Search Results for: label/water conservation/page/42/2010/06/the-urban-homestead

893 results

Can our landscapes model a vibrant future? Not according to the LA DWP.

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Garden Design, Gardening, Lawns, Water and Power
18 Comments
...ought. I think that’s because we’re just not feeling it in the cities. Our water is cheap, the taps are running, food prices aren’t terribly affected– yet. So we keep washing our cars and hosing off the sidewalks and topping off our swimming pools and, of course, we water our lawns. Lawns are a big liability in this region. I think they may not be such a crime in milder, wetter places where they grow happily (though there’s no getting around the f...

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How to Deal with Extremely Root Bound Plants

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Gardening, How-to, Mistakes
22 Comments
...spend much time with their tortured root balls exposed to the midday sun. Water well, and maybe top dress the new plantings with a handful of worm castings, or water with worm casting tea, or some other kind of plant pick-me up, to apologize to them for all of the rough handling. It is very important to watch your plants closely after transplanting. They are like critical care patients until they begin to grow new roots. Until that time, you’ll l...

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My Brand New Homebrew Soda Carbonator

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Domesticus, Food
19 Comments
...avoid sugary drinks as well, so that leaves me with a total drinks menu of water, herbal teas, sparkling water and for big thrills, sparkling waters with add-ins like fruit juice, shrubs, a bit of homemade syrup, etc. I go through quite a lot of sparkling water on a weekly basis. Now, as a rule I try not to drink stuff out of plastic bottles. Mineral waters still come in glass, but club soda is pretty much always in plastic these days. I’ve had to...

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Planting a Mini-Orchard

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Gardening, Water and Power, Water Conservation
2 Comments
...in such a way to also catch rainwater as it flows down the hill. Both rainwater and greywater work their way into the soil and slowly move down the hill over the course of many months. Since installing the greywater system we’ve seen previously sad plantings we did years ago of rosemary, wormwood and Mexican sage thrive. And we’ve got lots of nopalitos coming our way from the prickly pear plants. For more information on these simple, water saving...

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How to polish your silver effortlessly–with Science!

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Cleaning, Domesticus, How-to
5 Comments
...aybe up to 10 minutes or so. 4. Remove the clean pieces of silver from the water and rinse with clean water and dry with a cloth. You could opt to further bring out the shine with some polish or a polishing cloth. The solution is non-toxic, so you don’t have to worry about wearing gloves, and you can pour it down the sink without guilt. Just FYI, I was able to do three consecutive batches of flatwear in the same water bath, although I could see so...

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