Ready For Spring...!

Spring 2021. I thought that by now we might have rebuilt the garden, but the universe had some other plans this past year. From Opa’s original garden, there are three beds that are in decent enough shape to be used again. We spent an afternoon recently weeding them and prepping to plant a smaller summer garden soon. Three and a half (long) years later, #opasgardengrowsagain ♥️🌱

The bumblebees really like our Japanese barberry.

This pretty plant is for sure becoming a favorite…

Philodendron squamiferum

Obsessed with this fucking tiktok

I wish there was less of a push for organic animal products and more of a push for humanely raised

like I could care less if the animal had to have antibiotics at some point

I care more if chickens had access to pasture and if a cow had access to enrichment

With all the talk about telling people to start planting and growing crops to feed themselves and their communities during this time of crisis, I’m surprised I haven’t seen much about HOW MUCH to plant to feed people. Here’s a good article to serve as a jumping-off point, to give people an idea of when to plant and how much to plant to keep people fed. Keep in mind that unless you live on a fairly sizeable plot of land that has ideal growing conditions, you probably won’t be able to completely feed a family of four, at least with traditional gardening methods. However, you can still heavily supplement your diet with homegrown food if you plot your garden carefully.

Some things you can do to save space include growing plants in stackable towers rather than flat rows. Not everything can grow this way, but growing herbs or even strawberries or some kinds of tomatoes in them can save a lot of space. Bonus points if you can get some vertical vining plants like beans or tomatoes to grow up the sides of them to maximize the space used.

Hanging planters can also be used for things like tomatoes, herbs, some berries, etc. The people who grew up watching TV in the 2000s may remember ads for the topsy-turvy tomato planter. I can’t vouch for the effectiveness of them, but it may be good inspiration for creative DIY hanging planters.

Many people don’t seem to know this (to be fair, it’s not very intuitive), but small melons and gourds can be grown vertically on a trellis. You will need pantyhose or something else that can act like a sling for when the fruit gets large enough, and you’ll also want to make sure the trellis is very sturdy. Here is an example of a watermelon growing on a trellis, with squash growing in the background:

Other good options that require a bit more DIY are hydroponics towers and walls. It’s basically just a series of pipes with holes for plants to grow out of. The only downside is they will require very regular fertilization and supplementation with other micronutrients that are essential for plant growth, because the plants are typically grown in either a non-nutritious medium like coconut coir or nothing at all.

Planter walls are the next step down, basically just building shelves with pots in them to fill with soil. Put these on a wall that gets good morning sun and some afternoon sunlight for best results. These and hydroponics both also have the advantage of being able to hook up to your gutters so that rainwater will go towards watering your plants rather than just being wasted.

If you want to get really fancy, aquaponics is the next step up. With aquaponics, you create a system that circulates water between plants and a tank full of fish. The fish waste provides fertilizer for the plants, and the plants help filter out the waste so the water stays cleaner. I’ve heard they’re a bit tricky to establish, but once you find the right balance, all you’ll need to do is feed the fish. This has the added bonus of providing a source of fish for people who can’t eat things like nuts and legumes but need protein. Here is a link to an article explaining what aquaponics is, how it works, and how it differs from hydroponics.

I also want to add that if you don’t have the space or ability to maintain a large garden, there are other options. Find or create a group with access to enough food to supplement or completely fulfill your diet, and offer another service. If you have space for a vermicompost bin or tower, that can still help contribute to the garden. Learning other skills like soap making, cooking, sewing/knitting/crocheting, electrical skills like wiring and soldering, welding, woodworking/carpentry, etc. means you will still have valuable skills to contribute towards the group, and this will set up the basis for a larger mutual aid network within your community.

The reason the water wasn’t coming out

(Source)

recently learned about a horticultural technique called Espalier, it’s the funniest goddamn thing i’ve ever seen.

Espalier allows trees to be trained into 2-dimensions, by tying the branches to a flat surface as the tree grows. They literally flatten the tree. They make the tree flat. Flat tree!!!

Look at this. This is objectively hilarious:

And people get fancy about it. Look at this nonsense:

(the first one’s called a Belgian Fence, and can be used as an actual fence)

Espalier is actually a very useful technique for

Like. this is a legitimately practical gardening method. but it looks like they squished a tree between the pages of a book. just squashed it flat like a sad little dried flower! i could use these trees as a bookmark!!!

But yes, it is also a healthy and clever way to grow lots of fruit in small spaces, in climates they might not otherwise be suited for. I’m still going to make fun of it, but it honestly looks delightful and delicious.

Espalier!

Yellow Beech Among the Pines - Photographed by Freddie Ardley

#if more of us hoarded tiny hairy little men u mean

@plantanarchy​ are you gandalf

Me, accidentally adopting a gaggle of fuzzy, small cacti who I am now responsible for despite being a really poor parental figure: just like gandalf

today in my plant evolution lab i saw a plant reproductive thing so weird idk how to describe it. like you know those little pill things that you drop into water and the pill dissolves and theres a little animal-shaped sponge inside that fills up and grows into a big sponge?? yeah its like that but a jelly fern leaf with sex organs hanging off of it

this is a pic of it expanding, the fully expanded ones were probably like 2 inches long. cursed sex being perpetuated by fern genus marsilea (evil) in our good christian ponds

hey btw remember when i posted this a week ago?? well what i didn’t mention was that the dried sporocarps (the ‘seed’ thing the jelly leaf is expanding out of in the pic there, it isn’t a seed technically and only holds the jelly thing that holds the plants’ reproductive organs but that’s what it’s officially called) that were dropped in water to show them to us were collected in 1945. the reproductive structures that slowly inflate in water are, naturally, long non-viable because that’s like, 75 years they’ve been sitting in a jar getting passed around classrooms teaching about this fern genus at my university, right. they still expand when the sporocarps are nicked a little and exposed to water because the carbohydrates that make up the weird ‘jelly leaf’ just…do that through chemistry. it’s a one trick pony, essentially. 

except….plot twist, my professor left these guys sitting in their petri dishes after last week’s lab and this morning there were little baby ferns in there. 

thats right lads……as it turns out, at least some of the reproductive structures there- those are the yellow things hanging off the jelly leaf itself, which produce both sperm and eggs- apparently still had viable sperm and eggs after 75 years in a jar and they just. were having sex back there all week. like, there were multiple of these ‘jelly fern leaves’ per petri dish to show us and they just went wild and now there are like, 20 baby aquatic ferns growing their first roots and leaves back there. because ferns don’t have the protection seeds and plants that make seeds do, this is nearly unheard of, but somehow, someway, god’s jock strap (the sporocarp) protected them long enough for this to happen. jesus wept

also, because i got some questions after posting this last week, this is what the adult plants look like; the genus is called Marsilea, aka ‘Water clover’ (it’s a fern, not a clover, but like…..i can see it). the sporocarps are produced underwater off the stems of the plants.

and…of course….here are the babies in question:

not a great photo and ill try to get better ones, but yeah. absolute debauchery happening in the aquatic fern petri dishes this fine week

purple spring

hey watch this *turns into a worm and enriches your garden*

Michaela Coel by Durga Chew-Bose for Garage

awake at 6am thinking about that one house plant concert

excerpt from “The Book of Delights” by Ross Gay (transcript under the cut) 

Keep reading

Should I steal some prickly pears from the cactus growing by my neighbors trash bin in the ally lol

Yes I love theft

alley fruit belongs to the public

Some fun facts about “vegan leather.”

Yes, it is plastic. Which means it’s breaking down and releasing micro-particles into the environment.

That’s bad.

There’s also the whole “plastic comes from oil” issue and no, most vegan leather is not made from plant based plastic or recycled plastic.

It’s also not recyclable itself.

It wears out faster, and is less repairable, so you’ll have to buy new boots or whatever every couple of years instead of like. Once every decade and getting them occasionally fixed (for typically less than the cost of a new pair of vegan leather boots).

One of the attorneys I work with has a beat-up leather briefcase he was gifted when he passed the bar. In the 70s.

Another attorney bought a vegan leather one last year and he already has had to replace it.

It doesn’t “breath,” so your boots are more likely to smell than if they were made of leather.

It won’t form to your feet over time, so it’s less comfortable.

It also isn’t anywhere near as warm in the winter.

It doesn’t protect against various dangers and, in some cases, could make things much worse for the wearer. Ever had plastic melted to your skin? It’s not fun.

I know someone that professionally butchers local livestock and game. A few years ago, she would sell hides to various manufacturers. Now, she can’t even pay people to take hides. Her shop had to buy a bigger dumpster to hold the hides because they can’t get rid of them.

Because no one wants leather anymore.

(I could go on and on about the ethics of the meat industry in america, but to stay on topic, I won’t. Send me an ask if you want to talk about it. Same goes for initial cost issues for low income people, because I know that’s also a major thing)

Basically, as long as there is a market for beef in America, there will be hides that can be turned into leather. Yes, I know, there are a lot more complex issues in this, what with capitalism and all. See previous paragraph.

But the bottom line is that vegan leather SUCKS and people should avoid buying it whenever possible.

Instead of endless wastelands of mowed grass lawns, consider:

this only works in places with lots of rain, a temperate summer, and a nice cold winter. like England. or Michigan.

True! Unless you can find an economical way to irrigate, more appropriate lawn alternatives in hotter, more arid places might lean more to prairie meadows using local grasses and wildflowers:

Or, they might mean doing classic landscaping, but with rocks and xeriscape plants:

Or having a cactus garden:

There are lots of exciting possibilities once you throw the classic turf lawn out the window!