— By Nan Sterman Poinsettia season is upon us!  Growers ship out the bright red and soft yellow colored plants every day, sending them to nurseries and garden centers across the country. Thanks to late Encinitan Paul Ecke Jr., poinsettias are the plants we mostly closely associa

A Gardener’s Tale by Marianne Gerdes The brand new raised bed garden that Camera Guy built for our family has succeeded beyond our wildest expectations.  Tomatoes tower over our heads, cucumbers climb trellises growing up instead of out and, we’ve learned about a whole new

— Nan Sterman When it comes to vegetable gardening, we spend so much time and effort starting seeds, planting seedlings, fertilizing, watering and hovering over our plants. When are the fruits of our labor ready to pick? Here are some general guidelines for knowing when and how

–       By Nan Sterman For years, I’d heard that redwoods make their own rain, but I never fully appreciated what that meant until now. I recently visited Renee Shepherd, owner of Renee’s Garden, purveyor of fine vegetables, herb, and flower seeds. I was on assignment for The Am

Nan’s Notes: Sometimes, knowing what not to plant is just as important – maybe more so – than knowing what to plant. There are a number of entries in my “Don’t Plant This” department. Close to the top of the list is Mexican needlegrass, aka Mexican feathergrass. It has two botan

Wondering how  we did on our 2014 Kickstarter campaign?  We kicked it! Our Kickstarter goal this time around was $12,000.  By the time the campaign ended, 158 backers had pledged $14,145.  We are so appreciative of all the positive comments and support.  With our campaign goal met, we

As we enter our second week of our Season 3 Kickstarter campaign, we want to give a shout out the 36 backers who have pledged their support in the early days of our campaign.  It’s so important that we get off to a great start and these loyal fans and followers are making sure t

We launched our second Kickstarter campaign just a few days ago.  We want to say a BIG THANK YOU to everyone who has pledged so far.  We are at 11% of our overall goal of $12,000 with 30 days left in to go in our campaign.  That’s a fair amount of time, but we hope you won’

Nan’s report: A few months back, I did a garden consultation for a couple who asked me about building a keyhole garden in their backyard. Keyhole garden? It comes from Africa, they said, and it’s supposed to be a highly productive method for growing vegetables, yet uses very lit