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I always caution gardeners in California and other hot, dry summer areas not to plant in summer. Plants just don’t adapt very well when it is so hot. Instead, it is better to plan in summer and plant in winter.

That said, there are a few groups of plants are best planted now, one of which is the South African bulbs. These plants adapt to their hot, dry native habitats by dropping their leaves and sleeping through summer. That means, that summer is the best time for bulb growers to dig them and ship them, whether to the store or to your door.
In fact, mid-July to September is the only time you’ll find South African bulbs for sale on a large scale. (Read more)

Gladiolus byzantius (sword lily) from South Africa is a parent of the hybrid glads you find in the nursery. It is beautiful, easy to grow, and low water

Want to make your vegetable garden more waterwise?  Here are two suggestions:

• Switch to drip irrigation

Most vegetables dislike having wet leaves. In fact, wet leaves often become mildewed leaves.  Drip irrigation is far more efficient than overhead spray and it keeps leaves dry and mildew free.

• Mulch with a three-inch thick layer of home-made compost.  If  you don’t have enough compost, use seedless straw.


Straw is the perfect vegetable mulch. It is lightweight, keeps weeds down and soil moist

Wood based mulches, stone and gravel mulches are fine for ornamental plants, but in the vegetable garden, home made compost and seedless straw are better choices.  Both insulate the soil from water loss and both are light enough for seeds to push through.

Zinnia seedlings poke up through the straw

If you opt for straw, be sure you don‘t get hay or alfalfa or anything  that has lots of seeds.  Why?  Years ago, I mulched with straw and grew a lovely bed of wheat…. instead of tomatoes!

If you can get old straw, that’s even better.  As straw ages, the  fibers start breaking down and residual seeds begin to rot.   That’s a good thing.

And, old straw can’t be sold for animal bedding, so feed stores (the best places to get straw) often regard them as waste.  In fact, they may even give you the straw for free!

If you don’t have room to store an entire bale of straw, ask for a “flake.”  A flakes is simply a section of a bale.

This bale of straw will last me two or three seasons

Is it okay for my blog to quote another blog?  Oh, what the heck!

The wonderful Sharon Cohoon, Southern California editor for Sunset Magazine (and the woman I’d like to be when I grow up) wrote about my new garden wall in her blog, Fresh Dirt.   I love what she wrote!

When you walk out onto Nan Sterman’s back patio, you see this intriguing fountain wall ahead of you that invites you to come out and explore the garden.  It looks so right where it is I figured it must have popped into Nan’s mind as a fully-fledged idea.  Not exactly.  The truth is the San Diego garden writer/designer/lecturer got all the favorite men in her life involved in coming up with this perfect-for-her-garden design. (read more)

Monday a week ago, I was a guest on These Days, the morning talk show on San Diego Public Radio, KPBS.  I appear on These Days about once a quarter, where the delightful host Maureen Cavanaugh and I always start off on a topic or two.  Soon, however, the many calls  take us in all different directions - which is part of the fun.

This time, there was alot of talk about water and saving water in the garden.  There were also several callers asking what might be wrong with their tomatoes.   They seem fine, they said, but then, suddenly, they wither up and die.

I’d heard this once or twice in recent weeks but hearing again, and all from people in north county coastal San Diego made my ears perk up.

Since the weather up until this past weekend was incredibly cool and humid, even rainy, I wasn’t surprised to hear about powdery mildew or mold.    Under these conditions, vegetable plants are especially susceptible to leaf pests and diseases.

It didn’t sound like verticillium wilt which is a common problem, especially with tomatoes.  Leaves start to yellow along the veins, then  brown and dry up altogether.  Its  one reason I recommend that gardeners don’t grow tomatoes in the same soil two years in a row.

No,  this sounded different.  I put my detective hat on and did some research.

My contacts at UC Cooperative Extension didn’t know the answer but reminded me that anyone can have plants and soil analyzed by the County Plant Pathologist.  There is an office in Kearny Mesa and one in San Marcos.  Visit their website for directions, and  information on preparing  samples before you bring them to their offices.

I checked out the list of tomato pests and diseases on the University of California  Integrated Pest Management (IPM) Online database.  This is one of my favorite resources.   Check out  UC-IPM information on tomatoes here.

Several of my most trusted colleagues suggested that in light of the damp, cool weather, perhaps we were seeing a disease called “late blight.”  This is caused by a micro organism known as Phytophthora infestans. Actually, it is the same microbe that caused the Irish potato famine!

UC IPM didn’t have much on late blight, but I did come across some really interesting information on the website for Science Friday, one of my favorite public radio shows.  Host Ira Flatow explores all kinds of interesting topics from space exploration to  artificial hearts to butterfly migrations.

Last year, Flatow did a show on late blight threatening the tomato crop on the east coast.  Listen to it here. Look for “Listen here” on the upper left hand corner of the window.  The beginning of the show is all about the organism’s genome but towards the end, they talk about how to deal with it in the garden.

There’s also a Science Friday video of tomato farmers dealing with late blight last summer on the east coast.  It is really interesting!  Its on the same page as the radio program, just click the big photo of ugly tomatoes in the center of the window.

Is this the problem folks are having?  The only way to be sure is to compare the symptoms and  have infected plants analyzed at the county.  But if  your plants look like the ones in the video, please email me to let me know!

Had a great time doing my quarterly gardening radio gig on KPBS FM 89.5, Public Radio in San Diego. Host Maureen Cavanaugh is a blast to talk with, and the callers had great questions about tomatoes, how to water, the cool weather, and lots more.

Click here to listen!

In most gardens, spring cleaning means preparing for spring.  In my garden, it means cleaning away the spring.

Here in Southern California, spring is when plants explode into growth, expanding inches, it seems, each day.  By time we get to the heat of summer (which should be about now, though this summer, we’ve hardly seen sun), plants sink into the slumber that allows them to survive the dry heat.

This is when I do my spring cleaning.

I spent most of this afternoon and evening cleaning my tiered garden.  It was, in a way, like a grand treasure hunt.  I pulled away waves of nasturtiums, revealing plants set into the ground last fall.  Some are most certainly drowned, others may survive.  Only time will tell.

I found baby agaves beneath sprawling wands of a salvia whose name is long forgotten but whose coral colored flowers glow from spring through summer.  Two new Darwinias, the prostrate shrubs named for the prophet of evolution, appear to have a 50/50 chance of survival;  one looks like it will make it, the other looks to be a goner.  How ironic.

Plants uncovered as the nasturtium and salvia are cleared away

Lots and lots of old nasturtium foliage.

The tall, running perennial sunflower leaned so far down from its perch that it nearly smothered the pale yellow ‘Lemon Leigh’ Spanish lavenders on the steppe beneath it.  It took me 20 minutes of pruning to rescue them.

Piles of debris from spring's growth

My arms are sliced, my hands chapped, but the garden beds looks so much better.  A new layer of mulch and they will be ready for summer!

Its the “default landscape,” the “worry-free garden,” “the easiest thing in the world” – or is it?

More and more, people acknowledge they are tired of having to mow, water, fertilize, weed, and pesticide (is that a verb?) lawn that they hardly ever use. Fortunately, there are lots of options for replacing lawn with gardens that are beautiful and far easier to care for.  (read more…)

This lovely patio, fire ring, seating area and water feature replaced our old lawn

Happy Father’s Day to all the dads and honorary dad’s out there!

I’m playing sous chef and head dishwasher for my daughter Tamar, as she prepares a meal for her dad from Cooking With the Seasons, Rancho La Puerta.  This is one of the wonderful cookbooks from Rancho La Puerta, the fabulous fitness spa in Tecate, just south of San Diego.

Cooking With the Seasons, one of the wonderful cookbooks from Rancho La Puerta

Tonight’s menu includes aguas frescas made with lime juice and cilantro, Mexican coleslaw with red and green cabbage, lasagna Azteca with spinach and ancho chile salsa, and creamy dark chocolate flan with fresh berries.

I know my husband will be thrilled…not just by the food, but also by the fact that our daughter created this feast in his honor.

Tamar peels chilis for salsa

Gotta dash  - she needs oregano from my herb garden!

Later that night….

Dinner is served!

Happy Father’s Day one and all!

Years ago, a neighbor introduced herself to me as “the plant pincher.” I must have looked surprised because she explained that whenever she saw a plant she liked, she pinched a piece and took it home to try to root it. And, she continued, would I mind if she pinched some of my plants.

She assumed I was surprised to hear that plants could be rooted from pieces. On the contrary, I was surprised to learn I wasn’t the only plant pincher in the neighborhood!

My friend pinched because her budget was limited and her property large. I pinch hard-to-find plants in friends’ gardens (with their permission of course).

Rooting plants from cuttings is surprisingly straightforward. Not everything is easy to start, but once you understand the basics, try your hand at anything.

(more at www.Blackgold.biz….)

Fig tree cutting six months after rooting in potting soil

I had a delightful morning as I welcomed the crew from Growing a Greener World into my garden.  Growing a Greener World is the new PBS television gardening series hosted by Joe Lamp’l, one of my co-authors on my latest book, Waterwise Plants for the Southwest.

Theresa Loe, associate producer for Joe’s show, contacted me about being the guest expert for an episode on saving water in the garden.  Since that’s exactly what I spend most of my life talking,  writing about, teaching people to do, and doing myself, I was delighted to participate.

Me and Joe Lamp'l in my garden shooting an episode of Growing a Greener World

Joe and I discussed low water gardening, why it is important, and why I started doing it.  Being a California native, I have known forever that water is a precious resource.  One of my major gardening goals is to create maximum beauty with as little water as possible.

We toured my garden, looking at my new, low-water meadow, now six months old.

Part way through planting my new meadow

We talked about how to select plants that are waterwise, whether you live in Maine or Miami.  We most talked about efficient irrigation technologies, and ways to grow vegetables with as little water as possible.

Joe and his crew were a delight to work with.  The show will air on or around September 11th this year.  I can’t wait to see it!

Carl (or maybe Kilroy?) sets up a shot

Leo decides between iPhone and video camera