Grafting Your Fruit Trees for More Varieties Have you ever wondered about the magic behind grafting fruit trees? Jesse Imbach, a member of the California Rare Fruit Growers Association, explains more about his upcoming grafting class (January 30, 2016, from 2 PM to 4 PM) on orchard alchemy. What is grafting? Grafting is the technique of physically inserting the living tissues of one plant […]

Garden Classes and Events to Grow Your Expertise All garden classes hosted at Common Ground Garden, 687 Arastradero Road, Palo Alto 94306  More classes on the way! A ticket for one of our classes supports all of our community oriented programming, including: Youth Education (free field trips for Title 1 schools), garden Volunteer Program, and weekly […]

Weeds Enjoyed Both in Your Garden and on Your Table What’s your knee-jerk reaction to weeds as a gardener? In the past, I used to hear my mother’s voice urging me to uproot those weeds out of our garden. But then I learned that the dandelion is full of nutrients, and each part of the plant […]

The Checklist for a Winter Garden Is your garden ready for winter? Click on the November calendar above to see your November planting guide, and–remember–in California, November is one of the last winter months to transplant! This PDF will show you the basics of what you can flat, plant, and transplant in this winter month of November. Keep checking back […]

Pumpkins and winter squash are yet another impressively versatile vegetable. We can thank our ancestors for breeding such a useful plant! They are delicious in pie, stew, curry, and muffins. They are tasty when stuffed, and the seeds are a healthy snack. Check out our new post on the tastiest varieties to cook with. The Kakai variety, […]

Last update: January 27, 2017 Hot composting is far more common than cold composting. While hot composting is a fine place to start as a beginning composter, it is important to remember that it is—on a global scale—less sustainable. The question still remains: Why cold compost? More compost out for the materials you put in. Hot […]

It’s an interesting anecdotal survey to ask people how their week has been. Most people reply, “Busy!” In a time where busyness is standard and life has a need for speed, fewer and fewer people are learning to cook and garden. At the same time, dining is trending more and more as the crux of […]