#all the prolific bamboo i have around my spot

[quiveringdeer]

Eren: My therapist told me that when I find myself getting violently angry, I need to deal with it in a healthy, constructive way. Armin: By finding a parking meter and ripping it out of the ground? Eren: I mean, I've never seen anyone use it.

Welp. As much as I hate to agre with Ereh, he's not exactly wrooooong. 🙄

I mean demolition is just deconstructed construction right? 🤔

Eren...construction and constructive are not the same thing. 😐

[askiisoft]

FAN ART FRIDAY: Triple Dragons

Imagine dragons. It can be the European winged lizards or the long, windy Asian ones, it doesn’t matter. Now imagine that, like most lizards, it molted its skin every so often. But afterwards, that shedded skin came to life, put on a suit, and started trying to take over the identity of the original, creeping out its friends and war buddies in the process.

That’s the sordid history of Gamma Fifteen, a.k.a “The Dragon of New Mecca”. I think no one behind Katana ZERO imagined he’d become the game’s breakout character, receiving more fan love than the rest of the cast combined. But we’re not here to talk about him...or at least, not just him. Thanks to the raw talent and wild imaginations of fans, there have become at least three different versions of Fifteen in fanon.

So buckle in, because today we’ll be going on an expedition into the urban jungles of the Third District, to get a look at the three species of The Dragon in the wild.

Thanks to @55_yamisan for drawing all the species illustrations below! You can see the original artwork here.

[WARNING: Contains plot spoilers for ‘Katana ZERO’]

Ssshhh. Stay low, and be careful of snapping twigs underfoot. Just through the brush, we can see a juvenile Dragon in its natural habitat. Here, have a look.

Don’t be fooled by his boyish charm—at the tender age of 15, this NULL specimen is already a proficient killing machine. From this juvenile form, a Dragon can eventually grow into one of three different forms depending on its diet, habitat, and artist. 

—

Exhibit A. Here, we have most prolific and successful species of The Dragon. Using his long, spindly legs, he prowls the Earth’s upper atmosphere for small birds, passenger planes, and other prey.

One of the mandates for Katana ZERO’s promotional art was that spoiler characters like Fifteen and Headhunter couldn’t be shown. It was a smart move for hiding the game’s various late-game twists, but as a consequence, fan artists had nothing but his in-game sprites as reference material. 

This led to debates about whether he wore sunglasses or had cat ears, until natural selection produced the perfect assassin; a bishonen-yet-deadly apex predator.

by @IERotAK

I love hatched lines. They’re useful for drawing the eye or adding texture, shadows, and folds without the use of color. Unfortunately, a combination of shitty tablet drivers and my own unsteady hand means I can only draw lines a couple dozen pixels long before they start losing their straightness.

That’s clearly no issue for IEROtAK, who manages to convey the distinct textures of glossy leather gloves, a dark suit, and cold steel using nothing but amazingly neat hatched lines and negative space. The thick webs of intricate lines dazzles the eye from afar before it slowly makes out the clean shapes and low perspective of this masterpiece. Real badasses don’t look at explosions.

by @PsykoShipht

One of the best ways to make dynamic action is by accentuating movement; things like Batman’s cape, Strider Hiryu’s crimson scarf, or Rad Spencer’s dreadlocks billow and sway with their every movement, giving a sense of momentum and a clear line of action. 

PsykoShipht gives Fifteen’s stylish ponytail a life of its own; I can already picture it straightening with each Chronos Rush attack or forming zig-zags and right angles and he navigates platforms. Even Fifteen’s comparatively lanky proportions and clean silhouette scream ‘agility character’ before he even draws his sword.

—

This species is a rare sight in the wild, and thankfully so. His briefcase is lead-lined, so even X-ray scans have been unable to reveal its contents.

It all began in The Concept Art of Katana ZERO and seemingly normal piece of concept art by Kenju, depicting an alternate version of Fifteen bearing a green sheath, green hair, and what looked like mild burn scars on his face. 

by Kenju

Fan artists immediately took the idea and ran with it, inventing a bizarre, disfigured, and delightfully mad doppelgänger—first dubbed “Proto Fifteen″ and later, “The Snake” or “The Serpent”. He carries around that mysterious silver briefcase and a creepy yandere obsession with Fifteen’s old comrade, Zero. 

Is he a failed clone? A bizarro-version from another dimension? And what’s inside that briefcase? We may never know. But the idea of having a stalker with Fifteen’s level of speed and swordsmanship is an utter nightmare...

by @55_yamisan

Why drown a drawing in rainbows when just a few spots of color makes all the difference? 

Adding red eyes to Yami-san’s black-and-white art style immediately leads one’s gaze in a serpentine spiral, from the snake’s glare and up its graceful coils to The Serpent’s cocked head and seductive smirk that distinguish him as the ‘evil twin’. Even without the green in his hair or his signature briefcase, it’s easy to tell this is a totally distinct character from The Dragon. 

Let’s hope Zero can tell the difference, too...

“There’s something important inside.” by @moryu​

When Quentin Tarantino’s Pulp Fiction hit in 1994, everyone had their own guesses about what was inside the ‘mysterious briefcase’. Diamonds. Nuclear launch codes. Perhaps even a human soul.

In this case, however, my guesses are a lot more morbid, as anything The Serpent holds dear is likely slick, smelly, and related to Zero in some way. The way fan artists took a discarded detail from concept art and transformed it into The Serpent’s central conceit is beyond impressive.

I shudder to think of the kinds of reference photos @moryu​ used to achieve such realistic-looking burn scars in this picture. It doesn’t stop there, though; the mottled glow of The Serpent’s suit and hair and dull metallic sheen of his briefcase add an extra dimension of warmth to this otherwise creepy portrait.

—

“The Crocodile” is a relative newcomer to this ecosystem, but has carved out a niche of lifting his prey with a single arm, then drowning them in a toilet or other convenient body of water.

Truth be told, this one’s on me. When drawing some Steam Backgrounds for the game’s PC version, enough time had passed that The Dragon was fair game for publicity material. What I drew ended up like a blood-spattered cross between Clint Eastwood and Owen Wilson.

by @godsavant

This sent shockwaves rippling through the Katana ZERO fan community. Where was the sharply-dressed samurai prince everyone thirsted for? Surely this stomach-kicking, mobster-torturing beefcake couldn’t be him, thus earning him the moniker “The Crocodile” or “The Alligator”: muscular, deadly, and singularly obsessed with revenge.

by @sbserpent

Dragons are a consistent theme in art across many Asian cultures; for example, the Chinese once believed their emperor was descended from dragons, and thus bore their wisdom and benevolence. Here, sbserpent demonstrates just how frightening a human embodiment of a dragon really is.

Where The Dragon carries himself with an air of calculated composure, The Crocodile exudes sheer terror. The thick, angular brush strokes evoke Japanese sumi-e artwork, yet blotchy ink spots and harsh shadows are a far cry from the koi fish and bamboo forests of those traditional paintings. 

by @Zebralineku

Chiaroscuro is a technique that uses bold contrast between light and shadow to leave certain parts for the viewer’s mind to fill in. 

Here, Zebra gives us an imposing film-noir bust of The Crocodile as glimpsed through narrow blinds or a slat in a dark alley: the foreboding red mixed with heavy shadows evoke a hitman staring out at crimson neon signs, and his dark suit mixes with the black background to make him almost a shadow. Yet we can envision the other half of his face and ponytail in our mind’s eye from the scantest details; truly the touch of a master.

—

Remember, the specimens we’ve observed must be viewed from a safe distance; should you spot any of them in the wild, do not approach!

If you’d like some artwork featured on a future Fan Art Friday, just use the Submit Button on this blog!

by @Kazzang3

[livingcorner]

Small Vegetable Garden Ideas & Tips – Garden Design

Is your garden bed a twin size versus a king? Or maybe you have no land at all, and only a tiny balcony or patio. No problem. As long as you can find a sunny location, either on the ground or in mid-air, you can satisfy your appetite for freshly picked produce.

You're reading: Small Vegetable Garden Ideas & Tips – Garden Design

Even in a small 4-foot by 4-foot bed like this, you can grow plenty of vegetables. Photo by: Arina P Habich | Shutterstock.

“Almost everyone has access to more space than they realize. It just takes a little creative thinking to see it,” says Andrea Bellamy, in her book Small-Space Vegetable Gardens. A rooftop, alleyway, front porch, and even a fire escape are all viable spots for growing vegetables. The keys to success are careful planning and making the most of what you’ve got.

MAXIMIZE YOUR SPACE

Photo by Proven Winners.

Grow vegetables in containers

If growing in the ground is not an option due to space limitations, poor soil, or lack of sun, containers are great alternatives. When growing edibles in pots, choose patio or dwarf varieties and shallow-rooted plants such as lettuce, radishes, garlic, and leeks. For containers, you can use almost anything that holds soil—from fabric grow bags to old metal wash buckets—as long as you provide good drainage, says Bellamy. Remember that container plants need more water than those in the ground, it’s best not to let them completely dry out. Also be sure to fertilize your containers during the growing season, using an organic fertilizer such as liquid kelp.

Grow tomatoes, peppers, & basil from seed with the Proven Harvest

Patio Collection from Proven Winners.

Learn more about growing vegetables in pots.

Photo by Proven Winners.

Grow vegetables in raised beds

Raised garden beds are also a great option—if you have a level foundation on which to build them. Compared with in-ground beds, they offer the advantages of easier access, better drainage, and faster warming of the soil in the spring. “Digging and tilling beds in the ground is great, but it can take a few years to build up really good soil. Raised beds filled with a mix of good soil and compost will get beginners off to a good start. Even a bed as small as 4×4 feet will hold a lot of vegetables and be manageable,” says Susie Middleton, an avid kitchen gardener and the author of numerous cookbooks including, Simple Green Suppers: A Fresh Strategy for One-Dish Vegetarian Meals.

To learn more about materials and layouts for raised beds, see How to Lay Out and Build Raised Bed Gardens.

Photo by: Arina P Habich / Shutterstock.

Grow vegetables vertically

If you want to plant vining vegetables such as pole beans, cucumbers, and squash, give them something for their tendrils to grab on to like a trellis, fence, or netting. Gardening up not only saves space, it also creates structure and visual interest. “I like to plant cucumbers against the garden fence or up a trellis to save space; each plant only needs about a foot of space in the garden,” says Middleton.

Trellises come in countless shapes, styles, and materials. But you can easily make your own using simple bamboo poles secured at the top to form a tepee shape. If you have space on a sunny exterior wall, Bellamy recommends growing herbs and shallow-rooted vegetables in wall-mounted planters or modular green wall systems.

For more vertical gardening ideas, see Arbors, Trellises, and the Edible Garden

Read more: Top 10 Easy To Grow Vegetable Plants

Photo by: Christina Salwitz.

Create an edible landscape

Edible landscaping is a creative and attractive solution to growing vegetables in a front yard or other conspicuous location. Try mixing ornamental vegetables and herbs into the perennial garden or tuck them into containers. They can also be attractive on their own, especially if you combine various colors and textures.

For ideas, see Aiming for Aesthetic Edibles.

HOW TO CHOOSE THE BEST VEGETABLES FOR SMALL GARDENS

Be productive When you only have limited garden space to work with, choose plants that will give you big yields in a small area. Many vegetables and herbs have compact cultivars that are container friendly and ideal for small gardens. (See below for 12 great space-saving edibles to grow.)

Make priorities In a small garden, you have little room to experiment or plant crops that will go to waste. Make priorities by planting what you love, what’s unique, and what will thrive. Also plant what tastes best freshly picked. “Lettuce meets all my qualifications for a perfect crop,” says Bellamy. “I use a lot of it, and it tastes best straight from the garden. It’s also fast growing, attractive, space efficient, and easy to grow.”

Come back for more Many types of garden greens will feed you throughout the growing season if you harvest them continuously. These “cut-and-come” vegetables keep on giving by sprouting new leaves when the outer leaves are snipped off. Examples include loose-leaf lettuce, chard, kale, collard greens, mesclun, and escarole. “Lettuce varieties like ‘Salad Bowl’ and ‘Red Salad Bowl’ are great for containers or any small space. Instead of letting the lettuce head up, you can pick the outer leaves continuously,” says Middleton.

12 FRUITS & VEGETABLES FOR SMALL SPACES

Swipe to view slides

Photo by: Proven Winners.

Photo by: Proven Winners.

Pesto Besto® sweet Italian basil — Buy plants & seeds from Proven Winners

Great for large containers or mixed in with ornamental plants in the landscape. Produces an abundance of delicious, edible leaves perfect for making pesto or adding flavor to sauces, side dishes, and salads.

Learn more about how to grow basil.

Photo by: Proven Winners.

Fire Away® Hot and Heavy hot pepper — Buy plants & seeds from Proven Winners

Good for larger containers, this spicy pepper also works well in edible landscaping. Individual peppers ripen from green, to orange, to red, with all three colors present on the plant at the same time.

Learn more about how to grow peppers.

Photo by: Proven Winners.

Photo courtesy: Johnny’s Selected Seeds.

‘Bright Lights’ chard

This attractive cut-and-comer features a colorful mix of yellow, ruby red, and white stalks. It’s also cold-hardy and tolerates light shade.

Photo courtesy: Johnny’s Selected Seeds.

‘Red Russian’ kale

With lovely saw-toothed gray-green leaves and red veining, this delicious kale is pretty enough to plant among flowers in containers and garden beds. It’s well-suited for small spaces because it can be seeded thickly and then cut as baby greens when only a few inches high.

Photo courtesy: Johnny’s Selected Seeds.

‘Sugar Ann’ snap pea

While most peas need a trellis to climb, there are dwarf varieties, such as ‘Sugar Ann’, that grow no taller than 24 inches and don’t need staking. “I love growing dwarf snap peas around the edge of containers. They trail over the side and look very pretty when they bloom,” says Bellamy.

Read more: 20 small garden decking ideas – clever designs for tiny spaces with grass or not

Photo by: goldfinch4 | Garden.org.

‘Astia’ zucchini

Zucchini has a reputation for taking over the garden, with its rambling vines that are almost impossible to tame. ‘Astia’ is a French bush variety bred specifically for containers and small gardens, growing only 2 to 3 feet tall and wide. The plant is not only an abundant producer, it’s also highly ornamental with large silvery-green, indented leaves.

Photo by: lauraslens | Shutterstock.

‘French Breakfast’ radish Short-rooted radishes, such as this heirloom variety, can be grown in containers only 6 inches deep. ‘French Breakfast’ has 1 ¾-inch oblong roots that are crisp and mildly spicy. The radishes reach maturity in just 25 days, making this a great crop for succession planting.

Photo by: © Nicola Gordon | Dreamstime.com

‘Mascotte’ bush bean

Both pole beans and bush beans can be grown in containers and small gardens, but pole beans require vertical support, while bush varieties, such as ‘Mascotte’, have a sturdy, upright form that needs no staking. ‘Mascotte’ is a French-style green bean that grows to a height of only 18 inches. Despite its compact size, it’s a heavy producer, yielding an abundance of tender 6-inch-long stringless beans that sit on the top of the foliage for easier picking.

Photo by: Janet Horton / Alamy Stock Photo.

‘Ambition’ shallot

Why pay a premium price for shallots at the produce market when it’s so convenient to grow your own? Shallots require far less space to grow than other members of the onion family and have a more delicate flavor with a hint of garlic. ‘Ambition’ is a high-yielding variety that produces large, long-keeping bulbs and is easy to grow from seed.

Photo courtesy: Ball Horticultural Company.

‘Patio Baby’ eggplant

This prolific dwarf eggplant produces egg-shaped, 2-to 3-inch purple-black fruits that lack the bitterness of larger varieties. One plant fits comfortably in an 18-inch container, with no staking required. Each plant produces as many as 50 baby eggplants that can be harvested throughout the season. Use along with ‘Spicy Globe’ basil in this delicious recipe for eggplant balls.

PLAN FOR BETTER YIELDS

Keep ‘em coming Keep your small garden productive throughout the growing season by planting a series of crops in succession in a garden bed or container, starting with cool-season, early-maturing crops in the spring followed by mid-season and late-summer vegetables that will last until fall. “The idea of succession planting is to not let valuable garden space sit idle, and to be ready to plant something new whenever a space opens up,” says Bellamy. The same technique can also be used to extend the growing season for one type of crop, particularly fast-maturing edibles such as radishes and beans. By planting them in two- to three-week intervals they will reach maturity at different times.

Choose good companions Interplanting is similar in concept to succession planting, except that you maximize yields by pairing up different crops that are good companions and grow at different rates. For example, you can plant sugar snap peas in early spring and plant pole beans among them. By the time the peas are spent, the beans will be ready to take their place.

Succession planting and companion planting and great ways to increase your yield when growing vegetables in a raised bed—the only downside is that they won’t really work in containers.

Stretch the growing season Vegetable gardens aren’t just for the warm-weather months of May through September. There are many cool-season crops that will thrive in the ground or in containers well into fall, and some will even survive a nip of frost. See these suggestions for 15 fall vegetables.

RELATED: How to Start a Vegetable Garden Growing Vegetables in Pots Arbors, Trellises and the Edible Garden Spring Greens

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Source: https://livingcorner.com.au Category: Garden

source https://livingcorner.com.au/small-vegetable-garden-ideas-tips-garden-design/