Andrew Still (adaptiveseeds.com)At Adaptive Seeds we steward Organic, rare, diverse and resilient seed varieties for ecologically-minded farmers, gardeners and seed savers. Our seed is adapted to the Pacific Northwest and other short season northern climates. We sell only public domain, open pollinated (OP) seed, as well as diverse gene pool mixes.
Came across this looking up Thai varieties of coriander.
Recent record high temperatures revealed the remnants of an ornate 17th century garden design on the South Lawn, normally hidden from view…It was covered over and replaced with a new design around 1730 but because the grass on the new lawn has shorter roots it burns more quickly, creating a contrast and temporarily revealing the older garden underneath.
It seems outrageous that a lawn resodded 300 years ago retains these imprints of its past. The land holds so many memories, and plants live on a much longer scale than we do. Every time a new secret is unveiled or we learn how to interpret what we’re seeing (like in the PNW the history of logging remains visible in stumps with springboard notches still clear to see), it’s a reminder of the long now, and our tiny place within the vastness of time and history.
Funnily I was just talking about “stealing” succulents to propagate last night 😉 ETA: apparently nurseries call it “proplifting” – I feel like if you’re at a nursery you should buy the plant but everywhere else is fair game
This is a book with Opinions.
A garden is not an object, but a process.
– quoted from Ian Hamilton Finlay
Interviews with an assortment of gardening folks with different opinions and styles. I didn’t read em just looked at the pics 🤷♀️
I wanted to create a garden that almost frightened people.
– Michael Shepherd in New Zealand
Interesting graphic design by Evi O Studio. Each interview starts with a bold color page, the color inspired by a specific plant, and spartan typography.
Our second field season studying pollinator visitation to Oregon native plants and native cultivars spanned from April to late September of 2021, although if Douglas Aster had any say in the matter, we would likely still be sampling.
I like nativar as a description of a native plant cultivar!
See also the original study info.
Nearly everything about how Americans “care” for their lawns is deadly, but these machines exist in a category of environmental hell all their own.
[The monsters] come in a deafening, surging swarm, blasting from lawn to lawn and filling the air with the stench of gasoline and death. I would call them mechanical locusts, descending upon every patch of gold in the neighborhood the way the grasshoppers of old would arrive, in numbers so great they darkened the sky, to lay bare a cornfield in minutes. But that comparison is unfair to locusts.
Grasshoppers belong here. Gasoline-powered leaf blowers are invaders, the most maddening of all the maddening, environment-destroying tools of the American lawn-care industry.
“”Some produce more than 100 decibels of low-frequency, wall-penetrating sound — or as much noise as a plane taking off — at levels that can cause tinnitus and hearing loss with long exposure,” Monica Cardoza wrote for Audubon Magazine this year.”
Vouch.
They landscaping guys who use them have ear protection (though probably not enough), I don’t.
Holy cow, not only are they the most heinous sound on Earth but also they’re horrendous gas hogs:
“A 2011 study by Edmunds found that a two-stroke gasoline-powered leaf blower spewed out more pollution than a 6,200-pound Ford F-150 SVT Raptor pickup truck. Jason Kavanagh, the engineering editor at Edmunds at the time, noted that “hydrocarbon emissions from a half-hour of yard work with the two-stroke leaf blower are about the same as a 3,900-mile drive from Texas to Alaska in a Raptor.””
Do you sometimes forget to water your plants when they are in need of some water? I am the sort of person that writes down “water plants” but forgets about it for a day or two before finally watering my plant.
Custom planting + hardscaping design for your front or back yard
I’m not a fan of using corrugated cardboard as a mulch, which like other sheet mulches creates problems for the underlying soil. Long-time readers of this blog may remember several previous posts (…
🤯 Put down mulch without cardboard. 8-12″ of wood chips for weedy sites. Details on mulching properly (pdf) from WSU.
I need to call the landscape guy back ASAP.
The fruit wall reflects sunlight during the day, improving growing conditions. It also absorbs solar heat, which is slowly released during the night, preventing frost damage. Consequently, a warmer microclimate is created on the southern side of the wall for 24 hours per day.
Cool wall design that’s visually appealing but also adds extra functionality I wouldn’t have guessed!
Although it’s actually longer than a linear wall, a serpentine wall economizes on materials because the wall can be made strong enough with just one brick thin. The alternate convex and concave curves in the wall provide stability and help to resist lateral forces. Furthermore, the slopes give a warmer microclimate than a flat wall.
Plants for food forests:
Resources
Presented by Jessi Bloom