Garden | Curbstone Valley

French Oak, and Fall Flowers

by Clare | Sep 13, 2011 | Farm Blog, Garden, Non-Natives

California produces approximately 90% of all wine produced in the United States[1]. Many wines are aged in oak barrels, as the oak imparts desirable buttery, or vanilla, flavors to the wine. New barrels impart more flavor to wines than old barrels, and depending on...

Woodland Skipper

by Clare | Sep 9, 2011 | Beneficial Insects, Farm Blog, Garden, Native Wildlife, Natives

This year, as the gardens are starting to come together, it’s been tremendously rewarding to see more species of animal life showing up among the flowers. Some of the most notable additions to the gardens this year have been butterflies, including the Lorquin’s...

Installing The Garden Greenhouse

by Clare | Aug 30, 2011 | Farm Blog, Garden

We’ve been planning for a greenhouse in the vegetable garden area for some time. Initially we had expected to construct a shed in this part of the garden, but instead we decided that a greenhouse would prove to be a much more efficient use of the space, and be...

Building The Great Wall

by Clare | Aug 15, 2011 | Farm Blog, Garden

We’ve been planning a retaining wall project in the garden for some time. Last week, after numerous distractions, we finally managed to focus all of our attention and energy on constructing this 37 foot long wall to control erosion in the garden just below our...

Bees and Blooms in the August Garden

by Clare | Aug 2, 2011 | Farm Blog, Flora and Fauna, Flowers, Garden

It’s difficult to believe that it was two years ago today that we started the Curbstone Valley Farm blog, and I can think of no better way to celebrate than with our bees and blooms in the gardens this month, many of which weren’t here two years ago....

July Garden Update

by Clare | Jul 26, 2011 | Farm Blog, Garden, Vegetables

While much of the country has been struggling to stay cool in record-breaking heat, this is our second summer in a row with unseasonably cool temperatures, and so far at least, the edible garden seems to be more or less on par with where it was last year....