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A Gardening Blog for the East Side

The climate of the Eastern Sierra is very different from most of California and so gardening here is different, too! 

Preparing the contents of the pile.

In this blog we examine some of the quirks of gardening on the East Side, and cover horticultural issues that are important locally. Note that if you're visiting our site from the outside our little corner of California, you may find this information may not apply to your area.

Articles are written by local UC Master Gardener volunteers or the local Farm Advisor. 

 
And a website...

The Inyo-Mono Master Gardeners also have a website with local gardening and soil information. Visit it to learn more about our program and gardening.

 

Several squash bugs in varying stages of development on a leaf
Article

Parthenocarpic zucchini

August 14th, 2020
A gardener struggling to use mountains of zucchini is almost a meme in the gardening community, so it's very humbling to have to tell people you can't grow itkinda makes you look like a grade down from a Master Gardener! And even though I know my conditions are extreme out here at the edge of the Vo...
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A pile of wax beans drying on a dish cloth.
Article

Some Thoughts on Wax Beans

August 13th, 2020
By Dustin W Blakey
I love green beans, but even better are wax beans. For some reason as a kid I thought the yellow color of wax beans was something special. Since then I've preferred them if given a choice, but I'm sure it's all in my head. Kids make food choices based on some illogical characteristics.
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A bowl of today's lettuce-leaf basil harvest.
Article

Lettuce-Leaf Basil

August 3rd, 2020
By Dustin W Blakey
Basil is one of my favorite things to grow in the garden. It's easy, mostly pest-free, and best of all: I like it. I usually go overboard and grow more than one kind of basil in the garden. This year I grew sweet basil, Thai basil, and Mammoth' lettuce-leaf basil.
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A single, large zucchini plant in a garden
Article

Surviving the Zucchini Apocalypse

July 23rd, 2020
By Dustin W Blakey
I am always amazed to find out that some people plant more than one zucchini plant. My single plant is a giant monster that produces more than I can sneak into our dinners. Zucchini grows great in our area with one big caveat: squash bugs.
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Jetfire Cyclamineus Narcissus
Article

Easy Bulbs for Spring Color

July 22nd, 2020
With bulb catalogs appearing in our mailboxes and high temperatures precluding gardening for much of the day many of us are no doubt dreaming of the spectacular flowers that we will be growing next year.
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