Fonda San Miguel’s garden is transitioning into spring. The giant squash, the prolific cherry tomatoes and the Mexican herb, papalote, were felled and frozen by the hard December freezes. Taking their place though are versatile cold hardy spring plants like broccoli, turnips, radishes, arugula and carrots which we planted from seed. The rains were helpful [...]

Fonda is back.  Fall tomatoes taste like summer on cold days, and taste as sweet as they do contradictory in the last hot days of the year. Late-season edible squash blossoms are used in the Fonda kitchen and in insect pollen sacks, and warm us with bright blooms and the hum of bees. Claudia Alarcon [...]

The free plant giveaway at Fonda today.  Huge.  SWAT showed up, and they was flexin’ muscles they’ve never had to flex before.  The scale of this thing was astronomical.  Not counting paid supporters, family, and me, the number of folks mobbing the place for free plants was let’s just say, a number.  A number that cannot be divided [...]

We are in the process of taking out the last of the warm-season plants and filling the garden with cold-season varieties.  The last signs of summer this season were the peppers, still fiery hot and tasty, even after several nights of freezing temps.  For the hard-working tomato beds, we’ve covered them with compost and Alfalfa [...]

The FSM garden is now a certified wildlife habitat through the National Wildlife Federation. To earn certification, the garden needs to provide supplemental food, like from this hummingbird feeder, Supplemental water, from this grade-level water trough built from stone and lined with re-purposed vinyl billboard (which leaks, dammit), A mix of plants that provide seed, [...]

I’ll admit, the garden is looking a little, hot, but I suppose it should after the driest August on record, and more days over 100 than not. But like mama says, it’s not the cover of a book that counts, its how many juicy tomatoes and hot peppers it gives you.  And this struggling little garden is [...]

July has been harvest time.  Watermelons, cherry tomatoes, Creole tomatoes, yellow squash, jalapenos, zinnias for the tables, purlane, mint, basil, marjoram, hauzontle, chard, and the random surprise here and there.  We’ve had problems in some beds, most like due to poor soils and insufficient amending during bed prep, so we’re trying to correct those issues [...]

Summer is maintenance time in the garden.  The only new plants in June were Red Aztec Spinach and a lone Summer Cilantro that finally came from seed we started a couple of months ago in a greenhouse off-site.  So instead of planting, we’re pulling and harvesting, with a little help from Goldberg and friends. As [...]

We’ve seen leaf footed bugs on veggies lately, especially tomatoes.   These pests feed on ornamental and wild plants.   They also fly, but are slow to move so they’re easy to grab and kill, if you don’t mind a little stink on the fingers.   The Bug Book says healthy biodiversity will prevent leaf foots from becoming a [...]

We’re just about done with planting for the summer season at the Fonda garden.   Which is a good thing, cuz there’s a six-foot thorny weed in the back corner, assembling an army to take over operations.  I think the big one threw a rock at me last week. Early this month, Fonda inspiration and author [...]