The Hugelkultur Question

...hould be experimenting, I thought. And we have a pile of wood. But, like a gardening version of Hamlet, I started waffling again. I decided to post the hugelkultur question to the Garden Professor’s Facebook page. One of those horticulture professors, Linda Chalker-Scott is someone who I seek out when writing a magazine article. A civil discussion ensued on that Facebook page, proving that Facebook is good for something other than angry political...

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Erik Talks Straw Bales on C-Realm Radio

...podcaster (and, as of last month, radio host) KMO. The topic is straw bale gardening. KMO talks first to straw bale garden expert Joel Karsten. Then I chime in enthusiastically on the topic. I’m followed by gardener and artist Lauren Blair. We’re all sort of an opening act for an entertaining 1990s era recording of Terrance McKenna thoughtstyling about “linguistic objects”. One interesting point that Karsten raises is the issue of persistent herbi...

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How to Garden With California Natives: Lessons from the 2016 Theodore Payne Garden Tour

...ust because you have native plants does not meant that you can’t also have vegetables and fruit trees. In fact, edibles benefit from the insect habitat provided by native plants. Over the years we’ve increased our natives and decreased our vegetables. I think we might be getting more veggies now from a smaller space. We also need to remember that many native plants are edible and medicinal such as these strawberries from the LaPlant/D’Auria garden...

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Mosaic Artist Jeffrey Bale

Jeffrey Bale is one of my gardening heroes and this video is, in my opinion, mandatory viewing. Bale’s artistic medium is the pebble mosaic and he’s taken his craft to levels not seen since the ancients. Bale spends three months every year traveling the world and searching for inspiration for his work. His astonishingly beautiful and insightful blog chronicles his travels and work. Bale captures what I think is missing in a lot of contemporary ar...

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Saturday Tweets: Cornbread Controversies, 2×4 Furniture and El Niño

...post: https://t.co/UF99bTReUp — Root Simple (@rootsimple) February 5, 2016 Gardening information worthless to universities – unless someone else pays for it | Garden Rant https://t.co/1ApTgQ2ws4 — Root Simple (@rootsimple) February 5, 2016 El Niño remains among strongest ever recorded, but California impacts a bit different than anticipated https://t.co/pquLBb9Bwc — Root Simple (@rootsimple) February 5, 2016 Ikea for 2x4s: Building gorgeous furnit...

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