Weekend Linkages: All Plants and Mirrors

May 16, 2021

Build a protected garden enclosure Mayor de Blasio’s strange burger and fries moment A Visit to the CIA’s “Secret” Abstract Art Collection Digital tulip fever Chipotle Is a Criminal Enterprise Built on Exploitation A Caledonia house on the edge of a crumbling cliff has sold after a monthslong saga The bells v the boutique hotel: the battle to save Britain’s oldest factory Ever wonder what all of those surface car parking lots in downtown LA used...

Read…

How’s that Tomato Grafting Project Going?

Mr. Homegrown

July 21, 2016

Gardening, Vegetable Gardening

4 Comments

...in different sizes. That would give some flexibility in when to graft the plants. Despite my cascade of errors I still have tomato plants (though probably not grafted ones) and I learned some valuable lessons should I attempt this project again next year. I’m thinking that instead of tomatoes, which have done fine in our garden in the past, I might try grafting peppers or eggplants which we have had trouble growing. How are your tomatoes doing th...

Read…

What does the loving landscape look like?

Mrs. Homegrown

April 16, 2015

Back to the Garden, Gardening

18 Comments

...the edges of the built areas are planted thickly with climate appropriate plants, often with an emphasis on fruit trees and herbs. Though it is human dominated, it is not hostile to other life–birds have places to roost and bathe, and lizards can sunbathe on the pavement– and it can host a great diversity of plants, which pleases the pollinators. The photo below is a corner of a larger garden, but could just as easily be the design of a small yar...

Read…

Going to Seed

Mrs. Homegrown

June 24, 2016

Back to the Garden, Gardening, Nature Awareness, Vegetable Gardening

14 Comments

...y of it down deep, on the soul level. In the past I struggled to leave the plants as long as I could stand it, knowing they were doing good in their later life cycle, but also feeling like my yellow, straggly garden made me look lazy or incompetent. I was also acutely aware of the long gaps between harvests that would occur if I waited for plants to go to seed before replacing them. Now, I’ve given up all that anxiety, and I revel in this time. Th...

Read…

Mutant Squash

Mr. Homegrown

August 1, 2006

Gardening, Vegetable Gardening

...pollinated may or may not produce offspring that resemble the parent. Some plants pollinate themselves before the flower opens thus producing seeds that are the same variety as the parent. Other plants rely on insects and birds for pollination and can produce offspring that are hybrids if the pollinating bug or bird happened to visit another variety. Squash has completely separate male and female flowers that appear on the same plant, a characteri...

Read…