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Tag: gardening

I just had to tell someone…

I just had to tell someone…

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..out of the 100,000+ member pages at BYC, one of my pages was featured on the homepage of BackyardChickens.com today. When I started out with chickens 4 years ago, there were few resources promoting gardening methods to happily co-exist with pet chickens, other than keeping the chickens locked up all the time.  Lots of folks said a pretty garden with free range chickens couldn’t be done; chickens would eventually destroy everything.  I learned that isn’t true. In 2009, I decided…

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B’s Pickled Beets with Onions

B’s Pickled Beets with Onions

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People usually either love Pickled Beets or hate them. My daughter and I love Pickled Beets.  This summer B decided to plant beets just for pickling.  She planted Detroit Dark Red, mainly because we had three packets of them on hand, but also because it is a good variety for pickling and canning, plus they are really sweet.  They took about 60 days from sowing to harvest since they weren’t in full sun and we also forgot them for an…

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Jupiter Grapes in SoCal garden, one of the best grape for maritime climates, not just the South East U.S.
Good Grapes for Less than Ideal Climate: Jupiter

Good Grapes for Less than Ideal Climate: Jupiter

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Coastal Southern California, sunset zone 22, is generally not considered an ideal grape growing climate.  Nevertheless, we have had great success with a few grape varieties over the last decade and a half.  Between my friend across the street and I, we have grown Black Monuka, Fantasy, Glendora, Niabell, Eastern Concord, Canadice, Flame, Perlette, Interlaken, Einset, Marquis, Neptune, NY47616, and Jupiter.  More than once during a shift at the CRFG booth at the Green Scene I get asked to recommend…

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How to a gorgerous garden with chickens free ranging
10 Tips for Gardening with Backyard Chickens

10 Tips for Gardening with Backyard Chickens

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Having a nice yard and garden as well as eating fresh homegrown produce is something many of us enjoy, including backyard chickens. Here are some of my favorite gardening practices for keeping happy free range chickens and still having a productive garden for the family. Don’t keep more chickens than you really need.  The more chickens you have, the more damage you get.  I can’t stress this one enough. Fence off the vegetable garden area with permanent fencing.  Picket fences…

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DIY homemade carpenter bee houses native bee
Making Carpenter Bee Houses [DIY Project]

Making Carpenter Bee Houses [DIY Project]

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Hoping to provide refuge and bring more solitary bees, like the native Valley Carpenter Bee, into our yard, the kids and I created homemade carpenter bee houses over the weekend.

what is the huge black bee
Valley Carpenter Bees: A Local Mass Die Off

Valley Carpenter Bees: A Local Mass Die Off

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Over the course of the last few weeks, I have been dismayed to find more than a half dozen dead female Valley Carpenter Bees, Xylocopa varipuncta, in both the backyard and the front yard.  I don’t think the dog is responsible for their deaths because I also found one on the ground at K’s house across the street last week. Plus, the dog doesn’t hunt bees out front, nor have I ever seen him go after these, just honey bees. Disclosure:…

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buy crfg loquat tree big jim strawberry vista white
Big Jim Loquat

Big Jim Loquat

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Loquats are one of the earliest fruits to ripen around here in the Springtime, usually around March and April, just before the first of the Baba Raspberries. Our Loquat tree is still pretty young, just having started its 4th year in the ground, but it was about 2 years old in a 1 gallon can when it came to live here.  Although the tree is still small, we harvested many dozens of loquats this year, which was enough for us…

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How do I deal with a yucky aphid infestation

How do I deal with a yucky aphid infestation

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Well, it turns out, I actually need to deal with it by DOING NOTHING. I was out weeding and deadheading on Wednesday afternoon and I was dismayed to find so many aphids on the new growth of my Mexican Flame Vine, Senecio confusus.  My first instinct was to start squishing or get out the high pressure hose nozzle! But after taking a closer look, the vine was also covered in newly emerged tiny lady bug larvae.  They discovered the problem…

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My worst Gardening Mistake…

My worst Gardening Mistake…

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Although I am pretty adept at gardening, I have to admit that I have made more than my fair share of dumb gardening mistakes. After 15 years at Hanbury House, that list of mistakes has grown pretty long. If someone was to ask me to name the number one worst thing I did on that list, it would have to be when I used black landscape fabric. I used it in the front yard beds near the porch, under the…

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pretty chicken coop in the garden
A Clever Automatic Coop Door – No Electricity or Battery Needed

A Clever Automatic Coop Door – No Electricity or Battery Needed

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I feel a automatic coop door opener is a must have for every urban chicken keeper, especially if your spouse, like mine, is not too keen about being woken up at dawn everyday by hens anxious about getting on with their business for the day. However, getting power to a coop can be a challenge and some of the battery powered or solar powered automatic door openers can be very expensive. I stumbled on to this nifty automatic coop door…

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