Search Results for: label/garden design

543 results

My Big Fat Greek Squash

Mr. Homegrown
Gardening, Vegetable Gardening
12 Comments
Every time I visit my mom, her Greek neighbor pops over the fence to offer me seeds and plants. He visits Greece each summer and comes back with seeds for plants whose names he can’t translate into English. As a result I always have a few mystery Greek vegetables growing in the garden. This spring he gave me a squash seedling he had propagated. It grew into a massive vine and produced two winter squashes whose weight exceeded the capacit...

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California Agriculture Journal Online

Mr. Homegrown
Animals, Bees, Resources
1 Comment
The University of California has put 63 years worth of its journal California Agriculture online for convenient downloading at californiaagriculture.ucanr.org. There’s plenty of detailed (peer reviewed!) nuggets for the home gardener between the pages of this scientific journal. Make sure to check out the article and video of UC Berkeley entomologist Gordon Frankie explaining what kinds of plants are best for attracting bees in your urban...

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Citron

Mr. Homegrown
Food, Gardening
5 Comments
...not be a road to riches for us, even in our perfect growing climate here in Los Angeles. We’ll stick with our quince and apricot trees which, incidentally, along with citron are contenders for the forbidden fruit of the garden of Eden (most apples don’t grow in Mediterranean climates).  For more on the history of citron see, “The Secret Life of Etrogs” in the Jewish Journal....

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Indigo 101

Mrs. Homegrown
Domesticus, Gardening, Herbs
5 Comments
...o Mexico and South America. • You can grow your own indigo (any seeds you buy labeled as Indigo will probably be tictorium or suffructicosa). Indigofera is a pretty plant from the legume family. That family is valuable in the garden because it draws nitrogen into the soil. It would be nice to grow just as a conversation starter. I don’t know much about making the dye from scratch, but it is quite possible if you’re not afraid of ferme...

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Tree Spinach – Chenopodium giganteum

Mr. Homegrown
Food, Foraging, Vegetable Gardening
RLeave a comment
For most of the country planting time is far off but for us, here in the Homegrown Revolution compound in Mediterranean Los Angeles, it’s time to start the winter garden. The billowing clouds of apocalyptic smoke from the fires ravaging the suburban fringes of our disaster prone megalopolis are the only thing that keeps us inside today, giving us time to contemplate one of the seed packets that has crossed our desk, Chenopodium giganteum a...

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Urban Homesteading Thing Catching On

Mr. Homegrown
Thoughtstylings
25 Comments
...d cozy in the winter. fenced back yard is an urban oasis with three apple trees, three plum trees, eight choke cherry bushes, a grape vine, covered deck, and enclosed fire pit with a private seating area. A perennial flower garden lines the path to the front yard. Three rain barrels provide ample water for large vegetable and flower gardens. get to know your neighbours at the nearby community hall and rink. The hall holds a variety of childr...

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Skunks, are they edible?

Mr. Homegrown
Gardening, Pests
24 Comments
Skunk issues in the garden this winter have led to murderous thoughts. Those thoughts, in turn, caused an intemperate Google search which turned up the following gem from the March 1959 issue of Boy’s Life: Incidentally, skunks are edible. The Indians ate skunk and so has many a trapper. I tried it, rolling pieces of cleanly-skinned carcass in flour and browning and steaming them in a skillet. The meat is light in color and well flavored....

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My Trip to Maker Faire

Mr. Homegrown
Bikes, Solar, Thoughtstylings
3 Comments
...lso runs homegrown.org. Yes, there were paintings done by snails.   Solar popped popcorn. A rep from Sweet Maria’s Coffee gave a great demo on all the ways you can roast your own coffee. Expensive AK-47 toting garden gnomes. And solar powered bikes. Not sure how this would work out on an LA street. Someone in the Homegrown area was processing greywater in bulk containers planted with bamboo. Overall I had a great time. It was...

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How to Remove Bees From a Tree

Mr. Homegrown
Animals, Bees, Gardening, Trees
18 Comments
...d wrap a screen around the entrance so they can’t get out. Next day he comes with a chainsaw and saws off the limb with the bees in it. Then he gives the log filled with bees away to someone who wants to put it in their garden. Hire a beekeeper to do a “trap-out.” This is harder to do and takes at least six weeks. The beekeeper comes after dark and installs a one way exit for the bees. Next to the exit the beekeeper places a hiv...

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An Echo Park Weed Salad

Mr. Homegrown
Food, Foraging
1 Comment
...ence. Oxalis is sometimes known as Iron Cross Plant because of the shape of its leaves–see the Plants for a Future Database entry on Oxalis for more information). It’s a relative of sorrel, which we have growing in our garden and has a similar taste. Oxalis contains vitamin C, but also contains oxalic acid which can interfere with calcium absorption, though you’d have to eat vast quantities to have an ill effect. As Klehm pointed out, thes...

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