I really enjoyed this edition of garden study! I’m a very very novice gardener so some editions feel too intimidating, but this was relatable and beautiful!
aw thanks. I just set her up with her own little planter box so this year’s garden is already a winner 🥹 also, because you asked and I loved the question, some ideas for workshops or classes: themed planters/containers like salsa garden, pizza garden, floral salad garden. Also if you’re doing any flowers that dry well, folks might go nuts for a wreath or wall hanging class. Something else that would be neat is a deep dive into the specific seasonal noticings each month, walking folks through whatever it is you find needs to be done at that moment in time and what you’re paying attention to regarding the soil and weather and pests. Could be something people can then go home and replicate in real time. Would be really cool to do with the same group of people over a few months or even a whole year.
what should we build? ask Niki! love these ideas - we were thisclose to launching a monthly garden club but i got spooked about the commitment. next year i think i’ll do it 🙌🏼
Really enjoyed this interview. I used to run a chef's garden for a guest ranch in Zone 4b (Montana south of the east side of Glacier National Park). We were thrilled if we got to harvest from June-mid-September. 🤣 I have since personally gardened and mentored gardeners in Zones 4b (Quebec City), 5b/6a (Missoula), and now again in Zone 4b (SE Wyoming). My dream is a growing season like Fiona's! Someday, even for just one season. (Also, sorry to be a buzzkill, because I also love cats. But all the research shows outdoor cats are devastating to bird populations. Happy to share resources with stats that may be motivating and resources for keeping birds safe from cats, if anyone is interested.)
My dream is also a longer growing season (hello from zone 3, just north of the Idaho/Montana border!). My seedlings are still in the greenhouse but I'm hoping to get some of them hardened off this week. It's definitely an adjustment from previous places I've lived but it's fun to find varieties that are tasty but can mature within our shorter season.
We’re lucky we had the space in our backyard, and that we scored some free old windows off marketplace! My partner drew up some rough plans and we built it ourselves two years ago. It definitely helps address some of the “extreme sport” aspects at the start/end of the season!
I have to say, I have never opened a newsletter so fast as when I saw this subject line! And it did not disappoint!! What a dreamy garden and overall job (#goals!), and I can't wait to dive into the links and learn more.
My parents live in Los Osos and I want to take them to your garden! I think a Mother’s Day brunch/garden tour that talked about soil health would be so great, my mom would love that.
I'm a bit envious of the collaboration with your husband, Fiona. My husband is not a commercial chef (but I'm not a commercial gardener, either), but we love to eat the food we grow. Especially tomatoes, which do very well here when they do well, if that makes sense. (Last year we didn't get enough sun and they all failed to thrive.) I shared this interview with him so he can add parsley pollen to his ingredient list. ❤️
Some suggestions for future classes: companion planting veggies, herbs, and flowers; Soil health and small-scale composting; Irrigation; Fruit tree pruning and training; and Cutting flower garden.
Loved this. Wandering around winery/chef gardens is absolute heaven on earth for me. Thank you for the podcast suggestion too -- looking forward to giving it a listen!
What are some of your favorite cutting garden staples that are on the easier end to grow/maintain? (I'm zone 7b if it makes a difference.) I've been trying to establish a cutting garden of my own in my back yard for the past few years to not much success. I've been working on amending the soil, which I think is helping, but so far zinnia, calendula and sunflowers have been my only successes -- all great, but I'd love to do more!
oh and chrysanthemums are a great investment. and alliums/narcissus for spring bulbs - if you can find daffs that will naturalize well in your soil they are a really easy and gorgeous addition to a cutting garden. some of the doubles are 🤤
rudbeckia and echinacea are both amazing producers and reliably come back (and spread, though not obnoxiously) year after year. dahlias are a whole wonderful world, scabiosas are plentiful and low maintenance, as are bachelor buttons. sweet peas will do great in your zone - i start seeds in september, plant in late october/early november and i currently have trellises with 8’ tall plants falling over with flowers! i put iceland poppies in around the same time as the sweet peas and get a good harvest from feb-april :)
Can I suggest feverfew? I’m also in zone 7b (very rainy East TN) and it does beautifully and self seeds and is a great filler for the focals you’re growing). For another filler - basil flowers (I don’t let my culinary basil flower but let my tulsi and cinnamon go)
How exciting this interview is! I live in Paso Robles, east of the Salinas, toward Creston. I've been growing a kitchen garden here for, gosh, almost twenty-five years. I grow garlic and fava beans over the winter and tomatoes and chili peppers over the summer. It's the same garlic for the last twenty years, a hardneck from a CSA in San Miguel and the fava beans from last-year's beans going back to 2008. I freeze a lot of tomatoes and dry some chilis and ferment others for siracha sauce.
I love what you describe about no till gardening and how you regard the soil. I've tried a lot of ways of working with the underground rodents and settled on raised beds with hardware cloth, though they still get melons and squash when the vines get off the bed.
Do you have any advice for growing plants like broccolini, brussels sprouts, or cabbages, like when to plant them? I've been thwarted by aphids in the past.
Oh wow - hi neighbor! The squirrels and gophers are next level around here, that’s for sure.
You’ll want to seed those cooler weather crops into plug trays in late July (crazy, right?) bumping them up into 6 packs or 3” pots by end of August and into the ground near equinox. It can be tricky because we still have so much heat in the fall, but they need time to establish before the days get too short. For aphids I would try and blast them with a hose every few days to discourage them colonizing - or grow them under a row cover like agribon. You’ll also want a nice mellow nitrogen for them when they go in, I like to keep liquid fish and kelp and just add a glug to a watering can to drench the roots every few weeks at the start.
The aphids are something when they come along. In my garden, ants farm them, which is amazing and beautiful and infuriating and painful when it's the red ants.
I love the vision of the cat with his to-do list and morning java! "almost every morning before anyone gets here, me and the garden cat, Lou, stroll through with a cup of coffee and our to-do list"
This was a fun interview to read! Thank you for this! I live in 5/6b (depending on the year) and I would love some strategies on how to plant so that we continually get some kind of food. I have one raised bed just dedicated to salad of different kinds and that is so wonderful in the Spring, but once July hits, there's no more salad and I have to wait for a lot of vegetables to get ripe. Looking for any tips or schedules!
I make tunnels out of concrete reinforcement wire (remesh), and it’s a wonderful frame for frost cloth or even greenhouse plastic in the colder months. in your case, you could strategically harvest and then interplant peppers/eggplant/tomatoes into your salad crops in april, keeping them protected from frost, and then sow radishes/turnips as you harvest the remaining salad crops into the warmer months. that remesh can stay in place and serve as support stricture for your peppers/eggplant as it gets taller!
Thank you so much! I'm definitely looking forward to trying this! The idea of using remesh would also hamper the rabbits who help themselves to sooooo much of what we plant. Thank you again!
What a lovely dreamy job and garden! Beautiful! Regarding your question for this community, my husband and I stayed at the loveliest property in Portugal where they gave us a garden tour and then we did a few classes using mostly things from the garden—we made our own pickles, we learned to make bath salts/scrubs, and we did a kefir yogurt type thing (tbh a fuzzy memory). The combination of seeing something growing and then getting to learn something to do with it was really fun.
I got so excited when I read Tulsi that I had to comment first, finish reading later! I’m looking for Tulsi and Indian curry leaf (kareempatta or karvapilai in Hindi and Tamil respectively) in the Greater Toronto Area. If anyone has suggestions of speciality nurseries/market gardens where these plants or cuttings may be available, please let me know.
This is the dream version of a vegetable garden I someday hope to achieve. No dig is such a beautiful concept that also has the added benefit of accommodating disabilities. Thank you both for this lovely conversation.
I’ve gotten tulsi seed from Strictly Medicinal Seeds and also Johnny’s seeds - not sure if they ship to Canada but worth a look. Happy to send you some if you can’t find them elsewhere :))
I really enjoyed this edition of garden study! I’m a very very novice gardener so some editions feel too intimidating, but this was relatable and beautiful!
Oh hey Fi 👋🏼 I knew it was you as soon as I read the email title, haha. Good to see you here, and to read your beautiful writing.
oh hey! good to see you, too!! i hear you have a new lil garden gnome <3 many congrats x
aw thanks. I just set her up with her own little planter box so this year’s garden is already a winner 🥹 also, because you asked and I loved the question, some ideas for workshops or classes: themed planters/containers like salsa garden, pizza garden, floral salad garden. Also if you’re doing any flowers that dry well, folks might go nuts for a wreath or wall hanging class. Something else that would be neat is a deep dive into the specific seasonal noticings each month, walking folks through whatever it is you find needs to be done at that moment in time and what you’re paying attention to regarding the soil and weather and pests. Could be something people can then go home and replicate in real time. Would be really cool to do with the same group of people over a few months or even a whole year.
what should we build? ask Niki! love these ideas - we were thisclose to launching a monthly garden club but i got spooked about the commitment. next year i think i’ll do it 🙌🏼
Really enjoyed this interview. I used to run a chef's garden for a guest ranch in Zone 4b (Montana south of the east side of Glacier National Park). We were thrilled if we got to harvest from June-mid-September. 🤣 I have since personally gardened and mentored gardeners in Zones 4b (Quebec City), 5b/6a (Missoula), and now again in Zone 4b (SE Wyoming). My dream is a growing season like Fiona's! Someday, even for just one season. (Also, sorry to be a buzzkill, because I also love cats. But all the research shows outdoor cats are devastating to bird populations. Happy to share resources with stats that may be motivating and resources for keeping birds safe from cats, if anyone is interested.)
My dream is also a longer growing season (hello from zone 3, just north of the Idaho/Montana border!). My seedlings are still in the greenhouse but I'm hoping to get some of them hardened off this week. It's definitely an adjustment from previous places I've lived but it's fun to find varieties that are tasty but can mature within our shorter season.
Ooooh, you have a greenhouse!! I dream of one. 🤗 And yeah, I have experienced gardening as an extreme sport all my life. 🤣🤦♀️
We’re lucky we had the space in our backyard, and that we scored some free old windows off marketplace! My partner drew up some rough plans and we built it ourselves two years ago. It definitely helps address some of the “extreme sport” aspects at the start/end of the season!
Oh wow, that’s an incredible challenge to fulfill in that climate - good on you!!
Extremely devastating to see someone else living my dream!!! (I loved this feature -- thank you Fiona and Anne!)
I have to say, I have never opened a newsletter so fast as when I saw this subject line! And it did not disappoint!! What a dreamy garden and overall job (#goals!), and I can't wait to dive into the links and learn more.
My parents live in Los Osos and I want to take them to your garden! I think a Mother’s Day brunch/garden tour that talked about soil health would be so great, my mom would love that.
brilliant! would love to see you soon :)
I'm a bit envious of the collaboration with your husband, Fiona. My husband is not a commercial chef (but I'm not a commercial gardener, either), but we love to eat the food we grow. Especially tomatoes, which do very well here when they do well, if that makes sense. (Last year we didn't get enough sun and they all failed to thrive.) I shared this interview with him so he can add parsley pollen to his ingredient list. ❤️
amazing! tomatoes are a gateway drug 😂
Some suggestions for future classes: companion planting veggies, herbs, and flowers; Soil health and small-scale composting; Irrigation; Fruit tree pruning and training; and Cutting flower garden.
Tomato class how-to is always popular.
Lovely interview.
these are all such great ideas, thank you!!
Loved this. Wandering around winery/chef gardens is absolute heaven on earth for me. Thank you for the podcast suggestion too -- looking forward to giving it a listen!
What are some of your favorite cutting garden staples that are on the easier end to grow/maintain? (I'm zone 7b if it makes a difference.) I've been trying to establish a cutting garden of my own in my back yard for the past few years to not much success. I've been working on amending the soil, which I think is helping, but so far zinnia, calendula and sunflowers have been my only successes -- all great, but I'd love to do more!
oh and chrysanthemums are a great investment. and alliums/narcissus for spring bulbs - if you can find daffs that will naturalize well in your soil they are a really easy and gorgeous addition to a cutting garden. some of the doubles are 🤤
rudbeckia and echinacea are both amazing producers and reliably come back (and spread, though not obnoxiously) year after year. dahlias are a whole wonderful world, scabiosas are plentiful and low maintenance, as are bachelor buttons. sweet peas will do great in your zone - i start seeds in september, plant in late october/early november and i currently have trellises with 8’ tall plants falling over with flowers! i put iceland poppies in around the same time as the sweet peas and get a good harvest from feb-april :)
Thank you so much for your suggestions!
Can I suggest feverfew? I’m also in zone 7b (very rainy East TN) and it does beautifully and self seeds and is a great filler for the focals you’re growing). For another filler - basil flowers (I don’t let my culinary basil flower but let my tulsi and cinnamon go)
How exciting this interview is! I live in Paso Robles, east of the Salinas, toward Creston. I've been growing a kitchen garden here for, gosh, almost twenty-five years. I grow garlic and fava beans over the winter and tomatoes and chili peppers over the summer. It's the same garlic for the last twenty years, a hardneck from a CSA in San Miguel and the fava beans from last-year's beans going back to 2008. I freeze a lot of tomatoes and dry some chilis and ferment others for siracha sauce.
I love what you describe about no till gardening and how you regard the soil. I've tried a lot of ways of working with the underground rodents and settled on raised beds with hardware cloth, though they still get melons and squash when the vines get off the bed.
Do you have any advice for growing plants like broccolini, brussels sprouts, or cabbages, like when to plant them? I've been thwarted by aphids in the past.
Oh wow - hi neighbor! The squirrels and gophers are next level around here, that’s for sure.
You’ll want to seed those cooler weather crops into plug trays in late July (crazy, right?) bumping them up into 6 packs or 3” pots by end of August and into the ground near equinox. It can be tricky because we still have so much heat in the fall, but they need time to establish before the days get too short. For aphids I would try and blast them with a hose every few days to discourage them colonizing - or grow them under a row cover like agribon. You’ll also want a nice mellow nitrogen for them when they go in, I like to keep liquid fish and kelp and just add a glug to a watering can to drench the roots every few weeks at the start.
Thanks so much for the tips.
The aphids are something when they come along. In my garden, ants farm them, which is amazing and beautiful and infuriating and painful when it's the red ants.
Thanks again, neighbor.
I love the vision of the cat with his to-do list and morning java! "almost every morning before anyone gets here, me and the garden cat, Lou, stroll through with a cup of coffee and our to-do list"
he has a lot of opinions 😂
This was a fun interview to read! Thank you for this! I live in 5/6b (depending on the year) and I would love some strategies on how to plant so that we continually get some kind of food. I have one raised bed just dedicated to salad of different kinds and that is so wonderful in the Spring, but once July hits, there's no more salad and I have to wait for a lot of vegetables to get ripe. Looking for any tips or schedules!
I make tunnels out of concrete reinforcement wire (remesh), and it’s a wonderful frame for frost cloth or even greenhouse plastic in the colder months. in your case, you could strategically harvest and then interplant peppers/eggplant/tomatoes into your salad crops in april, keeping them protected from frost, and then sow radishes/turnips as you harvest the remaining salad crops into the warmer months. that remesh can stay in place and serve as support stricture for your peppers/eggplant as it gets taller!
Thank you so much! I'm definitely looking forward to trying this! The idea of using remesh would also hamper the rabbits who help themselves to sooooo much of what we plant. Thank you again!
What a lovely dreamy job and garden! Beautiful! Regarding your question for this community, my husband and I stayed at the loveliest property in Portugal where they gave us a garden tour and then we did a few classes using mostly things from the garden—we made our own pickles, we learned to make bath salts/scrubs, and we did a kefir yogurt type thing (tbh a fuzzy memory). The combination of seeing something growing and then getting to learn something to do with it was really fun.
I got so excited when I read Tulsi that I had to comment first, finish reading later! I’m looking for Tulsi and Indian curry leaf (kareempatta or karvapilai in Hindi and Tamil respectively) in the Greater Toronto Area. If anyone has suggestions of speciality nurseries/market gardens where these plants or cuttings may be available, please let me know.
This is the dream version of a vegetable garden I someday hope to achieve. No dig is such a beautiful concept that also has the added benefit of accommodating disabilities. Thank you both for this lovely conversation.
I’ve gotten tulsi seed from Strictly Medicinal Seeds and also Johnny’s seeds - not sure if they ship to Canada but worth a look. Happy to send you some if you can’t find them elsewhere :))
Thank you! I’ll check it out.
Workshops on edible flowers!
📝 🙏🏼
I loved this article. Thanks so much.