From commentor Jeff G:
I grow tulips in a pot every year. This is this year’s tulip.
And, via commentor Aleta, some seed-starting inspiration: From the Downeaster, “The Maine Farmer Saving the World’s Rarest Heirloom Seeds”:
When Will Bonsall was growing up in Waterville in the 1950s and ’60s, his family lived modestly, and their grocery budgets were often tight. His folks weren’t much for gardening, and what fresh produce they brought home was rationed among him and his two brothers. His grandparents, however, lived on a small farm in nearby Belgrade, and whenever he and his family visited, the stockpiles of homegrown sweet corn and juicy beefsteak tomatoes seemed endless. There was no need to negotiate shares with his brothers. “To me,” Bonsall says, “that was the epitome of rich, gracious living.”
Today, Bonsall lives on a dirt road in Industry, in the western Maine foothills, in a farmhouse atop a terraced slope covered with apple trees and overlooking lush gardens. When I first visited him there, last May, the 70-year-old homesteader and author welcomed me warmly into his kitchen, sat me by his woodstove, and launched into a chitchatty, meandering discourse on potato scab, plant sex, and his dream of winning a MacArthur “genius grant.” Bonsall is a talker, and it was more than an hour before he offered to show me the space I had come to see, a second-floor room that he calls his office. “It’s a godawful mess,” he warned.
Bonsall led me upstairs, his white ponytail swinging behind him, and into a small room filled with boxes and bags overflowing with dried plant stalks and stems. “Some of the mess is mice,” he said, looking at the floor. Dusty sunlight fell through a window onto a wall of shelves, each one lined with rows of wooden cases the size of shoeboxes. Inside the cases were envelopes, many of them brown with age, and inside the envelopes were seeds — tens of thousands of them, the core of what was once among the country’s most prolific private seed collections.
On the top shelf, Bonsall said, were more than 1,100 varieties of peas. On the rows below were barley, beans, carrots, cucumbers, melons, squash, sunflowers, and more. At one time, Bonsall told me, he had what he believed to be the world’s most diverse collection of rutabaga seeds, along with the second-largest assemblage of Jerusalem artichoke varieties and world-class caches of radishes and leeks. He has donated specimens from his collection to researchers at the USDA-administered National Plant Germplasm System, sold them to seed companies like Fedco, and distributed them worldwide through print and online platforms, some of which he’s been instrumental in launching. His work, which he calls the Scatterseed Project, has been covered in multiple books and one Emmy-nominated PBS documentary, and it’s earned him something like icon status within the seed-saving subculture.
But these days his collection is dwindling. In part for lack of funding and staff, Bonsall hasn’t kept up with the cycle of replanting needed to regenerate new seeds. And he isn’t getting any younger. “I’m losing stuff right and left,” he said. “I’m in danger of losing everything. And time is of the essence.”…
It isn’t that Bonsall is unfocused so much that he’s nonlinear. When I ask a question about his work, it sometimes takes him a half-hour of digressions and detours before he circles around to answer it — but he always does, in rich detail. And he is candid about the shortcomings of his seed-saving operation, pointing out for example, that his seeds would last much longer if he didn’t keep them at room temperature. It’s just that the six or eight chest freezers he’d need to store his stash would put too much strain on his energy bill, he says.
Whereas other seed savers might concentrate on specific crops, on what grows best in their regions, or on species that exhibit certain characteristics, Bonsall seems to value rarity and diversity for their own sakes. Among his alphabetized envelopes are plenty of heirloom seeds that no one is particularly clambering to plant, but Bonsall compares his collection to a library — he doesn’t get rid of something just because no one has checked it out in a while. Here and there, he suspects he has some varieties that only a handful people worldwide still possess — a rare beet, for instance, once grown by gardeners in a region of Bosnia decimated by war and genocide in the ’90s.
Unlike the Doomsday Vault and other institutional collections, Bonsall’s Scatterseed Project aims to actually scatter his seeds. In the old days, he did this by publishing lists of his varieties in directories printed by groups like the Seed Savers Exchange. These days, he fills requests that come through various online platforms. He has long been a presence at ag fairs and grange-hall meetings, where other growers can pick his brain and sometimes rifle through his inventory. Since he launched the Scatterseed Project in 1981, Bonsall estimates he’s shared seeds with tens of thousands of people.
“It’s extraordinary,” says Albie Barden, a fellow seed saver in Norridgewock, who focuses on heirloom corn. Bonsall, he says, is a “living treasure.” Twenty years ago, Barden approached him for a few kernels of flint corn once widely cultivated by Native people in New England. Bonsall sent a packet of a variety called Byron, which he’d collected years before from an elderly Wilton resident with a few ears stored in a shoebox. Barden and others have since found the variety to be reliable, disease resistant, and delicious. Now, it’s beginning to catch on among small-scale farmers, Barden says, and has great potential to become a more widespread crop. If not for Bonsall, the lineage might have died out in a shoebox.
“He was the thread that kept that seed alive,” Barden says.
Bonsall’s dispersal efforts have been so prolific that he often finds himself chasing his own tail. He’ll receive what he’s told is a rare variety of such-and-such, but in trying to trace it back to its original source, he’ll find it came from someone who got it from someone who got it from an old hippie in western Maine.
“Again and again,” Bonsall says, “I’ll discover something that originally came from me.”…
Seriously, read the whole thing — lovely way to start a Spring Sunday!
Steeplejack (phone)
Some jolly music to start the day: “Jupiter,” by Gustav Holst.
Amir Khalid
I’m in the slowest possible hour of the day: that between now and iftar. The hunger I don’t mind, but right now my throat feels really dry.
NotMax
In keeping with discussing the natural world, things are going to shell –
Geminid
@Steeplejack (phone): That Holst piece is a lot fun. I heard from a classical music DJ that Holst was an unknown when he wrote it, and a wealthy musician friend paid for a private performance to debut “The Planets.’. On the gardening front, I bought Calendula seeds yesterday, will stick them in wet ground later the morning after the rain stops. Calendula are an old flower, supposedly named ” calendula” by the Romans because of its long growing and blooming season. They are easy to grow in pots or ground and make good (short) cut flowers. The seeds look like dried caterpillars.
Nancy
I read the whole article, got enthused, clicked the link on Bonsall’s book title, and found a fascinating source of new books to add to my pile of important books to read.
Some important source material for rebuilding as we move forward after the crisis—but that’s the rational rationale. Also wahoo! cool stuff!
Thank you. I like seeing the tulips and I love reading about this seed saver. Buy his book, maybe help him get a freezer to keep his seeds alive longer. Maybe I’m even a bit excited beyond enthused.
MagdaInBlack
Gosh, seems like maybe the aging back to the land folks or those, who, like me, grew up that way, might have a bit of practical knowledge stored up. Who knew!
Thank you for this article ?
NotMax
@Steeplejack
Many moons ago, on Dec. 31 of that year, took two out of town friends to a laser light show accompanying a live performance of The Planets, held in an auditorium equipped for full orchestral concerts in a hotel smack in the middle of Times Square.
Concert ended precisely at 11:45 p.m. and the hotel shooed everyone out lickety-split directly into the throng gathered on the street to watch the ball drop.
The two friends went into shock at suddenly being a part of that and discovering that it made no difference which direction one wanted to go, one instead moved along as the crowd wanted you to go.
OzarkHillbilly
The phrase hell on earth comes to mind. I got caught in such a crowd after a Fat Tuesday parade once. Things were getting seriously out of control and I decided I needed to get the hell out of there. I managed to break out of the crowd just before the cops moved in and started busting heads. Still not sure why they let me pass, it was out of character for STL police.
HeartlandLiberal
Got a pickup order Sunday of seedlings from local nursery, tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers, kale, some herbs. Planted two days later. Yesterday, another day without rain, managed to plant seeds for bush green beans, three mounds yellow squash and one zucchini, and two varieties of beets. I loved roasted beets. Wife will not touch them. Waiting about a week for another dry day to plant the large patch with sunflower, zinnia, and wildflower seeds. I just read that here in Indiana vegetable / flower nurseries were allowed to reopen this week. The one I go to on its website says Thurs 9-1 is reserved for seniors and high risk. I may mask and glove up for one trip to fill in a few holes with some plants. I need collards. They were out of stock on the pick up order. Life without collards and southern cornbread, well, not sure we could call that life. Oh, and in the pickup order I got two large pots of purple fountain grass, each pot subdivides into three, three go in front of house, one in bed beside lower door into back yard. It is an annual, cannot survive winters here, but it has become one of my favorite beautiful things, so I shell out fifty bucks every year and it brings great pleasure.
Jeffery
Seeds start to lose viability after about five years. It doesn’t sound like his storage system is all that great especially with mice who will eat the seeds.
Thursday was out in my garden to find that the Jerusalem artichokes had jumped the area they were contained in. They are highly invasive. I began to dig the tubers up. Had about 7 pounds of tubers when I quit for the day. Put them on craigslist to see if anybody wanted them. Someone drove 30 miles to pick them up. I really don’t understand people who will travel that distance. Back out yesterday and dug another three pounds up. Those went into the trash.
First planted them years ago after hearing about how tasty they were. The first year eating them I found out they gave me tons of gas. Looking them up online they are also known as fartichokes. Aptly named.
When I get back out to the garden I will cover the area they invaded with landscaper cloth to try to suppress them.
HeartlandLiberal
@NotMax: And in related news, a headline:
Miami goes SEVEN weeks without a homicide for the first time since 1957
SectionH
@OzarkHillbilly: the only parade I remember from St. Louis was the Veiled Prophet that went west on Lindell, up past Euclid towards Kingshighway. Do they still do that?
There go two miscreants
More useful than trying to grow the world’s biggest pumpkin.
OzarkHillbilly
The hummingbirds returned this week. So far I have no need for more than one feeder. That will change very quickly.
When we first moved into this ridgetop retreat 10 years ago, the only way I could hear spring peepers was to drive down into the valley. 3 or 4 years ago they started moving up the hollers getting closer to home every spring. This year… This year with the addition of the water feature they are right outside our front door. I step out at night and they go dead silent. After a minute or 2, one by one they start up again and soon I can barely hear myself think.
I love it, one of my favorite things about spring in the Ozarks.
OzarkHillbilly
@SectionH: I don’t really know. They still have the ball and all that so I assume the parade probably still happens. I’m a little cut off from STL news these days
Cheryl from Maryland
My house is in full shade (great for summer), so there’s not a lot I can grow. However, the renter next door has moved out, so once again I get to stick pachysandra cuttings into our joint patch of yard where every renter digs up my ground cover, plants grass, and has the grass die because there is full shade, turning their half of the yard into mud. For those enthralled by the story of Mr. Bonsall, a great web site, GastroObscura, has a list of small organizations that sell similar types of seeds — https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/where-to-buy-seeds?utm_source=Gastro+Obscura+Weekly+E-mail&utm_campaign=eb66e3fcc7-GASTRO_EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2020_04_25&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_2418498528-eb66e3fcc7-67276861&mc_cid=eb66e3fcc7&mc_eid=44d88d2f2d
raven
@OzarkHillbilly: I was scheduled to go to the Republican National Convention in Miami in 72 with a big group from CU. Had a buddy who was really worried that they were going to target vets so he talked me into going to Jamaica instead. I got down there and was listening to the convention on the radio and i finally couldn’t take it so I got on a plane and flew back to Miami to try to meet up with my peeps at Flamingo park. I got a ride from the airport to the causeway going into Miami Beach and set out walking. I saw Ginsberg getting arrested at the Fountainblue (sp) and kept truckin until I got to the park. Lo and behold my friends had broken camp and I was stuck by my self. The last night of the convention was total chaos with groups of “zippies” armed with baseball bats and football helmets pushing confrontations with cops (who came from all over the South to buck up the locals). In those days when your were in an action people formed “affinity groups” of three or so folks who they knew they could trust. It was NOT good to be by yourself because everyone was wary of “agents provocateurs”. I wandered around with the tree gas flying and breakouts of freaks vs pigs all over. I also remember a nice Jewish lady with her garden hose letting people was out their eyes, “those Nazi’s!” she proclaimed. I had a friend who lived in the area and I called him at about 1am and he came a rescued me. Really stupid thing to do.
Ceci n est pas mon nym
@Amir Khalid:
You aren’t even allowed to drink water?
@NotMax: We frequently go to New York especially just before or after Christmas. But we hate Times Square and the crowds of shoving tourists (ask any New Yorker, the rude people are the tourists, swear) at even normal times. We were there just before Y2K. Got the souvenir giant glasses with frames spelling “2000” but left town by Dec 30.
OzarkHillbilly
@raven: Yep, things can get crazy real quick. There was a lot of little things putting me on edge, and then I saw one particular young lady riding on a friends shoulders and showing her tits. Guys all around her started grabbing at her and she was so drunk she was laughing about it. I saw borderline rape and knew if I stuck around I was likely to do something real stupid like punching somebody out. It was the straw that broke this camel’s back and I slowly made my way to the edge and started working my way out. The cops were all standing around and pretty much ignoring what was going on, I guess waiting for a Lt to tell them to move in. Just as I broke out, they got the call and waded in. Lucky for me.
In a column after, Bill McClellan related this exchange:
Young Male West County College Boy (or however he described the dumb fuck) to Cop: “You can’t do this! I know my rights!”
Cop to YMWCCB: “You have the right to do what I tell you!” WHAM!!!!
SectionH
@OzarkHillbilly: I haven’t lived there since 1964, so, sorry, I get that. Didn’t mean to hassle you. We were def. not in danger of being invited to the Ball. I’d actually forgotten about that, tbh.
NotMax
@Ceci n est pas mon nym
Have to give some credit, as since the reconfiguration which cut back the number of lanes for vehicular traffic, the average daily pedestrian maneuvering is a lot less irritating. Plus there are some interesting food kiosks along the east side sidewalk, with outdoor seating.
germy
@HeartlandLiberal:
Well, none that we know about.
OzarkHillbilly
@SectionH: What hassle? You asked a question I could not answer. I’m sorry I was unable to.
ETA and yeah, the chances of them letting somebody like me in were in negative territory.
germy
This is a fun game:
raven
@OzarkHillbilly: A lot of kids came back to Athens at the end of the week and there seem to be big parties breaking out on frat row. I don’t think the cops are going to want to throw these white kids in the joint but I guess since the moron frat boy gov gave everyone the go-ahead. . .
NotMax
@raven
To-<
*cough*– ga!//
Classic definition of sophomoric.
OzarkHillbilly
@raven: Yep.
Mousebumples
My local greenhouse/nursery is willing to have their staff pick out plants for customers , and are offering curbside pickup or delivery . They are also open of you want to pick out stuff yourself, but I trust that they can pick out the best #insertplant better than I can.
Planning to add a rosebush for my daughter (middle name Rose) and a nut tree of some sort in memory of my father in law. And probably more, knowing me.
Lapassionara
@Jeffery: I don’t think landscape cloth would work for that purpose. I think you might be fighting a losing battle. I made the mistake of planting false indigo once. The only thing that kept it under control was the fact that the spot where I planted it became really shady as the trees nearby got bigger.
I am hoping to get some red salvia planted this week in my annual bed. I have some interesting sunflower seeds to plant also, a shorter variety. The tall ones I tried last year fell over before I could stake them.
rikyrah
Good Morning, Everyone ???
NotMax
@Jeffery
Perhaps someone experimenting with (or selling) homemade pasta? Jersualem artichoke can be used to make a (really blah, IMHO) pasta.
HinTN
@Ceci n est pas mon nym:
That’s why Ramadan in summer is so tough for working folks.
Skepticat
Thanks for the story about Mr. Bonsall. I’ve passed it along to my niece, who’s program director of FOR/Maine at the Maine Development Foundation and specializes in sustainable agriculture. She’s also a very intelligent, activist young woman who’ll love Balloon Juice.
Much as it pains me, I’m in the process of cutting trees to get at more hurricane debris, but my surviving hibiscus trees and oleander are doing well even in the mess. I so hope that by this time next year I might have both a home and a garden again.
debbie
@NotMax:
That happened to me a couple of times after concerts in Central Park. Being squeezed through an underpass tunnel with 50,000 other people was really very frightening. I’ve avoided crowds ever since.
Dorothy A. Winsor
Illinois’s extended lockdown has some easing built in–including allowing greenhouses to open. I think they may have to do curbside pickup but I’m not sure. Anyway, gardeners rejoice!
debbie
Took a walk yesterday and realized I wasn’t seeing any azaleas. They’re my favorite part of spring, and I’d hate to think the frosty nights had gotten to them.
OzarkHillbilly
In garden news this week: Glub glub glub. We got an inch and a half on Thursday and another 3 inches yesterday. Our next bout of rain is due on Tuesday with a 30% chance tomorrow and Wednesday. Everything is mud, mud, and more mud. If we get some good winds today (sunny and 66) the garden may dry out enough I can get something done in the veggie garden.
Broccoli is in. Lettuce and cabbages doing well. I still have a few maters to get in the ground, I’m late on starting my peas, and may just have give up on the innoculent getting here in time. I need to plant the carrots (try try again), radishes, greens, and a few other things.
My peppers and eggplants… tiny little things, look to be 2 months away from going in the ground. I may give up on them and buy plants from Lowes. Last time I bought pepper plants I imported tobacco mosaic virus into my garden and I lost all my peppers to it, so I’m kinda not liking that idea.
I have gourd seed I intend to stick in the “orchard”. Just let it go and see what I get. I’m going to grow squash again this year (Romanesco zucchini and patty pans) but I’m going to wait until the end of June when the squash bugs are supposed to done with their ravagings. I’m done feeding those little bastards. Did without for 2 years in the hopes they will move on.
I’m gonna stick my herbs in the ground this week. I have a groundhog that shows up every now and again. He didn’t bother them last year and I am hopeful for the same treatment from him this year.
The Zen garden annex is mostly planted, got a couple more blank areas that need something to fill them in. Of what I did last year, a # of things did not survive the winter and need replacing, working on that. Still don’t have the fountain running. The pump is running real slow, may need a new one.
That’s about it from this hilltop haven.
satby
@Jeffery: try solarizing it for a couple of weeks, then mulch it with layers of cardboard covered by mulch. Surefire way to kill all but the most persistent unwanteds.
@Jeff G, those tulips are my dream color scheme! Do you remember the name of them?
Baud
@rikyrah: Good morning.
Ceci n est pas mon nym
I’ve lived in PA for 20 years and still can’t remember what “normal” is for spring.
I put some seeds out in pots in mid March (cilantro and carrots, which said they go directly in the ground) and started some others (tomatoes) indoors. Got to the end of March, still no sign of life in those pots. The tomatoes were doing great.
A couple of weeks ago I put half the tomatoes out into the pots where the seeds had apparently died. Shortly after that, the seeds sprouted. So now I have to decide whether and how to transplant some of those little seedlings.
I held off on the other half of the tomatoes because we were still getting nights in the 30s. Not frost, but cold. Put them out yesterday.
So now I have three sets of tiny crops: The thriving little seedlings that were indoors the longest, the shorter seedlings which never got any taller in the cold weather, and a bunch of carrots and cilantro around the feet of the short seedlings.
At least it’s all still alive. I’m not good at this, and not holding out any hope that I’ll actually eat anything from the garden.
JAFD
A couple of decades ago I knew a young lady who ran a community gardening program in exurban Philadelphia, and who was a Seed Savers International member. Used to return from trips south to see my parents (who were in their 80’s) with their empty prescription bottles (amber plastic, light & water proof) so she could use them for shipping and storing seeds.
Now I’m accumulating empty prescription bottles, would be glad to have a use for them. Oneovdezedaze may get to the farmers’ market in that town, see if she has booth there.
It would be like a trip to explore the geology of southern New Jersey – a sedimental journey
satby
@rikyrah: Good morning ?
@OzarkHillbilly: It’s about the same here. The grass in my backyard is almost over my ankles high and it’s way too wet to mow. I want to go clear out around the trees and put new tree guards I bought around them, pull some of the endless maple seedlings out of the front flower bed, and maybe weed a bit in the back iris bed. We’ll see how much progress I can make in the muck though.
Honestly I was so confused about which day it was this morning I thought it was Monday!
NotMax
@JAFD
Careful not to step in the schist.
:)
satby
Oof! Giving NotMax a little competition?
NotMax
@Satby
Yeah, should get out to mow today, as areas are shin high, the damn invasive cane grass higher. Whether expectation and determination come to an accord remains an open question.
H.E.Wolf
Tangentially: the rates of violent crimes in the USA have been decreasing steadily for decades. Apparently the reduction in the use of leaded gasoline is one of the factors.
https://www.brookings.edu/blog/up-front/2017/06/01/new-evidence-that-lead-exposure-increases-crime/
satby
@Skepticat: we asked earlier if there was any help you could use, especially for your rescue and you said none was needed. Is that still the case? It’s been so long since the hurricane and such a slow recovery!
Gin & Tonic
Was a nice and relatively warm day yesterday, but still too early for putting much in the ground here in southern New England, so it was mostly cleanup. Trying to push back a semi-cleared area, ripping out the birch and oak seedlings and the ample growth of what I think is smilax – a thorny vine that spreads aggressively through runners and rhizomes.
Unfortunately the gypsy moth infestations of two and three years ago have destroyed about a quarter of my oaks, which will have to be professionally removed. At least two of them (so far) have become wonderful homes for the woodpeckers, but I can’t help thinking that will structurally weaken the tree and force my hand with the tree service. Going rate around here seems to be $800-1000 per tree, depending on size and ease of access.
Jeffery
@satby: Suncatcher is the tulip variety.
satby
@Jeffery: thanks! Just beautiful, now I have to go see if colorblends has them ?
Edit: I mentioned that last year I bought two varieties from other sources because colorblends didn’t carry them and was very disappointed that about half of the bulbs sent had rotted, even in the replacement they sent. Well the ones I planted have come up and they’re fine. One is not at all what I had ordered because it’s a double daff.
oldgold
Under the Motherlode’s “or else” edict to develop a butterfly garden, I have been as busy as a Jehova’s Witness at Doors R Us; but, alas to date the results would make the water-bailer on the Titanic look like a big success story.
Lying in bed last night in a cold sweat of worry, I had an idea. Perhaps, it is on the level of the Mango Mussolini’s Clorox madness. Here goes: buying caterpillars and seeding West of Eden’ experimental weed patch with them?
MomSense
I added a ton of compost to my raised beds, but it will be awhile before it is warm enough to plant. I got some soil and compost for my planters, too. I’m going to turn my usual flower pots into herbs, lettuces,spinach, chili peppers and cherry tomatoes. I’m trying to find some high bush blueberries to make a hedge at the back of my yard.
OzarkHillbilly
Woodpeckers will have minimal effect on the trees, root rot is usually what brings them down. How can you tell? Dig down into the roots, see what’s happening down there, and flip a coin. In other words, you should be safe for the first couple years but after that you’re rolling the dice and the odds are not in your favor.
$800-1000/tree? ACK!!! around here it goes for 250-500 depending on the risks involved.
MoCA Ace
We had a very cool but dry week. I turned over the soil in the garden beds and raked it all out so I’m ready to roll when the weather cooperates. Looks like a lot of rain this week but temps in the upper 50’s so I may put in beans and some of the hardier vegetables. I have three-inch tall peas, lettuce, spinach, and radishes under the mini greenhouse. In the house I’m overrun with tomato and pepper seedlings. They are going to be a foot tall before I can plant them out.
Spring peepers are almost done breeding here and chorus frogs are calling now… Leopard frogs and pickerel frogs should be joining in the chorus soon.
satby
@OzarkHillbilly: $1000+ is an average here and in Chicago to take out a full grown tree. Lots harder with buildings and power lines everywhere. The sugar maple in front of my new house is also in the last years of its life, lots of dead wood and the woodpeckers love it. This time if it falls on the house I can at least get a new roof and insulated attic out of the deal, but with my luck it won’t fall that way.
OzarkHillbilly
@oldgold: Zinnia’s are easy to grow and always bring them in. Blazing Star is another favorite, tho it may be too late to plant them.
oldgold
@OzarkHillbilly:
Thank you. On it like a large tick on a Chihuahua’s butt. Will be zealously planting Zinnias tomorrow.
debbie
@oldgold:
I remember planting zinnias with my mom and grandmother when I was a little kid. A neighbor plants them along an alley behind her garage. I include that alley in my daily walks because they are so wonderful to see, with their bright colors and “happy faces.” Sometimes, the simplest is the best!
donnah
https://twitter.com/baddestmamajama/status/1254116048237768704?s=21
Hilarious tweets about a solution to pillbug infestation
pat
@Jeffery:
I got rid of some spreading variegated bluestem grass by cutting it down and covering with a TARP, no air/water holes like a landscape cloth. Covered with bark mulch, left it an entire year. Gone.
StringOnAStick
Tomorrow I am going to friends to do a socially distant planting -fest of all the xeric perennials I started for them, in a year or two their yard Wil be a brilliant butterfly haven. I collected seed for Mexican Hat, Spanish Snapdragon, yellow native Columbine, and those sprouted at impressive rates, the Native Galliardia not so much. I supplemented with seed for mini roses, showy milkweed, Ricky Mountain penstemon and a few other things I can’t remember right now, then dug up some xeric volunteers from our yard. This is Phase 1 because some things aren’t big enough yet to plant out.
They bought a 1930’s house as the second owners (!) and totally gutted and redesigned it, but as all big projects go it cost more than expected so there was no landscaping money left and the front yard is just a few trees and shrubs, so lots of room to make magic because they only want grass in a small area of the backyard. The neighbors and my friends want to have the most colorful yard in the ‘hood, and we will be able to do and share some of what I managed to propagate.
There’s a 87 degree day predicted on Thursday when it should be just the 60’s this time of year, and it hasn’t gotten to freezing for over a week. I’m going to chance it and gets my bush beans planted because my planter soil.is at 70 degrees. F it gets cold again I’ll just drag the pots into the garage.
Aleta
@pat: I’m trying tarps on a patch of knotweed on a vacant lot I bought awhile ago. For years it stayed about the same size, but with warming seasons + someone mowed its edges a few years back (big mistake) it’s been growing faster than sourdough starter. (Some try Round-up, but that would run down into the river (the patch lies close and on the drainage slope), and RU doesn’t fully eradicate it so has to be applied over and over. Plus I don’t use that kind of stuff anyway.)
Then (once I get the materials together) I’m going to replace the tarps with the cardboard satby mentions above. LA Times article about a process for that. (Paywall after one article; so here’s some of the gist.)
The advice is from “L.A. Arboretum’s Crescent Farm, where six years ago a group led by artist-in-residence and interpretive horticulturist Leigh Adams converted nearly an acre of compacted old lawn, overrun with nut grass, into a croissant-shaped, water-wise garden of edibles, native plants, wildflowers and trees. ”
Aleta
@Aleta:
According to that article
Skepticat
@satby: Thanks for the thought. When people ask if I need anything, I usually say (and may have said here), “Fame and fortune; hold the fame.” At this point, I doubt I can afford to rebuild. However, in general, things are going fairly well though slowly here, and I’ve made considerable progress—all the big pieces are gone—though there’s much cleanup remaining. I had sent an On the Road piece that never was used, but I may send another with before-and-after pictures. My weather service subscription tells me we may have something tropical spin up next month, and my fear is we’ll have to leave but they won’t let us back. Much as this New Englander dreads Bahamian summer heat, I’m not unhappy under lockdown here so far. Interestingly, I was just watching a friend cobble together pieces of gutter to make a wall garden for lettuce, and we have vegetable seeds on the way in (though we’re desperate for rain). We can get cargo flights in, and I recently got subQ fluids for my cat and food for all of them, so we keep keeping on.
ziggy
@satby: That is getting off easy! We have 5 huge big leaf maples around our house, that start at 90′ and go up to 110′ tall. Previously we had 2 more, but they were very close to the neighbor’s house. After an ice storm caused roof damage, she had her lawyer write up a letter to force us to remove them.
Removing them was a hell of a process. We had to dismantle the back deck for access, making a road for the crane, equipment and logging trucks to the back yard. Whole show took about a week, was quite exciting, and set us back about $12,000 (and that was the best deal we could find!). The large stumps are still there, I’m growing roses on them.
Kattails
Gorgeous tulips!
Checking my email, the weekly blog from King Arthur flour gave several recipes for using discard sourdough starter. The one for buttery biscuits looks great (haven’t tried it) and got really good reviews. Just thought to pass it along, I’ve seen the hate-to-toss complaint from several commenters lately.
Supposed to snow here tonight. My daffodils are all completely stalled out, buds holding tight.
Jeffery
@satby: I got them from John Scheepers:
https://www.johnscheepers.com/flower-bulbs-index.html
They aren’t selling bulbs this year to date. I think they start May or June.