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Tag: Homesteading

An Uncoventional Organic Method for Killing Root Knot Nematodes

An Uncoventional Organic Method for Killing Root Knot Nematodes

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As you may have read in a previous post, root-knot nematodes recently became public enemy number one in the Hanbury House vegetable garden.  I was kind of depressed about it for a few days, struggling to find an Organic treatment to kill root knot nematodes in our garden.  Being a home gardener, especially an organic one, there are few options for dealing with nematodes in the soil. Disclosure: This post contains affiliate links. When you click on an affiliate link…

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Gardening Just Got More Difficult…Discovering Root Knot Nematodes

Gardening Just Got More Difficult…Discovering Root Knot Nematodes

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I had wondered why my daughter’s carrot crop was so pitiful this year.  While I was outside this morning, I pulled a few carrots out and discovered the reason, Root Knot Nematodes. I have managed to avoid any infestations of Root Knot Nematodes in my two decades of gardening, however, it looks like they finally ended up at Hanbury House.  I am guessing they came in on a little pepper or tomato transplant last Spring or the Spring before.  Those two…

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how to stop a hen from crowing
Crowing Hen…How to Get Her to Stop!

Crowing Hen…How to Get Her to Stop!

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Backyard chickens make great pets and wonderful fresh eggs in suburban gardens, as long as a hen doesn’t start to crow like a rooster. Hanbury House shares what works and what doesn’t to stop the crowing.

Black Sooty Mold on Citrus

Black Sooty Mold on Citrus

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I had the pleasure of helping harvest, along with a bunch of other volunteers, over 450 lbs of Bearss Limes, Valencia Oranges, and Satsuma Mandarins this morning with SoCal Harvest, a local charity group. While finishing up, one of the harvesters mentioned her orange tree at home was covered in what looked like road dust, soot, or black sticky dirt.  Based on her brief description, I told her it sounded like her tree may have a fungus commonly called sooty mold. She…

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Jupiter Grapes in SoCal garden, one of the best grape for maritime climates, not just the South East U.S.
Good Grapes for Less than Ideal Climate: Jupiter

Good Grapes for Less than Ideal Climate: Jupiter

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Coastal Southern California, sunset zone 22, is generally not considered an ideal grape growing climate.  Nevertheless, we have had great success with a few grape varieties over the last decade and a half.  Between my friend across the street and I, we have grown Black Monuka, Fantasy, Glendora, Niabell, Eastern Concord, Canadice, Flame, Perlette, Interlaken, Einset, Marquis, Neptune, NY47616, and Jupiter.  More than once during a shift at the CRFG booth at the Green Scene I get asked to recommend…

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DIY homemade carpenter bee houses native bee
Making Carpenter Bee Houses [DIY Project]

Making Carpenter Bee Houses [DIY Project]

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Hoping to provide refuge and bring more solitary bees, like the native Valley Carpenter Bee, into our yard, the kids and I created homemade carpenter bee houses over the weekend.

what is the huge black bee
Valley Carpenter Bees: A Local Mass Die Off

Valley Carpenter Bees: A Local Mass Die Off

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Over the course of the last few weeks, I have been dismayed to find more than a half dozen dead female Valley Carpenter Bees, Xylocopa varipuncta, in both the backyard and the front yard.  I don’t think the dog is responsible for their deaths because I also found one on the ground at K’s house across the street last week. Plus, the dog doesn’t hunt bees out front, nor have I ever seen him go after these, just honey bees. Disclosure:…

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My worst Gardening Mistake…

My worst Gardening Mistake…

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Although I am pretty adept at gardening, I have to admit that I have made more than my fair share of dumb gardening mistakes. After 15 years at Hanbury House, that list of mistakes has grown pretty long. If someone was to ask me to name the number one worst thing I did on that list, it would have to be when I used black landscape fabric. I used it in the front yard beds near the porch, under the…

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The New Gray Water Diverter [2012 Update]

The New Gray Water Diverter [2012 Update]

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Now that our wet season is pretty much over, it is time to switch back to gray watering in the in the back yard garden. For a little over 5 years we have been using some of the water from our washer machine to irrigate part of the backyard.  During most of that time, the washer machine water was just sent out through a hole I haphazardly made in the laundry room window and into a homemade surge tank.   I…

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Joint Custody

Joint Custody

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My two broody hens stared at each other in their separate nests for the last 4 weeks, on fake eggs and then on the fertile Cochin eggs I bought on ebay.  I had been thinking about the possibility of letting them sit with their chicks together, too.  However, most of the expert chicken sources recommend separating broody hens from the rest of the flock and from each other.  I have read a few horror stories on backyardchickens.com where two broody…

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