Beads and Roman Sandals Won’t Be Seen

October 9, 2006

...which is essentially a mound. In the permaculture version the water hungry plants are placed at the bottom of the mound and the dry plants at the top, the idea being that the water collects towards the bottom of the mound shaped spiral. We didn’t do the mound thing out of laziness and a lack of materials, and because the herbs we planted don’t require much water anyways. As for the spiral shape itself, we’d like to think that it’s our little tribu...

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Tomato Grafting Fail

Mr. Homegrown

September 26, 2016

Gardening, Tomatoes

7 Comments

...to grafting project I last wrote about in July and they aren’t pretty. The plants grew slowly and reluctantly. The tomatoes had blossom end rot and were inedible. I even managed to attract tomato hornworms for the first time ever. Two early mistakes led to subsequent problems. First, I should have purchased or made a seed starting mix rather than the potting soil I used. I ended up with weak seedlings. Secondly, I did not manage the post-graft per...

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Reader Favorite California Native: Ceanothus

Mr. Homegrown

June 7, 2017

Gardening

8 Comments

...meet my “bombproof” criteria, at least in our garden. It’s one of the many plants we’ve managed to kill. It’s true that once you get it going, other than yearly pruning, you can retire to the nearest bar and rest on your gardening laurels. But getting it established can be tricky. The most common mistake is over-watering during the summer months and planting in overly fertile soil. We didn’t over-water, so how we manged to kill three of them is a...

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Saturday Tweets: Squirrels and Other Stuff

Mr. Homegrown

January 14, 2017

Saturday Linkages

...anuary 11, 2017 Plants need a social network. Traditional landscaping puts plants in solitary confinement. In this setting, plant lose resiliency #txplants pic.twitter.com/PLK44HpUUh — Thomas Rainer (@ThomasRainerDC) January 11, 2017 Could you make zero trash for 30 days? https://t.co/AeLJT0Bj7M — Root Simple (@rootsimple) January 10, 2017 Add Pockets to Any Skirt or Dress Without Ruining the Look https://t.co/sOM8klCneq via @lifehacker — Root Sim...

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Seat Weaving for Fun and Profit

Mr. Homegrown

July 26, 2019

Design

6 Comments

...onally, this type of woven seat was made with cordage harvested from water plants. Beginning in the early 20th century, in the U.S., most rush seats were made from a rush substitute called fiber rush which is made out of spun paper, the same paper used for grocery bags. This is what I used since it’s cheaper, lasts longer and is easier to work with. Fiber rush comes in a light and dark color. I used the light color. It also comes in thicknesses be...

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