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Showing posts with the label planting

Starting heirloom Nicotiana tabacum seeds indoors.I,

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A simple topic, yet since it's a step on my way to establishing seedlings and a community garden here in South Los Angeles (which, by the way, I was cleared for staying here by the Los Angeles City Housing Authority for another year), where I plan to establish a small community farming initiative at what seems to be an abandoned gardening lot. The preparation and planting itself takes about half an hour. I started the small pots off with some earthworm castings from Armstrong Gardening Center. It's a high-end potting soil made completely from earthworm castings, kelp, and rock dust.  In addition, I added some previously-prepared ionic-trace-mineralized peat moss, which had been sitting out for about a week, and had, by now, started to become a much more humus-type rich soil in composition. Note the comparison between the bottom earthworm casting mixture and the top layer of peat moss that I added to the small pot. I had estimated, since peat moss is reputedly aci...

Today is lighting sale day at Target - 15% off.

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I'm super excited to hit Target on General Relief payment day of the 2nd of the month.  Target is running a sale on lighting for 15% off all lighting, excluding some items. Now that some of my seeds have sprouted, I'll want to get them under lightbulbs and lamp arms.

Using plants as interior design - wall-hanging plants.

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As most anyone might surmise, using plants as interior decoration lends an elegant, organic, and lively twist over typical furniture and room ornamentation.  I spotted this chic and modern design element at The BLOC, a newly redesigned outdoor mall, off of 7th Street on South Hope Street. It made me recall previous home decorations I had done, when I lived in two various high-rise apartments.  I had been collecting hard paper cylinders in preparation for use as planter media inside of my home. I imagine that I would be able to hang the cylinders from the wall and place standing lamps next to the plants so that the plants would be close to the lights. 

A new try at getting my seedlings started - a carbohydrate additive to the soil.

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I’m fortunate to have come across some rock dust, as well, which you can see, I mixed in to the seed-starter mix, at about 30-40% rock dust to 50% worm castings, and one large handful of peat moss that I infused with Concentrace minerals. The carbohydrate additive is a shot at mimicking a much more fortified seed-case|topic:nutrient environment of one of the components of a seed, in and of itself, as it would (hopefully) sprout and find that this additive - Xanthan gum, in this case, as it is a protein binder, very glycemic - [perhaps... (a guess, off-hand)], and a starch, when dry (although I’d think that it shouldn’t much dry out completely.  This particular Xanthan gum product is a fine powder when dry, and a glutinous, and very stubborn gel, when wet with water. I got several pots planted, as well as an egg crate, for starters. (As a side note, I went conventional this evening and got my way out to Armstrong’s Gardening Center, in Pasadena, CA.