Search Results for: label/least favorite plant

424 results

Lasagna Gardening Simplified

Mr. Homegrown
Gardening, Soil
16 Comments
...Scott suggests skipping the double digging, cardboard and kitchen scraps. The double digging disrupts soil texture, the cardboard interferes with water penetration (I know this from experience) and the kitchen scraps create a plant nutrient overload. Instead Chalker-Scott suggests simply a very thick layer of mulch–12 inches. Mulch is often free, as many cities give it away, and it does wonders for the soil. Mulch, in fact, breaks down int...

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Only at Home: Huntington Ranch Symposium Nov. 18

Mr. Homegrown
Events
1 Comment
...rcial settings. From the use of gray water irrigation systems to growing offbeat edibles, learn how to harvest the unique potential from your home garden. From 8:30am to 5:00pm. Featuring: Master gardener Yvonne Savio, native plant specialist Lili Singer, the greywater expertise of Leigh Jerrard, garden designer John Lyons, master preserver Ernest Miller and soil expert Corey Wells. Delicious continental breakfast, lunch and afternoon refreshment...

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Reseeding Vegetables for the Warm Season

Mr. Homegrown
Gardening
13 Comments
So what edible/useful plants pop up in lead contaminated soil along a hot, dry alternately sun-baked and deep-shaded south side of a house in Southern California? After dumping a load of compost along our side yard, mother nature is doing her own food forestry experiment. This month the following things popped up out of that load of compost: stinging nettle cardoon tomatoes nasturtium fennel sunflowers Elsewhere in the yard, New Zealand spin...

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How to Prep Fabric for Dyeing: Scouring

Mrs. Homegrown
Domesticus, How-to
12 Comments
...ool, and gentle soap. Linen also needs scouring, but I know even less about that. My primary sources for this are: The Art and Craft of Natural Dyeing: Traditional Recipes for Modern Use by J.N. Liles The Handbook of Natural Plant Dyes by Sasha Duerr HOW TO SCOUR COTTON You need: 1) A big non-reactive cooking pot, big enough so the fabric will not be crowded. I used our enamel canning pot. 2) Sodium Carbonate aka Washing Soda aka Soda Ash aka S...

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Digital Farming- What’s The Deal?

Homegrown Neighbor
Gardening, Thoughtstylings, Vegetable Gardening
29 Comments
...rently people spend a lot of time “farming” on line. Twenty two million a day in fact, according to the article. There are several farming games on Facebook, Farmville being the most popular. You can get seeds to plant, watch your crops grow and then harvest them. Some people are so addicted that they are eschewing real life responsibilities and social obligations to harvest their virtual soybeans. It is even suggested that the popu...

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Extension Service Webinars on Organic Agriculture

Mr. Homegrown
Gardening
2 Comments
...hat gardeners can learn. Having co-founded a bread baking club, the Los Angeles Bread Bakers, I was particularly excited to watch the  webinar on ancient grains. I’m also planning on watching “Linking Cover Crops, Plant Pathogens, and Disease Control in Organic Tomatoes” and “NRCS Conservation Practices, Organic Management, and Soil Health“. Time to cancel that Netflix subscription!...

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Prickly Pear Fruit Chips

Mr. Homegrown
Food, Recipes
13 Comments
...Spanish, can also be dried for later use. A note to the permaculturalists out there. It’s worth emphasizing that the prickly pear cactus, Opuntia ficus-indica, in my personal experience, is the single most productive plant in our small lot. It’s also the easiest to propagate, and thrives on neglect. It provides a tremendous amount of food for no work and no supplemental irrigation. We’d all do well with more of it around. In...

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Shibori Challenge Proves Challenging

Mrs. Homegrown
Domesticus, Mistakes
9 Comments
...start any new craft, I’m hitting various walls and spinning around trying to figure out what’s what. But that’s okay. Our motto around here is Go Forth, Embrace Failure, and give Her a Big Kiss. The foraged, plant-based dyes I’ve been working with are only producing pale tones for me, even with mordants. I’ve made a sort of olive grey out of mint and a light sage out of artichoke and a beige out of coffee. These shad...

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A Mystery Philippine Vegetable

Mr. Homegrown
Gardening, Vegetable Gardening
8 Comments
...d, dodging the authorities and knowing where your carrots come from. I harvested for the camera, an unimpressive string bean and two small cucumbers. On a whim, I suggested that we visit the parkway garden that inspired us to plant our own. Just two blocks away, this parkway garden is the handiwork of a retired couple from the Philippines. As luck would have it, the couple pulled up during our interview. Julie (I’m afraid I can’t spel...

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