In August, Way Too Much Squash

August 17, 2008

Gardening, Mistakes, Vegetable Gardening

...as an “All-America Selection” in 1938 (AAS is kind of like a dog show for seeds run by the National Garden Bureau). We grew our EPS from Botanical Interests seeds we got at our local nusery. Our EPS squash has lived up to its name, having grown rapidly, producing tasty summer squash with a zucchini-like flavor and consistency. Unfortunately, all squash that we have grown here has been subject to powdery mildew, a white fungus that spreads rapidly...

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Guyaba Guayabas (Psidium guajava)

Mr. Homegrown

October 3, 2008

Food, Gardening

9 Comments

...look for him to be opening a booth at your local farmer’s market. The tree seems fairly drought tolerant, but more productive with water. Guava expert Leslie Landrum notes that the guava is a “weedy tree, a tree that likes disturbance. It likes to grow along roads and in pastures. Animals eat the fruit and spread the seeds around.” It’s also a fruit so tasty that creekfreak occasionally has to chase off guyaba rustlers poaching specimens off his t...

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Without Merit: poison in your compost

Mr. Homegrown

December 7, 2009

Composting, Gardening, Thoughtstylings, Vegetable Gardening

7 Comments

...ns 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 came from, this test should be routine. Secondly, a political solution: the Rachel Carson Council suggests writing two EPA officials to suggest banning a trio o...

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Homesteading Disasters: The Skunk Menace

Mr. Homegrown

October 12, 2012

Mistakes

17 Comments

...ed. 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 after planting to a kind of vegetable garden apocalypse–dozens of V shaped holes, overturned seedlings and scattered seeds. And each year I swear off vegetable...

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California Buckwheat

Mr. Homegrown

December 20, 2006

Food, Foraging

...or animals, grows with almost no water, and best of all it produces edible seeds. We’ve gathered the seeds we’ve found in fields and baked it into bread and added it to cereal to both boost nutritional value and to add a nutty flavor. The local and resourceful Tongva Indians used the roots and leaves for headaches and stomach problems, among many other uses including using the stems to pierce ears. California buckwheat is available from the Theodo...

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