#grass fertilizer spray

[swift-grow]

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[dilfsisko]

Why is my neighbor spraying weed killer on yards that are not her own

[environmentavegan]

I feel like every few years there's some huge issue that causes mass recalls or extremely escalated prices having to do with animal products. it's almost as if there's fundamental problems with the system and how we produce food

[headspace-hotel]

Chemically sterilized...or mechanically sterilized?

It is clear that applying chemicals to your yard and landscape, be it fertilizers, weed killers, or pesticides, has devastating effects to the community of life that is present in every place.

But is the terrifying decline in insects explainable by chemicals alone?

When i am in mowed environments, even those that I know have no lawn chemicals, they are almost entirely empty of life. There are a few bees and other insects on the dandelions, but not many, and the only birds I see are American robins, Grackles, and European starlings.

Even without any weed killers at all, regular mowing of a lawn type area eliminates all but a few specially adapted weeds.

The plants of a lawn where I live include: Mouse ear chickweed, Birds-eye Speedwell, Common blue violet, Dandelion, Wild Garlic, Creeping charlie, White Clover, Black Medick, Broad-leaved plantain, Mock Strawberry, Crabgrass, Small-flowered Buttercup, Ribwort Plantain, Daisy Fleabane, a few common sedges, Red Deadnettle...That sounds like a lot of plants, but the problem is, almost all of them are non-native species (Only Violets, Daisy Fleabane, and the sedges are native!) and it's. The Same. Species. Everywhere. In. Every. Place.

How come...? Because mowed turf is a really specific environment that is really specifically beneficial to a number of almost entirely European plants, and presents stressors that most plants (including almost all native north american plants) simply can't cope with.

The plants mentioned above are just the flowering weeds. The grasses themselves, the dominant component of the lawn, are essentially 100% invasive in North America, many of them virulently and destructively invasive.

Can you believe that Kentucky bluegrass isn't even native to Kentucky? Nope, it's European! The rich pasture of the Bluegrass region of Kentucky was predominantly a mix of clover, other legumes, and bamboo. The clovers—Kentucky clover, Running buffalo clover, and buffalo clover—are highly endangered now (hell, kentucky clover wasn't even DISCOVERED until 2013) and the bamboo—Giant rivercane, Arundinaria gigantea—has declined in its extent by 98%. Do European white and red clovers fulfill the niches that native clovers once did? Dunno, probably not entirely.

One of the biggest troubles with "going native" is that North America legitimately does not have native grass species that really fill the niche of lawn. Most small, underfoot grassy plants are sedges and they are made for shady environments, and they form tufts and fancy sprays, not creeping turf. Then there's prairie grasses which are 10 feet tall.

What this means, though, is that lawns don't even remotely resemble environments that our insects and birds evolved for. Forget invasive species, lawns are an invasive BIOME.

It's a terrible thing, then, that this is just what we do to whatever random land we don't cover in concrete: back yards, road margins, land outside of churches and businesses, spaces at the edges of fields, verges at bypasses and gas stations...

Mowing, in the north american biomes, selects for invasive species and promotes them while eliminating native species. There's no nice way to put it. The species that thrive under this treatment are invasive.

And unfortunately mowing is basically the only well-known and popular tool even for managing meadow and prairie type "natural" environments. If you want to prevent it from succeeding to forest, just mow it every couple of years.

This has awful results, because invasive species like Festuca arundinacea (a plant invented by actual Satan) love it and are promoted, and the native species are harmed.

Festuca arundinacea, aka Tall Fescue, btw is the main grass that you'll find in cheap seed mixes in Kentucky, but it's a horrific invasive species that chokes everything and keeps killing my native meadow plants. It has leaves like razor blades (it's cut me so deeply that it scarred) and has an endosymbiont in it that makes horses that eat it miscarry their foals.

And this stuff is ALL OVER the "prairie" areas where I work, like it's the most dominant plant by far, because it thrives on being mowed while the poor milkweeds, Rattlesnake Master and big bluestems slowly decline and suffer.

It's wild how hard it is to explain that mowing is a very specific type of stressor that many plants will respond very very negatively to. North American plants did not evolve under pressures that involved being squished, crushed, snipped to 8 inches tall uniformly and covered in a suffocating blanket of shredded plant matter. That is actually extremely bad for many of the prairie plants that are vital keystone species. Furthermore it does not control invasive species but rather promotes them.

Native insects need native plant cover. Many of them co-evolved intimately with particular host plants. Many others evolved to eat those guys. And Lord don't get me started on leaf removal, AKA the greatest folly of all humankind.

So wherever there is a mowed environment, regardless of the use of chemicals or not, the bugs don't have the structural or physical habitat characteristics they evolved for and they don't have the plant species they evolved to be dependent on.

Now let's think about three-dimensional space.

This post was inspired when I saw several red winged blackbirds in the unmowed part of a field perching on old stems of Ironweed and goldenrod. The red-winged blackbirds congregated in the unmowed part of the field, but the mowed part was empty. The space in a habitat is not just the area of the land viewed from above as though on a map. Imagine a forest, think of all the squirrels and birds nesting and sitting on branches and mosses and lichens covering the trunks and logs. The trees extend the habitat space into 3 dimensions.

Any type of plant cover is the same. A meadow where the plants grow to 3 feet tall, compared with a lawn of 6 inches tall, not only increases the quality of the habitat, it really multiplies the total available space in the habitat, because there is such a great area of stems and leaves for bugs and birds to be on. A little dandelion might form a cute little corner store for bugs, A six foot tall goldenrod? That's a bug skyscraper! It fits way more bugs.

It's not just the plants themselves, it's the fallen leaves that get trapped underneath them—tall meadow plants seem to gather and hoard fallen leaves underneath. More tall plants is also more total biomass, which is the foundation of the whole food chain!

Now consider light and shade. Even a meadow of 3ft tall plants actually shades the ground. Mosses grow enthusiastically even forming thick mats where none at all could grow in the mowed portions. And consider also amphibians. They are very sensitive to UV light, so even a frog that lives in what you see as a more "open" environment, can be protected by some tall flowers and rushes but unable to survive in mowed back yard

[rebeccathenaturalist]

So, long story short--a Master Gardener who has been maintaining a native plant garden for years is now being harassed by a neighbor, with whom the city code enforcers sided, and she's facing daily fines if she doesn't turn at least half of her yard into grass lawn. Apparently the only plants that are allowed to grow higher than seven inches are those that are edible, useful, or decorative.

If you are at all ecologically aware, you know that grass lawns are essentially ecological wastelands. A monoculture of non-native grass, especially if it's sprayed with herbicides, fertilizers, and so forth, is not going to support much in the way of native wildlife. Moreover, it can be argued that native plants do fall under the allowable category of "useful" and "decorative", and some are even "edible."

The article above is dated from two days ago, but this apparently started last year. And I found an article in their local paper from this past July that says she's still fighting the city about it, plus it has a bunch of photos of her garden if you want to see what the fuss is all about. Do be aware that if you decide to contact the Prospect Code Enforcement Board, City Council, and/or Mayor with a polite note in support of her, the website only allows you to send five messages every hour and you can only message one person at a time.

ETA: I did hear back just now from one of the code enforcement folks, who says--in their words--"Prospect City asked Ms. McGrail to redesign her current plantings into a more attractive and organized layout with edged definitions to her plant beds and a more obvious ‘walking path’ in between with a more “lawn-like” appearance, using native and no-mowing options"

[thepenultimateword]

Old Bones Part 7

| Part One | Part Two | Part Three | Part Four | Part Five | Part Six |

Surprise, Vampire has a name now. It was feeling weird having one character named and the other not.

CW: Blood, death mention

Floryn took a long drag from their canteen, the spiced rabbit's blood settling thick and warm in the hollow of their stomach. Lav had insisted on preparing a fresh pot before they headed out into the snow, and while they'd argued against it at the time, Floryn was glad to have something to combat the chill.

They curled their toes in their boots, ignoring the blend of soreness and numbness that riddled their muscles. The violent thunk thunk thunk of their heart against their ribcage was harder to pretend away. They'd lived in this wood their entire life. First in Bellwatch, a village hacked into the south edge where the earth was fertile, like a scar in the tree line. The walls backed against the Wildern, the land untamed and unwanted, and the watchmen stood eternally atop the stone, watching the endless long grass and shadowed hills for danger. A simple place for a simple life. Until that vampire climbed the wall and killed them.

Then they'd ran. No sooner had they dragged themself from the grave, and they were skirting past the drawn and burned-out body of their sire and disappearing into the dark wood.

The larger, more populated Bellbreak had no walls. No guards at the border. It sat in the middle of a glen, untouched by the Wildern's claws. Floryn simply slipped into the crowd and disappeared. But now...well this was all different. Bellbreak had been a well-acquainted idea. The world beyond on the other hand was a deep, dark unknown.

Floryn readjusted the strap of their bag as it dug into their shoulder. "Can I come up there yet?"

"Just a couple miles more," Lav replied from several strides ahead. They had insisted on scouting a few feet ahead, kicking snow over any rice piles, or walking broad arcs around iron traps.

"You've been saying that for last ten. I'm getting tired of looking at the back of your head."

Floryn wasn't entirely convinced that that wasn't part of Lav's goal. Despite the positive ending to trauma of the last several hours, they hadn't faced them head-on more than maybe twice.

"Besides you haven't come across anything in two hours, and I don't think the townsfolk would've come this far anyway, so..." Floryn darted up to Lav's side. Lav grunted mildly, a sound of mixed disapproval and assent. Floryn snuck a peak up at Lav's new face, the square jaw clenched tight and russet brows furrowed.

"I didn't expect to get out this far so fast," Floryn said idly. "I guess you don't tire out so quickly when you're dead."

"Mm."

"I didn't notice before because I've always been running. No time to think. But it's nice going at our own pace, huh?"

"Mm."

Floryn pursed their lips, kicking a spray of snow into the air in front of them. The snow crystals settled back down against the drifts as if it never happened, the only evidence being a pit of powder that had floated back against Floryn's knees. They sighed quietly, and their gaze flicked to Lav's hand, swinging at their side. Large. Calloused. Flushed from the cold.

Floryn dug the point of their fang into their bottom lip, worrying it a moment so the underside filled with bland blood. It was still strange seeing the roughened digits in place of their old slender fingers. The more they looked the more their stomach churned, but that might've been the fault of what they were thinking about doing.

Slowly, slowly, their fingers outstretched, a hand length away, a finger, half a finger. Their knuckles bumped into the meaty palm, pinky twining around Lav's little finger.

Lav reeled back as if bit, jerking their hand against their breast and whirling on Floryn with wide, startled eyes.

Floryn blinked in dumb shock, a lukewarm blush rising to their cheeks. For a moment their throat squeezed too tight to get out a word, but eventually, they managed a choked, "Sorry."

Lav's face contorted into even harsher panic.

"No!" They thrust out their hands in front of them. "You didn't do anything wrong! I wasn't...I'm not..." Their fists clenched. "I'm feeling strange. New body. You knowing. I don't...I don't think it's a good idea to get too close. At least not so soon."

"Oh." Floryn wet their already-closing wound. "Right. Of course."

"It has nothing to do with you," Lav said, forcing their avoidant eyes up for a full second. Something dark briefly swam through the yellow pools. A lie.

"No, yeah, I know that." Floryn turned brusquely forward. "I just thought maybe you wanted...after everything...but I shouldn't have assumed."

"It's okay."

"Mm." Floryn pinned their lips together. Stupid. So stupid. Lav never said they wanted anything other than companionship. The reading, the care, the protection. You could do all of that for a friend. In any case, after everything they'd gone through that night, flirtation was probably the last thing on their mind, and Floryn had selfishly pushed it. Even more selfish was the fact that they were still scared of the new body. Maybe they'd thought acting close would help them accept it faster, help them focus on the parts of Lav they still clearly saw inside. But it could've just as easily made the situation worse.

"There's an inn a half mile from here," Lav said, breaking the quiet.

"A town?"

"No. The nearest settlement is Mudfield. About half a day away still. This a roadside inn. A business that relies on the patronage of lots of travelers who would rather not camp. Good for us since the sun is about to come up."

Floryn looked up through the gaps in the foliage. The long red fingers of dawn streaked the sky; they clutched their cloak a little closer.

"Let's go a little faster," Lav said, voice calm and smooth.

Floryn nodded.

It wasn’t long before the Inn came into view. It was larger than the cabin but not quite as large as what they’d always imagined in books. The thatching looked like birds had been tugging at it, loose twigs and straw sticky out at odd angles, and as they stepped up onto the porch the wood sagged and groaned under their feet.

A mixture pine needles, ale, and smoke floated on the air as they eased the door open. The room was filled with filled with barstools and tables, but they all sat empty. The best sign of life was a smear of something sticky on the bar counter.

“Oi! Trevon!”

Floryn turned toward the back of a room. A chestnut haired woman in a red apron swept at the floor under the tables like the world depended on it.

A low grumble quickly drew their attention back to the bar where was a broad, mustached man was stepping out of the back room.

“Early guests, eh?” He rubbed his hand down his eyes and into his mustache. “What can I do for yous?”

Floryn took a little step closer, opened their mouth, and…

Nothing came out.

They almost choked on the empty air. A hot feeling shooting from head to toes, liquifying the bones in their legs, and clenching their insides into a thousand tiny knots. The innkeeper narrowed his eyes. Did Floryn look like they were about to faint or did he know?

Suddenly Lav’s hand was on their shoulder, casually pushing them behind so they could step right up to the bar.

“Excuse the early hour,” they said, as honey smooth as the day they’d met. “Usually we wouldn’t impose at such an inopportune hour, but we’ve been traveling all night and hoped we could trouble you for a couple of rooms.”

The innkeeper stared at Lav for a moment, as if sensing the wrongness in him. But eventually he waved his hand flippantly. “We’re up this early every day. Got to get ahead of the tenants, eh?” He propped his elbows on the counter with a large yawn. “I only got one room. 15 coppers by the night. Will that do?”

“Perfect,” Lav said. They rustled in their deep coat pocket, producing a handful of small copper coins. Where they got the money after years in seclusion, Floryn didn't know. Maybe scoured off all the dead bodies and robbed graves.

The innkeeper scraped the coins into their hand and disappeared into the back. He returned a few moments later with a little silver key. "Room 8. Anything else?" he said, sliding it across the counter. "I can have Marri whip you up a hot breakfast."

From the glare Marri shot across the room, Floryn wouldn't have accepted the offer even if they could eat.

"Very gracious of you," Lav said. "But after a full night of traveling, the room is quite enough. Just up the stairs is it?"

"Even numbers on the right," the innkeeper confirmed.

"Very good." Lav's hand landed on the middle of Floryn's back, guiding them to the narrow staircase. The steps creaked and when they reached the hall it took some squinting to make out the half-rubbed numbers chalked on the doors.

Lav's hand slid away to unlock the door, leaving the spot on Floryn's spine tingling and empty.

Lav crossed the room in a few quick strides, yanking the curtains closed on the pool of sun spreading across the floor.

"If you're cold I'll light a--" They cut off mid-turn, only then noticing what Floryn had noticed immediately. Maybe they should be flattered Lav's first thought had been to keep them out of the sun, but the delayed reaction was somehow even worse than realizing their predicament simultaneously.

The single bed sat in the middle of the room, ropes hanging a little too loosely so that the straw mattress just brushed the floor. The bed hangings had also seen better days, motheaten and sustained from cream to light yellow--though to be fair, bed hangings in general were an unexpected luxury for this place. At the very least, the bed was full-sized; they wouldn't be pressed back to back.

Floryn shivered inappropriately at the mental image before brusquely shoving it away. A quick glance around the room revealed no other furnishings but a nightstand with a half-melted candle on one side of the bed and a chair and table, set with a pitcher and washbasin, on the other.

Lav cleared their throat uncomfortably. "I suppose the number of beds to a room was never specified."

"Well," Floryn said, trying to sound unbothered. "A bed is a bed." They slid their bag to the floor and plopped down on one end. "Can't complain there."

Lav nodded. "It's been a long night. You should rest." They dropped their own pack, quickly sifting out a blanket roll and spreading it out on the floor.

"We should rest," Floryn corrected. "Don't act as if you haven't had a long night too." They patted the space beside them.

"I'll be just fine by the hearth."

"I don't mind sharing."

"It's too much."

"For who?" Floryn said. "You never had a problem dozing off on the sofa. It's basically the same thing."

"It's different. And this body, what I am, all of it..."

"So? I can judge my discomfort myself, thank you. I'm fine." They met Lav's gaze head-on. "Unless I make you uncomfortable. In which case, we should flip a coin for the bed."

Lav clenched their teeth, rotating their jaw a couple times as their yellow eyes flicked from Floryn's face to the empty side of the bed, to the door. "You are so stubborn," they finally said, crossing the room and kicking off their shoes before sliding beneath the bedcovers. The mattress sank deeper towards the floor, but Floryn closed the bed hangings and crawled underneath the covers without comment. Despite their shoddy material, the hangings did make a cozy space. Even better because they blocked out any light that might have passed through the window curtains. The only downside was it made the bed feel narrower. A small but significant gap kept their and Lav's shoulders just short of brushing.

"You know you're making my gallant attempts at consideration very difficult," Lav said.

Floryn rolled toward them. "What do you mean?"

Lav matched Floryn's movement by turning onto their side, eyes glowing catlike in the shadows. "You do make me uncomfortable."

"Oh."

"Not because I don't like being near you," Lav said. "Because I don't deserve to be. I'm wearing the body of your attacker, I constantly make you afraid, and I'm a monster."

Floryn raised their hand to their cheek, eliciting a small shock. "Honey, you've never met a real monster."

Lav scoffed but didn't move away. "What am I then?"

They stroked a crooked finger down the ghoul's cheekbone "Yes, you're a monster in the traditional sense. So am I." Their other hand pressed to Lav's chest, the faux warmth of their skin soaking into their chilly fingertips. "But not in in here. Not where it counts. You don't have to be a ghoul or a vampire to be monstrous inside." The ragged rhythm of their heart beat into Floryn's palm, steadily picking up speed. "Maybe you have met monsters--the townspeople who sacrificed you, the people who chased you away from a normal life, my hunters--but don't think for one second you’re one of them."

Warm tears pricked Floryn's thumb, and suddenly, a pair of muscled arms wrapped around them. The air fled their lungs all at once and refused to be drawn back in.

"I care about you, Flor," Lav mumured into their neck. "My dear. My darling. My love."

"I love--" Floryn caught themselves, violently clearing their throat and bowing their face into Lav's curls. "I care about you too."

This ghoul was going to be the death of them. What did they mean saying "I care" and "My love" in the same breath? Their heart had already been stopped by an undead once, they didn't need a second demonstration.

Against their better wishes, they slid out of the embrace first.

"We should sleep. We need to put more distance between us and BellBreak before we can really relax."

"Rest," Lav murmured. "I can stay up if you're worried."

"Don't get noble. I worry about you too you know." They flopped the other direction. "If I wake up in a few hours and find out you didn't sleep, I'm going to be mad."

Lav chuckled. "Understood."

The covers rustled as they settled down deeper into the bed. The warmth of their presence tickled Floryn's back even from across the gap, but strangely, they weren't quite so anxious now. Perhaps they were simply to tired to worry anymore because sleep hit hard and fast. Seconds after closing their eyes they were engulfed in dark, dreamless sleep--a gift after so much nightmare fuel had been tossed their way today.

When Floryn woke next, the gap no longer existed.

Master Taglist:

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[swindlefingrs]

The Astral Plane is beautiful. Saga tells Gale so. She thanks him for the experience, for sharing this time with her as they float in the translucent sea together. He slips his learned, delicate hands into hers, calloused and broad, and squeezes. They tell each other that they are enough, as they are.

She loses his gaze to the shifting colors of the Astral Plane and makes a promise to herself.

The next morning Saga packs a small tote bag. Bread, cheese, cider. The rest of lunch she can find along the way. She knows Gale doesn't move fast or well over rough ground, so she picks a trail flat enough for her purpose.

Gale only pitches well-mannered fits twice, but she tells him to be patient. It'll be worth it.

It is.

The astonished look on his face as they crest this trail makes her feel less guilty about the stitch in his side that he digs his fist into.

The rushing waterfall is thunderous from their cliff-side vantage point. Cold spray glitters in the air, catching the suns rays and breaking them into a thousand colors.

"This is beautiful," Gale says between wheezes.

Saga takes his hand and leads him a few feet further up the trail to a perfect spot to overlook the valley. She sets out a simple meal of what she brought and what she gathered on the way: salmon berries, miner's lettuce, violets, honeycomb.

She drizzles the honey and violets over the pot of soft cheese. They dip torn pieces of bread into it. Salty. Sweet. Herbaceous.

"I had imagined that wooing a ranger would come with it's own particular set of challenges, but if your goal was to get me alone, there are much easier ways of doing that rathet than asking me to scale a mountain," Gale teases as he pops a berry into his mouth. He squints as the tartness hits his tongue, and relaxes as the sweetness blooms after.

Saga sucks her teeth, brushing off his chiding. Instead she scoots closer to him, draping one arm around his waist and pointing out to the river below with her other hand. She revels in the feeling of him leaning against her. His breath on her cheek.

From where they sit she points out the stories that she can see written in the damp earth, broken twigs, dead grass, moss, and climbing vines.

“Elk cross there every other tenday."

Gale recites the binomial nomenclature for elk, Saga corrects him.

“Red elk, not Marsh Elk. Those are further south."

Gale corrects himself and recites the binomial for red elk.

“A hunter has taught her daughter how to hunt those elk. Just as her mother taught her. There's their blind.”

Saga points to a cluster of rushes next to an old oak tree.

“The scat from the herd fertilizes the water and those berry bushes.”

Eel grass languidly sways in the river's current. Glinting silver fish dart between the thick, green blades of the eel grass.

“These... berries?” Gale hesitates with a handful of yellow and orange salmon berries.

“Those berries.” She snatches one from his palm and bites down until it bursts tart and sweet in her mouth.

She nods southerly, “Look at the entrance to the cave. The bear sow had her tenth cub this spring. She brought down an elk recently. See the bones?”

“These leaves?” Saga plucks a handful of spade-shaped leaves from the bush nearby. She rolls them between her calloused fingers and breathes in their scent, before placing them under Gale’s nose. It smells like mossy pepper and golden melon. Interesting.

She cups the leaves in her palm, “Water,” she commands in a tone that is sweet for her.

With just a flick of his wrist, the leaves float in a pool of cool, clear water. She claps her hands together, rubbing them vigorously before revealing that her palms covered in milky suds.

“Soap.”

“Ah! For washing up! How fascinating,” Gale drags his fingers through the suds, rubbing them between his fingertips, testing the viscosity.

Saga takes a deep breath. Words aren't as easy for her as they are for Gale, “The Astral Plane is wonderful. You showed me that. Just don’t... don't forget about this plane, yeah? It’s just as magical. In its way.”

“So I'm learning," he chirps. “Turns out? Some of my favorite people are here. Somehow you keep finding new ways of teaching me that.”

Gale's smile is bright, earnest. It cauterizes a rotten part of her urges.

“With all that being said, can you promise me something?” he sidles up to her.

She scowls. Promises are heavy things.

“Can you promise me that you'll bring me on another one of your highly educational field trips of the famed Material Plane? I mean the view, the ecology lesson, the meal? The company?” He softens his voice to a whisper shared between the two of them, “I can't wait to see more of it.”

Saga smirks. She tips his pretty head back with only a finger under his chin. His kisses are berry-sweet, honey-sticky, and plentiful.

"A promise easily kept."

[toadstoolgardens]

Gardening in Raised Beds On Pavement

Growing in raised beds on top of pavement is an excellent strategy if you have limited growing space. Let's learn how to make the most of that concrete or asphalt!

Build Tall Beds

Crops need room to send roots down into the soil. Providing plenty of room to grow means your crops have a strong foundation, hold moisture longer, and can access more nutrients in the soil through deeper roots. Raised beds on pavement should be a minimum of 24 inches tall and ideally 32 inches tall! Taller is always better, especially if you live somewhere with hot and/or dry summers.

Filling Your Raised Beds

When you build raised beds on the ground, your crops have access to the soil underneath for draining excess water from above and wicking water up from below. Building on pavement takes this away, so how we fill the beds really matters!

Bottom Layer: Gravel

Fill the bottom of your raised beds with about 6 inches of gravel. This helps fight erosion, helps with drainage, and keeps your crop's roots from coming into contact with the pavement.

Middle Layer: Decomposing Wood

I highly recommend the hugelkultur method. A hugelkultur, or "mound culture" in German, is a raised bed with a base of decomposing wood. Rotting wood encourages fungal networks, holds moisture, and fills the space pretty cheaply. Get some logs, sticks, and other dead wood pieces and make a layer on top of your gravel.

Top Layers: Loose, Rich Growing Medium

There's lots of options for filling this space, but the goal is high-quality organic matter. Avoid bags of potting soil, as these aren't living soil. Living soil self-renews and keeps providing a nutrient rich environment. Potting soil will eventually dry out and lose nutrients. Instead gather things like:

Compost (homemade or purchased)

Coffee grounds (many coffee shops are happy to give out used grounds for free)

Living soil (from your yard or garden, even just a few shovels full will likely contain fungal networks and earthworms)

Grass clippings (not sprayed with anything!!)

Kitchen scraps (egg shells, fruits, veggies)

Leaf mold (leaves that have aged for two years)

Livestock manure

Shredded office paper

Worm casings

Alternate layers of whichever of these materials you're able to get and make a big raised bed lasagna. Save your compost for the top lasagna layer. Then top the whole bed off with mulch! Mulch helps hold water and keeps weeds at bay.

The Best time to Build Raised Beds is in the Fall

You can build beds any time, but building in the fall gives your bed contents time to settle and break down over the winter. Your lasagna layers need time to break down into finished soil, which crops generally prefer. Then just add some more organic matter on top in the spring before planting.

What To Plant

Here's some crop suggestions to go easy on your garden in the first year. After the first year though the sky is the limit!

Beets

Herbs

Leafy greens

Legumes

Onions

Maintaining Raised Beds on Pavement

Irrigate: Even with your fabulous organic material lasagna, your raised bed on pavement will still dry out. Prepare to water regularly, especially in the seed and seedling phase. After your crops get established a deep weekly watering should be enough unless it's extremely hot/dry.

Fertilize: During the summer, add some liquid fertilizer every couple of weeks (during your watering sesh) to push nutrients down into the soil. Some great liquid fertilizer options are comfrey tea, fish fertilizer, and worm tea.

Soil Renewal: Every fall top your beds off with some new organic matter. Over time your raised beds will decompose and sink, so fill those babies back up so they're ready for next spring! And don't forget to mulch!

Aerate: As your layers decompose you'll want to do some gentle aerating with a digging fork to keep the soil loose and crumbly.

Use Cover Crops: Cover crops help enrich the soil and keep it from drying out.

Summer cover crops: Buckwheat, cow peas, millet

Winter cover crops: Daikon radish, oats, winter rye

Happy growing!!

Source

[dougdimmadodo]

Antarctic Pearlwort (Colobanthus quitensis)

Family: Pink Family (Caryophyllaceae)

IUCN Conservation Status: Unassessed

Brutal cold, intense winds and a lack of terrestrial resource makes Antarctica by far the least biodiverse continent on earth, and while land plants are particularly rare in the area surrounding the south pole, two species of highly specialised flowering plants have managed to survive; a tough, low-growing species of grass called Antarctic Hairgrass, and a small, superficially moss-like relative of campions, chickweeds, stitchworts and pinks; the Antarctic Pearlwort. Found mainly in coastal areas where they typically grow attached to sturdy rocks, members of this species grow low to the ground to avoid being uprooted by wind, possessing thick, waxy leaves to reduce water loss through salt spray, wind and evaporation resulting from sunlight reflected from snow, and produce antifreeze-like proteins in their leaves to prevent their internal stores of water from freezing and damaging their tissues. Although they produce pale yellow flowers Antarctic Pearlworts cannot rely on animal-based pollination (with Antarctica's only insect, the Antarctic Midge, being flightless and spending much of its life underground,) and as such they instead allow their pollen to be carried away by the wind, fertilizing the flowers of other members of their species and allowing for the production of small, waxy fruits (which, in the absence of terrestrial frugivores to swallow them, drop their seeds to germinate wherever they fall.) As anthropogenic climate change causes increases in average temperature across Antarctica, Antarctic Pearlwort populations are rapidly increasing as the conditions around them slowly become more conducive to plant growth. As such, monitoring the population size and current range of this species can provide useful insight into how drastically the earth's poles are changing.

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Image Source: https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/428806-Colobanthus-quitensis

[outoutdamnspark]

Yet another head full of OC a/b/o thoughts while at work!

(Inspired by @bellafragolina breaking down Ren’s scent notes~ 💕)

===

🌸 Reina (Ω) smells faintly like cigarettes and fertile soil at any given time, due to her love of gardening and occasional smoking habit. Her natural omega scent, however, also contains chamomile, petrichor, sweet grass, and cloves. Overall it might seem off-putting, since no one would automatically consider those scents to pair well together. Up close, however, they combine to create an earthy, subtly sweet scent that calls to mind thoughts of calm spring mornings.

When she’s excited or extremely happy, the petrichor and sweet grass become more prominent - sometimes eliciting second-hand feelings of joy in those around her.

When calm and contented, more of the chamomile scent comes forward. Most notably, her scent is almost overridden by it entirely around the handful of people she feels comfortable enough around to cuddle, giving into her omega nesting instincts.

When afraid, her scent turns to something like compost, as if the plant matter that makes up her overall scent is now starting to decay. Anger smells similar, but more like active, choking rot and less like dampened earth.

When in heat, her scent changes to incorporate notes of chai tea and honey, downplaying the sweet grass and petrichor in favor of something thicker and spicier.

———

🌼 Kana (β) likes to make and wear her own fragrances, so she’ll oftentimes smell softly like pear and blackberry, or sharp, sweet pine. She likes to play with scents that pair well with her own subtle beta scent, which contains black walnut, honeysuckle flowers, and clear, cold water. Generally her scent is calming, pleasant, with just a hint of spice and earth from the walnut - like a dry summer evening.

When in a neutral, calm state, her scent stays mellow, with the walnut being an undertone and the honeysuckle being at the forefront. The feelings typically described from being exposed to her scent when she's content and happy are comfort, security, and oddly, a kind of awareness or clarity.

When excited or joyous, the black walnut takes center stage, stinging the noses of those around her in the most pleasant of ways and 'waking them up,' so to speak.

Around her loved ones her scent shifts to be more of the fresh water, inviting them to relax. It's different than her usual honeysuckle "neutral" smell, as it only properly comes out when she's fully content and relaxed, herself.

When agitated or afraid, her scent changes almost entirely to something sharp and metallic, like rotting walnut and iron. When angry, though, nearly everything else fades away until all that's left is the scent of hot blood.

After Osuke's death, Kana's scent is tinged with the bitter ashes and rain-damp sandstone of ever-present grief. Over time, it fades to salty ocean spray and charcoal but doesn't start to go away until she meets and adopts Nise. Her new pup brings happiness back into her life, and her scent changes to reflect it; in addition to the incorporation of Nise's scent of ozone and earth, Kana also gains the scent of the sweet milk "mother" scent.

———

💖 Hina (α) doesn't have much in the way of extra scents that cling to her, as she isn't as much into fragrances as her oldest sister is, nor does she smoke. She also just dislikes wearing hair or makeup products that smell like much of anything, so the most she'll have is possibly sakura shampoo or vanilla lip gloss. These compliment her natural alpha scent of cherry candy, hibiscus, and the faintest hint of cinnamon.

When she's happy or playful, her scent is primarily candy-like - fruit and sugar and with a tiny bite of tartness that's not so cloyingly sweet as to have her be mistaken for a child. People around her tend to find themselves in a slightly brighter mood if around her cherry scent for long enough.

When relaxed and comfortable, usually reserved for her partners or sisters, her scent mellows out and becomes more like cherry blossoms than cherry candy. Not quite so sharp or bright, but softer and more floral. The cinnamon fades, leaving behind the impression of mild, warm springtime just on the cusp of summer.

When angry, she smells almost like cinnamon whiskey. All fruit and candy sweetness are gone, replaced with the harsh burn of alcohol and hot cinnamon. Her fear, however, smells like fermented fruit.

For her ruts, Hina's scent changes to be mostly hibiscus, but with the addition of candied oranges and red raspberries - still sweet but sharper, more like a strong, fruity, herbal, tea than candy.

———

All together, the sisters share the underlying familial scent signatures of flowers and herbs, with little hints of earthier undertones. The most common note that is most recognizable when they're all together and relaxed, is red clover or the faintest touch of honey.

[swift-grow]

Eco-Friendly Fertilizer for Lush Gardens – Swift Grow Organic

Nourish your plants with Swift Grow’s organic fertilizer. Improve soil quality and promote robust growth with our eco-friendly, nutrient-rich formula. Perfect for sustainable, healthy gardening. https://swiftgrow.com.au

[beabaseball]

Went to a social thing today bc I am trying but ended up mentioning I live on a farm to someone and felt very weird when I went to like "yeah idk why my luffa didn't grow this year, if I just didn't water them enough or if someone sprayed a broad-leaf pesticide on the grass we bought as hay (you know, for the burs) that we fed to horses and use as fertilizer, because the luffa would count as a broad leaf plant so a hypothetical pesticide might be it"

She was very wide eyed and told me they had added trellises to some garden boxes for "the tomatoes that climb"

(this is all tomatoes)

Anyway. I hope I wasn't accidentally rude to her but I just got hit again with the. You know.

"Ah. My up bringing was uncommon."

[minargc]

Fertilizer and Weed Control: How to Keep Your Lawn Weed-Free

Combining effective lawn fertilizer application with strategic weed control is key to maintaining a weed-free and lush lawn. Here's how to achieve this balance:

Choose the Right Fertilizer: Opt for a balanced lawn fertilizer with the appropriate N-P-K (Nitrogen-Phosphorus-Potassium) ratio. Balanced nutrition helps your grass thrive, making it more resilient against weeds.

Proper Timing: Fertilize your lawn at the right time. Healthy grass can outcompete weeds, so promote its growth during the active growing season by applying fertilizer accordingly.

Weed Identification: Know your weeds. Identify common lawn weeds and their life cycles. Some weeds are best controlled with pre-emergent herbicides, while others require post-emergent treatment.

Integrated Approach: Implement an integrated weed management strategy. Combine cultural practices like mowing at the correct height, maintaining proper soil pH, and ensuring adequate watering with targeted herbicide applications.

Spot Treat: When weeds do appear, spot treat them rather than blanket spraying the entire lawn. This minimizes herbicide use and potential harm to beneficial plants.

By nurturing your lawn with the right lawn fertilizer and employing effective weed control techniques, you can enjoy a healthy, weed-free lawn that's the envy of your neighborhood.

[garden-with-squid]

6/18/23, pt 2

My mom and I did a lot of yard work today in honor of Father’s Day. Full post under the cut

It’s our first Father’s Day without my dad around, and being out in the yard helps us feel close to him. There’s a lot to do in his absence.

Here’s a quick list of things we did/notes:

Harvested some apples from the tree in the back. I didn’t know they were in season again. If fully red, they have a soft grainy texture, so my dad liked to pick them green with just a hint of red.

Mom cleared out some grass and weeds by the lemon tree. Note the sea lavender and happy persimmon tree!

Lots of rust on the roses, so I clipped the most damaged leaves and sprayed neem oil.

Clipped off dead flowers from the climbing rose, as many as I could comfortably reach.

Watched the chickens and tried to bribe them with treats. I left corn cobs, shrimp tails, and veggie scraps from dinner.

Notes for later:

I want to dig out a sea lavender, take some dragonfruit cuttings, and take some potted succulents.

Should fertilize the roses eventually

Plant ground cover near cactus garden

Plant shade plants in front door bed

Buy tulip bulbs

[karmazain]

Let the mint do its thing (part 377485 of "All-grass lawns are evil")

Americans spend $887 billion going camping and hiking and visiting national parks to view the beauty of nature, and then they go home and mow and spray and weed and fertilize and do everything they can to stop that nature from existing in their lawns and in their gardens.  Veronica Shukla. “For the Love of Mint in all its Spreading Glory.” The whole article at Think Outside the Lawn is worth…

[resonanteye]

I'm in USDA zone 6b. but! I'm at 2k elevation in high desert. that means it gets brutally cold, then brutally hot, with almost no spring or fall weather. it means the heat wave starts in July and goes into August, burning everything. it means no rain from June until October.

it means last frost is mid May, last freeze is April; but it could snow into June. it's really fucking weird to grow anything here.

I use rain barrels to collect all winter. it's enough for the worst weeks of drought. I use homemade ollas in the middle of my garden to try to keep things watered. I use light mulch to keep the soil damper in the heat. I have a shade cloth but it's never enough (now taking donations of large burlap rolls or such!)

our season is short. 100 days, 110 at most. usually it's closer to 90. the original soil is urban, compacted silt on decades of grass lawns. it needs loads of wood mulch, manure, aeration, fertilizer. I've been feeding the dirt for 7 years.

I'm in town. so big trees are not possible but semi dwarf, dwarf trees are ok. I'm trying my best.

it was 56F yesterday then today it snowed. 55F+ all week in the daytime, below freezing at night. difficult conditions.

good for apples though- but there's so many here that you've got to spray them or they die.