The Biochar Solution

November 25, 2014

...knee-jerk skepticism when it comes to the “notions and potions” school of gardening–the idea that some special substance will magically transform dead soil into a lush garden. That was my first reaction to biochar. But it turns out that there’s something to biochar. This informative research summary from the University of Washington, Biochar: A Home Gardener’s Primer, changed my mind. According to U of W, biochar can: Improve soil texture Upcycle...

Read…

Saturday Tweets: Crab Apples, Climate Change and a Bear Parade

Mr. Homegrown

December 9, 2017

Saturday Linkages

...Alys Fowler https://t.co/1i3EOq4lBj pic.twitter.com/3eL0688yqT — Guardian gardening (@guardiangardens) December 9, 2017 How to make a penny floor or tabletop: https://t.co/yMciogCa5z — Root Simple (@rootsimple) December 7, 2017 Ecomodernism: the belief that all we need to solve our ecological predicament is more technology. synonym: techno-optimism. Comforting, as it implies: (1) individually, no change required; (2) collectively, we’re already h...

Read…

Nature Fest this Weekend!

Mr. Homegrown

March 16, 2017

Events

5 Comments

...find booklets, done in collaboration with the Ecology Center, on container gardening, rainwater harvesting, bicycle basics, backyard chickens and food preservation. They’ll be priced to fly out of those boxes in my garage! I’ll also be doing a coffee demo at 1pm on both Saturday and Sunday and dispensing free advice in the booth for the entirety of the festival. Please drop by and hang out. And dig the book racks I built out of scrap plywood! See...

Read…

Weed Cloth Fail

Mr. Homegrown

March 28, 2017

Gardening

9 Comments

One of the few, in my opinion, indisputable truisms in gardening is covered this week on Emily Green’s blog Chance of Rain. Green’s warning to the novice gardener: weed cloth always fails. There’s considerable controversy about this subject but I reached the same conclusion as Green. I’m still picking bits of plastic weed cloth out of our backyard from a ill fated decomposed granite project dating from nearly fifteen years ago. It’s time to decla...

Read…

Saturday Tweets: We’re Back!

Mr. Homegrown

April 29, 2017

Saturday Linkages

...lictrum thalictroides, a garden-worthy woodland non-ephmemeral wildflower https://t.co/mUyAc4QGO6 — Flatbush Gardener (@xrisfg) April 23, 2017 From Howards End to Dante's Inferno… Top 10 books about trees https://t.co/JzuGRYuSpY pic.twitter.com/tPmU2OkPQa — Guardian gardening (@guardiangardens) April 20, 2017 A Japanese cosplaying cat https://t.co/HXl75sCj60 — Root Simple (@rootsimple) April 20, 2017 The best part of this is watching Oslo lite...

Read…