http://www.full-circlegardening.com Full Circle Gardening offers garden advice, pruning, and maintenance and design services. Our approach to gardening is holistic. We blend science, art and nature to create beautiful, healthy and appropriate landscapes for the Los Angeles region. Fri, 19 Mar 2010 21:27:40 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en Spring is in full swing here in Southern California. We finally had a year with at least some decent rain and now its effects are starting to show. I went to Palm Springs and Joshua Tree last week and the desert was absolutely beautiful. The wildflowers were just starting to ... http://www.full-circlegardening.com/fruit-trees/spring-blooms/ I am planning on teaching a lot of workshops and classes in the new year. I have had several requests for urban chicken classes and fruit tree pruning. So those are what we will start with. Our first urban chicken class will be January 16th from 10:30-12 at The Learning Garden ... http://www.full-circlegardening.com/news/chicken-fruit-tree-classes-for-winter/ Season's Eatings. This is my favorite new fall salad. The colors are fantastic and rich.  Kale is abundant in my garden right now and the farmer's markets are full of kale as well. If you have never tried kale raw before, this will alter the way you think about salads. Kale ... http://www.full-circlegardening.com/news/kale-pomegranate-and-persimmon-salad/ How is your home orchard? Fall is the time of year to start planning and planting perennials here in Southern California. That means that you can start planting native plants, drought tolerant shrubs and lots and lots of trees. Here at Full Circle we especially love fruit trees. Fruit trees ... http://www.full-circlegardening.com/news/its-fruit-tree-planting-time/ The backyard nursery is crammed full of trays full of baby seedlings. We have been planting up a storm. There are both Tuscan black kale and the curly blue kale, several kinds of broccoli and cauliflower, lettuces and arugula everywhere. We will have these at the farmer's markets for ... http://www.full-circlegardening.com/news/fall-season-seedlings-are-here/ This is a great multi-purpose plant. Feijoa are native to South America and are considered sub-tropical fruit trees. They are well adapted to the California climate, enjoying heat and tolerating occasional cold snaps. They also need very little water once established. You have probably seen this pretty plant all over ... http://www.full-circlegardening.com/news/pineapple-guava-feijoa-sellowiana/ Mulch is a magical, multifunctional thing. It conserves soil moisture, protects plant roots, prevents erosion and over time, leads to more workable, healthy soil. So why isn't that we don't see it around every tree and beneath every shrub? I see a lot of bare, hard earth in gardens full ... http://www.full-circlegardening.com/news/mulch/ People often seem confused when I tell them that I am a professional gardener. They understand the title landscape or garden designer and are familiar with guys that mow lawns and blow leaves around. But apparently my job description is baffling. I spend time with plants and play in ... http://www.full-circlegardening.com/about/realgardenin/ The idea behind backyard orchard culture is to maximize available space and spread out your harvest by keeping trees small. It is called backyard orchard culture to differentiate it from commercial orchard culture. The available space, harvest and labor considerations are radically different for home growers versus commercial growers. Most deciduous ... http://www.full-circlegardening.com/news/backyardorchardcultur/ [caption id="attachment_347" align="alignleft" width="225" caption="Distorted leaves affected by citrus leafminer"][/caption] Is your orange tree a little ugly right now? I get a lot of questions related to this particular problem. In the summer and fall, leaves on citrus trees are distorted by the activities of citrus leafminer larvae. The leafminer is ... http://www.full-circlegardening.com/news/citrus-leafminer-phyllocnistis-citrella/