Growing Your Own Soapnut Tree

September 30, 2013

...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 of mine has one growing in Altadena. Sapindus Mukorossi needs lots of water. Craig has pointed out the perfect permacultural pairing for our dry climate–use the greywater from your washing machine to water your soap nut tree. It can be a bit tough to get the seeds...

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Pee on your Compost

Mr. Homegrown

January 24, 2007

Composting

1 Comment

...re applying directly to plants since salts in your pee can build up in the soil. Dilution should be at least 10 parts water to one part urine. Peeing directly on plants can burn them as anyone who owns a dog already knows about. Urine is easiest to apply to non-food crops, though it’s perfectly safe to use on fruit trees and bushes. Applying it to root crops is more controversial, and frankly seems like a practice best left to hippies, so if you t...

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Weekend Linkages: A Forgotten Painter, Early Music and More!

Mr. Homegrown

November 19, 2023

Saturday Linkages

2 Comments

...Cathedral Wagon On A Medical Train. Krasnoyarsk, Siberia, Russia. Photo: Emile Ducke The sun painter Free early music online radio station Seed to plate, soil to sky : modern plant-based recipes using Native American ingredients The Coast Realty Archive...

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Gathering of Community Gardeners

Homegrown Neighbor

October 21, 2009

Events, Gardening

2 Comments

...land allowed me to meet members of my community and to get my hands in the soil. I harvested some fantastic artichokes, kale, onions and chard from that plot. I have a lot of love for community gardens so I am thrilled to be a part of this event. The event takes place at Farmlab, 1745 N. Spring St., L.A. 90012. It is just slightly North of Chinatown, near Downtown. It runs from 8-4 on Saturday and you won’t want to miss the breakfast provided by H...

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Let’s Get Biointensive

Mr. Homegrown

October 16, 2009

Gardening, Vegetable Gardening

11 Comments

...her when the plant is mature, also creates a living mulch which shades the soil and saves water. Jeavons suggests cutting out some triangles in different sizes to assist in planting. Using scrap wood, I made triangles in 3, 4, 6, 8, 12, and 15-inch sizes, taking the spacing suggestions in Jeavons’ charts for the seeds I had planted in flats. When it came time to transplant the seedlings I used the triangles to create hexagonal blocks of tightly sp...

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