Coffee Grounds in the Garden

April 25, 2016

Composting, Gardening, Pests, Vegetable Gardening, Vermiculture

...ctions and feed earthworms. Authored by Dr. Linda Chalker-Scott, Extension Urban Horticulturist and Associate Professor, this peer-reviewed pamphlet also provides a set of suggestions for using coffee grounds in the garden: Coffee grounds should be composted before used as a soil amendment but can be used fresh as a mulch. Fresh grounds are phytotoxic, so keep them away from direct contact with roots. Coffee grounds will not necessarily make your...

Read…

Root Simple: 2015 in Review

Mr. Homegrown

December 29, 2015

Thoughtstylings

10 Comments

...p. I’m not optimistic about this but I hope to be proved wrong. Honesty in Urban Homesteading We don’t do nearly enough blogging about the many hair brained notions and failed projects that transpire here at the Root Simple Compound and Labs. We did mange to chronicle a few of our shortcomings, such as our lack of a clothes line (Busted: Drying Racks, Clothes Lines and Cheese Puffs), the train wreck that was our summer garden (Our Disasterous Summ...

Read…

So Cal Alert: Polyphagus Shot Hole Borer

Mrs. Homegrown

June 15, 2015

Fruit Trees, Gardening, Insects, Trees

10 Comments

...two or three feet. That’s no quick sprinkle with a hose! Visit the Inland Urban Forest Council to download a PDF about how to properly water your trees. Also, we might suggest that this is a great time to install a laundry to landscape graywater system. Many thanks to our excellent arborist, Nick Araya of Tree Care LA, who came out yesterday to look at our drought-stressed avocado tree (no beetles yet, thankfully!) and gave me the 411 on the Poly...

Read…

What does the loving landscape look like?

Mrs. Homegrown

April 16, 2015

Back to the Garden, Gardening

18 Comments

...first, was transformed by nature into a sort of secret park known only to urban explorers–and then, beginning in 2006, was refashioned into a much loved public attraction by a team of architects and designers. If you can get your hands on Walking the High Line by Joel Sternfeld, it’s well worth a look to see how nature had gained a strong foothold in on the train tracks before the designers moved in, even though she had to work high in the air on...

Read…

040 Natural Beekeeper Kirk Anderson

Mr. Homegrown

March 25, 2015

Animals, Bees, Podcasts

13 Comments

...ees Michael Bush’s method of re-queening a hot hive How to keep bees in an urban environment Why Kirk doesn’t use foundation What’s ailing the bees and what’s wrong with the big beekeepers Movie: More Than Honey Langstroth vs. top bar Kirk’s and Russel Bates’ how-to videos on Youtube Kirk on Facebook If you want to leave a question for the Root Simple Podcast please call (213) 537-2591 or send an email to rootsimple@gmail.com. You can subscribe to...

Read…