Cottage Garden Coaching

06/10/2026

If your tomatoes are dropping flowers right now — it's not your fault.

Blossom drop happens when daytime temperatures push above 90 degrees. The pollen becomes non-viable. The plant drops the flower rather than attempting pollination it can't complete.

This is climate, not error. And it happens every summer in the Sierra Foothills to even the most carefully tended gardens.

What helps:
→ Deep consistent watering — check two inches down, not the surface
→ Mulch around the root zone
→ Shade cloth during peak afternoon heat
→ Keep companion flowers blooming for pollinators

What doesn't help: fertilizing. High nitrogen during a heat event makes blossom drop worse. Wait until temperatures moderate.

The plant is not lost. It's waiting.

More at this blog post. https://bit.ly/49Sa4VE

06/09/2026

Why tomatoes drop blossoms in a Sierra Foothills heat wave — and what Nevada County gardeners can do about it before the season slips away.

06/06/2026

June is here. July 1st is four weeks away — and that's when Guided closes for the season.

If you've been thinking about getting support for your garden this summer — this is the window. There are a few spots left and the season still has months of growing ahead of it.

Guided is four weeks of personal, in-garden coaching. I come to your yard. We assess your specific space, build a custom plan, and work in your garden together week by week until you're harvesting with confidence.

Guided — personal kitchen garden coaching, in your own backyard.
Grow your food with pride.

$1,197. Start any Monday through July 1.

https://bit.ly/CGCGardenChat
Let's talk about your garden.

06/03/2026

One garden task worth doing every time you walk through the beds this week:

Pinch your basil.

The moment basil starts to flower — pinch out the flower bud with your fingers. Once basil flowers it puts its energy into seed production and the leaves lose their flavor.

Pinch it back and it will keep producing fresh, fragrant leaves all summer.

Same goes for your marigolds and nasturtiums — pinch the spent flowers and the plant keeps blooming rather than going to seed. More flowers means more pollinators. More pollinators means better fruit set on your tomatoes and cucumbers.

Thirty seconds every time you walk through. Worth it every time.

New blog post https://bit.ly/3S20xoN

06/02/2026

There's a moment in early June when the garden starts to look like it knows what it's doing.

And a question forms: what is actually possible here?

Paradise Lot by Eric Toensmeier is my answer to that question.

200 edible species on a tenth of an acre. Compacted urban soil. A design built on relationships between plants rather than rows of individual crops.

The deepest lesson isn't about plants — it's about thinking in systems. And it's directly applicable to every Nevada County backyard I've ever walked through.

New Blog post this week — book review + reading list. Link in bio.

And by the way... If you want someone to think alongside you in your actual garden this summer — Guided has a few spots left through July. Book a free Garden Chat to see if its right for you. https://bit.ly/CGCGardenChat

06/02/2026

pThere is a moment in every garden season — usually sometime in early June — when the space starts to look like it knows what it's doing.

The tomatoes are climbing. The basil is bushing out. The marigolds are opening.

And somewhere in the back of your mind a question forms: what is actually possible here?

That question is what this week's post is about — and it's the question Eric Toensmeier answers in Paradise Lot, the book I recommend most to women who are starting to think beyond the raised bed.

200 edible species on a tenth of an acre. In urban Massachusetts. Starting from compacted soil.

And by the way... If you want someone to think alongside you in your actual garden this summer — Guided has a few spots left through July. Book a free Garden Chat to see if its right for you. https://bit.ly/CGCGardenChat

A Nevada County garden coach reviews Paradise Lot by Eric Toensmeier — and shares what every Sierra Foothills kitchen gardener should read next.

05/30/2026

The garden doesn't need perfect conditions.

It doesn't need unlimited time or a season without interruptions.

It needs someone who shows up — consistently, attentively, even on the mornings that don't go as planned. Especially on those mornings.

That's what Guided gives you. Not just a coaching program — someone beside you through the real version of gardening. The wind events, the deer, the busy weeks, and the harvest that comes anyway when the foundation is solid.

Guided — personal kitchen garden coaching, in your own backyard.
Grow your food with pride.

Start any Monday through July. A few spots still open.
https://bit.ly/CGCGuided for more info

05/27/2026

The gardens that survive a Nevada County summer aren't the ones that got the most hours.

They're the ones built for a real life — not an ideal one.

Consistent small attention beats occasional intense effort every time.

On the days when you only have twenty minutes:
→ Check the water
→ Walk the beds
→ Do one small thing

That's enough to keep it going.

Full post this week on keeping your garden alive through the busy season.
https://bit.ly/NevadaCountyBusyLife

Guided is open now. https://bit.ly/CGCGardenChat

05/27/2026

Security breach.

It was sunrise. I wandered out to the chicken coop to deliver kitchen scraps, said my good mornings, and opened the run for the day.

My eyes lifted across the meadow-like food forest — and met the soft brown eyes of a deer on the wrong side of the fence.

My heart jumped. I shouted something I won't repeat here. She galloped, unhurried, to the perimeter. The gap in the fence from last week's wind event had been discovered.

Which meant my garden morning was now being spent fortifying the perimeter instead.

This is gardening. The real version. New post this week on keeping your garden going when life — and deer — get in the way.

A Nevada County garden coach shares how to keep a kitchen garden alive and producing through the interruptions, the deer, and the chaos of real life.

05/23/2026

Your plants are in the ground.

Now comes the part most people navigate alone — the watering questions, the troubleshooting, the wondering whether what you're seeing is normal.

That's exactly where Guided is most useful. Four weeks of personal, in-garden coaching. I come to your yard. We work in your garden together — checking the drip system, reading the soil, making sure what you planted has every chance of making it through summer and into harvest.

Guided is personal kitchen garden coaching, in your own backyard.

$1,197. Start any Monday through July. A few spots still open.

If you want someone to show up in your garden and help you actually do this — book a free Garden Chat and let's talk. Link in bio