Anchor ads are not supported on this page.

4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs

San Diego's highway landscaping, how to beat avocado thieves

Our local sod industry, macadamia and orange groves, kelp harvesting, homegrown houseplants, the Carlsbad homespun seed dealer, the frenetic cultivation of roses in San Marcos

Jack Gottwig: "They had geraniums, they had poppies, they had narcissus, they had daffodils, you name it. But that’s when the crew had 20 people, and all they took care of was 163 from Interstate 8 to Interstate 5.” 

 - Image by Sandy Huffaker, Jr.
Jack Gottwig: "They had geraniums, they had poppies, they had narcissus, they had daffodils, you name it. But that’s when the crew had 20 people, and all they took care of was 163 from Interstate 8 to Interstate 5.”

Ground Cover

One of the Brazilian peppers, a 20-foot umbrella of lacy foliage, blocks an exit sign for Genesee Avenue. “Look at that sign. Kind of hard to see what it says, isn’t it? You’ve got to put yourself in the shoes of a tourist. You need to see that sign. That’s why I carry a set of loppers. I was on 94 about three months ago, and there were two ‘School Bus Stop Ahead’ signs totally blocked.”

By Ernie Grimm, Sept. 11, 1997 | Read full article

Most North County farmers have small farms, and they can't afford to absorb much theft.

Trees of Life

A few days passed, and Frank Salazar went back to the same grove and found Allan hooking more avocados out of trees. By this time, Salazar had been advised that if he saw a trespasser, he should hide and call the office. Salazar took down the license plate of a truck with a bed nearly full of avocados and called the number in to Kathryn Wolk, who owns Bejoca with her husband, Charley.

By Laura McNeal, Nov. 26, 1997 | Read full article

Sponsored
Sponsored
J.R. Wirthlin (left) and Dave Shaw at Am-Sod in San Pasqual Valley. “The flood in 1979 took the South Bay farm out of production. Floods in 1982 and 1983 took half the farm. In 1986, a flood took a third of the farm, and in 1990 another flood wiped out a third."

Rebel Beneath Your Feet

As the day advances the veil of mist lifts from the San Pasqual Valley, and this farm becomes a brighter green and even more beautiful. Irrigation sprinklers — long lines of wheels, or individual pulsating spinners — throw fountainlike patterns into the air and make the grass seem richer in hue. J.R. says that he irrigates “on demand,” that his water supply is from wells and therefore he’s free from paying agricultural rates.

By Douglass Whyknott, Oct. 8, 1998 | Read full article

Tom Cooper: “I even have a Jewish macadamia nut tree. I brought it back from Israel, where I went to consult for a doctor who was planting a grove there.”

Trees Hung with Nickels

They emphasize a major difference between Hawaiian and San Diego County macadamias: “The industry standard for macadamias [in jars from Hawaii] is a nut that has been deep-fried in coconut oil, just like you make french fries, then they use gum arabic to glue the salt on. Those taste super to most people, but here in Southern California, with the large segment of the population that is health conscious, they want raw or unadulterated products.”

By Linda Nevin, Feb. 18, 1999 | Read full article

He lifts a clump of leaves to show us the black soot that clings to our leaves and fruit like coal dust on Victorian buildings. “That’s the whitefly."

Diary of an Orange Grove

About 45 percent of the water in Fallbrook flows into groves, nurseries, and fields. In Rainbow 95 percent of the water is agricultural; in Valley Center, 85 percent. But when lumped with the rest of the county, these percentages have no significance at all. “The San Diego County Water Authority is an urban-water-user agency, and they don’t care if all the trees are gone. It’s like you’re political partners with a 600-pound gorilla.”

By Laura McNeal, Jan. 4, 1996 | Read full article

Kelp root. Sea urchins have been known to devour the roots of several hundred giant kelp plants in a matter of weeks.

The Forests Below

Environmentalists continue to voice their concern that the company is tampering with the fragile and delicate ecological relationship existing in the kelp beds. Abalone fishermen have complained that the quicklime used to kill the sea urchins has also decreased their yield of abalone. And surfers, who like the way the tall kelp smoothes their waves, curse at the kelp cutters who mow off the important top three or four feet of their ocean lawn.

By Manny Ramos, Nov. 9, 1978 | Read full article

Mac Garrant with Hawaiin seedlings and Costa Rican cuttings. "There are only seven or eight large foliage growers in the Encinitas area still growing specimen plants from seeds or seedlings."

The Nurture of Things

Many of the plants trucked in from Florida and Texas are considered to be of inferior quality when compared to California-grown plants. Even plants from Hawaii, though of high quality, often arrive here in poor condition because of the shock of travel. In recent years, thirteen nurseries in the Encinitas area have converted from growing their own plants to acclimatizing plants that were grown to specimen size in Florida, Texas, or Hawaii.

By Steve Sorensen, July 24, 1986 | Read full article

Conversations about aphids and citrus scale invariably wander into politics and the daily news. This is the reason people love coming here. Mr. Ledgerwood’s little seed store is a refuge from busy-ness and greed.

The Good Seed

At some point, Mr. Ledgerwood came to accept the fact that his seed business would never tum out exactly the way he’d planned it nearly 60 years ago. But it didn't matter because he'd spent his life doing what he wanted to do. “Oh, I suppose we don’t earn half as much as most people do,” he says. “But then we don’t have to…. The seed business always does well during hard times," he points out.

By Steve Sorensen, Nov. 8, 1990 | Read full article

"It’s important that the roses be picked at the right point. It’s different for each variety, but if you pick them too early, they’ll never open. Too late, they’ll be open too much by the time the customer gets them."

Where Roses Never Rest

At 8:45 a.m., the pink roses are in the crowded upstairs workroom of Nanelle’s Flowers and Orchids in Rancho Bernardo. Stems are stripped of thorns and lower leaves, and the outer layer of guard petals are removed from the still barely opened buds. With newly trimmed stems, the roses are plunged into a bath of Floralife for an hour to freshen the blooms, then into a bucket of clean water and deposited in the cooler.

By Linda Nevin, Sept. 4, 1997 | Read full article

The latest copy of the Reader

Please enjoy this clickable Reader flipbook. Linked text and ads are flash-highlighted in blue for your convenience. To enhance your viewing, please open full screen mode by clicking the icon on the far right of the black flipbook toolbar.

Here's something you might be interested in.
Submit a free classified
or view all
Previous article

Everything You’ve Ever Wanted To Know About doTERRA

Jack Gottwig: "They had geraniums, they had poppies, they had narcissus, they had daffodils, you name it. But that’s when the crew had 20 people, and all they took care of was 163 from Interstate 8 to Interstate 5.” 

 - Image by Sandy Huffaker, Jr.
Jack Gottwig: "They had geraniums, they had poppies, they had narcissus, they had daffodils, you name it. But that’s when the crew had 20 people, and all they took care of was 163 from Interstate 8 to Interstate 5.”

Ground Cover

One of the Brazilian peppers, a 20-foot umbrella of lacy foliage, blocks an exit sign for Genesee Avenue. “Look at that sign. Kind of hard to see what it says, isn’t it? You’ve got to put yourself in the shoes of a tourist. You need to see that sign. That’s why I carry a set of loppers. I was on 94 about three months ago, and there were two ‘School Bus Stop Ahead’ signs totally blocked.”

By Ernie Grimm, Sept. 11, 1997 | Read full article

Most North County farmers have small farms, and they can't afford to absorb much theft.

Trees of Life

A few days passed, and Frank Salazar went back to the same grove and found Allan hooking more avocados out of trees. By this time, Salazar had been advised that if he saw a trespasser, he should hide and call the office. Salazar took down the license plate of a truck with a bed nearly full of avocados and called the number in to Kathryn Wolk, who owns Bejoca with her husband, Charley.

By Laura McNeal, Nov. 26, 1997 | Read full article

Sponsored
Sponsored
J.R. Wirthlin (left) and Dave Shaw at Am-Sod in San Pasqual Valley. “The flood in 1979 took the South Bay farm out of production. Floods in 1982 and 1983 took half the farm. In 1986, a flood took a third of the farm, and in 1990 another flood wiped out a third."

Rebel Beneath Your Feet

As the day advances the veil of mist lifts from the San Pasqual Valley, and this farm becomes a brighter green and even more beautiful. Irrigation sprinklers — long lines of wheels, or individual pulsating spinners — throw fountainlike patterns into the air and make the grass seem richer in hue. J.R. says that he irrigates “on demand,” that his water supply is from wells and therefore he’s free from paying agricultural rates.

By Douglass Whyknott, Oct. 8, 1998 | Read full article

Tom Cooper: “I even have a Jewish macadamia nut tree. I brought it back from Israel, where I went to consult for a doctor who was planting a grove there.”

Trees Hung with Nickels

They emphasize a major difference between Hawaiian and San Diego County macadamias: “The industry standard for macadamias [in jars from Hawaii] is a nut that has been deep-fried in coconut oil, just like you make french fries, then they use gum arabic to glue the salt on. Those taste super to most people, but here in Southern California, with the large segment of the population that is health conscious, they want raw or unadulterated products.”

By Linda Nevin, Feb. 18, 1999 | Read full article

He lifts a clump of leaves to show us the black soot that clings to our leaves and fruit like coal dust on Victorian buildings. “That’s the whitefly."

Diary of an Orange Grove

About 45 percent of the water in Fallbrook flows into groves, nurseries, and fields. In Rainbow 95 percent of the water is agricultural; in Valley Center, 85 percent. But when lumped with the rest of the county, these percentages have no significance at all. “The San Diego County Water Authority is an urban-water-user agency, and they don’t care if all the trees are gone. It’s like you’re political partners with a 600-pound gorilla.”

By Laura McNeal, Jan. 4, 1996 | Read full article

Kelp root. Sea urchins have been known to devour the roots of several hundred giant kelp plants in a matter of weeks.

The Forests Below

Environmentalists continue to voice their concern that the company is tampering with the fragile and delicate ecological relationship existing in the kelp beds. Abalone fishermen have complained that the quicklime used to kill the sea urchins has also decreased their yield of abalone. And surfers, who like the way the tall kelp smoothes their waves, curse at the kelp cutters who mow off the important top three or four feet of their ocean lawn.

By Manny Ramos, Nov. 9, 1978 | Read full article

Mac Garrant with Hawaiin seedlings and Costa Rican cuttings. "There are only seven or eight large foliage growers in the Encinitas area still growing specimen plants from seeds or seedlings."

The Nurture of Things

Many of the plants trucked in from Florida and Texas are considered to be of inferior quality when compared to California-grown plants. Even plants from Hawaii, though of high quality, often arrive here in poor condition because of the shock of travel. In recent years, thirteen nurseries in the Encinitas area have converted from growing their own plants to acclimatizing plants that were grown to specimen size in Florida, Texas, or Hawaii.

By Steve Sorensen, July 24, 1986 | Read full article

Conversations about aphids and citrus scale invariably wander into politics and the daily news. This is the reason people love coming here. Mr. Ledgerwood’s little seed store is a refuge from busy-ness and greed.

The Good Seed

At some point, Mr. Ledgerwood came to accept the fact that his seed business would never tum out exactly the way he’d planned it nearly 60 years ago. But it didn't matter because he'd spent his life doing what he wanted to do. “Oh, I suppose we don’t earn half as much as most people do,” he says. “But then we don’t have to…. The seed business always does well during hard times," he points out.

By Steve Sorensen, Nov. 8, 1990 | Read full article

"It’s important that the roses be picked at the right point. It’s different for each variety, but if you pick them too early, they’ll never open. Too late, they’ll be open too much by the time the customer gets them."

Where Roses Never Rest

At 8:45 a.m., the pink roses are in the crowded upstairs workroom of Nanelle’s Flowers and Orchids in Rancho Bernardo. Stems are stripped of thorns and lower leaves, and the outer layer of guard petals are removed from the still barely opened buds. With newly trimmed stems, the roses are plunged into a bath of Floralife for an hour to freshen the blooms, then into a bucket of clean water and deposited in the cooler.

By Linda Nevin, Sept. 4, 1997 | Read full article

Comments
Sponsored

The latest copy of the Reader

Please enjoy this clickable Reader flipbook. Linked text and ads are flash-highlighted in blue for your convenience. To enhance your viewing, please open full screen mode by clicking the icon on the far right of the black flipbook toolbar.

Here's something you might be interested in.
Submit a free classified
or view all
Previous article

Morricone Youth, Berkley Hart, Dark Entities, Black Heart Procession, Monsters Of Hip-Hop

Live movie soundtracks, birthdays and more in Balboa Park, Grantville, Oceanside, Little Italy
Next Article

Todd Gloria gets cash from McDonald's franchise owners

Phil's BBQ owner for Larry Turner
Comments
Ask a Hipster — Advice you didn't know you needed Big Screen — Movie commentary Blurt — Music's inside track Booze News — San Diego spirits Classical Music — Immortal beauty Classifieds — Free and easy Cover Stories — Front-page features Drinks All Around — Bartenders' drink recipes Excerpts — Literary and spiritual excerpts Feast! — Food & drink reviews Feature Stories — Local news & stories Fishing Report — What’s getting hooked from ship and shore From the Archives — Spotlight on the past Golden Dreams — Talk of the town The Gonzo Report — Making the musical scene, or at least reporting from it Letters — Our inbox Movies@Home — Local movie buffs share favorites Movie Reviews — Our critics' picks and pans Musician Interviews — Up close with local artists Neighborhood News from Stringers — Hyperlocal news News Ticker — News & politics Obermeyer — San Diego politics illustrated Outdoors — Weekly changes in flora and fauna Overheard in San Diego — Eavesdropping illustrated Poetry — The old and the new Reader Travel — Travel section built by travelers Reading — The hunt for intellectuals Roam-O-Rama — SoCal's best hiking/biking trails San Diego Beer — Inside San Diego suds SD on the QT — Almost factual news Sheep and Goats — Places of worship Special Issues — The best of Street Style — San Diego streets have style Surf Diego — Real stories from those braving the waves Theater — On stage in San Diego this week Tin Fork — Silver spoon alternative Under the Radar — Matt Potter's undercover work Unforgettable — Long-ago San Diego Unreal Estate — San Diego's priciest pads Your Week — Daily event picks
4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs
Close

Anchor ads are not supported on this page.

This Week’s Reader This Week’s Reader