Easy to Grow
Golden poppies that blew in and made themselves comfortable Its pretty hard to find a plant that's easier to grow than one that turn up at random and proceed to takeover. Bonus points when it's not an invasive weed but a native flower you actually. Last year we had a few golden poppies blow in here from who knows where and put on a nice early spring display before disappearing again. This past rainy season (basically November to March) however, we got a [keep reading...]
The vegetable garden is off to a great start
Basil, Peas, loose leaf lettuces, cucumbers and some ball cabbage transplanted April rolled in and we've got plants in the beds. Of the stuff we planted back in March, here's what went in the ground this weekend: Oregon Sugar Pod Peas Genovese Basil (pesto) Danish Ball Head Cabbage Loose Leaf Lettuce Mix National Pickling Cucumber The tomatoes broccoli and cauliflower aren't ready to go quite yet, but hopefully they will be in a week or so. It's warm and there's no rain in [keep reading...]
Time to Get This Garden Started
I used to take that "start indoors 4 to 6 weeks before last frost" stuff on the back of seed packets pretty seriously. It took me about 5 years and umpteen dead seedlings before I figured out, regardless of what the weather tables say about my climate zone, that "last frost" could be anywhere from mid-February to late April. So now, rather than trying to figure out when the last frost might be and working backwards, I always plant my first sets of seeds at [keep reading...]
ALL GARDEN POSTS
How Sage’s garden grows
Fall Finally! Let’s Get to Work!
The last of the summer veggies I’ve been reading “what to plant for fall” stories since August. In some ways I’m jealous of people who can start their fall garden in late summer, but it’s not an option here in the San Diego county foothills. By August the sun is directly overhead and it hasn’t rained in four months or more. The ground is hot and dry, the air is hotter and drier. All the natives drop their leaves and other plants, even [keep reading...]
Four Easy Ways to Save Seeds
Saving your own seeds is a great way to save money and keep the plants you like. Here are the easiest ways to save a variety of vegetable and flower seeds.
Time to fly the nest buddy
The woodpeckers that occupy one of the giant agave stalks out front have been trying to get their chick out of the nest for at least a week. Actually, it's not really a "chick" anymore since its as large as its parents. It's more like a 26 year-old millenial that won't move out and expects mom to keep the fridge stocked. He's probably got an XBox in that nest.
High summer corn pr0n
It's mid-summer and the second round of sweet corn is coming in nicely. This variety is Incredible, an F1 Hybrid SE variety. At 84 days it's a little longer to maturity than the Honey Select we harvested back at the beginning of the month, but it's well-worth the wait.
Grow your own all natural luffa sponges
Forget those $6 all natural luffa sponges from the store. It's super easy to grow a whole bathtub's worth for less than $2 (they're even edible!). Here's how:
Oh How the Garden Grows (Time Lapse Edition)
Let's back up to March Back in mid-March I set up a camera to record our cleaning out of the winter garden in preparation of spring planting. What I ended up with was about 9 hours of super boring video of my daughter and I (along with an occasional visit from a dog and my wife) wandering around pulling, weeding and cleaning. So I dumped the video into a folder on my computer and pretty much forgot about it. Fast forward to yesterday. I was [keep reading...]
Build a Simple Garden Bench With 2×4 Lumber
It's easy to make a sturdy, simple and attractive bench for your yard or garden using 2x4s and a few simple tools. Here is how to do it (with photos).
Lazy Garden Tip: Golden Poppies are Super Easy to Grow
Golden poppies that blew in and made themselves comfortable Its pretty hard to find a plant that's easier to grow than one that turn up at random and proceed to takeover. Bonus points when it's not an invasive weed but a native flower you actually. Last year we had a few golden poppies blow in here from who knows where and put on a nice early spring display before disappearing again. This past rainy season (basically November to March) however, we got a [keep reading...]
The vegetable garden is off to a great start
Basil, Peas, loose leaf lettuces, cucumbers and some ball cabbage transplanted April rolled in and we've got plants in the beds. Of the stuff we planted back in March, here's what went in the ground this weekend: Oregon Sugar Pod Peas Genovese Basil (pesto) Danish Ball Head Cabbage Loose Leaf Lettuce Mix National Pickling Cucumber The tomatoes broccoli and cauliflower aren't ready to go quite yet, but hopefully they will be in a week or so. It's warm and there's no rain in [keep reading...]
Time to Get This Garden Started
I used to take that "start indoors 4 to 6 weeks before last frost" stuff on the back of seed packets pretty seriously. It took me about 5 years and umpteen dead seedlings before I figured out, regardless of what the weather tables say about my climate zone, that "last frost" could be anywhere from mid-February to late April. So now, rather than trying to figure out when the last frost might be and working backwards, I always plant my first sets of seeds at [keep reading...]