So Cal Alert: Polyphagus Shot Hole Borer

June 15, 2015

...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...

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Reject Modernity Embrace Post-Capitalism

Mr. Homegrown

July 4, 2022

Thoughtstylings

10 Comments

...o be believed, there are always opportunities to be chased or created; any time not spent hustling and hassling is time wasted. The whole city is forced into a gigantic simulation of activity, a fanaticism of productivism in which nothing much is actually produced, an economy made out of hot air and bland delirium. Capital demands that we rip out a perfectly good 1920s bathroom and replace it with the latest stream of vomit from Home Depot. And wh...

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I Made a Bee Vacuum

Mr. Homegrown

June 2, 2023

Animals, Bees

2 Comments

...n, by the way). We had to Sawzall the bin apart, unfortunately, and by the time we started removing the comb, most of the bees had settled into a hard to access corner of the bin. With the bee vac, we were able to quickly vacuum up those bees and get them into their new home. Bee vac on top–box with relocated comb on bottom. Image: Andrew @ortofarms Then, as usual, with this otherworldly creature, something unexpected happened. A cluster ended up...

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Root Simple: 2015 in Review

Mr. Homegrown

December 29, 2015

Thoughtstylings

10 Comments

...that I could do more how-to posts, but the fact is that they are the most time consuming. We did manage to do a few good ones: Stuff you Learn When the Power Goes Out (with El Niño storms approaching, it’s time to review this one), Restoring a Built-In Ironing Board, Three Things I’ve Learned from Baking Bread with Whole Grain and How to Make Hot Sauce. Podcast Comments Due to the nature of the medium it’s difficult for me to gauge the reaction o...

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Piet Oudolf’s Enhanced Nature

Mr. Homegrown

May 13, 2013

Garden Design, Gardening

5 Comments

...need for natural ecosystems within an urban environment, while at the same time providing visual interest. Oudolf’s imprint is on the landscape, but to most people that human touch will remain on a subliminal level. It’s a brilliant “third way” strategy outside of the dualistic smackdown between the simulated nature of English style gardening and the rectilinear hedges of Versailles. Oudolf’s plan for the Serpentine Gallery garden. Fruitcake desig...

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