A Prickly Situation

...once established. And note that not all prickly pear varieties produce edible fruit so when you look for cuttings seek out plants that are productive and tasty. It’s the ideal plant for what we call “pirate” gardening, the act of taking over a vacant lot or otherwise abandoned public or semi-public space. Plant a bunch of prickly pear and come back to harvest the nopalitos and fruit. More info and recipes can be found here and h...

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4 Vermicomposting Tips

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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Picture Sunday: A Winter Harvest in Florida

Root Simple reader Noel Ramos sent the picture above of some local fruit grown in Florida to remind us that winter gardening is big there too. Noel grows over 500lbs of fruit and veggies every year on a quarter acre city lot. In the picture: Canistel, Rollinia, red navels, Ruby Red Grapefruit, Carambola, pineapple, sapodilla, sugar apple, dwarf Cavendish bananas, ambarella, jaboticaba, jackfruit flowers, papaya, lemon and red palm fruits (inedi...

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Saturday Linkages: $1 Homes, Compost Heated Showers and Potty Talk

3573 Lincoln St.in Gary, Indiana. Yours for $1. Home Sweet Home Gary Indiana unveils Dollar Home Program: http://bit.ly/19HD517  Gardening Pipe planters http://www.recyclart.org/2013/06/pipe-planters/ … Mariposa Nabi Community Garden features this alter via @GlenDake http://pinterest.com/pin/306667055846811135/ … DIY IKEA Hackers: New life for Old Poang! http://www.ikeahackers.net/2013/06 13 Ways To Turn Your Outdated ’90s Tech Into Truly Usa...

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Why I Grow Vegetables From Seed

Chard destined for failure On the last day of a vegetable gardening class that Kelly and I just finished teaching at the Huntington, we needed to demonstrate how to transplant seedlings. The problem was that we didn’t have any seedlings at home ready to transplant, so I had to make a trip to a garden center. That sorry errand reminded me why I grow from seed. All of the seedlings at the nursery were uninteresting varieties and ro...

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Plantago coronopus, a.k.a. Buckhorn Plantain, a.k.a. Erba Stella

...s boiled and sauteed with garlic and olive oil. The Silver Spoon suggests cooking it with either pancetta or anchovies. As for growing Plantago coronopus, let me put it this way, if you can’t grow it consider giving up gardening. I left some in my seedling flat and, with just three inches of soil, it produced a viable crop. It’s a weed. While I’ve seen it described as a cool weather green, it grew fine this summer (admittedly a...

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City Repair LA

...hat I like about Mark Lakeman’s actions is that they aren’t “actions.” There is none of the attention seeking, pseudo-revolutionary rhetoric that one finds in activities such as “guerrilla” gardening (or perhaps some of our own past activities!). Instead the focus is on problem solving through getting neighborhoods together and doing things rather than standing around and complaining. Yesterday I had the great...

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The Horror

Terrifying photo via Bike Snob NYC The day began with the discovery that our neighbor’s roommate, practicing the kind of gardening we associate with crazy people and goats, had hacked off half the length of the native grape vine that we had counted on covering an ugly chain link fence. An innocent mistake, but evidence that some folks apparently don’t know what grape vines look like and that they loose their leaves in the winter....

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Saturday Linkages: Makers, Haters and Beekeeping Donkeys

Critters Beekeeping Donkey is a Honey Farmer’s Best Friend : TreeHugger http://www.treehugger.com/culture/honey-farmer-creates-beekeeping-suit-his-donkey.html … via bikejuju Rental Search, Caused by Storm, Is Complicated by Pet Chickens http://nyti.ms/VXoM3v Gardening Exactly what wildlife do we want overwintering in our beds? | Garden Rant http://gardenrant.com/2012/11/what-wildlife-do-we-want-overwintering-in-our-beds.html … Grounded De...

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July Linkages

Mrs. Homegrown seen creating a “hyperlink” in between gardening and food preservation duties. Over at Small Measure, author Ashley English is hosting a contest and giving away a jar of “lip-smacking Peach & Lavender Butter” to promote her upcoming series of homesteading books. Look for a new contest each month. English’s “Canning & Preserving”, published by Lark Books, will be available April...

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