gardening mistakes
Do you ever get the feeling, based on the overall state of your yard and garden, that there might be a few things you could be doing . . . better? Guess what? If you’re like many Southern California gardeners, odds are you are probably making a classic mistake or two. Last post I outlined some things not to do, I’ll add to them now. The good news is that the most common gardening mistakes I see happening in our area today are easy to avoid once you have a few pointers. So today, I’m giving you some juicy advice. See if you’ve ever been guilty of any of the classic mistakes below . . . and learn what to do next time! 5 More Classic Gardening Mistakes . . . and How to Avoid Them Classic Mistake: Failing to Test the Soil Before Planting Why...
garden no-no’s
So much is written about “How To This” and “How To That” in your garden and that is great but what about the mistakes that people make all the time and can be avoided? Here are some common issues that I see all the time visiting people’s gardens, in Part I of my post: Over Planted Gardens. The plant looks super cute in it’s little 1 gallon nursery pot, but what about when it grows to maturity? This is the biggest mistake that I see in gardens, plants that are too wide for the bed or too tall for the area that they are planted in. You need to read the label, look it up in The Western Garden Book, or CALL ME! Planting too close together, or just plain in a hardscape area that is too small will cause you endless maintenance and could lead to...
companion plants
A nice technique to use when planting your vegetable garden is companion planting of vegetables – this method has you combine two plants for a specific purpose such as hiding, trapping or repelling pests. Planting basil discourages hornworms from tomatoes; tastes great in a Caprese salad and tomato sauce from your fresh ripe tomatoes. While dill doesn’t discourage the hornworms from you tomatoes it allows you to see if they are on the plants. They eat the dill first, so you can see the damage and know that it is time to start searching for the worms. Mint can keep cabbage loopers off of your cabbage but my suggestion is to put it in pots near the cabbage – don’t actually plant it in the ground, unless you want a bed full of mint. Mint is quite...
scv protect your plants
The Weather Service is predicting record cold temperatures in Southern California and snow down at low altitudes! Santa Clarita will not be spared, a few simple steps can be taken to prepare for freezing weather. Please take a few moments to read about how to protect your plants. Click on the link to see the post. Blogger bio After years in the rat race of Corporate America, Julie Molinare took advantage of the economic climate and at the urging of her family went back to school where she found her true calling. Graduating with Honors from California State University at Northridge, Landscape Design Program in 2003; she has begun her journey into the backyards of her community. She truly enjoys working with her clients to create their own little...
early vegetable crops
It is that time of the year again in Santa Clarita for “winter” vegetables. We have such amazing weather that you can practically plant year round, but if you haven’t made your veggie garden yet… you can certainly start now. Here is a nice list of vegetables that you can plant in your garden and have a nice crop of vegetables before your start your standard warm season crops of tomatoes, peppers, corn and more. January in Southern California is a great time to plant perennial vegetables such as asparagus, artichokes, and rhubarb (don’t plant rhubarb if you have animals that chew – the leaves are poisonous!) Since Santa Clarita is generally a little colder than most of Southern California you can still plant these perennials. Our weather pretty...
january gardening
January is a gift for gardeners in Southern California that we often take for granted, there are gardeners all over the country who would trade all the seed catalogs they have for extra months in their garden. While much of the country is blanketed with snow and/or the ground is frozen we have the luxury of spreading our gardening chores around through out the year! For me January is all about roses and new fruit trees. It is a great time to get those bare root plants into the ground and at the end of January or early February it’s time to prune your hybrid tea and grandiflora roses. I always say that Super Bowl Sunday is a great day to prune your roses, any earlier (like the mow blow gardeners do) and your roses will be subject to early growth during cooler...
