Urine as a Fertilizer

October 8, 2011

How do I spend my Saturday mornings you ask? Answer: scanning the peer reviewed literature for articles about using human urine as a nitrogen source in the garden, i.e. taking a leak in the watering can. As we’re currently hosting some excellent classes at our house taught by Darren Butler, a big proponent of what he calls “pee-pee-ponics,” I thought I’d take a look at the science of urine use. Urine offers a free and re...

Straw Bale Gardens

Mr. Homegrown

March 25, 2013

Gardening, Vegetable Gardening

20 Comments

...17;s Pantry We’re going to bioassay (that is, test ) the straw from our local feed store. The Compost Gardener has good instructions for this. In our case, we’re doing the method where you plant beans in soil, and water them with tea made from the straw. Washington State University–instructions for how to start a Straw Bale garden....

A Tour of the Homegrown Evolution Compound

Mr. Homegrown

April 13, 2008

Gardening, Vegetable Gardening

7 Comments

It’s about damn time we gave an overall tour of the Homegrown Evolution digs, at least to dispel some misconceptions out there (more on those at the end of the post). Let’s begin with the front yard, pictured above. Our house sits up about 30 steps from the street level. Running the laundry water out to the front (using Oasis Biocompatible Detergent), has really made the plants happy. The front yard has a mix of prickly pear cactus,...

Building With Adobe

Mr. Homegrown

October 12, 2011

Events

RLeave a comment

Architect and Root Simple friend Ben Loescher, along with Kurt Gardella, is teaching a class on adobe construction. I’m going to attend the second day, November 6th, and hope to see some of you there. Adobe has a storied past and a promising future in the Southwest U.S., in my opinion. Here’s the info on the class: adobeisnotsoftware is pleased to host Kurt Gardella for the first in a series of classes on adobe construction within C...

No garden space? Check this out

Mrs. Homegrown

July 28, 2010

Gardening

3 Comments

Follow this link to the Eastsider blog for a little profile piece on a man raising crops in a median strip. This is exactly what we should all be doing. Well, except maybe standing in traffic to water–if at all avoidable–but I do tip my hat to this intrepid fellow gardener. There’s so much wasted space in this city. Yesterday Erik and I were walking down the sidewalk, admiring a flat stretch of dry, weedy ground betwixt sidewal...

Upcoming Classes: Edible Gardening and Vermicomposting

Mr. Homegrown

September 29, 2011

Events

4 Comments

...;t been satisfied with their garden yields. Expected topics include seed starting, seasonality and what to do when, building raised beds, choosing containers, plant selection, transplanting, soil preparation, irrigation, wise water use, pest management (weeds, diseases, insects), beneficial insects, composting, harvesting, and seed saving. INTERMEDIATE ORGANIC GARDENING FOR SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA Hosted by Root Simple in Silver LakeTuesday and Thurs...

A Rocket Stove Made From a Five Gallon Metal Bucket

Mr. Homegrown

March 28, 2012

Appropriate Technology, Design, How-to, Rocket Stove, Water and Power

83 Comments

...also have worked. Using the vent pipe as a guide again, I cut out a 4″ hole near the bottom of the bucket. I used one part clay (harvested from the yard) to six parts vermiculite as my insulation material. Mixed with water, the clay holds the vermiculite together. I could also have used dry wood ash, but I had the vermiculite and clay on hand so that’s what I went with. With the vent pipe in place, I packed the insulation into th...

Urban Homesteading Mistakes: Landscape Fabric

Mr. Homegrown

September 22, 2011

Mistakes

32 Comments

...bric you just add another piece of plastic to the landfill. I know some folks swear by cardboard, and in certain situations cardboard is probably OK, but I still prefer, when possible, just piling up the mulch. You get better water penetration with mulch and you don’t have the problem of bits of cardboard floating up to the surface. So, my two cents: don’t add landscape fabric to your landscape....

What’s in Worm Leachate?

Mr. Homegrown

May 6, 2013

Composting, Gardening, Vermiculture

3 Comments

Garden Professor Jeff Gillman analyzed worm leachate (the liquids the flow our of your worm bin) from a home vemicompost setup. It’s pretty strong stuff! Gillman concludes, this could be a great liquid fertilizer if it were used properly. I’d recommend diluting it somewhere between 1:1 and 1:5 worm juice : water before applying it, and I’d only apply it once every week or two. If you want to use it, try it on something that you’re not t...