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The GardenZeus Guide to Common Garden Pests in California Zone 12
July 20, 2015
GardenZeus Southern California
/ Stop Bugging Me: Organic Solutions for Insect Pests
/ The Mighty Garden Archive
By: C. Darren Butler
Insect and Gastropod Pests: Aphids occur more often in spring to summer or during warm weather than from fall through winter in your zone. They can sometimes be removed with a strong stream of water, or washed off leaves with a cloth or rag, before plants become fully infested. Aphids are often associated with Argentinian […]
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The GardenZeus Guide to Common Vegetable Diseases in California Zone 12
July 20, 2015
GardenZeus Southern California
/ Stop Bugging Me: Organic Solutions for Insect Pests
/ The Mighty Garden Archive
By: C. Darren Butler
Damping Off: If seedlings fail to emerge or starts die quickly, damping off is a likely cause. It’s caused by a variety soilborne fungi and fungus-like pathogens, most commonly Pythium, and occurs most often in cool, compacted, wet soils. Typical symptoms of infection include seeds that rot before they germinate, young sprouts that are mushy […]
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How Squeamish Are You About Bugbitten Greens?
Our vegetable gardens cultivate us as we cultivate them; it is for this reason that GardenZeus expert Darren Butler believes that so many longtime gardeners have special wisdom – they have been grown long and well by their gardens. Garden greens inevitably bring up questions of self-knowledge in the area of insect and gastropod squeamishness: […]
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The GardenZeus Guide to What Commonly Goes Wrong With Vegetable Plants in California Gardens
Bolting: Greens and other plants from which we eat leaves, stems, or roots may begin to go to seed as a result of water stress, repeated wilting, hot or cold weather, disease or insect infestation, other stresses, or naturally as the result of their annual or biennial reproductive cycles. Leaves, roots, and other edible plant […]
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GardenZeus Tips for Container Vegetable Gardening
July 20, 2015
Container Gardening
/ Organic Gardening: Vegetables
/ The Mighty Garden Archive
By: C. Darren Butler
– Container plants are more sensitive to drying soil, especially at warm-and-hot temperatures, which can reduce harvest quality and quantity, shorten the harvest period, and lead to premature bolting. Soils may dry rapidly in containers, so monitoring and regular watering of vegetables and herbs in containers is important. Pay close attention to soil moisture and […]
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Gifts for Gardeners: Teaming With Microbes
GardenZeus receives commissions for purchases made through links in this post. Looking for a helpful but inexpensive gift for the dedicated gardener? Look no farther than Teaming with Microbes. This small but intense book is one of the “must reads” for California—or any other –gardeners. This gardening book instructs gardeners how to create sustainable, healthy […]
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Saving Lettuce Seeds After Early Heat Waves
California gardeners in warm areas may find that the lettuce in their gardens is bolting, or going to seed, as a result of recent heat waves. While the heat may end your lettuce harvest, in some cases even before it has begun, the silver lining is the opportunity to save seeds for this fall. It’s […]
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Grow a Soil Ecosystem: GardenZeus™: Getting Started With a New Garden
Just like people, helpful soil bacteria and fungi need air to breathe, space to live, food, and water. In new gardens, especially in clay California soils, decompacting or loosening soil prior to planting will provide necessary oxygen and pore space for microbe habitat. Food can be supplied in the form of composted manures or other […]
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About C. Darren Butler the Gardener: GardenZeus™ Divine Gardening
Over the years I have accumulated professional qualifications and accomplishments to distinguish me and help me to earn a living as an independent landscape consultant, teacher, designer, and speaker. I shared some of these qualifications in GardenZeus™ Divine Gardening. In this post I will share a glimpse of my human story as a gardener. My beginnings […]
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