Daikon Radish!

February 7, 2008

...me combination of bad timing (not getting stuff in early enough), depleted soil and cold temperatures have contributed to a less than stellar garden. But in the midst of this failure we’ve had a few successes. Last year we made daikon radish pickles from radishes we picked up at our local farmer’s market. (see here for our post and a recipe). This year we grew our own daikon radishes. Like all radishes, daikons grow fast and are as hardy as weeds....

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Hops in Southern California

Mr. Homegrown

April 28, 2009

Beer, Gardening, Herbs, Hops

11 Comments

...k of scraping and painting the front of the house. Planting it in terrible soil doomed it to failure anyways. We’re experimenting with growing both Cascade and Nugget hops in a big self irrigating planter with the hope that we can transfer them to the ground next year or the year after. In the meantime we’ll improve our soil with another application of “craptonite“. Some hops growing links: Hop Gardening A list of Hop varieties for all climates Ho...

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Rain- The Best Gift of All

Homegrown Neighbor

December 27, 2009

rainwater harvesting

14 Comments

...osquito issue, I use my harvested rain water as soon as possible. Once the soil has dried out, usually just a couple of days later, I attach a hose to the barrel and let it drain. I will set it in the garden and move it around to a few different spots. I have five 55 gallon barrels set up so far. Rainwater really helps flush out salts that can build up in the soil (an issue here in the West) and unlike tap water there is no chlorine. The plants ju...

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The Fine Art of Worm Grunting

Mr. Homegrown

October 15, 2012

Vermiculture

8 Comments

...ing in Florida. Worm grunting is a technique used to lure worms out of the soil to collect as fishing bait. Basically, you take a stick (called a “stob”), pound it into the ground and rub a metal rod (known as a “rooping iron”) against the top of the stob. The deep vibrations are said to mimic the sound of burrowing moles, the natural predator of worms. When they sense the vibrations, the panicked worms crawl to the surface of the soil. (The high...

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Favorite Plants- New Zealand Spinach

Homegrown Neighbor

October 13, 2009

Gardening, Vegetable Gardening

15 Comments

...rowing wild among the rocks right along the ocean, so it can handle saline soils. This is a very robust plant. It tolerates drought, bugs, salt and poor soil. And it does much better in heat than true spinach which just bolts in Southern California’s heat. New Zealand spinach can be grown in the summer when other greens may not grow so well. My front garden be is pretty much all New Zealand spinach now. The drip watering system broke and most of t...

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