A Seed Pokin’ Thingy

March 30, 2008

Seeds

...nd stick it into a wine cork. You use the cork end to gently tamp down the soil and the stick end to make small indentations in which to pitch your seeds. Homegrown Evolution learned about this tip thanks to a seed propagation class we took at Urban Harvest, a non-profit located in Houston, Texas dedicated to, “Working with gardens and orchards to build healthy communities.” A special thanks to instructor Jean Fefer, an organic gardening expert an...

Read…

Greywater Precautions

Mr. Homegrown

December 5, 2006

Water Conservation

2 Comments

...rganism growth party. Remember that greywater is treated by moving through soil. Greywater tends to be alkaline, so avoid using greywater on acid loving plants such as citrus, ferns and other forest plants (pretty much anything that grows in the shade). Occasionally irrigate your plants with fresh water to prevent the buildup of salts from soaps and detergents. Do not distribute greywater with a sprinkler as you don’t want the potential bad stuff...

Read…

Growing Potatoes in Tires

Mr. Homegrown

January 29, 2008

Gardening, Vegetable Gardening

20 Comments

...arth around the base of the potato plant as it grows. We’ve planted earlier this year, to see if our potatoes will do better in Southern California’s mild spring weather. One disadvantage to this earlier planting might be all the rain we get in January and February. Soggy soil can cause the potatoes to rot before they start growing. We’ll keep our fingers crossed–we’ve had a streak of bad luck with our plantings this winter. Incidentally, Nance wi...

Read…

Save the World–Poop in a Bucket

Mr. Homegrown

January 30, 2008

Humanure

1 Comment

...other stories on the subject came out at the same time: Wasteland: A Journey through the American cloaca in Harper’s Magazine. Journalist Frederick Kaufman traces sewage from New York’s North River Solid Waste Treatment Plant to . . . [spoiler here!] bags of soil at Home Depot. A Mother Earth News reader submitted a photo and description of a handsome sawdust privy made out of an old garden hose box. Very clever! Science Daily reports on Converti...

Read…

Capparis spinosa – Capers

Mr. Homegrown

October 30, 2007

Gardening

6 Comments

...t the real thing. The caper bush is an attractive plant that tolerates bad soil and dry conditions, in short perfect for the front slope of our little hilltop compound. But nature could still screw with us. Capers are notoriously difficult to start from seeds (which we ordered from Trade Winds Fruit). According to Purdue University’s Center for New Crops and Plant Products, “Caper seeds are minuscule and are slow to nurture into transplantable see...

Read…