Search Results for: label/weeds/2010/06/the-urban-homestead

482 results

LA’s Parkway Garden Dilemma: Not Fixed Yet

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Gardening, Urban Farming
9 Comments
...fornica? Avoiding plant lists also goes for using the word “edible.” Most “weeds” are edible. Marijuana is edible (but would probably not last long in the parkway!). A lot of plants are “edible” but not necessarily something you’d want to eat. If a neighbor complains about my set of parkway plants can I just make a salad to prove they are “edible?” Allow growing plants over 4-inches without permit fees. If plants are not allowed to go to flower th...

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Decomposed Granite as Mulch: A very bad idea

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Gardening, Native Plants
36 Comments
...nd does not build new soil. And eventually, the plastic will fail, and the weeds will come through (some come through even when the plastic is new), and whoever is left holding the bag a couple of years down the road will be pulling decaying bits of plastic out of their garden for evermore. What’s a better approach? Wood chips. Pile it on thick. Skip the plastic liner. Eventually your new plantings will cover any bare areas if you space them corre...

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The Difference Between Mulch and Compost

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Gardening
2 Comments
...or over a plant to provide insulation, protect from desiccation, and deter weeds. Also: textile or other artificial material used for the same purpose. I’d argue that compost, properly defined, is fully not partially rotted organic material (or textiles or plastic, though I don’t like plastic mulch). The distinction is important. If you integrate mulch, i.e. partially rotted material, like wood chips or straw into soil you’ll cause a temporary nit...

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Garden Update Part II: The Good the Bad and a Lot of Ugly

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Gardening
11 Comments
...ps me clear the hardscaping. There’s actually a nice brick patio under the weeds and clutter here. Ugh, more junk. Here’s the nice new patio the Haynes landscaping folks built. The adobe oven is under a blue tarp. Blue tarps are the architectural equivalent of a comb over. The oven needs a little roof which, to extend the metaphor would be the architectural equivalent of a decent wig, if such a thing exists. And, man, do we need some outdoor furni...

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