How to Deal with Extremely Root Bound Plants

...is case, you have to be ruthless. Get yourself a sharp knife and make long vertical cuts down the sides of the root ball–how many depends on the size of plant, and what you think is best, but I find I usually make 3 to 5 cuts. These cuts do violence to the roots, but will allow new root growth at the cut sites, giving the plant a chance to spread its roots out in your garden’s soil, instead of trying to live within its own, self-made prison. In th...

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Food Storage as Art

...eyes” to counteract that tendency we all have to make our refrigerators unintentional composters. The techniques she demonstrates include: Evaporation Sand, both to keep vegetables vertical and to decrease humidity Using the ethylene gas in apples to keep potatoes fresh Ryou’s website is: www.savefoodfromthefridge.com...

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Pakistan Mulberry Fever

...” variety: It has totally thrived and become huge. I have to top back huge vertical branches every year after harvest season and tie limbs down laterally. And the harvest goes on and on and is not easy, you cannot shake the tree without bringing down loads of green fruit and stubborn ripe berries won’t fall. You have to hand pick and it takes about 2-3 hours of combing over the tree from all the different angles with the orchard ladder. Then I soa...

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Straw Bale Garden Part IV: Almost Ready to Plant?

...traw on most of my bales was oriented with the stem sides facing the wide (vertical) side of the bale. This made it difficult to get the blood meal into the bales. One or two of the bales had the straw oriented with the stems facing up and these bales seemed to heat up faster. Another problem was keeping the bales moist in our hot and dry climate. Tarps may have helped. The next step will be to plant seedlings and add a balanced fertilizer (fish e...

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