Gardening Archives - San Lorenzo Valley Post

The September Garden

September 14, 2023September 14, 2023 slvpost.com0 comment

By Josh Reilly The mad rush of September. The Summer heat imparts a slothfulness, a kind of hazy indolence when it comes to tending the landscape. Fortunately, our gardens don’t really mind this ambivalence towards busy, Calvinist rectitude in August. Aside from morning watering, there just isn’t that much to do. In August (and September), we reap the bounty of… Read More

Gardening: In Praise of Spreaders, Fillers, and Colonizers

August 13, 2023September 3, 2023 slvpost.com0 comment

By Josh Reilly Some garden plants are a bit weedy. Indelicate and misbehaved, they sometimes “don’t play well with others.” Some of them will crowd and shade out other garden favorites. Native plant enthusiasts fear more catastrophic, apocalyptic outcomes, and in several notable cases, they are right. Miles of California riparian corridors are now choked with English Ivy, (Hedera sp).… Read More

Columns Gardening

The Midsummer Garden: Vegetables, Herbs, and Flowers

July 6, 2023July 12, 2023 slvpost.com0 comment

By Marielle Martin It’s not too late to start your Midsummer Garden in the Santa Cruz Mountains. July’s warm weather is in full swing so ponder selection of your summer vegetables, herbs, and flowers accordingly. This time of year can be more challenging to start plants from seeds directly in the garden. The heat can be stressful for seed germination… Read More

Cornus florida (Flowering dogwood) in the Ben Lomond garden

Column: Josh Reilly Columns Gardening

Landscaping with Flowering Trees

June 5, 2023June 15, 2023 slvpost.comgardening0 comment

By Josh Reilly June is upon us. The plants seem to sprawl languorously in the blazing sun, doing nothing except tempting bees and photosynthesizing furiously. There will be long, warm afternoons sitting in the shade when the chores are done, the queen or king of all you survey. And whence comes that shade that mercifully cools your fevered brow? It’s… Read More

Column: Josh Reilly Columns Gardening

Showtime in the Garden: May Blooms and Vegetable Garden Bliss

May 12, 2023June 7, 2023 slvpost.comgardening0 comment

By Josh Reilly It’s showtime! We’ve spent the long, cold Winter peeking out the window through the downpour at leafless stems, shoots, and branches. And mud. We’ve allowed ourselves a little advance joy with each new leaf or flower bud that we see in March and the big warm-up, April. Then comes May. It’s a bit like that moment when… Read More

Felton Discovery Park photo by Marielle Martin

Columns Gardening

Starting and Tending Your Native Pollinator Garden

April 19, 2023May 7, 2023 slvpost.com0 comment

By Marielle Martin In the Santa Cruz Mountains, April is a great time to start or rejuvenate a native pollinator garden. During spring’s cooler months, the soil is still warm enough for root growth, but air temps are cool enough to prevent excessive water loss from plants. Additionally, many California native plants are adapted to a winter rainfall pattern, and… Read More

California native White Sage Salvia apiana

Column: Josh Reilly Columns Gardening

The Busiest Month in the Garden

March 5, 2023June 7, 2023 slvpost.comgardening0 comment

By Josh Reilly March might be the busiest month in the garden. For the Spring vegetable garden, you’re selecting and planting seeds in flats or in soil. You are prepping your veggie beds with compost, either by scratching it in with a soil rake or digging it in with a shovel. And you are knee deep in invasive Winter annual… Read More

Column: Josh Reilly Gardening

Rainwater Capture

February 5, 2023June 7, 2023 slvpost.comgardening2 Comments

By Josh Reilly It might be an odd time to talk about rain barrels and rooftop rainwater capture. As of late January, we have already picked up about 40” of rainfall in the SLV. Our gardens and landscapes are now trending towards water-logged, if not flooded altogether. If anything, we’d rather it ran off and roared away down the San… Read More

Column: Josh Reilly Columns Gardening

January in the Garden

January 19, 2023June 7, 2023 slvpost.comgardening0 comment

By Josh Reilly We had a strange Fall season in my little “holler” in Ben Lomond in 2022. Routine heavy frosts started in late October, a little ahead of schedule, along with other autumnal anomalies. Maybe it’s the 50 F temperature swings on clear days. Maybe the rare September rain triggered plant hormonal confusion, but the Granny Smith apple tree… Read More

Column: Josh Reilly Columns Gardening

The Warm Colors of Winter

December 14, 2022June 7, 2023 slvpost.comgardening0 comment

By Josh Reilly December is upon us and with it, the hot-colored Holiday blooms of Amaryllis. These bulbs are often stashed in a cool, dark spot and potted in October or November. Those from in the Southern Hemisphere will flower this month, and February and March, for bulbs from the Northern Hemisphere (often the Netherlands). December blooming buds should be… Read More