July 5, 2010 Pruning Spanish Lavender The Spanish Lavender (Lavandula stoechas ‘Otto Quast’) has finished blooming in my coastal garden and its flowers, a vivid purple in the spring (see…
June 24, 2010 English Lavenders and Lavandins in Bloom Just as the Spanish lavenders are ready for cutting back, the English lavenders are offering up their spiky color. There is a lot of…
June 12, 2010 Thinning Low Chill Apples June is a good time along the coast to thin apples on your apple trees. Cutting off the 1″ apples growing in clusters (after…
June 6, 2010 Basil-Pinching Back Herbs Those of you who live along the central coast know that growing basil is a challenge. Growing tomatoes and basil is nearly impossible! The…
June 1, 2010 Arborvitae in Pots It took us a month to find pots to fill two corners of our deck. Since the Monterey Pines came down between us and…
May 26, 2010 Central Coast Rose-Can You Name It? Do you recognize this rose? Everyone who visits our garden asks me what the name of it is. Of course, it is the one…
May 18, 2010 Cambria Garden Tour a Success The big day finally came! The Cambria Garden Tour, sponsored by New Dawn Montessori School each spring, always has a big turnout from people…
May 10, 2010 Planting Vegetables Along the Coast Mid May is still a good time to plant vegetables along the coast. We’ve had real changes in weather this year, more rain and…
April 29, 2010 Garden Club Annual Spring Trip The Cambria Garden Club has hosted an overnight annual spring trip for the past 30 years. This year it was no different. For most…
April 19, 2010 Spanish Lavender Blooming On the Coast Spanish lavender is always the first lavender to bloom in my garden. I love this variety called Lavandula stoechas for its flower heads topped…
April 11, 2010 Shallots-Easy to Grow We’re getting a little rain today, but so far, wind has upstaged moisture. Knowing that a storm was coming, I got out and harvested…
April 5, 2010 April Gardening Along the Coast I’ve been working on the vegetable beds. They are pretty much filled up now. Snow peas, arugula, lettuce, strawberries, komtsuna (tendergreens), carrots, and beets…
April 4, 2010 Growing Lemons for Lemon Meringue Pie I wrote an article for The Cambrian published on April 15. It covered the growing of lemons and limes in our cool climate. Oranges…
March 31, 2010 Harvest Tendergreen Mustard Spinach I’ve made a wonderful discovery: Komatsuna-Tendergreen Mustard Spinach. When it comes to organizing my seed collection, I don’t have a good system. I’m much…
March 27, 2010 Roses-Pruning to Blooming In January I did the last of my rose pruning. I had let the shrub roses get too large so I really had to…
