Search Results for: label/fertilizer

61 results

Vegetable Gardening for the Lazy

Mr. Homegrown
Gardening, Vegetable Gardening
12 Comments
...s we’ve covered the edible leaves here, jam making with the fruit here, avoiding the spines here and penned a very early potty-mouthed love letter to the plant here. Needless to say, a plant that needs no added water or fertilizer and grows in dismal, alkaline soil while producing an abundant crop is a plant that allows more time to get the perfect vermouth/gin ratio for those late afternoon cocktail sessions on the urban homestead....

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Why not plant some Calendula?

Mrs. Homegrown
Body Care, Calendula series, Gardening, Herbal Medicine, Herbs, How-to
21 Comments
...How big is it? Depends. A foot or so high, maybe more if it’s older or very happy, and probably about a foot across.  Water: Calendula needs regular water. The one thing you have to do is remember to water it. Fertilizer: You don’t really need it, but if you’ve got some nice compost you can spread some around the plants.  Harvest: To save flowers for medicine, pick them when they’re open and at their peak. Don...

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Greywater Workshops in Los Angeles

Mr. Homegrown
Events
RLeave a comment
...ng scale $15-$5Reservations required: [email protected] or 213/738-1254This workshop will cover: Ecological Sanitation – waterless toilets and urine harvesting – can save water, protect the environment, and create free fertilizer around the world. Learn the “how and why” of composting toilets and urine reuse, see projects from Mexico, China, Sweden, Zimbabwe, and the United States. Learn about options for homescale composting t...

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Moringa!

Mr. Homegrown
Gardening, Permaculture
1 Comment
...il) that can be used in cooking, cosmetics, and lubrication. The refined oil is clear, odorless, and resists rancidity at least as well as any other botanical oil. The seed cake remaining after oil extraction may be used as a fertilizer. The bark, sap, roots, leaves, seeds, oil and flowers are used in traditional medicine in several countries. In Jamaica, the sap is used for a blue dye. The flowers are also cooked and relished as a delicacy in We...

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UMass Soil Testing

Mr. Homegrown
Gardening, Soil
1 Comment
...and instructions can be found at http://www.umass.edu/plsoils/soiltest/. Why test? UMass sums it up nicely: to optimize crop production. to protect the environment from contamination by runoff and leaching of excess fertilizers. to aid in the diagnosis of plant culture problems. to improve the soil’s nutritional balance. to save money and conserve energy by applying only the amount of fertilizer needed. to identify soils contami...

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Nursery Customers From Hell

Mr. Homegrown
Gardening, Thoughtstylings
19 Comments
...oman. We’ll work on that though. Speaking of nutrients, this next comment proves just how good that staff is at Sunset Nursery–they suggest getting a soil test. A bad nursery would never pass up the chance to sell fertilizer. This Yelp commenter doesn’t appreciate this: Upon entering the office area and asking for some help (I was the only person in the nursery), a large man sitting behind the desk pointed me to a old Asian woma...

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Cat Poop Compost Installment #2

Mrs. Homegrown
Animals, Cats, Composting
16 Comments
...of green yard trimmings, veg scraps, urine, fresh horse manure, etc. Today, though, I decided to add alfalfa meal because we had some wasting away in the garage. Alfalfa meal is ground up alfalfa. It’s used as a natural fertilizer and top dressing, and is high in nitrogen. Generally speaking, I think nitrogen should be free, but if you don’t have a lot of scraps/trimmings/spare urine around, you could do worse than to have some alfalf...

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Peat-free Planting Mix Recipe With Coconut Coir

Mrs. Homegrown
Gardening, How-to, Soil, Vegetable Gardening
21 Comments
...leaves (the ones that come after the cotyledons). At this time–or no later than the opening of the second set of true leaves–you will want to feed your seedlings by watering them with some kind of diluted organic fertilizer of your choice. Do this maybe once a week until you transplant them. Feeding accelerates root growth which is even more important to plant health than leaf growth. It prepares the plants to thrive after transplant...

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SIP Improvement

Mr. Homegrown
Gardening, Self Watering Containers
13 Comments
...f the bucket all the way up to the top of the soil line. If those roots get to the water chamber, your tomatoes will end up tasteless and watery. As long as you lay down the cloth and keep the SWC full, use good potting soil, fertilizer, etc. – you will have some damn good tomatoes, and plenty of them! I’d also recommend growing smaller tomato varieties in SIPs. If you’re using SIPs this season, leave a comment and let us know h...

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