Get Off Your Ass and Plant a Survival Garden!

...some fresh produce on hand in case of the inevitable zombie invasion. Now, vegetable gardening takes some practice and unfortunately very few books deal with the specifics of Los Angeles’ unique Mediterranean climate. Most gardening books and the information on the back of seed packets are written for schmucks in the northeast who have to deal with things like cold weather. This is why you need a copy of our So-Cal homegirl Pat Welsh’s Southern Ca...

Read…

Mulch, mulch, mulch!

...d the idea of leaving the odd corner or bit of slope un-mulched.) Mulching vegetables: Mulch in the vegetable beds is potentially useful, but also has downsides. It’s very specific and local knowledge, so you have to see what works best for you. I’ll say straight off that if slugs are a big pest in your vegetable beds, mulch will provide them with lots of nice habitat, so I’d not mulch anywhere near my vegetable beds in that case. A mulch of clean...

Read…

Self Irrigating Planter Resources

...of the aspiring urban agriculturalist. Make or buy one of these things and vegetable container gardening is a breeze. No need to water your pots three times a day during the summer! For those who can’t make our talk, and as a resource for those who can, we thought we would put all the Internet resources in one place in this here blog post. SIP hacker and horticultural Internet hero Josh Mandel’s original pdf instructions for how to make your own....

Read…

105 GardenNerd’s Tips for Organic Gardening Success

...ch on a lot of topics and tips including: Monarch VR CropSwap Time Banking Homestead Hamlet Repair Cafés Sandflex Almanac.com Epic Seeds Baker Creek Seed Savers Exchange Renee’s Garden Summer Spinach National Heirloom Expo Aunt Molly’s Ground Cherry Keeping tomatoes healthy mid-season Powdery mildew When to harvest tomatoes Extending the growing season for tomatoes Mulch Shade cloth Capillary matting Don’t pull your bolting vegetables! Ollas What...

Read…

Hollywood always gets gardens wrong (I’m talking to you, Maze Runner)

...too much. One of the worst areas of screen offense is in the depiction of vegetable gardens. I would love to gather a bunch of stills from all the ridiculous vegetable gardens I’ve seen on screen, maybe make a Tumblr of them. (Let me know if any come to mind!) [Erik here: see the Meryl Streep vehicle It’s Complicated for a vegetable garden that combines cool and warm season veggies all at once.] I’m on this rant because Erik and I saw the worst g...

Read…