Growing Parsley in Horse Manure
The sweetest parsley I have ever tasted grows in full sun on a windy slope in Saugus. In a place like Saugus, where summers are hot and dry, you doubt parsley could grow year round, much less thrive,...
Category Archives: Gardening Practices
Pruning Avocado Trees & Frost Damaged Plants
Q: I was wondering if you could provide some information about dealing with our frost. I’m not sure when and how far to cut back the plants that have been affected, specifically my lantana and ...
Espalier: Flat Trees Mean More Fruit
If you have a small courtyard or enclosed patio with a narrow planting bed inside along the edges, but still want to grow fruit trees, consider the possibility of espalier. Espalier (ess-pal-yay) is ...
Dog Friendly Lawns and Plants
This column is dedicated to my dog Sherman, who lived almost 13 years, until he just ran out of gas. Sherman was a black Labrador/border collie mix who had more energy than any dog I have ever seen, ...
Tulips, Nematodes, and Broccoli
Q: A few weeks ago, we purchased a round glass container at Costco with a number of tulip bulbs in it that sat on a rack with water in the compartment at the bottom. The instructions were to keep the...
Deciduous Trees That Flower Before They Foliate
Deciduous trees that flower each year before they produce leaves bring unique drama to the garden. In Los Angeles, more of these special trees come into bloom in February than in any other month. At ...
Moss, a Pretty Garden Problem
Q: I live in Santa Clarita, which you know is semi-arid. However, my gardening problem is moss, which I thought only grew in moist areas. Is there anything that will kill the moss but will not harm o...
Flower’d by Howard
Flower grower Ted Howard is either the last of a breed, the first of a breed or simply a breed unlike any other. Howard’s goal is to grow florist- quality flowers in ordinary front yards in the...
Spring Is Sooner Recognized by Plants Than People
Spring is sooner recognized by plants than by people, the Chinese proverb goes. Unless, you could add, those people live in Southern California. By February, if not sooner, gardeners already are digg...
Hydroponics
David Goldman’s fondest childhood memories center around the Sepulveda Community Gardens at Hayvenhurst Avenue and Magnolia Boulevard in Encino and the vegetable plots he tended there with his ...
