Search Results for: label/seeds

180 results

The Three Sisters

Mr. Homegrown
Permaculture, Vegetable Gardening
3 Comments
...corn and squash. We added a drip irrigation system on a timer (more on that in a later post) which has seemed to keep the plants healthier by preventing watering mishaps due to those flaky hung-over mornings. We planted corn seeds from the Not a Cornfield project, a variety of squash called Cucuzzi, and two beans from seeds we saved from last season (the tasty Borlotto Lingua di Fuoco and attractive but not so tasty scarlet runner bean)....

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Without Merit: poison in your compost

Mr. Homegrown
Composting, Gardening, Thoughtstylings, Vegetable Gardening
7 Comments
...s which are highly susceptible to this chemical. So what can we do? First the practical: test your compost. Washington State University has instructions for performing a simple test here (pdf). Basically, you plant three pea seeds in a 50/50 blend of compost and potting mix and compare their growth against a control group of three pea seeds grown in just potting mix. If you use manure in your compost pile and you don’t own the animal it ca...

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June: National Bathroom Reading Month

Mr. Homegrown
Thoughtstylings
2 Comments
...em. This is where we learned how to build the portable run that is in our back yard that we’ll blog about soon. Plans for that run can be seen here. Peaceful Valley Farm & Garden Supply Catalog. A great source for seeds, bare root trees and many other items. We ordered our fig and pomegranate trees, our grape vines and our cover crop seeds from Peaceful Valley and have been happy with all of these items. Of course, here’s a book...

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Matt’s Wild Cherry Tomato

Mr. Homegrown
Gardening, Tomatoes
12 Comments
Matt’s Wild Cherry image from Johnny’s Select Seeds. Permaculturalist Paul Wheaton was in our neck of the woods this weekend to give a couple of lectures. In his talk on “Irrigation Free Foodscapes” he mentioned a variety of tomato called “Matt’s Wild Cherry” that, as the name implies, is a wild-type tomato that grows without supplemental irrigation. Many avid vegetable gardeners have probably had the ex...

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Homesteading Disasters: The Skunk Menace

Mr. Homegrown
Mistakes
RLeave a comment
...Root Simple Compound starting today with how fun it is to garden with skunks. Angry red arrows mark skunk dig sites in our new keyhole bed. I know that I’ve got a skunk problem. Yet each year when I sow lettuce seeds I get lazy about putting up the required bird net barrier over the beds. Or I haphazardly put it up, thinking that the skunks aren’t smart enough to squeeze through any gaps. And each year I wake up the morning a...

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My mental glitch: hay vs. straw

Mrs. Homegrown
Thoughtstylings
21 Comments
...17;s also more expensive than straw, about three times as much, depending on the grass type. No one would use hay as bedding. Straw is the dried stalks of cereal plants, like wheat. It’s a by-product of harvest. If any seeds remain on the stalks, it’s by accident. Therefore, straw is nutritionally void, and is not animal feed. However, that lack of seeds makes it a fine mulch, and an inexpensive bedding material. We line our chicken...

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Vegetable Gardening for the Lazy

Mr. Homegrown
Gardening, Vegetable Gardening
12 Comments
One of the problems with growing vegetables is all the labor involved–starting seeds, composting, watering and watching out for bugs. It’s worth it, of course, for the tasty rewards, but many busy folks are simply too exhausted after work or corralling the bambinos to pick up a shovel and garden. For those who’d rather sit on the porch with a martini than laboring in the field, and we often include ourselves in that category, p...

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Return of Recipe Friday! Spicy Korean Tofu

Mrs. Homegrown
Food, Recipes
7 Comments
...ce, but we like it that way. You could use much less.) 2-3 garlic cloves minced or pressed 1 teaspoon of sugar 1/2 teaspoon of sesame oil Maybe some wine if you have a bottle open. See instructions. Optional: Toasted sesame seeds or peanuts for topping. Sesame is more traditional, but we really like peanuts with this. Prep: 1) Cut the tofu block in 1/4-1/3″ slices. Press some of the water out of it by laying the slices out on a fresh...

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The World’s Most Beautiful Okra

Mr. Homegrown
Gardening, Vegetable Gardening
9 Comments
If you live in a warm climate, okra is easy to grow and both beautiful and tasty. I spotted this variety growing at the Huntington Ranch: Burgundy Okra from Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds.The stems and seed pods are a deep and vibrant burgundy–a very stunning plant for your vegetable garden. While not as striking, this year I grew Clemson Spineless okra from seeds I saved. And thanks to a tip (can’t remember where I heard this) I’...

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