Small Spaces, Little Water, Big Harvests
The heat has arrived with a vengeance. Everyone knew the freakishly mild temperatures experienced in the Sacramento Valley into the second week of July wouldn’t last and, as expected, the heat dome that has been cooking the American Southwest for weeks finally expanded to encompass California. Daytime highs for the past several days have been…
I have had typically mediocre results growing potatoes in the Sacramento Valley. This is due to the temperature sensitivity of the potato plant (both frost and sustained temps over 90 degrees Fahrenheit will stunt or kill them) the length of time it takes reasonably large tubers to form (90-100 days) and the often brief period…
One of my favorite results of a summer garden is the bulk supply of homemade dill pickles that accompanies any decent cucumber harvest. Unfortunately, many of the pickle recipes I attempted in years past relied on hot water processing (boiling the jars of pickles for many minutes) to create a shelf stable product. While this…
An uncharacteristically cool May has faded into a suspiciously pleasant June here in the Sacramento Valley. While we have had a handful days with high temperatures in 90s, the weather has mostly been sunshine and temps in the 70s and 80s. These unusual conditions have been perfect for the garden and with few exceptions, all…
To a novice gardener, fertilizing can seem like a daunting and intimidating task. The shelves of big box home improvement stores and small garden supply shops alike are typically brimming with an overwhelming selection of different fertilizers and plant foods. This can easily lead to a “paradox of choice” induced anxiety attack in someone just…
Left alone, a backyard garden can get out of hand fast. Tomato plants can overgrow into an impenetrable tangle of collapsed and broken branches, vining squashes and cucumbers can spill out of beds and overtake everything in a 30-foot radius, inconsistent watering can lead to such problems as blossom end rot or outright plant death,…
Originating from the tropical regions of the Americas, the sweet potato is an excellent hot weather crop for novice and experienced gardeners alike. Once a propagated sprout (called a slip) has been planted, the gardener’s work is largely done. Given adequate water and even marginally fertile soil a dense tangle of sweet potato vines will…
A particularly cool and wet winter in the Sacramento Valley gave way to an unusually cool and wet early spring which delayed the transfer of our plants from their starter pots into our raised beds. We were finally able to get everything planted over Easter weekend. A month later, almost everything is thriving and nothing…
Welcome to my backyard gardening project. Or at least a journal of all the trials, errors, successes, and failures associated with said project. I hope anyone who stumbles across this page will find the accounts of my experiences educational or at least entertaining. If nothing else, this site will be a good reference for me…