Tips & Tricks For Your Garden

My impromptu succulent cutting tower

by Rebecca Sweet
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Last month I completely dismantled one of my favorite garden beds so we could finally finish painting the house.  Last fall we had our house painted, but I wouldn’t let them paint one remaining wall as my bougainvillea was in full bloom and there was no way I was about to cut it back prematurely! [...]

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Tomato-In-A-Bag

by Rebecca Sweet
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Okay – you’re in a hurry to plant your tomato plant…here’s the quickest way to do it!

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Goodbye Lovely Leaves!

by Rebecca Sweet

It’s that time of year again, when our gardens are aflutter with leaves falling (and falling and falling), blanketing our beds with brilliant shades of yellow, orange and red. Ever wonder why leaves fall?

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Plants for pennies…

by Rebecca Sweet

Do you know how easy it is to get several plants for the price of one?  Some of my favorite 2-for-1 plants (actually it’s more like 10-for-1) are coleus.  Just snap off a stem, stick it in a glass of water for about 10 days, and when you have lots of little roots you just [...]

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The ‘Mite-y’ Lemon

by Rebecca Sweet
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Eureka lemon trees are notorious for producing freakishly shaped lemons – especially along the cooler coastal climate (like ours in the Bay Area).  Personally, I like the occasional odd-ball that my tree kicks out – and so do kids.  But if more and more of your lemons are turning out like this you may want [...]

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Meet Frankenstein… (aka: my ‘Washington Navel’ Orange Tree)

by Rebecca Sweet

It’s January here in Northern California and today I ate the first (of many) oranges off my ‘Washington Navel’ tree…. I LOVE that first, sweet-with-a-faint-hint-of-sour-taste the season’s first orange gives me…I look forward to it all year, beginning in late Spring when my garden is literally blanketed with the scent of it’s heavenly blossoms…to the [...]

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Help your garden survive an unexpected freeze

by Rebecca Sweet

I woke up this morning to a whopping 26 degrees.  Yes, I know – I can already hear those of you in other parts of the country laughing at my wimpyness.  But don’t forget, I live in mild-climate California!  My poor little plants aren’t accustomed to this weather and are fairly miserable right now. If [...]

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Confused about pruning perennials? Learn to ‘read’ them!

by Rebecca Sweet

It’s been a cold and frosty December, and this is the time when I begin to receive daily emails from people asking how and when to prune their perennials. Here in the Bay Area (USDA zone 9b) most of our gardens are still looking pretty good.  While some of the more tender annuals are long [...]

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The Variation in Variegation….

by Rebecca Sweet

Why do variegated plants revert back to solid green over time?

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Super easy plant markers

by Rebecca Sweet

Here’s a great way to re-purpose those outdated mini-blinds….

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Re-purposing fireplace tools in the garden

by Rebecca Sweet

Cool idea! How to re-purpose those outdated fireplace tools…..

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