Linda Ly's Blog, page 2
February 20, 2020
Dollar Store Deals: Secrets to Scoring Cheap Seed Starting Supplies
I have a confession: I’m a dollar store junkie. I especially love going to the dollar store to get my car camping fix.
If you’ve ever wandered the aisles of your local 99 Only (or in some states, there’s the absolutely fantastic Japanese 100-yen store called Daiso — which, silly as it sounds, is actually the $1.50 store once you convert the currency), you might be overwhelmed by all the cheap and practical car camping goods you can buy, especially for cooking in camp.
I always stock up on...
February 19, 2020
A Banana Is an Herb, Berry, and Other Little-Known Fruit Facts
I’m not much of a banana person (unless it’s cooked in rum and butter, though that combo will make anything taste divine), but I loved having banana trees around when I lived in zone 10b.
Among the many trees that grew in my Southern California garden, there was an abundance of bananas flourishing year-round, all in different stages of ripeness.
A few of them even grew over my hammocks and infused such a balmy and tropical feel to the setting, it was easy to forget that we lived in the city...
February 18, 2020
Make the Best Seed Starting Mix for Dirt Cheap (It’s Organic Too)
When it comes to gardening, I’m all for getting started on a shoestring.
I order from seed catalogs,make newspaper pots for seed starting, recycle household containers for seedlings, reuse egg shells and egg cartons to start seeds, and scour the dollar store for cheapseed starting supplies.
But where I feel I get the most value, especially if I’m starting hundreds of seeds (which isn’t hard to do in a season when you think about it) is in making my own seed starting mix.
What is seed...
February 13, 2020
How to Use Perlite to Improve Soil and Boost Plant Growth
If you’ve ever purchased potted plants or veggie starts, or opened a bag of commercial potting mix, you may have noticed tiny white lumps in the soil that look like Styrofoam bits.
These lumps are called perlite, and they’re not simply fillers or artificial rocks as some might believe.
What is perlite? First, let’s go over what perlite isn’t: Perlite is not a type of soil, it’s a soil additive that can also be used as a growing medium.
Perlite is not a fertilizer, and has no nutritional or...
How to Use Perlite to Improve Soil and Skyrocket Plant Growth
If you’ve ever purchased potted plants or veggie starts, or opened a bag of commercial potting mix, you may have noticed tiny white lumps in the soil that look like Styrofoam bits.
These lumps are called perlite, and they’re not simply fillers or artificial rocks as some might believe.
What is perlite? First, let’s go over what perlite isn’t: Perlite is not a type of soil, it’s a soil additive that can also be used as a growing medium.
Perlite is not a fertilizer, and has no nutritional or...
Perlite: What It Is and Real-Life Tips on How to Use It in the Garden
If you’ve ever purchased potted plants or veggie starts, or opened a bag of commercial potting mix, you may have noticed tiny white lumps in the soil that look like Styrofoam bits.
These lumps are called perlite, and they’re not simply fillers or artificial rocks as some might believe.
What is perlite? First, let’s go over what perlite isn’t: Perlite is not a type of soil, it’s a soil additive that can also be used as a growing medium.
Perlite is not a fertilizer, and has no nutritional or...
February 12, 2020
Easy Healthy Homemade Dog Food (and the Sweet Pug That Inspired It)
Bug (short for Bebe pug) is my 11-year-old second-born daughter. (The first being my 12-year-old pug, Chinki.)
She’s a purebred, born from a line of AKC champion pugs, but with that came the typical hereditary joint diseases of overly bred “perfect” pugs.
Don’t get me wrong; Bug is perfect in every which way and I wouldn’t trade her in for anything. But raising her these last few years, especially, has taught me a lot about dog health and nutrition as both my girls settle into their senior...
February 3, 2020
How to Trim Your Chicken’s Nails
If you never knew a chicken’s nails could grow so long, and if you’ve never seen a grown man cradle a chicken like a baby, well… I’m here to change all that.
While it might sound like I’m being an overly doting chicken mama, making sure your chickens’ nails are nice and short is actually an important part of managing a healthy flock.
Why you need to check your chicken’s nails Not only is it good practice to check your chickens’ feet from time to time (for signs of scaly mites and other...
February 2, 2020
Broccoli Leaves Are Edible
… As my veggie-loving pug will tell you!
And I’m talking the broad outer leaves that surround a head of broccoli, not the few tiny and uninspiring leaves stuck to the head of store-bought broccoli.
Most people don’t realize that you can eat broccoli leaves, or that they’re just as edible and delicious as the broccoli head itself. And I can’t blame them, considering broccoli always comes in a neat little package at the grocery store or farmers’ market.
It’s a surprise to many people that the...
February 1, 2020
Are Carrot Tops Poisonous? Here’s What Science Says
Ever since my carrot top salsa recipe, I’ve received a great number of emails asking if (or even insisting that) carrot tops are poisonous.
So I’ll just get right to the point: No, they are not poisonous, and yes, carrot tops are edible.
Unfortunately, the popular myth of carrot tops being toxic has been perpetuated through continual hearsay and personal anecdotes. I have yet to find any scientific study that says, once and for all, carrot tops will kill us.
(After all, I’m still here despite...
