Ian Hamilton Finlay’s Gardening Wisdom

August 18, 2015

...at a garden should express moods and ideas and not be just a collection of plants or a collection of objects set amidst plants. Finlay’s garden is a poem. While it has a lot of sculpture in it, it’s not what you would call a “sculpture garden” which Finlay speaks despairingly of as little more than an “outdoor art gallery.” A liberal’s compost heap is his castle. Garden centres must become the Jacobin Clubs of the new Revolution. Certain gardens a...

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Will the Lawn Rebate Turn LA into a Gravel Moonscape?

Mr. Homegrown

March 9, 2015

Gardening

14 Comments

...ng gravel and mulch moonscapes. It’s an education problem. For most people plants are a sort of green background material. Our ancestors could distinguish between hundreds of plants, but that ancestral memory has been hijacked by commercial interests. Now, instead of plant identification skills, we name and distinguish things like cars and mobile devices. If there was a kind of car rebate program that inadvertently replaced BMWs with Pontiac Aztek...

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Nance Klemn is in Los Angeles and She’s Teaching Classes!

Mr. Homegrown

February 3, 2015

Events

..., and glycerin. Making tinctures is easy and preserves the essences of the plants for use as food and medicine. Plants have much to give us and so does Nance — you will go home with vinegar mother to make your own vinegars, and several tinctures. Cost is $45 and space is limited to 15 participants, so put it on your calendar and RSVP now! I will send out directions and address for mailing checks upon confirmation. CONTACT DELIA : [email protected]...

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2014, a Year in Comments: Plant Thievery, Loquats, Breakfast Cerial and the Apocalypse

Mr. Homegrown

December 26, 2014

Age of Limits, Food, Permaculture, Thoughtstylings

3 Comments

...l plant thievery news, a Los Angeles bakery lost most of its outdoor patio plants and the Episcopal Cathedral had an entire orange tree disappear. I like to think of these crimes from the plant’s perspective. Assuming they survive, the plant probably enjoys being able to travel and spread genetic material. Many plants, after all, evolve ingenious ways of, for instance, getting birds to eat seeds and poop them out over the landscape. Appealing to o...

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Getting started with worms

Mrs. Homegrown

August 29, 2014

Composting, Gardening, Vermiculture

8 Comments

...ste is full of nutrients which will make your house plants, your landscape plants and your vegetable garden grow strong and healthy. Worm castings and vermicompost, the products of a worm bin, are superb soil conditioners and plant tonics. Some quick definitions: Worm castings , also called vermicast, are worm poo. Vermicompost is the product of a worm bin, and it’s made mostly of worm castings, along with some compost material–that is, broken dow...

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