Top Ten Vegetable Gardening Mistakes

...eltdowns and temper tantrums of my adult life have their origins in failed vegetable gardening projects. I thought I’d list off my top ten vegetable gardening misadventures so that you don’t have to repeat them. 1. Not paying attention to soil fertility This is my number one mistake. Most vegetables suck up a lot of nutrients. They need lots of compost and a source of nitrogen (fertilizer, manure or a rotation of beans). The difference between our...

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Gardening Resources in Los Angeles County

...orcharding, Do not plant any grapes that aren’t Pierce Disease resistant. Vegetable Gardening When to plant: http://www.scribd.com/doc/154952660/What-to-Plant-When-in-Southern-California Our favorite seeds, Franchi Seeds, are available at http://growitalian.com/, http://theheirloomseedstore.com/ and at Sunset Nursery in Silver Lake. Vegetable gardening classes: Grow LA Victory Gardening Initiative. Visit the Huntington Ranch for ideas and inspira...

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Advantages and Disadvantages of Raised Bed Vegetable Gardening

...wet climate. Cons Requires materials to construct. Might need to buy soil–gardening in the ground is free. Roots dry out quicker in a hot climate. Lack of mineral content in bagged soils. Use of peat moss in bagged products. Unable to truly embrace the “no dig” philosophy: despite best efforts to the contrary, it seems the soil needs to be swapped out every few years. It’s container gardening, really. Going through that list of pros and cons, if...

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Why I’m Growing Vegetables in a Straw Bale

...ecause his philosophy demands that you to focus intent on the garden, thus making the act of gardening a kind of sacred duty. But, this winter, I’ve still got a lot of tasks to complete and don’t have time to develop either a biodynamic compost pile or, gasp, thoughtstyle my way to some new, alternative method of sacramental gardening. So I decided to try straw bale gardening again. My last attempt, that I blogged about and even did a video of, wo...

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