Search Results for: label/seeds

180 results

Saturday Linkages: Poison, Pee and Plagiarism

Mr. Homegrown
Saturday Linkages
3 Comments
Birdhouse shaped like a Google Map icon. Via Dornob. For the birds Avian Accommodations: Google Map Pin-Shaped Birdhouses | Designs & Ideas on Dornob http://dornob.com/avian-accommodations-google-map-pin-shaped-birdhouses/ … Thar she blows . . . Here’s to No-Blow Gardens | Garden Rant http://gardenrant.com/2013/03/heres-to-no-blow-gardens.html … DIY Pure Salvage: 10 Eclectic Tiny Homes Built with 99% Scrap | Designs & Ideas on Dornob...

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Sunflowers and Squirrels

Mr. Homegrown
Animals, Gardening, Pests
25 Comments
It’s a losing battle, the one we gardeners face against the squirrel menace. As the mammoth sunflowers we planted this summer approached the harvest stage, I tied some paper bags over the flower heads to prevent squirrels and birds from eating all the seeds. Mostly, it has worked. But, as you can see from the animation above, one pesky squirrel managed to figure out how to open one of the bags. Perhaps he used the adjacent tomato cage for...

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Garden Edibles

Mr. Homegrown
Miscellaneous
3 Comments
We’ve pretty much just been growing Italian vegetable varieties for almost ten years now and have never looked back. Which is why we were really excited to hear that Homegrown Evolution pal Craig Ruggless has a new website: www.gardenedibles.com that imports seeds from the Larosa Emanuele Sementi company of Italy. Craig reminded us recently about something we remember from our trip to Italy a few years ago that, for Italians, vegetables...

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The Survivor

Mr. Homegrown
Thoughtstylings
1 Comment
...ars is an ornamental pomegranate tree (Punica granatum) that, while attractive, we had previously assumed was useless due to the very small fruit. We’ve tried to eat them, and found the flavor a little too tart, and the seeds difficult to extract. Thanks to a tip on the internets, we discovered that the answer to using ornamental pomegranates is to juice them. The fresh juice was surprisingly sweet and flavorful, leading us immediately to g...

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A Fast Bean Friday: Khichdi

Mrs. Homegrown
Bean Fest, Food, Recipes
6 Comments
...ntil translucent. Then all at once, I add the spices, letting them heat just until they’re fragrant: 1 heaping teaspoon of whole cumin1/2 teaspoon of turmericA big pinch of hot pepper flakesMaybe a teaspoon of coriander seeds, since I’m into those lately(One Hot Stove recommends garam masala, which I don’t have (yet), but you might.) When the pleasing scent of roasting cumin starts rising from the pan, I add the lentils and rice...

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Purple Sicilian Cauliflower

Mr. Homegrown
Gardening, Pests, Vegetable Gardening
3 Comments
The Homegrown Revolution compound’s purple Sicilian cauliflower (Cavolfiore di Sicilia Violetto from Seeds from Italy) from our illegal parkway garden is now ready for the table after four months since planting from seed. Cauliflower needs some attention; it needs to be kept moist and it’s prone to aphids, but the little buggers can be blasted off with a hose fairly easily. While the plant takes up a lot of room and doesn’t yi...

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Italy Questions Neonicotinoid Pesticides, California Department of Food and Agriculture Loves Them

Mr. Homegrown
Pests, Thoughtstylings
8 Comments
Can I report the CDFA as a pest? Responding to concerns about the safety of nicotine based pesticides, such as imidacloprid, the Italian government, last year, banned them as a seed treatment. According to the Institute of Science in Society, Researchers with the National Institute of Beekeeping in Bologna, Italy discovered that “pollen obtained from seeds dressed with imidacloprid contains significant levels of the insecticide, and sugg...

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Music to Grow Plants

Mr. Homegrown
Thoughtstylings
13 Comments
From the The Secret Life of Plants era, New York dentist and horticulturalist Dr. George Milstein’s 1970 album Music to Grow Plants. Apparently it came with seeds. From the back cover, “As a result of present study, we were able to produce a sound which acts upon plant growth patterns. These sounds have been electronically embedded in this record. Every effort has been made to camouflage them, however, you may at times hear certain...

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Medlar: The Best Fruit You’ve Never Heard Of

Mrs. Homegrown
Food, Fruit Trees, Gardening
14 Comments
...ow about that–I just tasted really, really good apple butter, delivered to me in a convenient skin instead of on toast. The flesh even looks like apple butter. Of course, like all persnickety fruits, they have a few big seeds that you have to work around as well–sort of suck clean and spit out later. It’s worth it, though.  We can’t grow medlars here in Los Angeles–it’s too warm. Otherwise I’d plant one r...

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Advances in Gardening: Introducing the Germinator™

Mr. Homegrown
Garden Design, Gardening, Seeds
4 Comments
...he harsh Southern California sun a notch so the flats don’t dry out. 2. During the cooler spring season, I can trade out the wire mesh for a translucent plastic top and I’ll have a cold frame. Last year my tomato seeds failed to germinate due to cold weather. I’ve vowed not to let that happen next year. I’m going to trick out the hinged top of the Germinator™ during the cool months with a Univent Greenhouse Automatic Vent...

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