Satan’s House Plant: More on Asparagus setaceus/plumosus

...Photo by Mr. Subjunctive It seems like we hit a raw nerve with our mention of one of our least favorite plants, Asparagus setaceus. Just in a case you’d like to know more about this demonic plant, Mr. Subjunctive, a garden center employee with a fantastic blog, Plants are the Strangest People, has a detailed post about Asparagus setaceus (apparently also known as Asparagus plumosus)....

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Supper for a buck?

...just a handful of leaves 2) I could forage it, and 3) plenty of the salad plants in our yard are volunteers anyway. It sounds Spartan, but the beans were really good, silky and filling, and the salad had little flowers from our arugula and mustard plants. The bread sopped up the juice in the bottom of the bowl. It was enough. It was a good way to end the day–not too heavy, and easy to pull together. Cheap eating can be good eating. I’m going to p...

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Trees Susceptible to the Polyphagous Shot Hole Borer

...st Dr. Jerrold Turney. I’ve learned, as a gardener, that there are certain plants in every bio-region that simply aren’t worth planting due to pest pressures. When it comes to trees it can be frustrating, expensive and downright dangerous to have a tree attacked by an incurable infection or pest. PSHB attacks hundreds of different tree species but is hosted on a more limited number. The list of PSHB host trees is growing as scientists study the pr...

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Why I’m Growing Vegetables in a Straw Bale

...y sized cargo bicycle. And in my last straw bale garden some of the tomato plants showed signs (a lot of leaves and not a lot of fruit) of too much nitrogen. On the other side of that equation I grew some truly monstrous winter squash, enough to feed all the inhabitants of a generously sized cult compound. This time around I’m trying an inorganic approach, substituting the blood meal I used last time for urea. I’m curious to see if I notice any di...

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Farm in a Box

...h circulates into the planter box via a pump to provide fertilizer for the plants as well as removing nitrogen and ammonia from the water. From the Earth Solutions website: “By integrating fish with vegetables, naturally balanced aquatic ecosystems are established making it unnecessary to add fertilizer, chemicals or remove nitrogen rich water. As in nature, plants, fish and oxygen loving bacteria create a symbiotic relationship; Fish waste is con...

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