News — reviews
Preparing Soil to Plant Onions
Posted by David Grau on
When we prepared the soil for planting the garlic we determined that it was not compacted and we did not broadfork it. We just used the Wheel Hoe to cultivate and furrow the rows. We did use the broadfork on the section of the garden that had David's staked tomatoes though, and we'll be planting onions in a section of that area.
Rosemary Propagation
Posted by David Grau on
Rosemary is an easy plant to propagate. It is a member of the mint family, and many gardeners know how tenacious mint can be in a garden. Rosemary plants make a lovely gift for friends and relatives, especially during the winter months, and now is a good time to get some sprouted for later potting on and giving as presents.
How to Make Grenadine
Posted by David Grau on
Fall means pomegranate season, and pomegranates are one of our favorite, edible landscape shrubs. The beautiful foliage, decorative fruit, and relative drought tolerance make it such a great shrub for our dry, hot summers. Come fall we like to make a batch or two of grenadine, that beautiful, garnet-colored syrup.
How to Cure Olives
Posted by David Grau on
Olive season is upon us, and if you've ever wanted to cure your own olives now is a good time to try it. Last year Carla cured a batch of olives and they turned out quite well. She picked the olives when some were turning dark ripe and some were still green. They can be picked totally green for firmer finished olives.
How to Grow Garlic
Posted by David Grau on
We have grand plans for a fabulous garlic garden at Valley Oak HQ. We can plant garlic well into the late fall (or early winter) here. David and Carla will be browsing catalogues for different garlic varieties, and they’ll plant a garlic garden, likely sometime in November.