The owl and hawk population must be well fed because this year my tulips did not get eaten before they could bloom. I appreciate a bunny or two but the past few years they have been very prolific. It seems nature balanced things out this year. I am sure there will be more in a few weeks. In the meantime, I will enjoy my early tulips. 🌷
is this the black death? my hellabores are mostly looking like this, little to no green leaves. what do we think?
Little mole spider got scared when I moved a pot. I put her outside. Bonus pic: citrus circus. I bring them out every morning, and apparently they’re attracting tenants.
I've been seed saving natives!
I've been having trouble finding resources on whether cold/acid/physical scarification is required for the seeds to germinate.
Does anyone here have experience germinating from seed?
One resource (a seed company) says they need floating.
https://twiningvinegarden.com/shop/trees-shrubs/foliage/gaultheria-shallon-salal-seed/
Floating instructions:
"Soak seed 24 hours then surface sow thinly; medium should be an equal mix of sand/peat for the sowing medium. Mist well to create optimum medium-seed contact. Keep moist with via daily misting and use a clear plastic cover to maintain humidity. Needs strong indirect light to germinate (8 hours/day of light is preferred) . Needs warm temps to germinate properly: should germinate within 2-12 weeks at 20 C. "
another (a mostly AI-skimmed blog) says cold scarification for 4-10 weeks
https://ezgardentips.com/how-long-to-establish-salal-plants.html
I'll be trying the float method as I want to get them in the ground this year and know summer is not going to be kind to seedlings.
I'll update as soon as I see any sucess.
Hope for some good advice, in the meantime!
With significant drought conditions forecast this summer, I've been looking into the efficacy of various forms of mulch for retaining water and cooling soil surface. I found a gardener on YouTube who did moisture meter tests and determined hemp hurds retained something like 60% more water than compost or wood chips. Was wondering if anybody had experimented with hemp hurds (often sold as animal bedding, as an alternative to straw) as mulch here in the PNW. Any thoughts?
I’ve got a full sun area that I need to keep at minimum a wide path available by for humans/dogs/wheelbarrows/bins.
Past few years it’s been deep hardwood mulch that just this year has Kentucky bluegrass spreading quickly. I’m cutting short, cardboard, deep mulch with barkchips. There is the start of good soil under the barkchips.
I would love to just barkchip a path and do native wildflowers in the rest- but historically when I’ve tried soil/compost mix instead of barkchips I just get a weed bed.
a) what am I doing wrong with starting wildflowers. I do not have the resources (unfortunately)to grow the starts indoors first. Or excessive is this a weed or flower start separating time. If I try wildflowers again I was thinking barkchip mulch now, then add a layer of compost ontop w/ native wildflower mix in the fall.
Yes I will buy actual native wildflowers and check what the mix is made of.
B) if wildflowers is a lost cause what ground covered do you recommend that are low maintenance/spread easy/dogs and little humans can run over. Currently thinking beach strawberry.
Every spring moss coats the surfaces of our garden beds and the rocks adjacent to the garden bed and the cement block wall behind the garden bed.
I scrape the top of the dirt of the garden bed to get rid of the moss
It is a lot of work. Is there another solution?
Yes the garden bed is in the shade. But the trees belong to the city I live in and over hang our yard. The trees are also covered with moss and drop moss into our yard.
I have tried dumping bags of compost on the surface of the garden bed.
I know it has to have a certain pH range to deter the moss.
Any suggestions?
