Linda Ly's Blog, page 29
March 10, 2015
What is Damping Off Disease?
It’s a sight that every seed starter dreads: a seemingly healthy seedling, perhaps even the first to sprout, suddenly slumped over the next week with a wizened stem.
You may have even blamed lousy seed germination for a meagercrop of seedlings when in fact, microscopic plant pathogens were at work below the surface. Collectively, these pathogens cause a condition called damping off.
What Is Damping Off?
There’s never any warning when damping off might occur. The disease can take hold of a s...
March 6, 2015
Five Things Friday
It’s almost spring and for an edible gardener, that usually comes down to three things: starting, transplanting, and then loving on those luscious summer tomatoes! Are you ready?!
The five little things that made my week…
1. Heirloom tomato seedlings doing their morning stretch in front of the window. I’ve started eight varieties this season in a rainbow of colors from yellow to blue! (Which variety are you most excited about?)
2. But why do I even bother seeding tomatoes when these little...
February 24, 2015
Vacation Photos, Port News, and Meeting My Readers
It was quiet on the blog front last week, and for good reason — I found myself in the middle of the woods in Washington, near the base of Mount Rainier, with no wifi or data service in the little cabin my friends and I had rented for the week.
Though I hadn’t planned on being disconnected, one week of a little less technology was much welcomed. And I wasn’t fully off the grid, anyhow; I was still able to post photos from the one place I did have 4G which, ironically, was on top of a 6,800-fo...
February 23, 2015
Call For Cookbook Ambassadors!
Are you a blogger? And are you curious in what The CSA Cookbook has to offer?
With my book arriving any day now, I’m putting out a call for cookbook ambassadors! That is, bloggers who are interested in reviewing The CSA Cookbook on their blogs in exchange for a free signed copy. You can post an honest review, share a recipe from the book, or run a reader giveaway — it’s your choice!
I have a limited number of free copies to send to bloggers, so I’m looking for a few good people with passiona...
February 12, 2015
Hey Atlanta! I’ll Be Speaking at the Garden Bloggers Conference
If you’re in Atlanta (or planning to travel to Atlanta) for the Garden Bloggers Conference, I’m happy to announce I’ll be speaking at this event!
Join us February 25 to February 27, 2015, as an inspiring lineup of speakers present on a variety of “blogging as a business” topics, from branding and monetizing your blog to website security and social media strategies. Nate Berkus, Oprah’s go-to design guru, will be keynoting the conference. (It’s my first gig and I’m on the same speaker roster...
February 9, 2015
Life in a Little Off-Grid Surf Community
I’m often asked what it’s like when you’re in The Real Mexico and living as the locals do, being entirely self-sufficient, exercising an immense amount of patience (what I call “Baja time,” which isn’t all that different from “island time”), and as a result, becoming surprisingly flexible, resourceful, and creative.
When the nearest major town is an hour away (and the first eight miles to the highway are all off road), you really learn to make do with what you have and appreciate the things...
February 6, 2015
Five Things Friday
The five little things that made my week…
1. Five eggs in one week! Giiiiiirl, Kimora is BACK! As is the egg holder that we had stashed away all winter. (Now if only her sister would get the memo…)
2. Another sign that spring is in the air: the first apple blossoms. (Despite whatPunxsutawney Phil just predicted.)
3. Bebe in a field of borage. I let them grow wild all over my yard and the beautiful (and edible) flowers attract tons of pollinators all spring and summer!
4. Rutabaga seedlin...
February 4, 2015
Drip Irrigation: Assembling and Installing Your System
In my last post, I went over why you should install a drip system, what a drip system even was, and what makes it a more versatile system than soaker hoses.
Now you’ll learn how to install one and if you’re still not convinced by the end of this post to switch from your current setup, maybe a special promo code for my preferred vendor, DripWorks, will sway your mind!
For most people who have never installed a drip system, choosing an all-inclusive garden bed irrigation kit, like the one offe...
January 30, 2015
Special Advance Book Signing in Seattle! Meet Me at NWFGS!
Seattle folks! I’m thrilled to announce that I’ll be making a special appearance at the Northwest Flower & Garden Show the weekend of February 14 and 15, 2015, at the Quarto Publishing Group booth #2360.
What makes this appearance so special? Other than it being my first public appearance as Garden Betty and my first event in Seattle, it’s also an ADVANCE BOOK SIGNING! Hurraahhh!
Quarto Publishing will have copies of The CSA Cookbook for sale a day ahead of its official release. If you purch...
January 28, 2015
Drip Irrigation: Watering Your Garden While Saving Your Resources
In summer, keeping a vegetable garden well watered means keeping an open tap like you haven’t seen since your last kegger in college. But if you live in California, the little rainfall we see in winter can make it seem like summer year-round. And that makes our finite resource ever more precious in spite of the few rainstorms that did pass through in December.
Since 2011, California has become increasingly thirsty, with 80 percent of the state suffering extreme to exceptional drought. A rece...
