“ I begin gardening when I was about 5 old age old with my nanna and great - gran , ” say the Los Angeles - base Kenneth Sparks . Sparks , who grows everything from cucamelons to orange , has become popularly have intercourse asThe Farmer Ken .
Back then , Sparks was living in Ohio , where his family grew cabbage , collard greens , mustard greens , corn , tomatoes and peppers from May to November . But since move to Los Angeles six year ago , Sparks has been able to arise all year round via a series of levels on his patio , along with fruit trees plant on a mound .
flicker has also recently launched afundraiserwith the aim of depart a residential district garden .
We spoke to Sparks about his cucamelons and his burgeoning food forest . We also talked about his new technique of preserving dried flowers in rosin .
Enter the Food Forest
A stake shared by Ken ( @farmerkenofficial )
“ This year I am most majestic of my yield Sir Herbert Beerbohm Tree as a whole , ” says Sparks when take which of his crop have become the star of 2020 . “ I planted a lot of them last year and a portion of them start producing this twelvemonth . So it ’s with child to see them thrive already . ”
Sparks adds that his nutrient forest is situated on a hill and contains over 70 trees . “ It mimic an actual food forest where you have magniloquent trees and shorter trees and vine and shrubs and everything intertwines . ”
Read more : you could build your own food forest with permaculture gardening !
Highlighting Cucamelons
Cucamelons have become a resilient part of Sparks ’s garden this class . “ They ’re essentially like a grape - sized cuke , ” he explains of the dinky vegetables . “ They ’re in reality doing better in the cooler weather than the intense heat of the latter part of summer . When it cooled down in the fall , they really took off growing . ”
Embracing Your Home Environment
“ I ’m in the city of Los Angeles and I have various growing technique that I ’m using because my prop is terrace , ” says Sparks , detail his frame-up . “ I have six or seven levels and it ’s mostly concrete so I have to use planters and pots and raised beds — so my garden is a combination of everything . ”
register more : verify you train your drainage before planting yield trees .
Flowers Encased in Resin
If you scroll through Sparks ’s Instagram account , you ’ll needs come up across some classifiable images of dry flowers inside various wrought blocks of resin .
“ I was just experimenting and trying to preserve some blossom and one of my friends suggested rosin so I went in advance and examine , ” explain Sparks . “ I harvest some flowers , I dried them out and go ahead and put them in some mould and poured rosin over them .
“ I ’m start to do it more . ”
From Seed To Harvest
Sparks says that a big part of the fulfilling nature of growing crops and plants comes from getting to find the consummate process stretch before your own optic .
“ The most rewarding part for me is watch over something get from seed , ” he explains . “ You take care of it and then you get a crop . ”
