Search Results for: label/water conservation/page/3/2011/04/making-it

609 results

Comopost, Compost, Compost

Mr. Homegrown
Composting, Gardening, Vegetable Gardening
6 Comments
As if I didn’t need a reminder of how important compost is to a vegetable garden, note the tomato above. It’s on its way out, but it grew with no supplemental water in hard-packed clay soil contaminated with lead and zinc in a hot side yard. Why did it do well while the rest of my vegetable garden did not do as so good this summer? Homemade compost. I didn’t have enough compost for the rest of the veggie garden so I bought som...

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Rainwater Harvesting and Beyond

Mr. Homegrown
rainwater harvesting, Water and Power, Water Conservation
4 Comments
If you live in a dry climate like we do here in Los Angeles your bookshelf should have a copy of one of Brad Lancaster’s amazing books. Through very simple techniques, most of which can be executed with a shovel and a free afternoon, Lancaster shows you how to turn a barren landscape into a Garden of Eden. Lancaster empasizes earthworks which capture and channel water where you want it to go, instead of uselessly sending it down the gutter...

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Infinite Green Onions

Mrs. Homegrown
Food, Gardening
16 Comments
Here’s a handy little tip. I’m pretty sure I heard it first from Mr. Jack Spirko: Save the root ends of your green onions (aka scallions) — the parts you cut off when you’re cooking. Plant those, roots down, under about an inch of soil and they will generate new green onions. Keep this cycle going throughout your growing season and you should have an endless supply of green onions for your table. It’s much easier t...

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Tomato Review #1 Red Currant–The World’s Smallest Tomato

Mr. Homegrown
Gardening, Tomatoes, Vegetable Gardening
5 Comments
...ruit measuring about one centimeter across. Red Currant is an indeterminate tomato, with a delicious, sweet taste. A malfunctioning drip line has has meant that our specimen probably did not get enough water, but nevertheless it has managed to produce fruit despite looking unhappy. If we had more than the paltry number we’ve produced, they’d make for a tasty addition to a salad. That malfunctioning drip line means that all we have is...

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Problems Part I

Mr. Homegrown
Animals, Chickens
16 Comments
The road to urban homesteading ain’t smooth and involves more than a few potholes along the way. Some of those potholes will swallow a bike tire while others are big enough for a Hummer. But with persistence it becomes easier to deal with the occasional bump, lessons can be learned and future mistakes avoided. With the popularity of our earlier blunders post, I’d like to begin regularly sharing problems as they develop. Here’s...

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Straw Bale Garden Part IV: Almost Ready to Plant?

Mr. Homegrown
Gardening, Straw Bale Gardening, Vegetable Gardening
16 Comments
w that I did not let the bales compost long enough. One problem I had with the conditioning process is that the straw on most of my bales was oriented with the stem sides facing the wide (vertical) side of the bale. This made it difficult to get the blood meal into the bales. One or two of the bales had the straw oriented with the stems facing up and these bales seemed to heat up faster. Another problem was keeping the bales moist in our hot and...

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Tips on Composting from Will Bakx of Sonoma Compost

Mr. Homegrown
Composting, Gardening
2 Comments
...thermometer to check the temperature every day during the initial period and using Sonoma Compost’s handy Temperature/Turning Sheet (pdf) to keep track of the temperature of the pile. If the pile dips below 135ºF, turn it. If it doesn’t get up to temperature, add more nitrogen containing materials. If it gets above 163ºF, add more carbon containing materials. After the initial turnings just let it sit unless you have to turn to add m...

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Moringa!

Mr. Homegrown
Gardening, Permaculture
1 Comment
...from more mature pods and eaten like peas or roasted like nuts. The flowers are edible when cooked, and are said to taste like mushrooms. The roots are shredded and used as a condiment in the same way as horseradish, however it contains the alkaloid spirochin, a potentially fatal nerve paralyzing agent, so such practices should be strongly discouraged. The leaves are highly nutritious, being a significant source of beta-carotene, Vitamin C, prot...

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Terror of Tiny Town

Mr. Homegrown
Animals, Chickens, Gardening, Self Watering Containers, Vegetable Gardening
4 Comments
...rs made with old pop bottles (more info on how to make a pop bottle self-watering container here and here). These pop bottle containers look like they’d work well for starting seeds, as they provide a constant source of water. Nance Klehm, another intrepid Chicago resident, informed us that someone just gave her two bantam chickens for her backyard, the perfect compliment to her chihuahuas. Some say that bantams are better for smaller backy...

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Joshua Tree Earthen Finishes Class – March 2nd, 3rd & 4th

Mr. Homegrown
Events
3 Comments
...paints – the class is suitable for both building professionals and do-it-your-selfers. Topics: Finish selection for conventional and earthen buildings Soil and Material Selection, Sourcing and Testing Vapor Permeability, Water Resistance and Stabilization Tools and Application Techniques Application around Doors, Windows and Other Openings Pigments, and Finishing Detailing Conventional and Traditional Plaster Reinforcing Techniques Code cons...

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