January 13, 2012 Growing Rhubarb Along the Coast I’m looking around my garden to see what needs to be done, what worked this past year, and what didn’t. The rhubarb looks really…
December 31, 2011 A Sustainable Year in the Garden I wrote some garden resolutions a few years ago for our local newspaper and the ones regarding sustainability are still relevent. We hear the…
December 17, 2011 Rain Chains – A Beautiful Way to Collect Water We’ve had some lovely light rain this fall. Our large water storage tank (1600 gallons) collects rain from the rooftop of the garage and…
December 1, 2011 To Free Range or Not I don’t let my hens free range. Free range means to forage in an area that is free of fences. I don’t even know…
November 4, 2011 Planting and Care of Reblooming Irises Bearded Irises grow and bloom really well along the coast. I’m especially fond of the varieties that rebloom and provide color from spring to…
July 29, 2011 Kale – Easy to Grow and Eat You’d think I’d learn my lesson. Every spring I plant “mesclun” (pronounced mess-cloon). Mesclun is a mixture of lettuces and tender greens for use…
July 23, 2011 A Pocket Gopher Inside the Chicken Run Our chicken run has been invaded by a gopher! It has somehow found its way under 12 inches of hardware wire that we buried…
July 9, 2011 Growing Raspberries the Easy Way We’re having such fun with our raspberries this year. They loved all the winter rains and we’re getting a good crop. I’ve even gotten…
June 7, 2011 Growing and Harvesting Artichokes We got a real “mother load” of artichokes this year. Maybe it was all the rain. Maybe it was a fact that these plants…
May 26, 2011 A Visit to Duke Gardens-Across the U.S. I’ve spent a few hours a day in the garden this week. Partly because it was neglected due to our trip across the U.S….
May 24, 2011 Planting Mustard Seeds-Japanese Purple & Tendergreen Finally, I’ve gotten started with planting my vegetable boxes. I’m late this year in getting my seeds in the ground, but I don’t think…
April 26, 2011 Pride of Madiera-Pride of Coastal Garden Pride of Madiera (Echuim candicans) is displaying its magnificent blue spires around my garden. The garden hums with honey bees, bumble bees, and the…
April 20, 2011 April Gardening on the Central Coast I first wrote this article for the SLO Master Gardeners “Question and Answer” column for The Tribune. I don’t make up this information and because…
March 31, 2011 Hearst Castle Greenhouse Restoration What a lucky bunch of gardeners we are! Fifteen of the San Luis Obispo Master Gardeners were taken by van to “Camp Hill”, hilltop…
March 11, 2011 Tips for Simplifying Your Landscape The Cambria Garden Club was lucky to have Shana McCormick, a licensed landscaper here in Cambria, speak to us about how to simplify our…
