A change of venue

There’s been a lot of motion happening for me this year, and so it should come as no surprise that I’m adding another move to the list. This time, it’s a blog move of sorts.

I’ve dug in over at http://www.theinadvertentgardener.com, which isn’t all that much of a change; after all, that URL has always brought you to the right landing place. But for those of you who have this specific address bookmarked or in your feed reader, now’s the time to update. The latest, greatest RSS feed is located here:
http://www.theinadvertentgardener.com/index.php/feed/

If you still have the old feed in your reader, you may see some posts bubble up – I’m going to be doing some cleanup along the way and redirecting links from this location to the new one. If you have me in your blogroll, I’d love it if you’d update the link, too.

So, on to http://www.theinadvertentgardener.com. Hope to see you there!

Guest post: A garden out of control

Editor’s Note: This is a guest post by Chase Ledebur, my cousin Kären’s son. Chase has been gardening this summer for the first time at home, and I wanted you to hear from this wonderful and talented 12-year-old in his very own words.

Hi, I’m Chase – welcome to my garden. This is the first vegetable garden I’ve had at home. At school I was a part of planting a community garden, but it is a flower garden.

My Mom and I built the raised bed together and then planted 4 varieties of tomatoes, summer squash, three kinds of peppers, zucchini, Japanese eggplant, basil and oregano.

I have really enjoyed watching the plants grow and bear fruit. At first it started out small, but it’s now out of control. It’s so out of control that we had to cut back all our plants, stake some of them, and we are constantly harvesting all of our vegetables.

I love the whole process. Next year I think we’ll plant less, or maybe we’ll add another bed.

Photography shouldn’t distract from weeding

On my way out to Oakland from Iowa, I made a stop in Grand Junction, Colorado, at my cousin’s house. She and her son Chase had planted their first vegetable garden in a beautiful raised bed off one side of the house. Tomatoes, squash, basil, oregano – the garden was still filled with seedlings when I got there, but had the promise of an amazing summer of production.

Chase gave me a tour of the garden before I headed out toward Salt Lake City, where I had a dinner planned with Kalyn of Kalyn’s Kitchen, and I started shooting pictures almost as soon as I got out there. Chase put up with my paparazzi-esque behavior while he weeded the garden, but only did so for so long.

“Genie,” he said, looking up at me with a pointed look. “You really could stop taking those pictures and start helping me with the weeding.”

Well, I did help. A bit. And just recently, I asked my cousin if Chase might be interested in giving my readers an update on how the garden is doing, now that the summer season is in high gear and veggies are popping out all over. As it turned out, he was interested, so stay tuned – on Wednesday, I’ll be turning the floor over to Chase, who is more than just an excellent gardener – he’s a fantastic kid!

Green Thumb Sunday: Sunflower unfurling

Gardeners, plant and nature lovers can join in Green Thumb Sunday every week. Visit As the Garden Grows for more information.

Puppet shows, live at the Victory Garden!

Yes, folks, if you are of the ilk that likes puppet shows, fun carnival games and other interactive experiences, but are also of the ilk that does not like to pay for said shows/games/experiences, do I have an activity for you.

On Saturday, August 16, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. at the Victory Garden, there will be a Community Day and Sustainability Resource Fair. I also have on good authority that there will also be a group celebrating Pakistani Independence Day, but that is independent of this particular event.

Regardless, it’s going to be a wild and wacky day at the garden, so why not come down and join the party? I’ll be there all day, helping guide you through the World Famous Victory Garden.