Hip Chick Digs

City girl gets her hands dirty planting an edible garden and raising urban chickens

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Entries Tagged as 'permaculture'

Early Flowering Plants: Part I

March 11th, 2010 · 1 Comment

Another term of tromping around in the rain for my Plants class has passed, and sadly so. The Plants sequence in my landscape architecture program lasts three terms, which is a total of nine months, and it is really fantastic - my favorite class by far. Rain or shine, (mostly rain) we walk all around [...]

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Tags: design · flowers · plants · school

When to Plant

February 18th, 2010 · 8 Comments

There are a few rule-of-thumb planting dates among the gardening community that we enjoy repeating every year. One is to sow your peas on President’s Day. Another is to plant potatoes on St. Patrick’s Day. These are general rules though which will not apply to you if you happen to live in sunny southern California [...]

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Tags: gardening · row covers · seeds · tips · vegetables

Problem Solver: Evergreen Huckleberry

January 26th, 2010 · No Comments

Planning and planting typically keeps my mind on the garden even in winter. As I have learned, it can take years and years for a garden to really come into it’s own. The process I chose for my home garden was drawing out a planting plan for the trees, large shrubs and structures. As time [...]

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Tags: design · food forest · plants

The Highline

December 31st, 2009 · 1 Comment

If you are into cool, modern garden design, check out this new park in New York City: The Highline. What used to be an old railway line raised above the city streets has now been converted it into a public park in West Chelsea and Meatpacking District on the city’s west side.

The rail lines used [...]

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Tags: design · garden art · school · traveling

Making Good Garden Soil

December 17th, 2009 · 7 Comments

A garden is only going to be as good as its soil quality, which is why we gardeners are obsessed with building better soil. Many of us are not blessed with perfect soil where we have planted our gardens. We also do not have the luxury of an endless gardening budget, allowing us to bring [...]

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Tags: compost · frugal · gardening · permaculture · sheet mulching