Interview With Apartment Gardener Helen Kim

August 27, 2008

...ows on the south house the edible plants–which pans out nicely for my lazy self, since they’re right by the kitchen. And the one west-facing window (the shadiest) has my wonderfully-weird euphorbias. it took me awhile to come around to the sensible idea that it’s best to separate the edible plants from the poisonous ones! HE: There was quite a reaction when I posted the photo of your garden. HK: I was happy that some folks commented on the windows...

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Jujube and Goji Fever

Mr. Homegrown

January 26, 2009

Food, Gardening

11 Comments

...be tree is well worth growing. The Chang jujube, unlike most varieties, is self pollinating and therefore does not require a partner. The Chang also has a distinctive, narrow and upright growing pattern, making it an ideal tree for small spaces. Jujube trees are an amazingly adaptable, deciduous tree, tolerating cold but preferring hot summers to produce good fruit which can be eaten fresh or dried. Once dried, the fruit stores for many months. Go...

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Shiitake Happens

Mr. Homegrown

April 20, 2009

Mushrooms

11 Comments

...re appreciated. And speaking of reader tips, an anonymous commenter on our self irrigating planter post noted that indoor marijuana farmers have been experimenting with container gardening for years and that Homegrown Evolution would be wise to take a look at the kind of innovation that comes with higher (so to speak) profit margins. Good point. In trying to find better sources for information on small scale indoor mushroom growing (other than the...

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Hops in Southern California

Mr. Homegrown

April 28, 2009

Beer, Gardening, Herbs, Hops

11 Comments

...e home built scaffolding on top of the tiny vine while undertaking the heinous task of scraping and painting the front of the house. Planting it in terrible soil doomed it to failure anyways. We’re experimenting with growing both Cascade and Nugget hops in a big self irrigating planter with the hope that we can transfer them to the ground next year or the year after. In the meantime we’ll improve our soil with another application of “craptonite“....

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Mown and Blown: The Problem With Leaf Blowers

Mr. Homegrown

October 6, 2014

Gardening

28 Comments

...d, beauty or habitat. (They are also not enjoyed by people: half of the suburban participants in a UCLA study of home life in SoCal never went into their backyard. Another 25 percent went outside for a few minutes a week.) Yet this style of landscape is our dominant style of landscape because the homeowner doesn’t need to think about it, and the maintenance crews can move through the space with their machinery quickly. Volume allows these business...

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