Eight Things to Consider When Saving Vegetable Seeds

...at are adapted, unsurprisingly, to requiring tons of fertilizer and water. Native Seeds/SEARCH is a notable exception. But we need more regional seed saving groups run by trained horticulturalists. In the meantime I buy seeds and stick to saving just the easy ones–beans, peas and tomatoes. If you want more information about seed saving the bible of the subject is Suzanne Ashworth’s book Seed to Seed. How have your seed saving endeavors gone? What...

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Straw Bale Garden Tour Part II

...growing are Tromboncino squash, Lunga di Napoli squash (growing up into a native bush), Matt’s Wild Cherry tomato, Celebrity tomato, eggplant and Swiss chard. And just to take down my smugness a notch I also included a shot of an unsuccessful cucumber plant. Other than the cucumber, though, this is one of the most productive vegetable gardens I’ve ever planted. I’m now a big fan of the straw bale method. The music is by Karaoke Mouse–“Shanghai Re...

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LA’s Parkway Garden Dilemma: Not Fixed Yet

...parkway, I also think that the city should be encouraging the planting of native and Mediterranean plants. My advice for the Bureau of Street Services for their new regulations: Consult the community: activists, landscape architects, non-profits and individuals like Ron Finley. If you had done this the last time we would not be wasting time and money to re-craft the parkway regulations. Throw out your plant lists. There are a lot of species of pl...

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Pierce Disease Resistant Grape Vines for Southern California

...’ and has determined that it is a first generation hybrid (F1) between the native V. californica and a wine grape (Vitis vinifera) cultivar known as ‘Alicante Bouschet’. This grape, ‘Alicante Bouchet’, is unusual in that it has both red skin and red flesh – most red grapes and red wine gets its color from the skin only. Pearl River This mysterious vine came from the equally mysterious Papaya Tree Nursery. The talkative and knowledgeable owner of P...

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