Drop Yer Bloomers
Lately I’ve been growing impatient with impatiens. Petunias, snapdragons, bouganvilla, ficus, bird-of-paradise: our Southern California cities luxuriate in year-round ornamental gardens. Pretty bloomers, yes. But truly, a mix of non-functional tropical plants slurping water in what is really a desert…
Going Organic
Going organic is much more than just switching from Monsanto-manufactured chemical warfare, to herbal sprays and less-toxic powders. Going organic is an opportunity to rethink. It is a journey of rebuilding with different, yet similar, basic components. When we build…
The Lost Art
“Can she bake a cherry pie?” chants the American folk song. That didn’t mean opening a can of goo from the supermarket and dumping it into a frozen pie shell. It mean knowing when the cherries were sweet and ripe,…
Vegetable Garden Design in brief
a handout written for the Emerson Avenue Community Garden 1) Include food. There are so many reasons we need to be growing food right now in this society (list here http://envirochangemakers.org/FoodSecurity.htm ) and this garden is the place to show…
Places to learn about seed saving
An online booklet to get you started http://www.seedalliance.org/download-form-1/ (more cool stuff from them http://www.seedalliance.org/Publications/ ) A beautiful YouTube about seeds and genetic heritage http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d9K0cZGQgHA A graphic that explains F1 hybrids and why so few will breed true. http://scienceforhumans.files.wordpress.com/2011/04/punnet-square-mendel-results.jpg At my…
Watering the Garden
In the Community Garden at 83rd & Dunbarton, we use what we call “the one finger test.” That means you take your finger and stick it into the garden soil – about one inch down into the soil. The soil…
What is a Transition Enterprise?
Thoughts from the UK’s REconomy project: 1) Resilience outcome Will benefit the local community by improving its resilience or wellbeing in some way 2) Low Carbon Minimises carbon emissions and thus contribution to climate change 3) Natural Limits Works within the…