Picture Sundays: White Sage

March 9, 2014

...White sage (Salvia apiana) with Vitis californica in the background. Our white sage plant is probably my favorite plant in the garden. I started to write a post about it this week but realized that Mrs. Homegrown already did that three years ago....

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Make that 11 Vegetable Gardening Mistakes

Mr. Homegrown

September 5, 2013

Gardening, Mistakes, Vegetable Gardening

2 Comments

...In my post, Top Ten Vegetable Gardening Mistakes, several readers and Mrs. Homegrown pointed out that I left out “inconsistent watering.” I plead guilty. I would also suggest an “absentminded” watering category, such as setting up a irrigation system on a timer and not adjusting it throughout the season. And those of us in dry climates could also be better about selecting and saving seeds for drought tolerance. Gary Paul Nabhan and the folks at Na...

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De-Cluttering the Garden

Mr. Homegrown

February 12, 2015

Domesticus, Gardening, Tidying up

8 Comments

...s. This makes deferred de-cluttering even more curse-worthy. Addendum Mrs. Homegrown chimes in: Erik spoke of some topics of marital discord in the garden, and yet none of those hold a candle to our perpetual debate about installing some kind of garden shed or storage system in our back yard. It’s shocking, really, that we don’t have such a thing, but he is very resistant to the idea, for reasons of time, effort, money and aesthetics. All good obj...

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Growing Your Own Soapnut Tree

Mr. Homegrown

September 30, 2013

Gardening, Trees

21 Comments

...ou can use as a greywater safe laundry detergent, dish and hand soap. Mrs. Homegrown wants to rip out my beloved Mission Fig tree to plant the one that Craig at Winnetka Farms gave us last year. I’m going to chain myself to the fig. That being said, I wish we had more room to plant our soapnut tree. Sapindus Mukorossi requires a fertile soil and a frost free climate. It’s a tall tree that can take as long as ten years to begin fruiting. A friend o...

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Picture Sundays: Homebrew Birthday Cards

Mr. Homegrown

August 17, 2014

Picture Sundays

4 Comments

...a personalized birthday greeting (I’m getting near the half century mark). The card depicts the inside of my brain which has been contaminated by toxoplasmosis and is thus full of cats. Lora Hall, a.k.a. Homegrown Neighbor took a craft class recently and made a bunch of cards including this Star Wars mashup that she gave me: It depictis what happens when you hit 50 with toxoplasmosis....

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