Category Archives: How Does Your Garden Grow

HDYGG: The Birds, The Bees & The Zucchini

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You take the good, you take the bad, you take ‘em both and there you have: The facts of life, The facts of life…

What do Natalie, Jo, Tootie, Blair, and Mrs. Garrett have to do with zucchini? Not a whole lot, but I found myself humming The Facts of Life theme song in my garden recently. It’s catchy in the way most 80s TV theme songs were*, and it was relevant to my work that morning.

You see, I was pollinating zucchini. It’s not that I don’t trust the bees to do it, it’s that… Well, OK–I wasn’t entirely sure that I trusted the bees, and I really wanted to feel useful. I planted two types of summer squash seedlings last month: One yellow and one green. I had to fight the urge to plant more, but considering what I’ve learned about my tomatoes, and taking into account how many people have told me that I’m going to be up to my ears in zucchini, I decided to start slow.  Continue reading →

HDYGG: Mayday, Mayday! The Tomatoes Have Taken Over

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As I write this, it’s been exactly 68 days since I planted my eight tomato seedlings from Tomatomania. 68 days since our photo shoot for the June/July issue of the magazine, which you’ve hopefully already received in the mail or picked up at a newsstand. 68 days in which I’ve watched, always with amazement and occasionally in horror, as my tomato seedlings grew into towering, looming leviathans. Continue reading →

HDYGG: When Life Gives You Bok Choy

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A couple of months ago I bought a few seedlings from the grower at the Culver City Farmers’ Market. They were labeled as mesclun, which is a salad mix of assorted small, young salad leaves. I brought them home, planted them in my garden, and waited eagerly for tender, mixed baby greens. Instead, they grew into tough, dense, cabbage-like plants.  Continue reading →

HDYGG: My Garden Bolted

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My garden bolted.

Six months ago I would have thought that meant it got its motor running and headed out on the highway, but now I know better. So, while the crops in my garden were indeed born to be wild, for them bolting is less about looking for adventure and more about perpetuating the species.

In gardening-speak, “bolting” basically means that the plant has “gone to seed,” which basically means that it has shot up flower stems and started blossoming. The problem with crops bolting is that once there’s a flower, the plant starts to put all of its energy into reproducing (hence the saying, “gone to seed”).  Continue reading →

HDYGG: Growing Giant Sunflowers (And A Horticultural Crime)

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I think I may have committed a major gardening faux pas. Well, less a faux pas, and more a sin. I…dug up a seed to see if it was growing. I’m so ashamed! Here’s the back story:

Last summer, Stephanie grew a couple of incredible, enormous, awesome sunflowers in her yard. They were at least ten feet tall, and they looked like the bright yellow eyes of some magical beast peering out over her wall. I would walk up the street just to stare at them staring back at me. Ten foot tall flowers! It was pretty impressive to this city girl. I decided back then that I wanted to grow giant sunflowers in my garden when the time was right.  Continue reading →

HDYGG: Wildflowers VS. Weeds

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At the beginning of this year (how is it already mid-May, by the way?) I laid the groundwork for what was supposed to be an urban meadow. After sheet mulching our backyard, I seeded with Wildflower Farms Eco-Lawn, a blend of fine fescue grasses that, once established, requires much less water than a traditional turf lawn. Left un-mown, Eco-Lawn grows in a free-flowing, tufting-mounding way, which nicely approaches the meadow experience I was hoping for. To add to the meadow-effect, I scattered tons of Theodore Payne’s California wildflower “Roadside Mix” all over the backyard. I picked up a packet of the wildflower seed mix when I was there last November. The mix includes:   Continue reading →

HDYGG: Propagate Your Succulents & Create Inexpensive, Awesome Gifts!

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My mom is always commenting on how much she loves our front yard, so I decided to give her a piece of it for Mother’s Day. Specifically, I decided to make her a terrarium with succulents propagated from our garden. I’ve been wanting to try my hand at making terrariums ever since I saw the 2008 film Penelope with Christina Ricci and James McAvoy. Weird, I know: It’s a modern-day fairy tale about a girl cursed with a pig snout…but it was FULL of gorgeous, enchanting terrariums thanks to the exquisite vision of director Mark Palansky (I admit that I’m a bit biased: Mark is a friend). One small problem: A terrarium is, by definition, an enclosure. Being closed, terrariums recycle their moisture, making them an ideal environment for plants that enjoy high levels of humidity, such as mosses and ferns. That means, of course, that they’re not a great home for succulents, which prefer dry conditions. So, instead of making a traditional terrarium, I made an open-air terrarium, which is to say: I put together a succulent arrangement. Continue reading →

HDYGG: Herb Growing Ideas That Will Make You Want To Sing!

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Last week, a ReadyMade reader named Annie posted on the FB page: “I need some advice on herb gardens. Inside or outside? My outside herbs died last year. My friend swears they won’t survive inside. I also need ideas on what reused item to build it out of! The possibilities are endless!”

Inside or outside, that is the question. According to the research I did, with a little bit of planning and luck, you can grow herbs both outside and inside. Here are a few quick pointers: Continue reading →

HDYGG: This Tiered Potting Project Is Easy, Fun & Instantly Gratifying

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A couple of weeks back, when Ho-Mui and John were here photographing for the June/July issue, I did a simple, fun, and rewarding potting project. After the many months I’ve spent (and anticipating the many months more that I’ll spend) waiting to to see the natives I planted in front and the drought-tolerant grass seed I sowed in back produce results, I was craving a garden project that offered instant gratification (I know, I know—gardening is about patience. Cut me some slack). Many moons ago, Steph brilliantly suggested that there was a perfect spot for three tiered pots under our Crimson Bottlebrush tree. So, I treated myself to three pots, a few flats of sedums, and a handful of bigger succulents.  Continue reading →