Bread and Roses

February 16, 2021

...opinion, is that at some times of the year the leaves are just frankly, uninteresting. As I noted I’m no rose expert, so I’d appreciate your opinions about ways to make our roses more healthy and vigorous. The soil they are planted in leaves a lot to be desired and I’m very confused about watering needs. I’m also open to suggestions from readers about interesting rose varieties either climbing or bush....

Read…

Self Watering Barrel Gardens, Aussie style

Mr. Homegrown

August 25, 2014

Gardening, Self Watering Containers

...rn drums into gardens. They look good too. We’ve featured self watering containers on our blog and in our books. They are a great way to deal with hot climates and bad soil. And, in many places, drums are as plentiful as people. Thanks to Helen in Sunbury, Victoria for the tip!...

Read…

De-Cluttering the Garden

Mr. Homegrown

February 12, 2015

Domesticus, Gardening, Tidying up

8 Comments

...roblem with clutter in our garden comes in the form of empty pots, bags of soil and amendments with no home, gloves housing spiders, tools leaning here, there and everywhere, never where you need them. Our climate alone allows us to (mostly) get away with this behavior. Elsewhere it would all rust or rot if left out like this. I know it’s not the KonMari way to add storage space or devices to deal with clutter, but this is more like having a car w...

Read…

An Ancient Quince Recipe

Mr. Homegrown

September 26, 2014

Food, Food Preservation, Fruit Trees, Gardening

16 Comments

The Karp’s Sweet quince in our front yard, despite struggling in terrible soil, has finally started producing. This year we got about three pounds. Some of the fruit gets sunburned (note to self–put up some shade cloth next year!). But I’ve been able to cut out the browned part. Each year the question comes up as to what to do with the fruit. You can eat Karp’s Sweet quince raw, but the texture is still quince-like, which is to say somewhat gritt...

Read…

019 Garden Nerd Christy Wilhelmi

Mr. Homegrown

October 1, 2014

Gardening, Podcasts, Vegetable Gardening

3 Comments

...vons Double digging vs. no-till A documentary about Ruth Stout Breaking up soil with permaculture method The power of mulch Square foot gardening Peat moss vs. coir Growing carbon and compost crops Heavy metals Phytoremediation with milk thistle and chicory What to fill a raised bed with How to deal with shade Integrating livestock: chickens and bees What to do with Peruvian pepper trees (Schinus molle) Attracting pollinators You can also connect...

Read…