Although the weather around the world has gotten more erratic with devastating consequences in so many places, California has been spared the worst extremes and has been relatively close to “normal” most of this year. It got warm right around the beginning of summer and here we are with the first rains of the season coming the second week of fall, right after our usual September heat wave. Read more »

This last month, it was interesting listening to talk of “deficit”, “cut-backs”, and “austerity” while harvesting baskets of green beans, squash, cucumbers, lettuce, basil and recently, tomatoes. Certainly many people and places are tragically short on essential resources these days. But we gardeners are lucky enough to know another truth first hand – that with a little sun, soil and care – abundance happens! Read more »

This morning I woke to the Canada geese as they circled over the Laguna. They have been as reliable as a calendar; every year in the last few days of July they announce that the days are starting to shorten. I’ll be on the look out for the first Naked Lady flowers in the next week too, their pink flowers being another herald of summer’s wane. These clues of nature that appear at certain times of year and climate are called phenology. This fascinating subject is getting even more interesting as climate change disrupts “usual” cycles. Read more »

No doubt that the weather has been strange – with a record-breaking inch of rain a few days ago – but after over a year of complaining about cold, we finally have several weeks of warmth and heat-loving crops are loving it! Perhaps you have time this holiday weekend to sit back and watch your crops grow. Read more »

Just like last year, I optimistically believed that we were into the warm season in early May, only to have more cool wet weather to end the month and begin June. At least we don’t need to think much about watering, (and are grateful for no tornadoes or floods in our Sonoma County gardens), but our warm season crops are not happy with all this cool weather. What to do? Read more »

Right on schedule, we are launched into the planting season for warm weather crops. What a change from last year! There were some chilly nights with light frosts last week, but hard frost it is unlikely from now on and very warm temperatures are predicted this week. I’m looking forward to being warm, and our warm season crops will appreciate it too! Read more »

Finally, a week of dry, warm weather ended a very wet March. The warmth brought me out to the garden but there is so much water in the ground that it will take quite a while for most soils to drain enough to work. I’m sure glad I prepared that new area when it was dry in February, though it looks somewhat beat-up now. Only a few plants of the cool season crops I direct-seeded then made it through the freezing, then downpours. With the new moon this weekend, it’s a good time to resow. Read more »

March 1, 2011

Yet another storm is bringing more rain tonight, assuring continued very wet soil for at least the near future.  I was looking back at our blog postings from a year ago and it seems that spring will be starting a little later this year than last. Although many trees are covered with pink or white, and cheery yellow daffodils are blooming now as they were at this time last year, my asparagus is barely starting to show and many peach trees are holding their buds tight, waiting for warmer weather. Read more »

Last week I got to chose 9 bare root fruit trees for Bayer Farm; what fun! It is very exciting to envision this new little orchard, to select the varieties that hopefully will serve the needs of this community garden, and to choose individual trees. We looked for nicely spaced and angled initial branches and healthy-looking graft union where the rootstock and fruiting varieties meet. One tree was just a “whip” – a single stem – which will serve as an example to show how to “head” the whip so the main branches will form at the desired height. Read more »

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