Apartment Parking Lot Gardening in East Hollywood

...gardening while she was growing up but as both my daughter and I live in apartments, and have no space for gardens I needed to come up with a solution . So based on the “Square Foot Gardening Book by Mel Bartholomew I built two 5 ft. x 1 ft. square foot garden boxes from inexpensive ($ 2.15) 1 x 6 x 6 ft. cedar fence boards bought from Home Depot. I waterproofed them by sealing the insides with with pure tung oil from Jill’s paint in Atwater. Each...

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Thursday Linkages: Mason Bees, Hawks and Robot Cars

....com/2014/05/where-do-rats-go-when-they-die … Boxwoods? Bah! by James Roush http://feedly.com/e/KZ4uAoLm Bikesnob on robot cars: http://bikesnobnyc.blogspot.com/2014/05/its-end-of-world-as-we-know-it-and-i.html … Urban Beekeeping in San Francisco: http://wp.me/p4fosC-dQ Silent Watcher http://www.recyclart.org/2014/05/silent-watcher/ … For these links and more, follow Root Simple on Twitter: Follow @rootsimple...

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Journal of the New Alchemists

...) covers mostly their agricultural experiments, but occasionally dips into urban planning and other subjects. Biodome. Image: Journal of the New Alchemy. It’s interesting to look back at their work to see what ideas went mainstream and what faded away. What didn’t stick is what Nassim Taleb would call “top-down” approaches to design epitomized by the 70s fixation on geodesic domes and self contained ecosystems (though we’re starting to see a resur...

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Gardening Mistakes: Six Ways We’ve Killed Plants

...n fork instead. 3. Soil fertility When it comes to growing vegetables, in particular, you need rich soil. Get a soil test first. But soil fertility is a lot more than chemistry–it’s about life. Healthy soils have a rich and diverse microbial and fungal ecosystem. You can jump start that fertility with compost. But somehow we never have enough compost. 4. Bad nursery stock. I’ve bought my share of root bound plants and plants that came with disease...

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Saturday Linkages: Solar Projects, John Cage and Cat Litter

...lasting legacy of the Dobson telescope http://www.scpr.org/programs/brand-martinez/2012/09/12/28381/amateur-astronomers-stars-john-dobson-telescope/ … The most epic Ikea hack ever–stool turned into child’s Draisienne – the Frosta bicycle – IKEA Hackers http://po.st/6gp9HM Urban date foraging: http://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=13259 … No Men Allowed! Women Build Own Backyard Sheds http://lloydkahn-ongoing.blogspot.com/2014/04/n...

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