xylem

@xylem@beehaw.org

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xylem ,

I'll jump on the raspberry bandwagon - here's the handful I got today off of the black raspberry bush by my shed - quite a few still ripening there as well!

https://beehaw.org/pictrs/image/ca20e421-3898-4da3-9794-d51231a371f2.webp

xylem ,

I've been loving all the milkweed in bloom I pass on my commute! Definitely want to plant a ton in my yard next year!

xylem ,

I've got a lot of this in my yard from the previous owner. It leaves great dry flower heads over winter, provides great visual interest and homes for overwintering insects in the stalks

xylem ,

I'm planning to build a solar powered weather station soon - I feel like that's a project I could have done in my old apartment and put out on the balcony.

xylem ,

My first cucumbers are almost ready to pick, and I've been pollenating squash flowers like every other day.

https://beehaw.org/pictrs/image/c7cacc09-ca26-49b3-b9f1-96d28eda4d3b.webp

Another angle on my garden featuring the prolific pumpkin vine and the sunflower patch -
https://beehaw.org/pictrs/image/45cc0b50-c483-4b8e-93c5-59d9c8477145.webp

My AC is struggling a bit to keep up with the heatwave in New England as well, but the garden and I are surviving!

xylem ,

Low-Tech Magazine shows up on here occasionally, I've enjoyed their articles.

I'd also recommend Kris Harbour Natural Building on YouTube.

What's growing on, Beehaw?

I've really been enjoying our haskaps (Lonicera caerulea) this week while waiting for the strawberries to ripen. The blackberries and raspberries have just been pollinated so there's still some time before those come into season, and the recent warm-but-not-too-warm weather has kicked our beans and tomatoes into gear....

xylem ,

Finally figured out how remove exif data and add an image, so here's a picture of the garden! I hand pollenated my first butternut squash yesterday, and the cucumber plants are covered in flowers, several of which look like they might actually start turning into cucumbers! I've got some empty space that I want to figure out what to do with, I'm starting some more bell peppers and I think I might plant some more carrots. Overall very happy with how things are growing so far this year!

https://beehaw.org/pictrs/image/207505f1-1d26-479d-822c-09ad032d3a14.webp

The raised beds with the arch trellis have cucumbers, tomatoes, potatoes, squash, basil, some brassicas (not doing too great), radish, and beets. The beds in the foreground have chickpeas and some empty space where I may add carrots. There is another bed off camera where I have more pumpkins and some sunflowers.

xylem ,

My potatoes are in an absolute riot of growth, to the point that they're shading out plants next to them! Lesson learned, next year they get a bed to themselves!

The cucumbers and squash are growing up my trellis arch really well, so I'm hopeful that by the time it gets really hot I'll have some shade there.

It's been wonderful to harvest fresh lettuce for my lunch daily, and I've had some great salads with my radishes. Definitely going to keep succession planting those! If I'd planned better I would have staggered them a little more in my initial planting.

Haven't gotten the photo upload to work with the app I use (Connect) but maybe I'll try from my computer later.

xylem ,

I'll just say climbing plants are as good as having a pet! I love watching my cucumbers, peas, and squash reach out their lil grabbies - it's so cute!

On a not-as-fun note I have Three-lined Potato Beetle on my potatoes. They haven't done a huge amount of damage so far and don't seem too interested in my other plants yet but if anyone has mitigation strategies let me know!

xylem ,

Balor from Irish legend - who doesn't love a giant with a frickin laser beam for an eye

xylem ,

It's been wonderful watching everything pop into full green growth over the last couple weeks here!

I've got pretty much everything planted out into the garden and things are acclimating pretty well, though I think the squash wants warmer weather to really get going.

I've been watching the path I use to walk through the woods on my commute slowly get overgrown with poisen ivy - does anyone have suggestions on what to do about that other than just going through with gloves and clippers? Definitely don't want to spray anything noxious since its not my land (and I wouldn't anyway if it was).

xylem ,

The pair of apple trees I ordered from Fedco arrived last Saturday, so I planted those out - the weather has been pretty mild and wet this week so hopefully they're settling in well. Just starting to break dormancy.

I'm also starting to plant out some of my seedlings in the new garden beds, it's super exciting to see some foliage in them!

One area of my yard that was overrun with invasive garlic mustard is now overrun with native violets, so I'm happy with that! I picked a bunch of flowers today to try making a tea out of them.

xylem ,

I ended up getting Honey Crisp and Baldwin, semi-dwarf rootstock. I'm a total newbie to pruning, but I'm leaning towards the "don't try too hard, trees know how to be trees" school of thought, lol.. open to any advice from more experienced people though!

The violet tea was fun, I love the pH based color change from pouring in lemon juice! Planning to use it in cocktails next time, that would make a great party trick.

:D Most of the garlic mustard ended up in the compost because I was lazy but I definitely want to make some more pesto in the future.

What's growing on, Beehaw?

Potting continues here; there are almost eighty elderberries hanging out in our front yard right now in addition to the others (happy to share what the others are if anyone is actually curious). Overnight temperatures are still a little low for some of the transplants potted up this past week and I am running out of shelf space...

xylem ,

My cherry tree is this close to bursting into bloom! It seems to be a couple weeks behind other cherry varieties in the area, and I think my yard has a bit of a chilly microclimate since I'm in a valley.

My squash and tomato seedlings are looking great, I'm excited to plant them out in a week or two. I never got around to replanting my sad brassica seedlings that got too leggy, I might just direct sow some more at this point and see how it goes.

Also just have to say thank you for posting this thread every week! It's a highlight, and I always appreciate your responses!

What's growing on, Beehaw?

We're halfway through potting up all the plants we've overwintered, but are looking at temps below freezing for the next two nights. Today will be about getting covers ready for everything and setting up ambient warmth for several of our plants that are currently flowering. On my way home from a doctor's appointment, I stopped...

xylem ,

Not growing in my yard, fortunately, but I realized that the interesting looking shoots I had been seeing come up in the patch of woods on my way to work are actually japanese knotweed.

I know it's not going to kill the plant, but those shoots are pretty satisfying to kick over, they just go flying... between the knotweed and the garlic mustard I've got plenty of invasives to deal with if I ever feel like going on a plant murder rampage. I've already pulled up a 5 gallon bucket full of garlic mustard in my yard which I'm turning into a gardener's revenge liquid fertilizer.

xylem ,

I've got a normal compost bin going as well, but I'm trying the anaerobic method for the first time on this bucket. Just filled it up with invasive plants and water, added some leaf mold, put the top on and stuck it in a sunny spot. We'll see what happens!

xylem ,

This is a great presentation, thanks for the link!

xylem ,

Two 4x8 raised beds from reclaimed wood turned into two raised beds + 4 ground beds when we had some leftover compost... the extra beds will probably be purely experimental / chaos gardens, gonna throw some nitrogen fixers like chickpeas in and see what happens.

Most of my summer vegetable starts have germinated, which is exciting, though I think I'll need to replant the brassicas because they got leggy and the old soil I put them in wasn't great... the pumpkin seedlings look great though!

Next step is to finish the anti-rabbit fence and finally plant out my onions.

It's been kinda depressing to learn how many of the plants in my lawn are Eurasian invasives, but at least I'll get to make lots of garlic mustard pesto!

xylem ,

My shelves were pretty crowded with the onion starts and I just waited a few days too long before rearranging things to make room. I thinkt eh bigger issue now is poor soil, though, I'll need to top them off with compost, or honestly just plant them out sooner.

A fan is definitely something I'm missing - will have to set something up

What's Growing On, Beehaw? Weekly Garden Chat

There are about a hundred potted perennials out on my front lawn right now as the latest wintry mix hits our area, and someone dropped off a huge box of cell trays and small pots to us yesterday. Some of them will go to our local library for their gardeners workshops and to prep for their annual plant sale fundraiser, some will...

xylem ,

Finished one 8x4 raised bed with my salvaged lumber, and the second should go much faster now that I have a powered saw. I'll be getting 2.5 yd³ of topsoil/compost blend from a local municipal composting company next week.

It's windy and snowy even here in more southern New England, so I'm glad that the spinach, lettuce, and arugula I sowed last weekend in some railing planters hasn't germinated yet. My grow light shelves are almost completely full trays of seeds I planted a couple days ago, all the tomatos, cucumbers, and squash. Despite the weather today it's an exciting beginning!

xylem ,

Two Minute Tabletop has some great stuff

What's growing on, Beehaw? (Garden Chat)

Today marks the beginning of the second full week of Spring in the northern hemisphere, even if some of us are stuck in second winter. Share your garden goals, projects, challenges, and successes for this growing season; share your tips, tricks, and garden hacks, or anything else you'd like. Let's all help each other grow...

xylem ,

I'm building a new garden for the house I moved into last fall!

Hoping to get some raised beds built later this week using some wood from a deck that I'm tearing down (tested the wood, it's free of arsenic!). Onion seedlings seem to be doing well, they'll go in as soon as the bed is ready and I'll be starting a bunch of other seeds indoors this weekend. Next step is to find a local source of bulk compost and topsoil to fill the beds.

I ordered a couple of apple trees, Honey Crisp and Baldwin varieties, which will arrive in late April or May - later than I'd like but better late this year than waiting for next year!

xylem ,

I'm worried about bunnies this year as well - how tall were the fences you put in?

Kohei Saito’s “Start From Scratch” Degrowth Communism | if taken seriously, it would lead to political disaster for both the socialist left and the environmental movement | Jacobin ( jacobin.com )

Degrowth is a popular concept among solarpunks. This Jacobin article discusses some of its flaws from a Marxist standpoint. In particular, Jacobin reminds us an interpretation of Marxism which blames the Western working class for exploiting the Global South, and lectures the ever-more-exploited Western worker on the need to...

xylem ,

Here's a critique of another anti-degrowth Jacobin article, and the stance Jacobin seems to take on degrowth in general - https://www.resilience.org/stories/2024-03-04/a-response-to-daniel-driscoll-another-slice-of-degrowth-bashing/

The crux of the argument is

  • Planetary boundaries are hard boundaries, so the economy can't go on growing no matter what. We can either plan this ourselves or be faced with climate disasters planning it for us.
  • Degrowth is not "everyone gets less" - no one will disagree with the goal of lifting the global south out of poverty. It means diverting the unnecessary consumption (and carbon budget) of the most wealthy people in the global north to help those who actually need the economic growth.
xylem ,

Now that the roads aren't icy anymore I'm trying to bike to work more often. Did the trip in the rain for the first time today, and it wasn't as bad as I thought it would be!

xylem ,

Starting a new garden after moving from an apartment to a house last fall. Planning to do two 8'x4' raised beds with some scrap wood and put a squash tunnel between them. I've started 32 onion seedlings indoors and will be starting the brassicas this weekend!

Also thinking about getting apple trees - any suggestions for good varieties to grow in zone 6b (New England)? It's tempting to get a honey crisp but I hear they're pretty hard to grow.

xylem ,

Someone else recommended fedco to me and I'll definitely be ordering from them, I love everything they've got going on.

I've read elsewhere too that honey crisps seem more prone to diseases and pests. What other varieties do you have?

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