Village Homes: A Model for Sustainable Suburbs

February 21, 2014

Design, Garden Design, Permaculture, Urban Farming

...limits–the almond crop is harvested every year and sold to support the the gardening services for the entire development. There are also community garden space available for those who wish to raise more food crops than their own yard space allows. The lush growth coupled with the reduced asphalt surfaces makes the whole development 10 degrees Farhenhiet cooler in the summer than the surrounding suburbs. I could go on and on, but perhaps the best w...

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In Defense of the Paper Wasp

Mr. Homegrown

March 18, 2014

Animals, Insects

12 Comments

Paper wasp building a nest. Image: Wikimedia. I really don’t like gardening advice that divides the natural world into lists of good and bad bugs. From nature’s perspective all creatures have a role, even the much despised paper wasp. Paper Wasp Biology 101 Wasps perform important duties: some wasps eat other insects, other wasps are scavengers, acting as nature’s garbage disposers. That’s not to say that wasps don’t earn some of their bad reputa...

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Cactus Thief Strikes Again

Mr. Homegrown

April 24, 2014

Gardening, Thoughtstylings

19 Comments

...a friend told me, “Never drive by and look at a garden in a house you once owned.” Our gardens are impermanent. That impermanence is actually something that makes gardening interesting. My wandering cacti might even have a more sunny location in which to thrive....

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Decomposed Granite as Mulch: A very bad idea

Mr. Homegrown

April 30, 2014

Gardening, Native Plants

36 Comments

...ally your new plantings will cover any bare areas if you space them correctly. It looks good, and the mulch breaks down and turns into soil. You will still need to weed but that’s called gardening. Save the DG for walkways. Or use mulch on your walkways too. Mulch is free or low cost. Just ask your local arborist to drop off a load....

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A Year After the Age of Limits: Mr. Homegrown’s Take

Mr. Homegrown

May 7, 2014

Age of Limits

12 Comments

...d court outside the tent and discussed many of my favorite topics: organic gardening, Ham radio, appropriate technology, fraternal societies and even letterpress printing. When a talk or activity annoyed me, I’d walk out and find Greer. What I would have liked to have seen at the Age of Limits was a wider range of voices. A few mainstream climate scientists would have been a good start. Instead, we were only hearing the most extreme points of view...

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