Search Results for: label/garden design

542 results

4 Vermicomposting Tips

Mrs. Homegrown
Composting, Gardening, Vermiculture
11 Comments
Ecological landscape designer Darren Butler has been teaching a series of classes at the Root Simple compound this month (I think there may be a few open slots in his Intermediate Organic Gardening class if you’re interested. Click here for details). Darren dropped a few vermicomposting tips during the beginning class that we thought we’d share: 1) Worms don’t like empty space in their bin. They dislike voids. They appreciate...

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Germinator Update

Mr. Homegrown
Design, Gardening, Seeds
9 Comments
...ping top, especially if I lived somewhere with actual weather. Before–plastic sheeting on a flat surface–a bad idea! What was I thinking? The automatic vent lifter (available from Peaceful Valley Farm and Garden Supply) works great, popping open the germinator to keep the seedlings from frying during the day (remember this is Southern California). The sight of my tomato seedlings was a highlight of the week: If I lived in a...

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Worm Composting

Mr. Homegrown
Composting, Gardening, Vermiculture
2 Comments
...#8221; Applehof. Now we haven’t read this book, but having tried worm composting you will definitely need some advice either from the “internets” or from a book. We tried worm composting here in the compound garden a few years ago and found the process somewhat difficult. Unlike our present lazy composting methods, worm composting requires a certain amount of time and effort. When you start a worm composting system you are acqui...

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Maggots!

Mr. Homegrown
Composting, Gardening
RLeave a comment
Like a lot of the agricultural duties around our urban homestead, composting requires time and initiative. Unfortunately both our garden and our energy level are at a low point, both sapped by the record breaking heat – anyone see Al Gore’s movie? The result of this lack of effort has been the maggot party currently going on in our compost pile. The best compostin’ revolutionary I ever met, photographer Becky Cohen maintained a...

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Scarlet Runner Bean Stew

Homegrown Neighbor
Appropriate Technology, Food, Gardening, Recipes
RLeave a comment
Homegrown Neighbor here: Apparently a block away, Mrs. Homegrown has also been having bean cravings. Maybe there is something in the air. Maybe its just that beans are hearty, filling, inexpensive and all around awesome. I happened to get my hands on a bag of dried scarlet runner beans from Rancho Gordo specialty beans. Scarlet runners are a favorite garden bean as they are great climbers and produce beautiful red flowers. If you want to grow...

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All is Fire

Mr. Homegrown
Thoughtstylings
6 Comments
...8221; in Google to get around the pay wall). Taleb explains, “Healthy investments are those that produce goods that humans need to consume, not flat-screen TVs. Stocks are not a robust investment. Make sure you have a garden that bears fruits.” Amen to that. Taleb’s book, The Black Swan: The Impact of the Highly Improbable along with Seneca’s Letters from a Stoic and the fragments of Heraclitus are what I point people t...

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Greywater Linkage

Mr. Homegrown
Water and Power, Water Conservation
2 Comments
Outlaw water activists the Greywater Guerillas have added a nice set of examples to their website showing some creative greywater strategies. As figuring out how to get greywater out to your garden depends a lot on, say, if your shower is higher than your bamboo grove, it’s great to see some real world examples.Next step around our little crackhouse will be to figure out how to reuse our shower water. The GGs have given us some ideas . ....

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Outdoor Sink Makes Water Recycling Simple

Homegrown Neighbor
Design
12 Comments
...oked it up to the hose outlet. It drains into a simple 5 gallon bucket which I can then pour out into the nearby landscape. It is super simple grey water. Now instead of going inside to wash my hands or rinse produce from the garden, I can use the outdoor sink and easily recycle my water. Plus, there is less dirt and compost in my kitchen sink. This is the kind of so-simple-its-brilliant stuff I just love. While I would like my entire house to ha...

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My Favorite Lettuce Mix

Mr. Homegrown
Gardening, Seeds, Vegetable Gardening
7 Comments
Earlier this week when I decried the sorry state of our winter vegetable garden, I neglected to mention the one big success: lettuce. We grow lettuce mixes almost every year and we’ve never been disappointed. Homegrown salad greens are much better than store bought. Plus, at least where we live, they are easy to grow. We just sow the seed directly and water them in. We thin by eating the seedlings. Judging from the crowding in the photo a...

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