Gardening | Central Coast Gardening

July 13, 2010

Saving Seeds for Mustard Spinach Tendergreen

I can’t believe how easy “tendergreen” is to grow. It matures in about a month, when its tender leaves are ready to use in…

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 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 22, 2010

Chickens Eat My Garden

Because I have six hens and love to garden, people often ask,”Are chickens and gardens compatible?” My answer is, except for cleaning up bugs…

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…

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…

March 22, 2010

Planting Snowpeas

It’s not too early to plant snowpeas a.k.a. sugarpeas a.k.a edible pea pods. In fact, in some regions, some “early birds” planted snowpeas in…