Author Archives: Lee Miller

As summer passes it is a good time to count some of the successes and failures of gardening activities. One of my triumphs was getting rid of overwintering squash bugs early in the season, so that I did not have to deal with their offspring for the entire summer. Hence, we, and our neighbors, have [...]

In maintaining a household there are some things that you should never run out of—like flour, salt, sugar, toilet paper, onions and garlic. Onions and garlic are pretty essential ingredients of most culinary efforts and both are easy to grow winter vegetables. I start my onion seeds in a flat of compost in August and [...]

Heat and tomato fruit set: The hot streak we had recently was not good for a lot of plants, but in particular not good for fruit set in tomatoes. Tomato blossoms drop off when daytime temperatures exceed 95 and night-time temperatures are above 70. Tomatoes in the sun may experience temperatures as much as 10 [...]

One of the things that Master Gardeners and others teach new gardeners is to not bite off too much when starting to garden. With experience one can take on more efforts if you want to. Here is what one family magazine has to say, “Be realistic when you plan your first garden. Start small; you [...]

Perennial borders are wonderful. Little or no annual planting, but some pruning and deadheading required from time to time to keep plants flowering. Sage advice is to include some sage plants, in your perennial flower bed. The true sages are Salvias, but Russian sage, Perovskia atriplicifolia, is not a true sage, nor is it from [...]

I see so many plants that are planted in the wrong place for the size of the plant. ‘Wrong plant wrong place’ perhaps, instead of ‘right plant for the right place’ as our gardening mantra goes. By right plant in the right place we should take into account not only the environmental conditions that the [...]

It is time to consider caring for your citrus or planting some if you have none and want to enjoy picking your own ripe tangerines, oranges, lemons, limes, pummelos, and grapefruit. There are lots of citrus suitable for planting in San Joaquin County. One of the best to plant is a dwarf, Improved Meyer lemon. [...]

On January 13 National Public Radio presented a segment on forests investigations by Suzanne Simard, a forestry ecologist, who worked out how trees in the forest can communicate and share resources by use of underground connections via fungi mycelium. It was very fascinating and the presentation is on TED  http://www.npr.org/2017/01/13/509350471/how-do-trees-collaborate.  One has to wonder if [...]

These past few days the plant and seed catalogues are starting to arrive to remind us that spring is just around the corner. With all the rain lately it is not timely to be in the garden. Walking on wet soil can cause soil compaction, so it is a good time to stay inside. That [...]

It will soon be time to start seeds in my greenhouse. I built the greenhouse from material that I scrounged over several years and finally got around to putting it all together about 10 years ago. I have enjoyed my greenhouse so much that I wish that I had built it much sooner. There is [...]