#going to try and fail to propagate the seeds

[harpsicalbiobug]

I found paw paws? At the farm stand?? I'm delight astonished. First time eating one, so yummy!

#going to try and fail to propagate the seeds #so delicious #paw paw #pawpaw #fruit #harper talks #thanks Michigan #thanks Asimina triloba

[obsessivevoidkitten]

Lost in the Weeds

Yandere Plant Man x Gender Neutral Reader (CW: Non-con, anal sex, painful sex, violent sex, bondage, drugged reader, paralysis, sadistic yandere, dacryphilia, general yandere behavior, oviposition?)  Word Count: 1.8k (Sorry this took so long for me to write, I hope you all like it.) 

   You were a deep space interplanetary botanist specializing in the retrieval and propagation of medically important plant species. Right now you were on the barely mapped planet Varliss IV trying to find an extremely rare flowering plant, Solanum volātilis that, despite extraterrestrial origin, appeared to be a member of the family solanaceae.    All previous attempts to propagate this rare species in an artificial environment had failed, but you were sure you could figure it out if you could only find the plant when it had a few seed pods on it.

 Procuring some seed specimens was easier said than done though. The first thing you had to do was keep trudging through this damnable jungle. Luckily there were no life threatening species, but it was still a slog through mud and foliage, and the humidity was oppressive. And even if they were not harmful there were still a number of insects that bit and swarmed around mammals, requiring an explorer’s outfit that covered your legs and arms completely. An outfit that did nothing to help the sweltering heat.  You wiped your brow and continued your trek through thick mud and odd cyan and purple vines and leaves, thorns and thistles scraping and poking uselessly at your clothing.  After what was surely many hours of hiking from the clearing you had landed your spacecraft in you still had found no trace at all of the plant. It was a highly uncommon species though, so it was not like you expected this to be easy. Science seemed amazing and technical and sometimes even magical, but you knew that it all required a lot of grunt work.  You were about to set up your camp for the night in a small clearing you had stumbled across when much to your astonishment you actually found what appeared to be the bloom of the flower you were seeking on a vine.  You pulled out your magnifying glass and reference book as you got closer to make a positive identification. Yes, this was definitely the right flower, a large bell shaped flower that was deep purple with cyan streaks and dark blue freckle-like dots on the inside. Though the vine it was attached to was much thicker than it should be. Though any number of circumstances could account for anomalous growth such as that.  You rubbed the vine out of curiosity and were astounded to find that it felt unnaturally warm. You were much more astounded when it moved away from you entirely and then the figure of a large humanoid, easily 8 feet tall, was suddenly looming above you.  You fell back on your rump and looked up in disbelief, unable to find your words. The tall humanoid appeared to be male, his long hair was red but had several vines with cyan leaves going through it, his mouth had two thorn-like fangs, he had a large vine like tail covered in the flowers that you sought out, his skin was cyan with dark blue freckles and his arms, legs, and the tip of his very much exposed cock were all dark purple. His cock was also leaking a viscous magenta fluid that dripped a bit on your face.  “And just what do you think you’re doing, touching me like that!?” He growled as he looked down at you menacingly before using one arm to easily hoist you up and hold you about a foot off the ground. “How do you like being touched without permission, huh!?” “Wh-wh-what? No! I just- I um. I was ju-just looking for seeds! I didn’t kno-” You barely managed to sputter out before getting cut off by the monstrous plant.  “Oh, you want seeds, well why didn’t you just say so? I can bring you to all of the seeds for the flowers like the ones on me, no problem.” He put you down and brushed you off, something about the way he smirked left you unsettled, but you did not want to risk his anger and so you just muttered a thanks as he took your hand and started leading you away. You exchanged names while walking with him, learning his name was Drosera. You really should have just taken your chances and ran, because as far as Drosera was concerned you had marched into his territory and were now his private property.  He lead you deeper into the strange forest until finally you came to the gaping maw of a cave. You gasped as you entered and were greeted with the surprising sight of rays of sunlight streaming in through a hole in the roof leading to the creation of a sheltered grove. Moss, trees, flowers, vines, and a small babbling brook all hidden away from the world.    There, in the center, were indeed the flowers indicative of the plant you were searching for, this time without being attached to any intelligent life. You rushed towards them in your excitement and did not notice the sprawling vines of your companion quickly approaching you from behind as you were bent down to examine the flora.  Before you knew what had happened each of your limbs and your mouth had been completely wrapped up in tendril like vines. You tried writhing from their grasp but you might as well have been trapped by steel for all the good it did you. Your muffled wails and whines were equally useless, not eliciting even the slightest bit of empathy from your captor.  Tears rolled down your cheeks, pooling a bit at the vines that restrained your lips. The vines suspended you a few feet above the ground and pulled you towards him and he brushed the tears from your face with a deceptively gentle hand. “Awe, why are you crying little human? I am just about to give you exactly what you asked for.”  Drosera brought his mouth to your neck, ghosting his two thorn-like fangs against your sensitive skin before suddenly penetrating your flesh. You writhed in pain as he injected you with a powerful venom. He held you close with both the vines extending from his back and his arms as if trying to comfort you through the pain.  Soon you found yourself almost completely unable to move, capable now of only the most feeble attempts at struggling. Whatever he injected you with was clearly intended to do away with any possibility of escape for what was about to happen next.    The tight grip the vines had had on you loosened a bit, as he no longer needed to keep you so well restrained. He used his vines to slowly, almost sensually, peel off all of your equipment and clothing until you were left exposed under the excited gaze of his violet eyes. All you could manage to do was let out a small whimper as you averted your gaze.  Drosera roughly felt up your body, eager greedy hands rubbing and groping you all over, grabbing on to what was now his.  The vines that extended from his back still held you up despite your limp and envenomed state, they quickly moved you into a bent position, your head facing away from your captor as he gruffly gripped your hips, caring little, if at all, for your comfort.  You could feel more of his vines creeping up your legs, reaching and grabbing like tentacles until they found what they were looking for, your asshole.  They roughly prodded at your entrance as you stammered out pleas of mercy, sobbing and begging Drosera to please just release you, promising that you would never cross into his territory or even come back to this planet at all. But he just laughed sadistically, your cries serving only as fuel for his arousal.  Suddenly and without warning the slender vines prodding at you jammed their way inside, eliciting a scream from your sobbing form. There had been no stretching, no application of lube, just a brutal penetration. And he was certainly not going to stop with just his vines.  You could feel them writhing and probing their way deeper and deeper inside you, after the initial pain of them entering you faded it was replaced with an uncomfortable and disgusting feeling of being unnaturally full and violated.  Your sobs finally slowed down as you became more accustomed to your situation, and that is when Drosera decided he needed to apply more pain. To utterly and completely dominate you mind, body, and spirit. To enjoy those beautiful tears that set his heart aflutter while he was inside you.  So he withdrew his tendrils from your insides and before you could even breathe a sigh of relief replaced them with his giant cock, still dripping with pink fluid. You shrieked so loudly at him ramming himself into your un-lubed ass that he almost came on the spot. He could feel it in his cock each time a scream, whimper, or pained sob racked your body.  He pulled your hair roughly from behind with one hand while gripping your hip hard with the other as he continued abusing your poor hole in as painful a way as he could.  “You should be grateful, slut! You wanted seed so badly and that’s just what you are about to get!!” He chuckled cruelly at his joke as he continued ramming into you with more and more speed as he began to wildly chase his climax.  The plant man put a firm hand on each collar bone and jerk you back painfully to get as deep into you as he possibly could as he filled you with a warm viscous fluid, you were confused though when instead of that being the end of it he then started to fill you up with a lot of something that felt round and hard.  After filling you the vines holding you in place retracted and he sat you down in his lap, causing fluid to leak out of you and onto him, though he did not seem to mind at all or even notice.    It suddenly clicked even in your rattled and abused psyche that he had literally filled you with his seeds. A million panicked thoughts went through your mind. What if they sucked out all your nutrients and moisture to grow in your corpse, what if they burst through your skin, what if th-  Your horror must have been plastered all over your face because Drosera interrupted your downward spiral of fears by saying, “Don’t worry, they won’t harm you. They are like eggs and when they are about to pop open they will come out of you, you will such a lovely incubator to keep full of my children~”  You began sobbing and hyperventilating, still unable to do anything more than weakly twitch under the long lasting effects of his venom.  “Fuck, you’re so hot when you cry for me, so beautiful.” He gently wiped your tears away with his thumb as you realized this is what your life would be like from now on.  No more dreams or a career advancing science. Just sobbing and being a flower pot for some alien monster’s seeds just for the horrible crime of bumbling into his territory.

#yandere terato #yandere teratophilia #plant man #plant man x reader #yandere x reader #yandere male x gn reader #gender neutral reader #monster boyfriend #yandere exophilia #yandere exo #yandere monster #My OCs #My OC Drosera

[whiskeynovember]

The tomatoes are finally at a place where I am somewhat pleased. i now have 7 Roma/ Better Boy, i moved the beefsteak over to the open area, and I'm gonna try my hand at propagating parts of the better boy tomato that wasn't necessarily bad, but was just becoming too much. the plan is to plant just one more in the empty area. i have 3 that seem viable, so whichever looks best...

the cucumber seeds are sprouting. one might have been chewed on, so I went ahead and threw in a replacement seed. i need to pull up the radish and toss it as well... I'm pretty much done collecting seeds and pods.

i am slowly watching the poor cucamelon die. i am pissed, but what can I do besides rage on all 🐛. i found 2 today, one on the sweet basil in ground, and one on the purple basil in ground. i thought they were supposed to repell pests!

fuckers.

I'm gonna keep moving forward with the cucamelon and maybe it will surprise me by not dying. maybe one of the newly planted seeds will sprout. tbh, as far as germination rates go, these kinda suck. at least they're not as bad as the poha berries...

which... sprouted. i do believe these might have came from the berries I ate, and not the ones I purchased. i have 6 so far. i put them in the pot that the Korean mint seeds were in. they never sprouted.

i also added the rest of the Korean mint seeds to the pot. i don't have any more seeds, but the korean mint plants are failing. i dont know why... they just have always seemed so frail. kind of like with the lemon balm.

i don't get it because these plants are supposed to be hard to kill and here they are... dying on me.

i added extra seeds to the holy basil as well. 6 seeds, one in each hole.

I'd like to purchase more Korean mint, holy basil, cucamelon, and maybe something else...

the rest of the prop seedlings are gonna have to go. nothing is moving. none of the garlic chives sprouted, but the society garlic is doing great so I might try to grow more of them. the chives I purchased are still adjusting. some seem like they're dying, so I may cut them back and hope they regrow stronger.

i also have a few more pine berries I see sprouting so I'm excited to at some point get them into the towers. the basket strawberries are still great.

*ordered 30 cucamelons, 100 holy basil, 100 Korean mint, and 15 Asian cucumber, because... why not? with the way the cucamelon is (not) doing, I could put some on the opposite side and still have plenty of room.*

[realhankmccoy]

Q:Hank, your daughter doesn’t even see the reason why she’s most comfortable sitting shoulder to shoulder with Nazis and spreading their seed until the world is 10x as harmful to blacks as it currently is

A: yeah, she dumb like that. It’s because she was groomed by her daddy to see this as her safe space, she’s been very spoiled, accustomed to hypocritical lying about what she’s ‘worried’ about in the way all Trump’s minis don’t even realise they’re phonies, and because her emotional state and agenda is completely cucked.

there have always been people in the Reagan administration, too, who felt like they would ‘do more good on the inside’ so they went inside and propagated the agenda of those who would do more harm, and this is what my daughter does, not being bright enough to realise she spreads more harm than whatever minimal good she does to compensate, like coughing all over the salad bar and then almost but not quite constructing apologia when the waiter comes to the table and says they had to change out the food because of how she is.

what is her emotional stage and agenda that she keeps opening her anus of a mouth to bleat (for Trump is the only one doing the talking through her?

why, it’s the unhappy warrior, which Trump has been described as, a perversion of Reaganism’s happy warrior.

like Trump tho, she is actually giggling and happy quite a bit of the time. Trump has never fully embodied the unhappy warrior. He alternates between the two based on how much his feet are being held to the fire and how tough the going gets. When it’s all smooth, Trunp is happy to just hit the golf course and just giggle at the quackers in suburbia and call himself smart and healthy for ignoring the news about adult happenings in the world, which he and his cucks will never be aware of at an adult level.

if she pulls off her effort at being happy and happily feeling no shame and taking as she takes and making as she makes and sees fit, she becomes a spiritual cuck of the Reaganites. For the most part her brain works a lot like Andrew Sullivan’s always has. She’s a new model of an old model, very cucked and always will be, for every exit path has been one she’s afraid to take, like the sort of cat that always comes back home. Only a tragic turn of events could disrupt her cushy, banal suburbanism.

like Trump, she’s trying to be the happy warrior. Like Trump, she often fails. Most of my life, America has been cucked by Reagan. Obama and Clinton were. Trump has been the first patriarch to upset that order and generate a new en masse cucking.

the only cure for the mini-Trump pandemic, which is mostly in America, being a sort of superpower epidemic, but not fully contained there — is a change in patriarch.

#Mommie dearest #Trump #happy warrior #unhappy warrior

[jeninthegarden]

The Grand Experiment

2022: “I am going to narrow down the scope and plant more but with less variety.  Enough experimenting.” (???)  

Did I really say I was going to stop experimenting? Upon reflection, I don’t think that is possible, because I think every season is an experiment. It doesn’t matter what you “know” how to grow.  The natural elements are never the same year to year so the results are never the same. Things I have never grown successfully suddenly bloom, while things I take for granted suddenly don’t even germinate.  Then there are those stubborn cultivars that fail no matter what, which brings out my stubborn streak and I plant them year after year. Finally, there are new hybrids being created all the time and they are always in the front few pages of the seed catalogues.  Sometimes I get the crazy idea I should just buy and plant the newest hybrid of every vegetable, every year, and abandon every tried and true variety. Now, Cornell University has started creating its own hybrid seeds, for sale through the Row 7 Seed Company. Their mission is to specifically improve the taste of vegetables. I am particularly interested in trying to grow their butter flavored potatoes, that you would presumably be able to eat without added butter.

This past year I was extremely methodical. I planted the leeks at Christmas.  I started spinach and arugula and kale in the greenhouse boxes in February. As soon as the soil could be worked, I planted the greens and sugar snap peas and fava beans. Timing was everything and I had excellent success with using gardening row covers to hold moisture in the soil and increase germination.  I did better with directly sown seeds than with transplants. I was inspired by Petra, from Fruition Seeds, who advised planting tomatoes, eggplants and peppers in go cups in clumps of 10-15 seeds.  It worked wonderfully – every single seed germinated.  But then I tried to repot and propagate every single seed and ended up with far too many to handle.  I need to not do that again.

The garden layout was a masterpiece.  I rotated the crops, and I got it all planted and mulched. The spring harvest was excellent.  Lots of greens. I successfully grew and transplanted lots of kale from the greenhouse boxes.  Do not bother transplanting lettuce and spinach – it bolts.  This year I will just harvest and eat the tender greens right from the boxes.  Kale, however, and to a good extent the orach (which is upright growing anyway), arugula (biannual) and parsley (biannual) transplant from the greenhouse boxes to the garden very well.  

Then came the drought.  From the 15th of July to September 1, we had no rain. Nothing grew. I got green tomatoes, in October. No eggplant. No peppers.  The cabbage heads are the size of oranges. Kale grew 6 feet tall. No okra. No melons, cucumbers or squash.  I lost a couple fruit trees and planted a couple more.  The lack of rain led to a lack of clover which led to a lack of honey. Half our lavender field failed.  I lost 6 of my chickens and bought 4 more.

Not only was our groundhog present this year, it had a hoglet this spring so there were two of them. I fortified by chicken pen fences to keep the fox out and the groundhogs kept breaking in to get to the kitchen scraps and the cracked corn, so to save the fence I built a cinderblock tunnel under the fence, just big enough for the groundhogs but too small for the fox and the groundhogs can now come and go as they wish.

And then a skunk moved in. Close call - I arrived home late one October evening and hustled across my back yard in the dark, just wanting to grab the eggs from the chicken coop. Miraculously I managed to stop my headlong charge about 10 feet from a skunk that was directly in my path.  I did a lightening U-turn as it started to raise its tail and dashed back to the safety of the porch. And to think I was having uncharitable thoughts about the person sitting next to me on the train that evening and their too sparing use of deodorant.  While it was a near thing, and I was very glad not to be boiling myself in tomato juice the next morning, I am fine with our resident skunk, as I am with all the wildlife in our neighborhood (we don’t have a bear, yet - a bear would not be a happy addition).  I alerted all the neighbors who have dogs they walk after dark. But generally speaking skunks are friendly animals. They are rather smaller than raccoons, and slower, and don’t climb. They cannot knock over your garbage cans.  Their main diet is grubs, in the lawn, particularly in the fall when grubs are nice and fat and burrowed in for the winter, but the ground is not yet frozen.  Skunks are nocturnal but do not hibernate.  They don’t like snow however, so they do hunker down in their dens for warmth during period of extended snow cover.  When it comes to dens, while they are excellent diggers, they prefer to move into existing fox, rabbit or groundhog dens and will even cohabitate with groundhogs (while they force foxes and rabbits out). Their main predator is the owl (which cannot smell), and automobiles.  Their lifespan is 5 years.  So very likely our resident skunk lives on our cul de sac (as opposed to in the adjoining nature preserve) because it likes grassy lawns, and does not need a lot of water.  And it has two magnificent groundhog burrows to choose from (one on front lawn directly across from mine and one in my orchard).  So, have to be careful stumbling around in the yard after dark, but otherwise we have yet another beautiful addition to our healthy neighborhood habitat.

  Legumes (follow the Root crops)

Legumes need water.  Last spring there was plenty of water so we had a bumper crop of sugar snap peas of all colors – green, lemon, burgundy, blush. I prefer them raw or blanched to preserve the color, flavor and texture. We even had good shelling peas. And, while I am lazy and like eating the whole snap pea pod, there is still something nostalgic and self-indulgently decadent about eating raw, freshly shelled peas, particularly right in the garden without any preparing or sharing. Not even fava beans, all nutty, buttery goodness, can match green garden peas.  To be sure, I had plenty of fava beans for comparison. I continue to be very satisfied with fava beans and fava leaves, flowers and stems, which are all delicious. Fava is a very economical, cold season plant.  I tried growing them in the tomato cages but they were too lanky with that much support, so this year I will try planting them closely in a triple row, the way the soy beans flourish to see if I can get taller but thicker stalks. Oddly, this year, no-one is selling more than a single variety of fava beans (“Broad Windsor”) except PineTree which carries 2 varieties and Territorial Seed which carries 5. Fenugreek and lupine flowers are both members of the pea family.  So, this past year I planted lupines in the vegetable garden, because they nourish the soil by trapping nitrogen.  And they are perennial, so like the wild red clover which pops up randomly, I intend to just plant around the lupines wherever they regrow.  The fenugreek is not perennial.  It is edible and does sequester nitrogen in the soil.  And the stems, leaves and blossoms are edible the way fava and okra plants are – salad or sauté.  However, fenugreek is a summer crop and failed in the drought.   The soy beans were a beautiful green, bush row just blooming when the groundhog decided it was time to harvest, squeezed under the gate and ate the entire row to eight-inch sticks. I like soybeans steamed in the pods and salted. I replanted but the drought foiled the germination.  The purple bush beans did very well. They are resilient and long season despite the weather.  I like them blanched to preserve their color, or raw in salads. The purple bean blossoms are also delectable raw, as a garnish for eggs, poached fish or chilled soups.  The runner beans, pole beans and noodle beans did not make it into the ground, mostly because the corn and squash never were planted so 3-sisters planting method for corn, beans and pumpkins did not happen. A mistake because the method works well in the southwest where it is hot and dry.  I’m going to prioritize them this year.  The timing for planting the corn is crucial because the corn needs a head start so the beans can grow up it.  

2. Brassica – Cole - Green Crops (follow the legumes)

My spring greens were a fabulous profusion.  I started kale, spinach, mache, tatsoi, Chinese cabbage and some romaine, claytonia and orach in the greenhouse boxes in late February.  Everything germinated and grew.  It was ready to eat by April. I made the mistake of waiting and transplanting it all at the beginning of May.  The kale was the only successful transplant (because kale is biannual).  I should just have harvested and eaten the rest right away.  I have the first round of kale, spinach, mache, tatsoi, mustard, mesclun and lettuce seeds already purchased and ready to be planted in the outdoor greenhouse boxes in another two weeks.  I very successfully germinated all the direct sown spring everything last year. This was achieved by using white, floating row cloth laid directly on the seeded beds for warmth and moisture retention. I successfully germinated the spinach, borage, salad burnett, all the choi, tatsoi, Chinese cabbage, orach and lettuce.  This year I am fixated on bib, butter and looseleaf lettuce.  I’ve been growing romaine for a decade and I’m tired of it. The spinach grew extra-ordinarily well in the greenhouse boxes. I don’t remember the last time I had such an excellent crop, so I will double down planting it direct seed with row covers to stabilize the soil moisture and temperature. Claytonia was a fail last year because of the lack of water. Can’t transplant claytonia out of the greenhouse boxes because it has only a single, very thin root. So, I will have to treat it like the spinach and try growing it under row covers.  I skipped escarole and endives last year and regretted it. It is cold hardy so I will try a bit in the greenhouse boxes and a bit for a fall crop.  I’m going to be an empty nester this fall, so I really should have time a fall garden and harvest.  Arugula is something I need to grow a hedge of!  Did not have nearly enough last year.  Grew a little in the greenhouse boxes but it did not transplant well, so I will just sow direct this year. Purple orach did well in the greenhouse boxes, but like arugula did not transplant well and I did not plant enough.  It grows tall and is best planted in clumps or thick rows for support. Fenugreek requires warmer soil temperatures for germination and by the time I planted it the weather was turning dry so it was scraggly and stunted. Chard had a similar problem.  Like the spinach, both need more constant moisture. Salad burnett did well and may actually survive the winter; it is an evergreen I have seen growing in botanical gardens and has a distinct cucumber flavor that goes well with raw shellfish. Purslane did not grow because of the lack of water. I will put it back in the orchard and in the big hugle this year. It is a succulent with a mild spinach-cucumber flavor eaten raw in salads. Ice Lettuce is a succulent with fleshy leaves that have a textured surface. In French it is known as “Ficoïde Glacial” or Crystalline Iceplant. Supposedly it has a salty, lemony flavor and can be cooked like spinach, accompanies seafood.  I’m thinking sorrel meets purslane. I tried growing artichokes and failed, again, so I tried cooking cardoons as a precursor to switch from growing artichokes to growing cardoons. Cardoons are quite tasty, very similar to artichoke hearts. And these are also perennial, evergreens that I have noticed in ornamental gardens. So, the deer must not care for them and I will plant them in the hugle and the orchard.

The Asian greens were excellent this past spring and had a great re-growth in the fall.  I planted everything I had left in this category and have decided green tatsoi is the best – nice crisp rosettes of spoon shaped leaves, neither too peppery nor bitter. I don’t like the chois as much, so because there are many new strains of tatsoi, I think I will go with those and the new varieties of Chinese cabbage, which is quick and early growing. Cabbages, cauliflower, broccoli and Romanesco were all purchased as seedlings and just did not grow because of the drought. I intend to purchase seedlings again as I have great difficulty germinating and transplanting them. However, I see a new variety of cauliflower called baby hybrid that have fist-sized heads. So, I bought those seeds. Highly likely they will end up the size of Brussel sprouts, but the leaves are edible so it can’t be a total loss. I also hope to locally purchase branching head cauliflower – deep fried or air-fried it is so good because it has more surface area to crisp and caramelize. It also holds the sauce better. Truffle butter, aioli or buffalo hot sauce are my favorites.

I had grand plants for the Brussel sprouts to shade the sweet potatoes in the raised bed this past summer, but the groundhog loves sweet potatoes and broke into that bed and ate all the Brussel sprouts while digging up all the sweet potatoes.  This year I will certainly buy plants rather than seeds. The kale was prolific. And it was in a good, sunny spot. I assume some will survive the winter. I am trying a new variety with 3 foot long leaves. The perennial kale died but I remain stubbornly interested so I bought some more seed.  I will attempt to find some seeds.  Did not plant enough collards this past year, so I am re-focused this year.  The collards do not germinate well in cold soil, so can’t start in the greenhouse boxes.

 3. Fruits (follow the Brassica and Greens)

I had every intention of planting corn for my 3 sisters pumpkin-bean-corn planting, but missing out on the window for corn planting (when the oak leaf buds are the size of a mouse ear) doomed the project. I bought some decorative “gem” corn that has yet to be planted, and I want to try sweet corn again.  I really do need to germinate the corn in buckets because the crows and the squirrels, chipmunks and groundhogs have a crazy good sense of smell and will dig up each and every corn kernel I plant.  Tomatoes. They were a disaster due to the lack of rain. I got stunted green tomatoes in October. They also do not get enough light or air planted along the fence.  Happily, due to crop rotation they are going back into a bed where they have flourished previously.  I now know the trick to germinating them, and will be more proactive about giving the extras away sooner so I can focus on the ones I keep. I am not buying any plants this year. Eggplants, although they germinated abundantly, limped along with too little water and not enough sun, and never fruited. Lessons learned: although we now know how to germinate them, they must not be transplanted out until June (to avoid scorching).  And they must be watered frequently (to avoid stunting) with plenty of air and light (to encourage fruiting).  Peppers, overwintering does not work when you have no new plants to overwinter. It is a biannual, not a perennial. Learned a lot of lessons similar to tomatoes and eggplants, but with a few differences.  Peppers can actually do with a bit less sun, and a bit more water.

The okra was a failure this year as well. It needs water and light and air. It does not transplant well so needs direct sowing and a mulch or blanket to keep the soil moist for germination. It was also crammed against a fence and did not thrive.  The biggest okra plants I’ve every grown were in containers on the patio or out in the orchard.  So, I will try both this year. Blossoms, leaves and shoots of okra are all very tasty. Blossoms can  be battered and fried like zucchini blossoms. While okra must not be grown with squash, it can be grown with melons. I have to remember to only plant the small, cold hearty version and must plant multiples so I actually harvest enough at the same time to pick them very young and tender. I like okra pods blistered on the grill and dipped in hummus with salt and chili powder. Unicorn (which, although it is eaten like okra, is actually “devil’s claw”, a member of the sesame family and a medicinal herb) failed again to germinate. This is like my Datil pepper saga.  I need to buy live plants, but they don’t exist. Melons did not blossom or fruit this past year victims of the drought.  Zucchini, winter squash and pumpkins were never planted due to the miss on the corn planting. Going to try again this year, in the main garden. Focusing on short vine/bushing varieties.

Alliums

For the alliums, the garlic crop was tiny!  I mean really tiny heads and small cloves. Very disappointing.  I did not plant more in the fall, so no garlic harvest this year. I will give thought to planting some in the coming fall. The purple globe alliums in the big hugle were terrific.  The Egyptian walking onions bloomed but not profusely.  I hope they will survive the winter and bloom again.  The chives planted in the orchard did not germinate in the orchard. So, I am starting some pots indoors to transplant out.  Every bunch of scallions I get in my organic garden box I replant the bottom ½ inch with the roots and it re-grows. When I harvest them from my garden, I cut off the tops instead of pulling them. So, I did not buy any scallion seeds this year. Onions, I’m feeling ambivalent because we eat so many but I don’t have room for them in the plan this year. I might start randomly planting the cut bottoms in the flower beds and the hugle.   Leeks – ha!  This past fall there was a leeky dance! While I did plant the leeks (3 different kinds) right after Christmas last year and transplanted them into the carrot bed in the spring, they wilted and died off. So, I quickly purchased pencil thick leek sets and planted them in June, and had a modest leek crop by November. Aside from dancing around, I use leeks in soup, gratins and quiche.  I did buy more leek seeds this year, planted them and they are germinating slowly.  But I am also ordering a live set of 30 this spring

 4. Roots (follow the fruits)

Root vegetables were a bust this year.  Beets, I still stand by the long, tapered variety because they save space, but they did not germinate well this year and were stunted.  They are supposed to be “cold hardy”, but I have to assume that means they hold well into the fall, not that they germinate or grow in the cold spring. This year I intend to grow a different variety that has big tops.  Turnips seem to be the all-time reliable crop.  I had plenty of the long, carrot-like, purple Japanese turnips in succession plantings. And I had a variety that grows only tops which produced bountifully from July to Thanksgiving.  Will certainly repeat those varieties.  Radishes again were a no-show. I think they need more space, and I’m wondering if trimming the tops would make the roots bigger. Undeterred by repeated failure I am going to try several more varieties this year, European varieties and daikon, and I am even thinking of trying the podding type again. I’m particularly keen to try growing green radishes that taste like wasabi, because wasabi roots are hideously expensive, perennials. Carrots, were meticulously planted, pelleted seeds, spaced perfectly, germinated well with the help of garden cloth blankets, but then stopped and never grew more than pinky finger sized. Obviously, I will continue to grow carrots. Oddly, while I like cylindrical beets, I am considering ball-shaped carrots. Crop rotation dictates they will be in a different location, but one that has not been particularly good for them in the past.  Celeriac (celery root), I was able to germinate very successfully, but the transplanting failed. Will try again with hardier, later transplants. It is excellent breaded and fried, or roasted and pureed in soup. The lovage, a “cutting” celery which is actually a carrot relative, is perennial and grows untouched by deer or rodents. I moved it to the back of the yard and will plant more in the hugle.  Parsnips were excellent, but I failed to get a fall sowing in the ground.  This year I discovered caramelized roasted parsnips. They are delicious and go really well with roast turkey and gravy. I still have in mind the garlic-wormwood-parsnip companion planting for the hugle, since my wormwood seems well established now. I have temporarily lost my interest in some of the more obscure root vegetables: burdock, salsify, scorzonera, milk thistle. I grew no rutabaga but I’m not giving up yet. There is a rotation whereby you are supposed to plant the rutabaga where the peas grew, immediately when the peas have finished. Rutabaga is nice roasted (caramelizes beautifully), mashed, or pureed in soup (with sausage and beans). Parsley root, needs re-planting as the mice have eaten all the roots – a very satisfying root for stews and soups, but like lovage, too strong a flavor to eat raw or roasted. Potatoes: these did okay in the raised bed but obviously needed more water.  I didn’t even pay attention to what variety I planted – something gold and something red.  I will plant potatoes again, but need a different spot, and a different variety. Sweet potatoes:  The Japanese purple yams are so tasty and I have learned how to germinate the slips (half bury them in a pot of moist dirt) instead of paying for them to be shipped and damaged in the mail. I had plenty of slips and planted them in the raised bed. They were doing well until the ground hog got in and ate them all.  It even dug up and ate every last baby yam, so you know they are delicious! I try again this year. Maca (the Peruvian radish with ginseng qualities), like the rutabaga and celeriac can be germinated inside but needs to be bigger and transplanted later. I am not sure I’m going to try to grow it again, but if I do, maybe in pots on the patio because the tops are exceedingly large and not tasty.

6. Flowers

Certain herbs and flowers are really beneficial to the vegetable garden so I’m going to re-emphasize companion planting in the garden this year, but I am also emphasizing edible flowers this year, everywhere. I love cosmos. I like the pink and white “cup-n-saucer” variety. They would look really lovely with blue lupines if the lupines would bloom. Comos are easy to direct seed.  This is the first time ever I was able to direct seed and grow Marigolds. And these weren’t little – they were the giant gold chrysanthemum type.  This year I might plant them with the okra since marigolds repel harmful nematodes like the ones that are attracted to okra. Nasturtiums are one of my favorite plants that I always plant. They did not do well this past year due to lack of water. They are beneficial to many types of plants so I’m not yet sure where they fit in the garden plan but I will jam them in where-ever I can.  The leaves and blossoms taste like bell peppers. They are good in salad ad on eggs.

7. Herbs

Herbs in the garden of course include basil, which is a true companion of tomato.  It does better in the shade – I grew very little basil this year because it germinates in warm soil and was therefore too young and weak when the drought hit. The Thai basil towers I ordered were also weak and spindly.  I will try starting it indoors this year and transplant out. Borage is another very helpful herb. It is low growing so it is useful in the cabbage patch. It attracts pollinators and is a decoy for aphids. It gets along with peas and beans so it makes a good buffer between peas/beans and alliums. I planted a lot last year and it proved impervious to heat and drought, and cold. It self seeds but I will also plant more and treat the volunteers like the clover and lupines (just plant around them).  Tarragon is perennial so I usually try to grow it in the herb garden, we’ll see if it comes back this year, and I’ll plant more if it doesn’t. It increases the flavor of plants around it.   Marjoram is an herb that promotes growth in other plants, I did not plant any last year, so this year I will prioritize.  

#zone 5b vegetable gardening #backyard vegetable gardening

[kevinscottgardens]

2 au 8 mai 2022

All this week I worked on clearing lavender of weeds along the tops of eight terrace walls. I also removed the largest, woodiest ones and replaced with ones I propagated from cuttings. This is done twice a year, and I feel I should try to do it thrice. It was looking pretty shaggy when I started. Now I must remember to water them a few times this summer then they will be left to fend for themselves come autumn.

I also did lots of watering and hoeing of lots of weeds. One morning, Mme. assisted me pricking out Linum perenne from this pot into lots of individual pots. They are doing well.

When they grow up, they will look like this...

Saturday morning I took my car on it’s longest drive since being with me, to Aix-en-Provence for Catherine’s party. It was great fun. We were asked to wear outfits from either the 1920s or the 1960s. Everyone was in good spirits and I didn’t get to bed until 03h00.

Sunday, we gathered again for lunch. We were treated to gazpacho Manchego made by her cousin.

Plant of the week

Asteraceae Tragopogon porrifolius L.

common name(s) - salsify, oyster root, purple goat's beard, vegetable oyster, Jerusalem star, oyster plant, Jack go to bed synonym(s) - Tragopogon australis Jord.; L.; Tragopogon porrifolius subsp. porrifolius ; Tragopogon sativus Gaterau; Tragopogon sinuatus Avé-Lall. subspecies - Tragopogon porrifolius subsp. abbreviatus (Boiss.) Coşkunç. & Gültepe; T. p. subsp. australis Nyman; T. p. subsp. cupani (Guss. ex DC.) I.Richardson; T. p. subsp. eriospermus (Ten.) Greuter; Tragopogon porrifolius subsp. longirostris (Sch.Bip.) Greuter; T. p. subsp. macrocephalus (Pomel) Batt. conservation rating - none native to - Mediterranean to Saudi Arabia location - Domaine de l’Orangerie leaves - stem is largely unbranched and the leaves are somewhat grasslike; exudes a milky juice from the stems; taproots can become 150mm to 300mm long and 20mm to 50mm thick flowers - purple, in spring; flower head is about 50mm across and each is surrounded by green bracts which are longer than the petals (technically, the ligules of the ray flowers) fruit - beaked achenes, rod-shaped with light ribs and have hairs at one end that facilitate wind dispersal; when the fruits are formed fully, the hairs from the fruits give the appearance of a ball of fluff which gives the plant its name goatsbeard habit - glabrous biennial to 1m tall habitat - grasslands, meadows pests - generally pest-free disease - generally disease-free though white rust (Albugo tragopogonis) is the most common disease hardiness - to -15ºC (H5) soil - neutral, well-drained, moist soil and can grow in heavy clay soil sun - full sun propagation - seed, sow in situ as early in the year as possible, often fail unless the soil is kept moist until the seedlings are growing well pruning - none nomenclature - Asteraceae - star; Tragopogon - goat-beard, Theophrastus’ name refers to the pappus of the fruit; porrifolius - with leaves like leek NB - root and the young shoots can be eaten (after being boiled); freshly grown leaves can be eaten cooked or raw; roots and leaves are most palatable when collected before the flower stalk is produced; flowering shoots can be used like asparagus, either raw or cooked and the flowers can be added to salad, while the sprouted seeds can be used in salads or sandwiches; is mentioned by classical authors such as Pliny the Elder

References :

Gardeners’ World [online] https://www.gardenersworld.com/plants/tragopogon-porrifolius/ [15 May 22]

Gledhill, David, (2008) “The Names of Plants”, fourth edition; Cambridge University Press; ISBN: 978-0-52168-553-5

IUCN [online] http://www.iucnredlist.org/search [15 May 22]

Plants for a Future [online] https://pfaf.org/user/plant.aspx?LatinName=Tragopogon+porrifolius [15 May 22]

Plants of the World [online] https://powo.science.kew.org/taxon/urn:lsid:ipni.org:names:256109-1 [15 May 22]

Wikipedia [online] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tragopogon_porrifolius [15 May 22]

World Flora Online [online] http://www.worldfloraonline.org/taxon/wfo-0000091699 [15 May 22]

#Tragopogon porrifolius

[threecrowsinatrenchcoat]

Plant Your Hope With Good Seeds

Dukeceit Week Day 3: Snakes/Bugs

Remus and Janus break up. But literally everyone knows that's not what they want. Everyone, including their plants.

AO3 Link: [here]

Word Count: 4337

Warnings: n/a

@dukeceitweek <3

-

Unknown Number

hey so i kno i said i wouldnt text u but rupert isnt doin good. can i bring him back? he misses u

Janus stared at the text for several minutes. Rupert was, of course, the Monstera Variegata that he and Remus had raised together all the way from propagation. It had been one of the pride and joys of their plant collection. Losing Rupert in the split had hurt almost as much as losing Remus.

...Almost. 

Janus

Is it getting enough light? Remember it needed the grow light even next to the window. 

Janus texted back against his better judgement. He and Remus were broken up. They’d agreed not to text for a while. They’d agreed to give each other space, get used to being apart. 

It sucked, though. The apartment felt empty without Remus and half their plant collection.

Unknown Number

ya i kno. but i don’t have any south facign windows here. our place is better

Unknown Number

i mean ur place

Janus sighed morosely. Well, if it was for Rupert…

Janus

Fine. Rupert can come back.

Unknown Number

yay! ill be in town this weekend. ill bring him ok?

Janus

Ok.

And then Janus promptly threw his phone across the room.

Because here’s the thing. Janus and Remus were broken up. Remus had moved eight hours away and everything. He’d been accepted into the Nuclear Engineering graduate program a state away, and they had both heard too many horror stories about long-distance relationships to brother trying. So they’d had a very civil and mutual split. Janus kept the apartment. Remus took the TV. And they’d divided their plant family between them: they each kept their favorites, and Remus had taken the hardier plants, while Janus kept the ones that were likely not to survive an interstate move.

And then… Remus left.

And Janus had not immediately wanted him back. Not at all.

(And, of course, Janus was lying to himself.)

Remus texted him Saturday morning that he was on his way, and Janus spent the first few hours of the wait stress-cleaning. He then checked on every single plant in the apartment. Watered the ones that needed it. Rotated some of the more vivacious growers so that they wouldn’t lean full-body toward their light source. Moved his small army of Sansevierias out to the apartment balcony for some extra sun.   

Then, when all that still failed to fill up the entire eight hours of waiting, he started stress-cooking. So by the time Remus texted that he’d just gotten off the highway, Janus had himself a pot of minestrone soup simmering on the stove, a tray of made-from-scratch lasagna in the oven, and was mixing up a batch of double chocolate chip cookies. 

There was no way he was going to eat all this food himself, he realized. He was so used to booking big meals like this, because Remus ate like he was three people. And lasagna was his favorite.

“Oh, Jake, what am I doing?” he groaned to the N’Joy Pothos that cascaded down the side of the refrigerator. And then his doorbell rang. 

Janus opened the door to find Remus, dancing awkwardly from foot to foot, with his face half-hidden behind the green-and-white leaves of Rupert. 

“...Hey,” Remus said, sounding sheepish. Janus’ heart clenched.

“Hi,” he said. They stood there in the doorway for a full minute before Janus stepped back and motioned for Remus to follow. Remus hesitated, but obeyed. 

“Uh… I’ll just…” Remus looked around. Janus hated how uncomfortable he looked. Until about two weeks ago, this had been Remus’ apartment, too. “Can I put him in his old spot?”

“Sure,” Janus replied with a nod. Rupert’s old spot had been in the bedroom, where the big, beautiful south-facing window let in a ton of light. He’d moved Venus de Milos, his Marble Queen Pothos, and La Hoya Jackson, the finicky Hoya Carnosa that Remus had wanted but didn’t expect to make the 8-hour drive without going into shock, to free up Rupert’s spot. Remus hesitated again, before he nodded awkwardly and wandered off to the bedroom, all three feet of plant and two gallons of soil in tow. Janus went to the oven and took out the lasagna. 

“Howl looks good,” Remus said when he came back into the kitchen. Janus glanced up from where he was laying balls of cookie dough out onto baking sheets. 

“Thank you,” he replied. Howl was their dramatic fiddle leaf fig tree, which had decided to throw a fit just before Remus left. “I switched it to a terracotta pot with peat moss and pearlite, and doubled its water intake. It seems to be tolerating it well.”

“Good.” There was a long pause. Then,” How are you?”

Janus looked back to the cookies. “I’m doing well,” he lied. “And you? Do you start class soon?”

“Next week,” Remus answered. “And, uh. Yeah, I’m doin’ good.” Another long pause. “Uh… I’ll just. Head out, I guess.”

“You could stay,” Janus blurted out. Shit. “For dinner, I mean.” He gestured to the tray of lasagna, fresh from the oven. “If you want.”

Remus gave him an uncharacteristically shy smile, then nodded slowly. He didn’t say anything, though, so Janus just gestured for him to take a seat at the table. And then he joined him, a plate of lasagna for each of them.

“So tell me, how’s living with Roman again?” Janus asked, a few bites into the meal, because he could not take the awkward silence a moment longer.

“It’s ok,” Remus answered. He shoveled another forkful of lasagna into his mouth. “This is really good, Jan.”

Janus smiled softly. “Thank you.” A pause. “Roman doesn’t mind all the plants?”

“Nah, he’s dating this guy Patton who apparently loves plants, so the apartment being full of houseplants is a huge plus to him now.”

“Good for him.” The oven timer went off, startling him slightly. He started to get up, but Remus waved him off.

“I got ‘em, you did all the cooking.”

Janus didn’t protest. Remus got up and took the cookies out of the oven. And he even moved them to a cooling rack like Janus had taught him to do. He came back to the table. 

“How’s work?”

Janus sighed. “Oh, terrible as always,” he answered. “I really must start looking for a new job.”

“Finally getting fed up?” Remus teased. Janus rolled his eyes. More seriously, Remus continued, “You deserve better, Jan. You gotta find some place that treats you right and pays you what you’re worth.”

“Thank you, Remus.”

“And hey, just sayin’, I still think you’d make an excellent stripper.”

Janus snorted at that. “I haven’t fully ruled out that particular career change.”

They fell easily back into their usual banter, lingering late into the night over a dessert of milk and cookies. It was pushing 10pm when Remus glanced at his phone and cursed softly. Janus glanced at his phone as well.

“Ah, I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to keep you so late,” he said. Remus shrugged.

“Nah, it’s cool. Thanks for dinner, Jan. It was real good, as always.”

“Where are you staying?”

“Uh… well, the plan was to stay with Logan, but I guess he had some kind of family emergency, so I don’t wanna trouble him. I’ll probably see if I can find a hotel room.”

Janus’ brow furrowed at that. “Why don’t you just stay here?”

“Oh, uh. I don’t wanna trouble you. I kinda feel like I already overstayed my welcome a bit?”

“Nonsense. A hotel room will cost you at least $100 for the night, and that’s simply ridiculous,” Janus insisted. “You should just stay here.”

Remus worried at his lip, which Janus knew meant he was mulling over his options. Then, he nodded. “If it’s not a bother?”

“Of course not. You’re not a bother, Remus.”

Remus’ eyes softened, and he smiled. “Ok. Thank you. Oh… lemmie go get my overnight back outta my truck.”

When Remus came back inside, Janus had just about finished making up the couch. 

“Hey, you don’t gotta get all fancy,” Remus teased. “You know I can sleep basically anywhere.”

“This is for me,” Janus replied. He fluffed up one of the pillows a bit more. “You take the bed.”

An odd look flashed across Remus’ face. “No way, Jan. I’m good on the couch.”

“Remus, you just drove eight hours, and you’re doing it again tomorrow. I am not letting you fuck up your back.”

‘I don’t-”

“Yes you do, no matter how often you say you can sleep anywhere,” Janus scoffed. “You can’t lie to me.”

Remus’ eyes softened, and after a moment, he sighed. “Ok, Jan. But what about you?”

“I’ll be fine.”

“You hate sleeping on couches.”

“It’s only one night-”

“And don’t you work tomorrow?”

“Yes, but-”

“You’re going to be so grumpy at work without a proper night’s sleep.”

“I’m usually grumpy at work anyway,” Janus pointed out. Remus snorted.

“Ok, that’s true. But I don’t want you to be even grumpier,” he said. “Let’s just share the bed.”

Janus eyed him for a moment. This was a terrible idea. They should not do this.

“Ok,” Janus said anyway.

They got ready for bed in awkward silence, which just made Janus miss Remus’ long, rambling chatter that much more. When Janus finished in the bathroom, he found Remus sitting gingerly on what used to be his side of the bed. Janus came over and sat down on the other side.

“Hey, uh… thanks,” Remus said. “For lettin’ me stay.”

“Of course,” Janus answered. “I… I still think of you as a friend, Remus.”

At that. Remus grimaced slightly. He didn’t say anything, seeming unable to find the right words. Before he could, Janus pulled back the top blankets on the bed and laid down. After a moment, Remus did the same.

“Good night, Remus,” Janus said quietly.

“...Good night, Janus,” Remus answered. Then he reached over and shut off the light.

-

Remus played that night over and over in his head in the days after he got home, and each and every time, he was just as stumped. 

He knew, in his brain, why he and Janus had broken up. It had been the only thing that made sense at the time, when the facts were just that Remus was moving away to pursue a lifelong dream, and Janus would never ever try to stop him from doing so. So they broke up. It made sense… right? 

But… That morning, he’d woken up to Janus curled up in his arms, face smushed against Remus’ neck, and… Remus had completely forgotten why they had even broken up in the first place.

Remus was back at Roman’s apartment, now. Eight hours away in his own cold bed, arms empty of the man he loved, just staring at the ceiling. A sharp knock on his door snapped him out of his daze.

“Rise and shine, Sleeping Beauty,” Roman called. “Don’t you have class in like an hour?”

“Fuck!” Remus scrambled to get up, but succeeded only in rolling out of the bed.

“Don’t forget to lock the door when you leave,” Roman added. Clearly he was unconcerned by the loud “thump” of a body hitting the floor. 

“Yup, got it,” Remus groaned in reply. He staggered, successfully this time, to his feet. 

Getting dressed was a rushed affair of ‘grab whatever’s closest,’ and soon he emerged from the bedroom with one shoe on, the other in his hand, and his backpack slung over one shoulder. He rushed into the kitchen to grab the travel mug of coffee Janus always set out for him in the mornings. And then the realization hit: Janus didn’t live here.

Remus dropped his shoe. 

The rest of the day went about as well as it could have gone without any coffee- that is to say, terribly. He got lost trying to get to campus, then he got lost again trying to get to class. Then he got stuck in traffic on the way back to Roman’s apartment. And then, to top it all off, the grocery store had been out of his favorite chips. 

So here he was, mopey and chip-less, and fucking exhausted. He dumped his backpack and collapsed face-first onto the couch. Roman, who happened to be sitting on said couch, made a noise of protest.

“Move, I need to sulk,” Remus mumbled, though his voice was thoroughly muffled by Roman’s thigh, since that was where his face had landed. 

“What on earth do you need to sulk for?” Roman asked incredulously. He moved to shove Remus off of him, but Remus went full ragdoll, and Roman couldn’t do a damn thing. “You are a grown man, you know.”

Remus turned his head just enough to stick his tongue out at Roman. Roman stuck his tongue out back.

“I had a terrible day, I earned a good sulk.”

“Didn’t like your classes?”

“Nah, they were great.”

“Professors?”

“Great.”

“Classmates?”

“Great.”

“Then Zeus Almighty, what are you so mopey-dopey about?” Roman remanded.

Remus squirmed around so he was laying on his back, head still in Roman’s lap, to look up at his brother. “So… uh… you promise not to get all, like. I told you so and shit?” 

“You miss Janus!”

“No! I-”

“You do!” Roman crowed triumphantly. Remus rolled onto his side so he didn’t have to look at his brother’s dumb gloaty face.

“...Maybe,” he groaned. Abruptly, he clamored to his feet and started for the stairs. “I gotta go build a chair.”

“Carpentry won’t solve your relationship problems,” Roman called after him.

“I know,” Remus called back. “Wrong type of wood.” If Roman had a response to that, Remus was already out the door and didn’t have to hear it. 

Patton found him out in front of the apartment building some time later, a jigsaw in hand, and a pile of cut wooden dowels at his feet.

“Hey, kiddo, what are you up to?”

Remus looked up from where he was balancing a plank of wood precariously across a milk crate, because his work table was one of the things he’d had to leave behind at Janus’ place.

“Oh, hey. Ro-bro’s upstairs.”

Patton gave him the sort of smile teachers gave to the kid they caught eating glue for the fourth time. “That doesn’t look super safe. Do you want any help?”

Remus took in Patton’s soft blue sweater and the dad-jeans from the nicer end of his closet, as well as the reusable grocery store bag that smelled suspiciously like some kind of lovely home-cooked meal; he shook his head. “You look dressed for a date night,” he said. “I don’t wanna fuck up two relationships this week.”

Patton’s eyes, impossibly, got even bigger and softer than they normally were, which honestly was quite the feat. He walked over to the stairs but, instead of making his way up to Roman’s apartment, he plopped down on the third step, facing Remus. Remus stared, bewildered.

“Uh, what’chu doin’ there, pops?”

“Well, it just sounded like you needed to talk,” Patton replied cheerfully. “So here I am.”

Remus stared a moment longer, somehow even more bewildered than before. “Uh…”

“I know I haven’t known you very long,” Patton continued. “But something tells me you’re the type of person who busts out the power tools when you’re upset.”

“How the hell can you tell that?”

Patton glanced over his shoulder, then leaned forward slightly. “Because,” he said, voice lowered conspiratorially. “I’m like that too.”

Remus blinked. “You?”

“Yup! I replaced all the tables and chairs in my house with ones I made myself after my last breakup,” Patton giggled. “Only two of them collapsed when I sat in them, too!”

Remus glanced down at the jigsaw in his hands, and then he sighed. He set it down, and went to sit next to Patton on the steps. 

“Ok, well. Yeah, maybe I’m kinda upset.”

“Do you want to talk about it?”

“Yeah? No? Maybe?”

“Yup, those are your three options!” Patton teased. Remus rolled his eyes.

“Ok, fine. You win, daddy-o. I’m upset because I miss my boyfriend. Or, well, my ex-boyfriend. I want him to be my boyfriend again.”

“Have you told him that?”

“Of course not,” Remus whined.

“Why not?”

“Because… I mean. It wouldn’t change anything. I still moved away. And I don’t even know if he’d want to be my boyfriend again either. Maybe he’s happier now.”

“You don’t know that,” Patton said gently. “Sure, maybe the circumstances aren’t the best right now, but if you both want it, things have a funny way of working out. But you have to talk to him.”

“I…” Remus paused. And then he sighed deeply. “I guess you’re right. Hey thanks, that did actually sorta help.”

Patton offered him a gentle smile. “Of course, Remus! Any time!”

“Hey!”

They both turned to see Roman standing at the top of the stairs, arms crossed.

“My own brother, hogging my boyfriend like this! The betrayal-”

“Relax, Ro, he’s not my type,” Remus shot back. “I prefer sarcastic little menaces.”

Patton giggled at that. He stood up and patted Remus on the shoulder. “I hope things work out,” he said. Remus smiled back.

“Yeah, I hope so too.”

Really, he just wanted Janus to be happy. Ideally with him, but if Janus was happier without him, well… so be it. 

- - -

Janus was miserable. 

“Dude, c’mon,” Virgil grumbled, immediately upon seeing the state of the apartment. “You’ve been watering your plants and filling the humidifiers, but you can’t be bothered to throw out your gross pizza boxes?” A pause. “Wait, you don’t even like pizza, what the hell.”

Janus just shrugged. After letting Virgil and Logan into the apartment, he’d gone straight back into blanket-burrito-on-the-couch mode. And really, he’d only bothered to get up and let them inside in the first place because Virgil had threatened to axe down the door- and Janus knew for a fact that Virgil owned multiple axes. 

“I believe he is engaging in what is described as ‘emotional eating,’ or using food as a coping mechanism in a time of stress and emotional turmoil,” Logan said helpfully. Virgil just huffed.

“That’s fine and all, but Jesus Christ, dude.” He gestured around the livingroom where… ok, yeah, it was a mess.

“Did you two come here just to insult me?” Janus grumbled. His face was half-mashed into a pillow, though, so who knows how much of that was actually discernible.

“We came to make sure you were still alive,” Virgil snapped, indicating that at least most of what Janus had said was discernible. “You weren’t answering any texts.”

“Yes, and you called out of work three days in a row,” Logan added. “We are concerned for you, Janus.”

“I’m perfectly fine,” Janus lied from the comfort of his depression blanket burrito. He was not particularly surprised when neither Virgil or Logan looked even remotely convinced.

“Alright, drastic measure time,” Virgil growled. He walked over to the window, and picked up the young Burgundy Rubber Tree Janus had yet to name. Janus sat bolt upright. 

“Virgil? Don’t you dare-”

Virgil walked past him and vanished down the hall. When he came back, his hands were empty, and he had a smirk on his face.

“Oh, fuck you,” Janus hissed. He dragged himself up off the couch to go rescue the poor thing, finding it stashed in the dark, windowless bathroom. When he came back to the livingroom, Virgil and Logan were sprawled across the couch.

“Ha ha, very funny.” Janus set the rubber tree back on the windowsill alongside the Snake Plant Army. “Ok, I’m up. Are you heathens happy now?”

“I take offense to that,” Logan muttered, while Virgil just crossed his arms and said, curtly, “Spill it.”

“Spill what?”

“Why are you so upset?”

“I’m not upset-”

“Falsehood,” Logan interrupted. “I have known you since high school, Janus, and I have never seen you like this before. It is highly alarming.”

“Is this about Remus?” Virgil asked.

“No,” Janus said immediately. “Of course not.”

Virgil and Logan exchanged a Look. Janus groaned.

“Fuck. Ok, fine. Maybe it is.”

“Was that so hard?” Virgil asked. 

“Yes.”

“You-”

“Janus,” Logan interrupted Virgil’s retort. “It is my understanding that emotional distress is often alleviated through, as they say, ‘talking it out.’ It is clear you are not handling the break-up as well as you initially believed-”

“Of course I’m not!” Janus snapped. He took a deep breath, and turned back to the plants on his windowsill. Kaa, the Sansevieria Moonshine Remus had gotten for Janus as an anniversary present last year, was already leaning slightly toward the window again. He rotated it, and a few of the other snake plants on the sill. And then he realized the others had been quiet for far too long. He turned to find them both watching him with sympathetic expressions. “What?”

“Keep going,” Virgil prompted. Janus sighed. He felt exhausted.

“Of course I’m not,” he said again. “Because I love Remus.”

“And?” Virgil prompted.

“...And I didn’t want us to break up,” he finished, feeling glum. Wordlessly, Virgil stood up, and approached Janus, arms out. Janus stepped into the embrace. Nobody said anything; Janus didn’t cry, but he stood there for a long time. Then, he stepped back.

“Thank you,” he said, and he meant it. Virgil gave him a small smile. Logan cocked his head, seeming confused.

“I don’t understand. You just… needed a hug?”

“Hugs are great, Logan,” Virgil replied. “You should try them sometime- hey, where are you going?”

Janus strode past them both, beelining for his bedroom to find his laptop. Over his shoulder, he answered, “To fill out some job applications.”

- - -

Remus was outside building a new bookshelf- because Patton was moving in, and Roman's teenie-tiny sad little excuse for a bookshelf, which held only Disney DVDs and no actual books, wouldn’t suffice for all of Patton’s cookbooks- when his phone rang. Which was weird, because nobody ever called him, because he never fucking answered.

“Not interested, Mr. Spam Man,” he crooned over the sound of the generic iPhone ringtone. He was learning how to do kerf bending for this bookcase, and goddamn it he wasn’t going to be distracted by-

His phone started ringing again. He swore and ripped off his gloves to silence his phone. But as he did so, he realized the number flashing across his screen was a familiar one. 

“Janus? Are you ok?” he answered the call, half panicked, because Janus hated phone calls almost as much as he did.

“Hi. Yes, everything’s fine.” Janus sounded slightly hysterical, which made Remus feel even more frantic. “Where are you?”

“I’m at Roman’s. Are you sure you’re ok-”

“Great, don’t leave. I’ll be right there.”

“What does that mean-” Remus demanded, but the line was already dead. Remus swore again. He briefly considered calling him back, because what the actual fuck was that all about, but he was only about 30 seconds into that brief consideration before a familiar car tearing through the apartment complex parking lot caught his attention. He quickly brushed as much of the sawdust off his clothes as he could because holy shit Janus had just parked right there in front of Roman’s apartment.

Remus watched, dumbfounded, as Janus scrambled out of his car- dressed in his very nice black suit and pale yellow button-up- and came running across the lawn toward where Remus was working. He had a tiny plant clutched to his chest.

“Uh, Jan, you good?” Remus asked. Janus stopped in front of him and doubled over, breathless, for a few moments. Then, he straightened up, and fixed Remus with a look of sheer determination.

“Remus. I want to get back together.”

Remus’ heart, the traitorous bastard, leaped up into his throat and blocked all his words from coming out. 

“It’s… it’s ok if you don’t want that,” Janus continued. His look of determination faltered slightly. “It’s ok. But I needed to tell you. Because I love you, so much. And I… I didn’t want you to think I didn’t, even if you don't-”

Remus found his words abruptly. “Jan, fuck! I do! I do love you. I never stopped loving you. All I want is to be with you.”

Janus’ eyes softened. “Really?”

“Really.”

“Good, because I’ve just been offered a job here.”

Remus choked. Janus was eyeing him smugly. “You. Just like that, you got a job here?”

“Just like that,” Janus grinned. “I just came from the interview. They offered me a position on the spot.”

Remus couldn't help himself any longer. He lurched forward and pulled Janus tightly into his arms.

“Hey, be careful,” Janus said, though he made absolutely no effort to get out of Remus’ embrace. “You’ll crush our new son.”

Remus pulled back just enough to look at the small plant Janus held in his hands, and only then did his brain register what it was. 

“Is! Is that-”

“Yes,” Janus replied, holding up the tiny Drosera Capensis seedling. Remus had wanted one of these for ages.

“For me?”

“Well, for us, ideally,” Janus answered, with a shy smile. “But, mostly for you, yes.”

Remus gently plucked the baby octopus plant- their new son!- from Janus’ hands, and placed it carefully on top of the milk crate that was serving as his carpentry workbench. Then, he hoisted Janus up off the ground and spun him around.

“Oh- Re-” Janus exclaimed, though he was laughing. “Put me down!”

“No!” Remus trilled. He spun Janus around once more. Then he just stood there, holding Janus, gazing up at him. Janus’ eyes grew soft. Slowly, he carded his fingers through Remus’ hair.

“Hey,” Janus said.

“Yeah?”

“I love you.”

Remus set Janus down, but kept his arms still wrapped tightly around him. His heart felt warm.

“Hey.”

Janus looked up at him. “Yeah?”

“I love you, too.” 

#dukeceit #dukeceitweek #remus sanders #janus sanders #sanders sides #sanders sides fic #kye writes

[kalessinsdaughter]

Elantris, chapter 21

kalessin reads cosmere

chapter 1 | chapter 20 | chapter 22

Hrathen's description of the Fjordell arteth, Thered, is really funny: he's such a huge Fjordell chauvinist! But the observation that he's still muscular from his monastery training makes me wonder: do all Fjordell priests have such training? And what about Derethi priests from other countries? (yes, I'm thinking of Dilaf)

Ah, so this is Hrathen's choice as head arteth. So it's not going to be Dilaf, after all.

OK, scratch that, Thered declines! Come on, Hrathen, of course Dilaf is behind it! You know he is. You just don't want to admit it to yourself. Yeah, you made a mistake. And I think Dilaf wants you to fail, and Arelon to die. Although I don't understand why.

Alright, the time has finally come for Hrathen to do something about Dilaf! He's going to send him to Fjorden, to deliver "a very important letter". Yeah, that's not obvious at all. And Dilaf is definitely going to try to wiggle out of it. I don't believe for a second that he secretly wanted to be sent to Fjorden.

And here comes Dilaf's counter-strike. Wait, he's been tying most of Hrathen's Arelene supporters to himself as odivs? That's… that takes careful planning. He's been quietly working to undermine Hrathen's position for weeks, effectively placing himself in a position where he can veto any order Hrathen issues. And he knows it, deliberately mocking Hrathen with pretending to be his obedient servant. I think Hrathen needs to start asking himself what, exactly, Dilaf's plans are.

So Hrathen escapes to watch Elantris. Yeah, that's where Dilaf won't go. At least that we're aware. And here's two beggars! So people do escape from the farms. There used to be four cities around Elantris? How many remain now? Only Kae? Is that port city one of the lords holds one of them? Is it important? And so Hrathen takes the opportunity to give in the name of Jaddeth. Very calculating. Or is it?

Hmmm. Kae hasn't exactly spilled out from inside Elantris, the way Hrathen thinks, has it? If there were once four cities around Elantris, Kae was never inside Elantris, right?

Oh, here's Omin, the Korathi priest. What's his errand? To sow the seeds of doubt in Hrathen's mind? Omin clearly has Hrathen's measure. Is he thinking that the deliberate falsehoods he's propagating grate on someone with his super rational outlook.

Oh. OH!

"What happened to your faith?"

That's a cruel question to ask! A very good one, though. For all his mild appearance, Omin takes no prisoners!

#kalessin reads cosmere #cosmere #brandon sanderson #elantris #elantris chapter 21

[deerth]

my first mistake in witchcraft

yes i’m going to be petty over religion for a second here.

i have been slowly inching out of the broom closet as i now consciously move on from the atheist mindset to the pagan one. i was looking for more resources to research my path, and i ended up on a witchy server... woe unto me as i try to fit in once more, for it seems that not even witches are unified.

forget about all that shit about garden, cosmos and whatever witches. the religion actually broadly branches into two practices - Wicca and regular witchcraft. so you are primarily the one or the other, no matter what flavour of ritual you practice.

the primary difference between Wiccans and general witchcraft is your belief of whether religion can be used for harm or not. in short, Wiccans state “an it harm none, do as ye will” (as long as you don’t hurt anyone [including yourself], go bonkers), therefore you will not find Wiccans casting curses or hexes. we know the responsibility of our faith and we know that if you radiate bad vibes, it will come right back around to bite you in the ass later. that said, most Wiccans don’t mind witches who do curse or hex. some cultures use practices like voodoo, and even old eastern European practices were not free of rituals that were made to directly interfere with someone’s will (love spells that were supposed to make someone love you). therefore, a disclaimer: I’m not anti-hex. I would not use a hex because I feel that hate will not solve hate, and as long as you’re an adult, I trust you know what you’re doing with your power. maybe you are of an oppressed culture and have good reason to exact revenge on someone who severely hurt you, especially if you have a long-standing tradition of hexes. even Nina Simone sang “I Put a Spell on You” (albeit this is also a love spell). I know curses and hexes and even spells affecting with another’s free will are an inherent part of witchcraft and I won’t deny it. I follow my doctrine, you follow yours, that is fine by me.

what is NOT fine with me, however, is propagating hex culture among minors. why? because minors are not ready to take on that responsibility!!!! just like they are not truly ready to make healthy decisions about sex, alcohol or other substances, they cannot take true responsibility over causing harm, be it spiritual or otherwise. “what’s a little hex do?” you might ask, if you’re a minor. not to sound like a boomer, but when I was 16, I was edgy as fuck. I hated everyone while claiming to love everyone. I was in NO correct mental state to make decisions about the aforementioned things. even without casting any hexes, I made many mistakes. big ones. I hurt a lot of people. yes, I regret it all deeply. I wish I had thought things over rather than stay stubborn. in fact, most people under 20 are not ready to enter discourse, drama or a vicious cycle of hatred purely because it will always turn into “all bite but no bark”. I purposefully say it that way because although youngsters are admirably spirited and ready to take on the world... they often bite off more than they can chew. I see girlies straight out of high school trying to solve huge problems like racism, and although, again, admiring these young people, they have researched their stuff. to an extent, they know what they’re talking about... but I do believe hate will not solve hate.

one of the moderators of said server retaliated with it not being a universal truth, and claimed my take to be “unverified personal gnosis” (what is a verified gnosis, anyway? how do you measure it? especially in a practice like witchcraft where every bloody individual practises it differently and there are no priests or churches?). if the moderator happens to read this and wishes to elaborate, i’d be welcome for a bit of constructive discussion over what is and isn’t personal gnosis. I acknowledge that “hate cannot be fought with hate” is not a universal truth... that is perhaps where I went to the extreme. but believe me, I did not say it to be holier-than-thou. I was actually shocked to be called out by not one, but two moderators on my behaviour, instantly. I did not read in the rules that one would be forbidden to state their opinion or softly disagree, but perhaps it is so and I did not pay enough attention.

there comes another food for thought: is it possible to socialise without being opinionated in any way? would shutting down opinions truly prevent conflict? because I’m feeling very bitter and left out now. I know everyone on that server is not Wiccan. but to get slapped in the face right after I attempted to be friendly (laconic and feeble as that was), among who I considered to be my own people... I feel conflicted. now mind, I’m not going to leave witchcraft behind. it is my religion, and thanks to this experience, I learned that Wicca is the right thing for me. I don’t want to advocate for violence and a vicious cycle of hatred. my grandfather was Romani, therefore I believe I know a thing or two about mislabeling and hate enacted upon minorities and outcast people. does that mean I want to kill and hex every white in sight? the answer is no. if anything, me being both Wiccan and Romani, it would just add fuel to the fire. especially because Romani are stereotyped as evil witches in the first place, so it would be a double suicide. by propagating violence, I would give these people more reason to hate pagans and Romani people. both cultures are already feared and hated upon as it is. I am not going to give people more opportunity to hate me.

coming back to the minor I disagreed with in the server. I was shocked that the first thing that came to a teenager��s mind was a revenge hex. it screams of naiveté and irresponsible behaviour towards your faith. and not JUST your faith. as I am a student of psychology, I am well aware how mind patterns work, and here’s the funny thing: psychology has proven that witchcraft’s law of returns is somewhat true, not on a magickal level, but on a mental one. if you ponder over violence and revenge excessively, you are reinforcing those neural pathways in your brain. there is a reason why they say “hate breeds hate”. it is the same reason why depression is so hard to deal with. anything you obsessively ruminate over reinforces it again and again until escape seems impossible. I’m not only speaking as a witch, I’m speaking as a human being. is it correct to propagate petty violence among minors when we as adults can do better and guide young people to better paths?

I’m not saying young people shouldn’t use hexes. but I am questioning their ability to take on the responsibility of potentially hurting someone, or even just thinking of hurting someone. you plant a seed of hate and it may just grow. you knock on the devil’s door enough times and he will answer (disclaimer: I’m not Christian either, I just like the saying). soon there shall be nothing left but hate. if the person in question had not been a minor, I would have left it at that. but religion is sacred. a witch’s magick is essentially making something important to you sacred. it’s not a plaything. it’s not to be used light-handedly. it’s not a trend. and hexes should be the last resort if all else fails OR the person you hate has a damn good reason for being hated.

is it wrong to vote for love and peace? yeah, I sound like a hippie, but I think they’re right. love was not born from continuing to fight each other - love was born from unity, from coexisting. how does one fight racism? psychology says see more poc, interact with them, understand their struggles. how to fight religious fear? spend time with people of different views. how to get over homophobia? spend time with the gays and try to understand their views, and like, actually understand them. spending time with someone just to berate them is still bigotry. the interaction I mean here is coexisting with minorities in a shared space and them slowly, but surely becoming more accepted and normalised because we finally see them. even a bigot can’t stay a bigot if they are brought out of isolation. if they’re forced to see people different than them.

unfortunately, not even your own faith can comfort you sometimes, mostly because the community is still divided. there are rules on what should and shouldn’t be done, and woe upon thee if you dare to even peep one of your thoughts. I merely said thank you and sorry and left, as I always do when I feel misunderstood. it was a valuable yet harsh lesson, and I regret hoping for acceptance or even offering me a moment to be understood without being shut down without a second thought. I regret hoping for a little discussion where it is seen as a violation of rules.

again, as long as you are ready to bear the responsibility of harming another, do whatever you want. as a Wicca, I prefer staying benevolent and kind, even to those who traumatised me. you might argue that this essay in itself is not benevolent... after all, Wiccans don’t slander people behind their backs, you might say. but it is not my intent to slander. it is just me expressing sheer confusion over what I expected to be a community to hear out all voices, because why have a community at all if you allow for no discussion? do we shut off discussions entirely in fear of fights? but alas, it is human nature to be opposed, but it’s also human nature to still hold hands despite the differences - one just needs to acknowledge it.

blessed be.

#own post #witchblr #witchy #wicca #laconic and gross oversimplifications to this post will not be accepted. #i am naive in my own way for believing people want to be kind #but i do believe that there can be love and peace on the planet earth. as a survivor of hate #i know it.

[buckyoubucky-blog]

home improvement ideas

Surging, a leaky roof, and a good first set of pipe - all of these in-home disasters happen to be a good reason for immediate concern. While abating any influx of uncontrolled normal water in your house can be problematic plenty of, your problems may not end after the normal water is eliminated apart. Indeed, if normal water soaks into your ceilings, flooring surfaces, and walls, you might be at a better risk for mold expansion than ever before before.

In many cases, actually a damp environment brought on by ambient water vapor can promote mold growth in areas without very much air flow. No matter of its causes, mold in your house is usually undesirable news in need of instant attention. Fails to address an emergent mold trouble can place your family’s wellbeing at risk, with the CDC remembering that many prevalent in house molds can reason fevers, shortness of breath, and serious disease for individuals with lost immune devices and chronic respiration concerns (many of these as asthma).

Just put, you want to understand the risks related to indoor mold, starting with the amount of time it needs to grow and continuing through the areas where it grows most effectively. From there, you’ll come to be ready to address mold risk elements in your individual residence or call a professional who can be taught at identifying the same. Either method, this lead will support you figure out in house molds like rarely before.

Disclosure: Due to an Amazon Link I just earn from qualifying acquisitions. Even so, this does not effect our opinions and evaluations. All ideas will be our unique we delight ourselves on keeping our content articles fair and balanced. For extra details observe our disclosure assertion.

Press For Content Details: How Long Does It Have Mold To Grow? close approach of mold growth Depending about the environment, mold may begin to germinate inside 24 to 48 time.

From there, firm temperatures and a proper amount of dampness can allow the mold to grow and become visible in as handful of as 3 times or as many as 21 days.

Even so, you may prevent this kind of propagation simply by properly tending to lots of of the virtually all at-risk areas of your house.

A Mold Growth Timeline In the wake of a sudden in-home water drip, most folks are fairly preoccupied with the practice of containing and diverting the problematic water. Once that work is normally done, most of the people think satisfied that their function is total, especially after proper repairs contain been built. But if any walls, floor surfaces, or ceilings started to be soaked during the leak, there is normally a respectable prospect that mold may try to have up store there in the coming days and nights.

After 24 hours: Specifically, virtually all types of common in-home molds (cladosporium, penicillium, alternaria, and aspergillus, in line with the CDC) can land in a suitable surface and germinate with simply because few just as 24 hours. At that stage, there will certainly not end up being any clear signals that mold spores happen to be present in the location. Because mold spores will be rather comprised at this level, it can often be the best time to eradicate them through cleaning with diluted lighten.

Immediately after 12 days: On the other hand, if the mold spores are certainly not detected during the germination level, they are prone to colonize in as couple of as 3 days, with most types of mold gaining firm footing by 12 days post-germination. Possibly at this stage, mold might not exactly become noticeable to the eyeball on the upset surface. Even so, mold spores at this level can get started to divide even more effectively if the oxygen in the region is certainly certainly not properly dehumidified.

Immediately after 18 days: Once you pass the 18 day threshold, you will almost absolutely see the visible signs of mold get started to crop up on the afflicted surface. While the exact appearance may range, most mold types are well known scheduled to their dark color and spotty overall look. At this level, any washing of the upset surface will want to get much considerably more complete and supported by proper neck muscles cover.

All of these period frames are quotes, however, with details for mold progress quickness based generally on the subject of the surface’s heat range, the surrounding atmosphere heat range, the level of dampness found in the surrounding surroundings, and the sum of airflow found in the afflicted space. Controlling each of these elements after a important water trickle out can often be the best way to stop mold from bringing carry in your house.

How Will Mold Spread? just how to take away mold from drywall Though it could be a tiny comfort to homeowners, mold of one kind or another is almost usually present indoors (unless it is being taken away through an air filter). As such, there is usually a likelihood for mold to land on a provided surface within your residence. Even so, mold spores generally don’t have basic because they lack the two materials they want to survive: foodstuff and normal water.

What Does Mold Supply On? Earliest, let’s consider mold’s meals. In principles, most any type of organic and natural matter can provide the desires of prevalent outside molds. That being said, floors that happen to be porous (many of these as lumber) tend to semester victim to mold expansion due to the method in which they rest down easily. As for normal water, mold simply desires as much normal water as is usually in humid surroundings to subsist and succeed when temperature ranges will be just simply right.

If these two factors are present, mold is able to germinate, colonize, and range as described above. This applying method is usually certainly not unlike the techniques in which bushes get spread around their seeds, though mold spores happen to be undetectable to the naked eyeball. While an first mold colony may orbit around a solo level, long term mold visibility can reason an entire object or an entire area to turn into a haven for mold progress.

The Distribution Method Is Swift! Mold may start out its dispersion process within time, and even while you can’t find the method going on visually (yet)  getting leaks and ambient dampness under control found in brief purchase is exceptionally important. If you happen to be incapable to tidy up an at-risk area promptly, generate a method to carefully tidy that place with lighten or get rid of the moistened concept if it is certainly not really worth saving.

For extra insights into proper mold cleaning techniques, check out these articles or blog posts:

How to tidy mold in drywall How to tidy mold in a good bathroom Using a mold fogger Areas Most At-Risk For Mold Growth When it comes to figuring out and abating mold in your home, one of the main actions is to isolate areas that are at the greatest risk for mold development. Generally speaking, these areas happen to be virtually all generally those that contain a lot of organic water or possess been shown to an high volume of moisture necessary to a roof trickle out or line burst open. However, different types of surroundings happen to be considerably more likely to foster mold expansion than those in nice, dry, well-lit areas.

Corresponding to the University of The state of illinois Proxy, mold spores happen to be more likely to arrive to rest about and colonize floors manufactured out of organic components, adding cotton, wool, newspaper, wash rag, and wood. On the other hand, inorganic floors protected in organic material, many of these as foodstuff, grease, or soil, are most likely to inspire mold progress as very well.

As well, mold does not want light to thrive. In reality, darker areas with much less air flow circulation are inclined to come to be preferred housing for mold spores. Actually if improved conditions will be temporarily unveiled, spores can turn into dormant until most suitable circumstances for growth go back.

Though it’s certainly not an exhaustive list, these are most of the common in-home areas where mold tends to accumulate due to their natural conditions:

Basements Crawlspaces (particularly those built above uncovered earth) Laundry Rooms Attics Under Cabinets Drywall Behind baseboards Tile Grout and caulking Conclusion At the end of the day, in-home mold is no laughing matter. Mold can increase in a drenched environment in as little as 24 time, top rated to destruction on the troubled area and lowered breathability of the room’s atmosphere. If you possess recently experienced a major water trickle out in your residence, you should have some period and check all of your at-risk areas to make certain this harmful contaminant is normally nowhere to come to be determined.

Should you get mold, begin carpet cleaning it up instantly after you’ve obtained the proper protective items and laundry components. Afterward, make certain to retain an vision on the spot and expose external control factors to cut down the likelihood of a repeat.

If you have any even more problems about mold or the best ways to clean it up, be certain to leave a review for our society members to answer!

[pinealperspective]

A few random quotations, collected from the book "Pulp" by Charles Bukowski

• “I was gifted, am gifted. Sometimes I looked at my hands and realized that I could have been a great pianist or something. But what have my hands done? Scratched my balls, written checks, tied shoes, pushed toilet levers, etc. I have wasted my hands. And my mind.”

• “Man was born to die. What did it mean? Hanging around and waiting. Waiting for the ‘A train.’ Waiting for a pair of big breasts on some August night in a Vegas hotel room. Waiting for the mouse to sing. Waiting for the snake to grow wings. Hanging around.”

• “Hell was what you made it.”

• “Sex was a trap, a snare. It was for animals.”

• “What was wrong with me? Was this dame getting to me? She had intestines like everybody else. She had nostril hairs. She had wax in her ears. What was the big play?”

• “You only live once, right? Well, except for Lazarus. Poor sucker, he had to die twice.”

• “I killed four flies while waiting. Damn, death was everywhere. Man, bird, beast, reptile, rodent, insect, fish didn’t have a chance. The fix was in. I didn’t know what to do about it. I got depressed. You know, I see a box boy at the supermarket, he’s packing my groceries, then I see him sticking himself into his own grave along with the toilet paper, the beer and the chicken breasts.”

• “’You won’t laugh at me like the police did?’

‘Nobody laughs like the police, Mr. Grovers.’”

• “Now all that I can tell you is that there are billions of women on earth, right? Some look all right. Most look pretty good. But every now and then nature pulls a wild trick, she puts together a special woman, an unbelievable woman. I mean, you look and you can’t believe. Everything is perfect undulating movement, quicksilver, snake-like, you see an ankle, you see an elbow, you see a breast, you see a knee, it all melds into a giant, taunting totality, with such beautiful eyes smiling, the mouth turned down a bit, the lips held there as if they were about to burst into laughter over your helplessness. And they know how to dress and their long hair burns the air. Too god-damned much.”

• “Passed the Turf Club. Looked in. Just a bunch of old guys. With money. How did they do it? And how much did you need? And what did it all mean? We all died broke and most of us lived that way. It was a debilitating game. Just to get your shoes on in the morning was a victory.”

• “Something was always after a man. It never relented. No rest, ever.”

• “We waited and waited. All of us. Didn’t the shrink know that waiting was one of the things that drove people crazy? People waited all their lives. They waited to live, they waited to die. They waited in line to buy toilet paper. They waited in line for money. And if they didn’t have any money they waited in longer lines. You waited to go to sleep and then you waited to awaken. You waited to get married and you waited to get divorced. You waited for it to rain, you waited for it to stop. You waited to eat and then you waited to eat again. You waited in a shrink’s office with a bunch of psychos and you wondered if you were one.”

• “Getting out of bed in the morning was the same as facing the blank wall of the Universe.”

• “But trouble and pain were what kept a man alive. Or trying to avoid trouble and pain. It was a full time job. And sometimes even in sleep you couldn’t resist.”

• “The best interpreter of the dream is the dreamer. Keep your money in your pocket. Or bet it on a good horse.”

• “I wasn’t dead yet, just in a state of rapid decay. Who wasn’t? We were all in the same leaky boat, jollying ourselves up.”

• “’You’re a lousy philosopher,’ said Lady Death. ‘For me,’ I told her, ‘I’m perfect.’ ‘People live on their delusions,’ she said. ‘Why not?’ I suggested. ‘What else is there?’. ‘The end of them,’ she said.”

• “Existence was not only absurd, it was plain hard work.”

• “There’s always somebody about to ruin your day, if not your life.”

• “Everybody was screwed. There were no winners. There were only apparent winners. We were all chasing after a lot of nothing. Day after day. Survival seemed the only necessity. That didn’t seem enough. Not with Lady Death waiting.”

• “‘You a pimp?’

‘Oh, no, sir.’

‘You sell drugs?’

‘No, sir.’

‘Wish you did. I need some coke.’

‘I’m a bible salesman, sir.’

‘That’s disgusting!’

‘Just trying to spread the word.’

‘Well, don’t spread that shit around me.’”

• “Well, people got attached. Once you cut the umbilical cord they attached to other things. Sight, sound, sex, money, mirages, mothers, masturbation, murder and Monday morning hangovers.”

• “I should have been a great philosopher, I would have told them how foolish we were, standing around sucking air in and out of our lungs.”

• “Most of the world was mad. And the part that wasn’t mad was angry. And the part that wasn’t mad or angry was just stupid. I had no chance. I had no choice. Just hang on and wait for the end. It was hard work. It was the hardest work imaginable.”

• “Two women meant twice as much trouble as one woman.”

• “Why couldn’t I be just some guy sitting watching a baseball game? Involved in the outcome. Why couldn’t I be a fry cook scrambling eggs and acting detached? Why couldn’t I be a fly on some person’s wrist, crawling along sublimely involved? Why couldn’t I be a rooster in a chicken pen pecking at seed? Why this?”

• “‘We’ve thought it over, it’s just awful. We don’t want to colonize your earth.’

‘What’s too awful, Jeannie?’

‘The earth. Smog, murder, the poisoned air, the poisoned water, the poisoned food, the hatred, the hopelessness, everything. The only beautiful thing about the earth is the animals and now they are being killed off, soon they will be gone except for pet rats and race horses. It’s so sad, no wonder you drink so much.’

‘Yeah, Jeannie. And don’t forget our atomic stockpiles.’

‘Yes, you’ve dug yourself in too deep, it seems.’

‘Yes, we could be gone in two days or we might last another thousand years. We don’t know which and so it’s hard for most people to care about anything.’”

• “All in all, I had pretty much done what I had set out to do in life. I had made some good moves. I wasn’t sleeping on the streets at night. Of course, there were a lot of good people sleeping in the streets. They weren’t fools, they just didn’t fit into the needed machinery of the moment. And those needs kept altering. It was a grim set-up and if you found yourself sleeping in your own bed at night, that alone was a precious victory over the forces. I’d been lucky but some of the moves I’d made had not been entirely without thought. But all in all it was a fairly horrible world and I felt sad, often, for most of the people in it.”

• “Often the best parts of life were when you weren’t doing anything at all, just mulling it over, chewing on it. I mean, say that you figure everything is senseless, then it can’t be quite senseless because you are aware that it’s senseless and your awareness of senselessness almost gives it sense.”

• “Definition of a nice neighborhood: a place you couldn’t afford to live in.”

• “Most men don’t live well at all, they just wear down.”

• “‘But he said he was going to kill you, didn’t you hear him?’

‘He probably didn’t mean it.’

‘You don’t go on ‘probably’ when love and guns are in hand.’”

• “I didn’t turn on the tv, I found that when you felt bad that son-of-a-bitch only made you feel worse. Just one vapid face after another, it was endless. An endless procession of idiots, some of them famous. The comedians weren’t funny and the drama was 4th grade.”

• “My old man had told me, ‘Get into anything where they hand you the money first and then hope to get it back. That’s banking and insurance. Take the real thing and give them a piece of paper for it. Use their money, it will keep coming. Two things drive them: greed and fear. One thing drives you: opportunity.’ Seemed like good advice. Only my father died broke.”

• “Hell, I’d even failed with women. Three wives. Nothing really wrong each time. It all got destroyed by petty bickering. Railing about nothing. Getting pissed-off over anything and everything. Day by day, year by year, grinding. Instead of helping each other you just sliced away, picking at this or that. Goading. Endless goading. It became a cheap contest. And once you got into it, it became habitual. You couldn’t seem to get out. You almost didn’t want to get out. And then you did get out. All the way.”

• “I hung up. I stared at the phone. Deathly damned thing. But you needed it to call 911. You never knew.”

• “Boring damned people. All over the earth. Propagating more boring damned people. What a horror show. The earth swarmed with them.”

• “‘We could get to know each other,’ she said.

‘It wouldn’t pay off, it would only be stupid.’

‘What makes you say that?’

‘Experience”.

#quotes #charles bukowski #pulp #book #longread #pulp charles bukowski #charles bukowski pulp #pulp bukowski #bukowski pulp #bukowski quotes #bukowski

[flowerarepower]

KALANCHOE HYBRID CARE GUIDE AND PROPAGATION | .itsaboutgardening.com

The Kalanchoe Hybrid is a great way to beat the winter blues. You can use the plant as an indoor plant; however, it is feasible to grow hybrids outdoors in warmer climates.

The Hybrid’s sparkling green, scalloped leaves and also stunning blossoms lighten up any type of atmosphere, as well as it is simple to look after and expand. Discover more regarding Kalanchoe Hybrid plants as well as add some vibrant tones and unusual foliage to your house.

Quick Knowledge About Kalanchoe Hybrid

Complete sun is a must.

You can cultivate this open air.

It gets to a height of 45 cm (1.5 feet).

It can reach a size of 50 centimeters (1.6 feet).

If overwatered, it can swiftly perish. It likewise has a hard time handling the cold.

Areas 10-11b (-1.1 ° C) are chosen (30 F).

Offsets are one of the most reliable methods of propagation.

Blossoms can be found in numerous colors, consisting of red, pink, yellow, white, as well as purple.

The Kalanchoe Hybrid

Summary: The Succulent plant family includes the Kalanchoe Hybrid. You can discover this appealing specimen in the floral present area of your neighborhood supermarket or large box nursery, yet do not be mislead by its accessibility. The Kalanchoe Hybrid houseplant is a show-stopper, especially if you require some shade as well as a new plant companion. The fallen leaves are waxy as well as thick, similar to those of a jade plant, however they have a toned edge. Plants get to an elevation of around 30 cm and also a size of simply a couple of inches less. Brilliant shades consisting of pink, yellow, orange, as well as red make the blooms a true program stopper. The plants prefer drier conditions and also demand well-drained dirt. Overwatered Kalanchoe Hybrid houseplants will reveal their discontent by yellowing, falling leaves, as well as deteriorating stems.

Blooms of Kalanchoe Hybrid

These plants were formerly called flowering gift plants considering that you discard them after the blooms died. They can, nonetheless, flower several times inside your home at any time of year. It is much better to cut these back as quickly as the existing flowers have discolored or passed away, as this will certainly promote new buds and developing. Taking cuttings from the Kalanchoe Hybrid as well as proliferating them can enable a farmer to make new plants and also raise the chance of seeing extra blossoms.

Toxicity

The American Society for the Avoidance of Ruthlessness to Animals (ASPCA) advises that taking in the Kalanchoe Hybrid plant is poisonous to animals (pet dogs and pet cats). If your pet begins throwing up or has diarrhea, the ASPCA suggests that you call your veterinarian.

Scientific Information

Family :       Crassulaceae.

Subfamily :  Sedoideae.

Tribe :          Kalanchoe.

Genus :       Kalanchoe.

General Care for Growing Kalanchoe Hybrid

Kalanchoes are frequently expanded as houseplants, but they can additionally be grown outdoors. They call for intense sunlight as well as temperature levels of 65 to 70 degrees Fahrenheit (18-21 C.).

This plant needs to not be expanded from seed. Begins are low-cost as well as create quickly from complete sunlight to partial shade. Lower light degrees encourage much healthier vegetation, however the plants will still flower. Kalanchoe Hybrid necessitates a minimum of six weeks of much shorter days as well as approximately twelve weeks for even more small flowers.

Light

The Kalanchoe Hybrid is a sturdy plant that can prosper in various lighting problems. However, it favors to sit on a sunny windowsill in the summertime. Around October, some cultivators will certainly try to offer the plant lots of dark hours at night (as much as 14 hours) to allow it to recuperate as well as bloom again.

Temperature

It is ideal for maintaining area temperatures between 65 ° F/18.3 ° C as well as 75 ° F/23.8 ° C, without any temperature level listed below 50 ° F/10 ° C, to stay clear of frost if they are expanding or sitting outdoors for a prolonged quantity of time.

Water

Since it is succulent, its leaves will certainly keep water. It is not necessary to maintain the dirt wet all of the moment. Give them a lot of water when they need it and afterwards allow the soil dry out once more. It is impossible to overstate the value of not overwatering. One of the vital aspects of Kalanchoe Hybrid is the plant's modest dampness needs. Fertilize monthly with a dull flowering plant food during the flowering period. The plants are native to Madagascar, and they do not such as damp dirt, freezing weather, or remaining in the color. Even a moderate freeze will certainly kill the plant, however it makes an attractive patio area plant in the summertime. When the climate comes to be cold, bring it inside as well as use it as an adornment.

Soil

Outdoors, the plant prospers on a range of dirt. Inside, a good potting combine with sufficient drain would be adequate.

Fertilizer

From springtime to the end of summer, you can utilize a routine liquid plant food diluted when a month. Inspect the fertilizer's directions before utilizing it.

Repotting

You can repot this plant in the spring. When repotting, take care since the fallen leaves can easily break. They are a little vulnerable. For container outside plants, make use of a sandy potting mix, and also modify yard beds with great deals of grit to boost drain. You just require to water if the weather condition is constantly warm as well as completely dry. To stay clear of water spots and also degeneration on the fallen leaves, water from the base of the plant. Before sprinkling again, permit the top of the dirt to dry out entirely. To boost the appearance of the plant, remove any kind of wasted blossoms and pinch off any type of dead vegetation. Also when not in flower, it is a stunning vegetation plant with thick fallen leaves that conserve moisture. It is time to water when the leaves are gently wrinkled. If you adhere to these pointers for caring for Kalanchoe Hybrid, you will certainly have a champion for many periods.

Kalanchoe Hybrid Propagation

You can make use of seeds or cuttings to circulate Kalanchoe Hybrid. This succulent does not need constant repotting. Yet when you get it from the store, you will certainly require to repot it for the very first time.

From Cuttings

Cut a leaf from the mother plant very carefully with a tidy knife or scissors for reproducing Kalanchoe Hybrid. Callouses ought to appear a few days prior to replanting. For your new succulent plant, pick well-draining soil. When the soil dries out, do not fail to remember to water it.

From Offset

You may have to wait numerous years for the primary plant to produce an offset prior to you might propagate from it.

To get going, cut the baby plant from the primary plant with a sharp knife. After getting rid of the excess soil from the offset, clean up the mess. Callouses need to appear a few days prior to replanting.

For your new delicious plant, pick a well-draining dirt mix. When the soil dries, do not neglect to water it.

From Seed

This Succulent is a slow-moving farmer; consequently, despite the fact that you can utilize seeds to duplicate it, it is not recommended. Plant the seeds in a well-draining dirt combination to circulate from them. You can utilize this procedure al fresco.

Make Note:

Total, this is a durable plant that is basic to take care of as well as looks beautiful sitting beautifully on a window step. The difficult part is generating flowers after the final flower. Take cuttings as well as circulate a new plant. Happy Gardening Everyone

#Kalanchoe Hybrid #Succulent #Kalanchoe #Hybrid

[deddyinfo]

5 Winter Tasks for a Productive Vegetable Garden Next Year | Permaculture Gardening

hello and a very warm welcome back to the garden it always really surprises me how quickly the garden transforms from that kind of summer late summer abundance into then autumn and then suddenly winter is upon you and i really think it’s important after such a busy growing season that we as gardeners take a little bit of a break for two or three weeks during december just have a little bit of a break put your feet up don’t worry about anything but there’s still a lot of winter remaining so in this video i’m going to show you five things that i’m going to do this winter mainly end of december january and then february to really prepare for the next growing season so i can really get started on the front foot [Music] for me a big part of gardening is about looking at new things to try out and grow every single year this is because i always believe it’s important to challenge ourselves and push ourselves outside of our comfort zones and have something really exciting to look forward to almost like a project now this really started with me when i first grew oka which is also known as new zealand yam in fact this is by far the best crop i’ve ever grown because before we’ve grown them actually in tires and we had some spare ones and i thought plant them out in a raised bed here and look how amazing this crop is i am so excited i think it’s really important that we look for the more unusual things because it’s something different it’s really important to spice things up every single year otherwise we end up kind of falling into a bit of a rut but it sees new exciting things that get us looking forward to the growing season that can really motivate us and kind of add the etch a little bit of energy in terms of the build-up to the new growing season so as a goal you should try and find three new crops to grow every single year and don’t worry if they don’t grow my loot has failed this year but i’ll just try it again next year and it’s always a joy when it actually turns out a success one thing that i’m doing differently this year which i think you should also consider is trying to get your seed order in as early as possible so for me i’m aiming to get my order in before the 1st of january i usually do mine kind of late january early february but last year seed suppliers ran out quickly and it was really worrying so it’s really important to get ahead of the game and get your seeds ordered before next year just to avoid any disappointment but before doing that there’s two things that you need to do the first thing you want to do is to make a note of all of the crops that you want to grow next year and then using that list cross reference it with your seed storage to make sure if you have them and then if you don’t you can put a little red dot as a reminder for you to go and get it now one more thing i just want to quickly add when you are ordering seeds it’s really easy to stick with the varieties that we know and we trust and by all means stick with them but with a few crops try and find a completely different variety as well to grow because not only are you going to be trying new crops you’re going to be trying new varieties and you may find that there’s a variety that outperforms the standard variety that you grow every single year and by doing that you’re actually in the long term making your garden more and more productive you’ve now got a list of crops that you want to grow next year you’ve ordered the seeds that you need the next thing to do is to make a planting plan it’s hard to imagine but this is where the season starts for us now it has since been abandoned this is our propagation area and it’s something that we’re going to actually be redoing and re-extending during this winter but one of the things that you really have to do in order to have good efficiency next year is to make a planting plan now i do love intuitive gardening but i am going to be doing a hybrid this year about 70 of the garden is going to be planned the other 30 percent will just be open space for me just to do whatever i like but for me i feel that a planting plan actually acts as a gardening assistant especially if it’s a detailed one now you can do an annual planting plan and that will just show you roughly what’s going to be happening and what’s going to be planted in a single growing season but what i like to do is do a month by month planting plan because this really is my personal gardening assistant it helps me see and track exactly what is going to be happening every single month so i can look ahead and make sure that i’m not going to miss out on planting anything or harvesting anything it really does keep me in check it holds me accountable and that’s often what i need i did a video earlier this year actually that outlines the kind of core principles of doing a monthly planting plan and so many people have found it useful that’s one of the things where i’ve had the most messages from people saying how effective it’s been so if you want to understand the basics of creating a monthly planting plan then there’ll be a video popping up just here me so here i’m just looking through the kale and any of the poor quality leaves i’m just gonna remove just to leave the nice leaves and we’ve been spending this whole growing season focused around plants for example kale and whatever else there isn’t too much left in the garden and that’s actually a good thing because with the bleakness of winter it allows us to look at the garden more clearly in terms of the actual infrastructure winter gives us the opportunity to focus on how the garden works as a whole system rather than just trying to worry about whether our plants are growing and if they’re growing as healthy as possible and something i like to do kind of around the end of december through to the first half of january is to do a garden check-up just like you go to a doctor for a checkup make sure everything is working well i like to apply the same principle to the garden and i like to start firstly with the boundaries and then move inwards the goal with the garden checkup is to simply prevent as many problems as possible arising at the start or during the next growing season it’s time to have a look closely at everything all of the elements that contribute to us having a successful garden to make sure they’re all in check and if not because we’re doing it kind of mid winter we still have plenty of time to get those fixed rather than us trying to scramble and get everything sorted right at the start of the growing season where all we want to focus our energy and attention on is actually getting seed started and getting things in the ground when you’re doing a garden checkup you have to get up close and personal and for example these fence posts i like to just give them a wiggle to see if they’re rotten or not now this one feels alright so i’m going to test the next one and keep on working down the line now you might be able to hear that and see that this is rotten so i’ve now got to make a note that this needs to be fixed before the start of the new growing season for me i like to grow in raised beds for lots of different reasons the main one is that it’s a set size that doesn’t change so it’s very easy to work out how much of something i could potentially grow but a downside of those of raised beds is that they do break apart as you might have seen in previous videos and these are the three oldest the three that have deteriorated the most so after doing the checkup i’ve realized that these all need to be completely replaced but i’m turning this into an opportunity i’m going to be using these boards here and going to be creating six 10 by four foot raised beds in the same space you want to just keep on going around your garden looking at everything such as your compost bins your water infrastructure undercover growing space make sure there aren’t any major tears or rips and then by the end of this garden checkup you’ll have a list of jobs that you need to do to get ready for the next growing season and if you can solve all of these then chances are you’re going to have a far less stressful spring and summer what’s the final thing that we can do as gardeners to have a really awesome growing season next year well i’ve saved my favorite till last and that is to simply consume as much content around things that you want to learn more about or really interested in to do with gardening so watch all of your favorite gardening youtubers read those gardening books that you’ve got and research as much as possible i love to just consume consume consume as much gardening content as possible during winter because during spring and summer i’m really trying to focus as much as possible on gardening and i’m not looking for new things to try out then so now is the ideal time to really let your imaginations run wild because if you do go down that rabbit hole chances are you’re going to find some really cool things to grow and try out a new method to also test next year there you have it those are five great things that you can do during winter to guarantee a really successful next growing season so hopefully you found this video useful and i’d love to hear of any thoughts or suggestions you might have in terms of what we can do as gardeners over winter and i look forward to seeing you again soon goodbye

  Read More: How to Plant a Fruit Tree – Essential Steps

  from https://ift.tt/3dMf3eb

#garden

[whiskeynovember]

Did quite a bit, garden wise, though it seems like i didn't do much at all.

weeded around the rest of the perimeter in the second plot. moved the purple basil over so it will be a straight line separating the peppers from the eggplant. i hope they do well after the move. I'm propagating a few more, so hopefully they root and i can either use them or keep them potted.

pulled up a few more radishes, cucumbers, onions, and edamame.

organized and cleaned out my greenhouse. used a broken shoe rack as a stabilizing fence for the tomatoes, which i tried again to get organized, but, damn, they're crazy. i could have done fairly well with maybe 4 to 6 plants total.

moved around some mesclun greens so now the front portion is empty and i am able to focus on the different types than just a random bush.

did a little maintenance with the kabocha, icicle radish, and edamame. clipped a few eggplants so that they're not so freaking bushy. i have about 5 Indian eggplants now, i think, and i should really get rid of one more, but I'm not sure which of the smaller ones, ( same with the 2 tomatoes i have growing in behind the others. im going to keep one but so far they're both growing at a steady pace.)

i have a few herbs I'm propagating to make their pots a bit bushier and they're doing ok so far. the 'i only know' plants look like they're dying off, as well as the Shirley and Iceland poppies. my ground cherries are failing again. for a minute they looked good (as in, they actually sprouted, which none of my other attempts produced.) and now they seem like they're dying off. all i know is that this is my last time trying to grow them.

and it looks like my watermelon seeds came in, so now i can start them. i finally figured out which pot to put them in, so i just need to get them ready to go.

[kellyp72]

How to Plan a Kitchen Garden: Top Tips and Ideas for 2021

Guest post by Debbie Woodliffe

 Wintertime in the garden is all about prep and planning for the year ahead – do you want to revamp a border or explore different plant varieties? Now is the time to get started, especially if you’re thinking of growing your lettuce, cucumber plants and other fruits or vegetables in the months ahead.

 In this how-to guide, we’re going to cover:

What is a kitchen garden?

How to plan your kitchen garden

How to grow carrots from seed and other crops

Compost, layouts and other top tips to get things sprouting

Your kitchen garden calendar

 From vegetable grow bags to grow your own herb kits, we’re going to help you get the most from your very own kitchen garden…

 What is a kitchen garden?

A kitchen garden is essentially a small vegetable, fruit and herb garden located near your kitchen. It's ideal for growing things like mint, bell peppers and other crops you’d like to try in your regular cooking repertoire. It’s less about big harvests and more about experiencing new plants fresh from the garden as you need them.

 How to plan your kitchen garden

The best time to get started on your kitchen garden is before the outdoor growing season when you have time to prep and get it all ready to plant. In the UK, this would be in January or early February when the temperatures are too cold for outdoor sowing.

  First up, decide where and how big you want your kitchen garden to be. Generally, it should be as close to your kitchen as possible to make your fresh veg collection quicker. You should also consider if you want to go big with raised beds. or go smaller in containers that can be moved.

Next, consider the light. Your crops will need plenty of sunshine to grow, preferably in the morning when the temperatures are cooler and for at least 6 hours. Don’t worry if you have a shadier space though, there are plenty that thrive in darker conditions.

Shelter them. Small and tender seedlings will need some protection from the wind and overwatering from the rain, so position it near a hedge or wall to limit the damage.

How to grow carrots from seed and other crops

The idea of a kitchen garden is to have a small amount of your favourite fruits, vegetables, and herbs ready when you need them. So think about what you eat regularly, how often you need a specific herb, and what can be expensive or cost-effective to buy. When you have a good selection, make yourself a Kitchen Garden Calendar showing when things need to be sown. We’ve written up a basic one to get you started, with some classic kitchen garden crops further down the page. After that, you’ll need to make a list of what kinds of soil and compost all your plants need and prepare all the pots, beds, and space they’ll require to thrive. In doing this, you may find you don’t have the room or there are too many different compost types and soils you need. If that’s the case, it may be a good idea to narrow down to an easier selection for your first kitchen garden foray. But don’t dilly-dally with your decision: as soon as the weather gets warm enough, it’s time for the fun part – planting up.

 Compost, layouts and other top tips to get things sprouting

Spending hours choosing soil improvers, cultivating crops, and caring for your seedlings only for them to not fruit or fail to flourish is disheartening. But you shouldn’t let it worry you. There are things you can do to encourage a good yield and happy plants. Here are our six top tips:

  Start some seedlings off early in a propagator to give them a head start in the colder months.

Growing from seed is the most cost-effective option for many crops and ensures that they have a stable environment from the start.

Using grow your own herb kits will save you money, since these herbs are typically expensive to buy fresh from shops on a regular basis.

Choose high-yield crops that need little room. Vertical climbers like tomatoes need a fair bit of care but produce plenty of fruit. Beans are good for this too. Others like radishes, lettuces and courgettes also need little room and reproduce well.

Make sure to prep your soil. Heavy clay soils are not optimal for rooting, so add plenty of organic material and drainage. Light soils aren’t great either as they can drain too quickly. You want soil that is loose but holds water well.

Make regular sowings every couple of weeks for a continuous supply.

 Your Kitchen Garden calendar

Here is a selection of activities and plants you can sow in your kitchen garden year-round (please note, this calendar is tailored to growers in the UK; you’ll need to adjust as needed according to the weather conditions in your area):

 January: Prep the kitchen garden area and purchase your soil and compost.

February: Begin sowing seeds under covers such as peas and carrots; you can also chit potatoes (i.e. encourage them to sprout before planting). Do all this in propagators, indoors, or under cloches outside.

March: Sow your herb seeds indoors and your onion sets, potatoes and other crops outside. Protect your seedlings from slugs.

April: Transplant your herbs outside and continue sowing where needed. Begin weed control.

May:  Check your potatoes and ‘earth up’ if they’re ready. Sow pumpkins and squashes and plant our tender vegetables.

June: Regularly water if weather is warm. Harvest early potatoes, salad greens and radishes

July: Regularly water if weather is warm. Harvest courgettes and other fruits.

August: Regularly water your crops, especially in containers. Harvest vegetables as they become ready.

September: Continue watering as needed. Harvest vegetables as they become ready and dig up remaining potatoes. Protect leafy vegetables from birds and pests.

October:  Complete harvesting of above-ground flowering plants. Clear out any plants that have finished fruiting.

November: Raise containers off the ground to prevent waterlogging, or move into a greenhouse or sheltered area. Plant garlic cloves and broad beans if desired.

December: Harvest any remaining root crops like cabbage or sprouts. Begin winter clearing and ensure winter protections are all in place.

 A kitchen garden is ideal if you like your herbs, vegetables, and fruits fresh and in regular supply. Now is the perfect time to start, so start planning, choose your crops or grow your own herb kits and your compost, then get going.

Debbie Woodliffe is a copywriter at Affinity, a marketing services company located in the UK.

[jeninthegarden]

Seed List 2021

I want them NOW.

The seed catalogues, the “garden porn”, has begun to arrive.  I always have to complete my review of the prior year before I can begin to think about what I want to plant this year.  I get interested in different cultivars from season to season; I swear off some, fixate on others, swear off some and then buy lots of seeds anyway because they are inexpensive or just include really pretty pictures, discover some new hybrids that I just have to try, succeed gloriously and re-order the same.   But first, there is the momentous decision of whether to order seeds or just order the plants, or hedge my bets and order both, or risk it and order neither in hopes of picking it up locally.   And then there are the plants other than vegetables.  Since I am now a member of the pollinator pathway and a 3rd year bee-keeper, there are native, blooming plants to be considered, and some non-native, invasive plants that have to be dug out and replaced with something.  I also have an orchard, and although I’m full up on fruit trees and berries, there is a lot of space in the fenced, groundhog-proofed orchard that needs companion planting or temporary cultivation.  We completed our great hugel – more space for planting native species and anything the deer don’t eat (asparagus, artichokes..).  And the lavender patch is thriving, not just with lavender but wildflowers, some of which are perennial and need to be relocated.  Now we are contemplating not one, but two rain gardens, one in the front yard and one in the back yard.

The following seed list is comprised of just the edibles I am ordering. For full disclosure, I’ve added the list of seeds I still have in inventory from the past few years. Not all of those seeds will be viable but I’m going to be germinating them because I have extra space.  The perennials, herbs, flowers, shrubs, trees, natives, exotics, hardscaping, bee-keeping and chicken-keeping are all detailed in my garden review.  Not here.  

Beans were a bust, so my fixation has not been fixed! And, as usual when I am thwarted by the elements, I double-down.   I’m totally over the squash and gourd bonanza, except that I saved seeds from all the squash I successfully grew, so now I am stuck with the dilemma of either giving the seeds away or planting them. I’m disappointed in the potato crop but the Japanese Yams were soooo delicious I’m going to try those again, and a couple other varieties that are just click-bait.  Super aggravated that none of the brassica flourished – doubling down.  And tired of waiting for fruiting, so I invested in some quirky, fast-maturing varieties and paid particular attention to standard varieties advertised for abundance and temperature range tolerance.  

I was surprised and worried to note, however, that some variety of seeds have already sold out, in January!  So, I panicked and ordered somewhat hurriedly, from multiple seed companies, some staples, repeats and favorites.  And then, in a more leisurely but not more methodical fashion, ordered everything else.  

Legumes:

Peas –  The pea crop was lousy last year!  And I used all my saved seeds trying for a fall crop, that failed. So, back to the drawing board.  Going by the descriptions, I ordered “Easy Peasy” from Burpee (11 peas per pod/2 pods per node -200 seeds) and “Maestro” (9 peas per pod, multiple pickings – 150 seeds).  I think I’ve ordered both of these in the past and was satisfied.  I also ordered “Alaska Early” (Extra early, 6 peas per pod, multiple pickings – 300 seeds) from Terratorial Seeds and “Knight Pea” (Extra early, 10 peas per pod – 150 seeds) from Pinetree.

Snap Peas: For my first ever attempt at sugar snap peas (no shelling required – but not as thin as snow peas), I ordered “Sugar Magnolia” snap peas from Pinetree Seeds, which have violet pods, and “Sugar Lace II”, the semi-leafless and prolific snap pea.  

Runner beans: Last year I ordered Territorial Seeds “Scarlet Emperor” with red blossoms, and Pinetree Seeds “Painted Lady” with red and white blossoms, “Sunset” with pale pink blossoms. And Park Seeds “Stardust”, with white blossoms. I have some of each left in inventory, so this year I am ordering “Black Coat” an ancient heirloom from Pinetree which is a red-blossomed, black bean.  

Bush beans: Park Seeds “Velour” which is a proven winner, in sold out already.  A compact, bush-habit plant, very heavy-bearing bright purple, stringless pods over a long season. I ordered it this time from Territorial Seed “Velour”.

Pole beans-I  want to try the Territoral Seeds “Rattlesnake” beans again since the groundhog and the drought got all the ones I planted last year. Pinetree Seeds “Winged Bean” yielded just two pods so I saved the seeds to try again, but also ordered a fresh pack. I still have a lot of “Violetto” purple pole beans left.  They do well climbing cornstalks or sunflowers.

Noodle beans – Never even made it into the ground, so I still have Pinetree Seeds “Red Noodle” and “Mosaic” left over. However, at this point germination is not going to be great.

Soybeans-  They are already sold out of Park Seeds “Midori Giant”. So I have ordered their organic “Chiba Green Organic” instead.

Fava beans- Pinetree Seeds “Varoma” was hearty and tasted superb.  I made the happy discovery that the stems and blossoms taste as good as the beans.  So this is absolutely a spring and fall crop I need to plant a lot more of. I doubled my order.  I may also order the bulk, cover crop variety to sew in the fall.

 Fruits:

Corn – The “Kandy Korn” from Burpee was delicious, or so say the squirrels!  It was a perfect appetizer to all the squash they demolished in the fall.  This year I need to regroup on corn.  I’m not going to have the space for it for much longer, so seems a shame to give up. I ordered “Blue Jade” a dwarf heirloom sweet corn from Hudson Valley Seeds, to plant in planters on the patio.  And I ordered “Dakota Black” popcorn from Territorial Seed to use for the 3 Sisters planting in the orchard.  I have grown Dakota Black previously.  

Cucumber- Cucumbers didn’t get enough heat last summer.  So this time I went with a quick growing slicer variety from Totally Tomatoes called “Green Light”. And a prolific pickling variety “Pick-a-bushel” from Burpee.  I have some “Bushy” and “Pickle Bush” (both bush, pickle cucumbers) left, as well as “Marketer” and “Market-More” thin skinned, slicing varieties left over.  But I was not impressed with any of these varieties.  And then there is “Barese” (from Totally Tomatoes): an “Italian heirloom novelty” that can be eaten young as a traditional cucumber, or allowed to mature into a melon..?

Eggplant – I did so well in the orchard I decided to go with Park Seeds “Black Beauty” large standard, and “Mixed Fingerling” purple, white and green (again).  Dan has really perfected his eggplant caponata recipe, and we grill eggplant and stir-fry it, or roast it for babaganoush often enough that we will eat all I can grow. I also have “Hari” (long green of India, but the seeds are several years old), and “Millionaire” (the classic long, purple of Japan, but also several years old) in inventory.

Gourds- I’m done with gourds.  We won’t talk about the stack of bushel, bottle, dipper, swan-neck gourds that are rotting on my front porch.  No, I said we’re not going to talk about it. The only gourd I want to try again is the Luffa gourd because I still have not grown a single luffa.

Melon- I bought Burpee “Mango Melon” seeds again, for the description of its taste alone because the seeds from last year did germinate but did not produce any fruit.  And I also bought “Jenny Lind” heirloom, green melon, and “Sakatas Sweet” a super sweet green with very thin rind, from Pinetree (which is located in Maine, so most of their seed offerings grow well in the Northeast).

Okra – like fava beans, I discovered that the entire okra plant is edible.  Leaves can be cooked like collards, and the flowers can be battered and fried like zucchini blossoms.  I saved seeds from Pinetree Seeds, giant “Cow Horn” and “Red Burgungy”.   I ordered Park Seeds “Rainbow Fiesta” ivory, green and pink okra again because it did not fruit.  The “Unicorn” which, although it is eaten like okra, is actually “devil’s claw”, a member of the sesame family and a medicinal herb, also did not germinate.  So I bought it again!  And then I saw that Territorial Seed had “Simpson”, which is more cold-hardy, and Burpee has “Baby Buda” which is a small, early maturing and cold tolerant variety of okra; so, I ordered those as well.

Pepper – I am trying an interesting experiment of over-wintering my pepper plants that did not fruit their first season.  Unfortunately, when I dug them up, I did not label them so, I don’t know if they are hot or sweet. I suspect they are mostly hot.  I ordered “Yellow Calwonder” from Totally Tomatoes, a fast growing sweet yellow bell, and “Chablis”, also a fast growing sweet bell that grows from white to orange to red, and “Sheepnose Pimento”, a sweet red cherry pepper, and “Sweet Banana” a long, sweet yellow.  Then I got distracted and ordered Pinetree “Tobasco Pepper”.  In inventory I have the following hot peppers:  Dragon Tongue; Cayenne; Paper Lantern; Habanero; Lemon drop; Chiltepin (fire flea); Portuguese hot red (Portuguese dagger); Early Jalapeno; and Pastilles Bajio.  And sweet: Big Red and Corno Di Toro.  I promise not to peruse the pepper plant sections of the rest of the incoming seed catalogues.  But a member of our local plant swap has a pepper propagating propensity, so I absolutely promise that some of the peppers I am planning to propagate will be proffered in exchange for some of the pepper plants she has propagated!  

Tomatoes – Here, COVID fatigue (boredom, tired of waiting) hit me and I started to ask myself why I have to wait until August for ripe tomatoes.  Then there was the timely arrival of the seed catalogue from Totally Tomatoes.  So I got a little off the rails and ordered “Quedlinburger Fruhe Liebe” that matures in only 40 days! I also ordered “Anna Russian” a red heirloom, “Old German” a yellow striped heirloom, “Black Krim” a purple heirloom, “Independence Day” another very early tomato.  And then the Burpee catalogue arrived…They have a 2 lb seedless paste tomato called “Super Paste” and a 3 lb beefsteak called “Steakhouse”, and the bronze colored plum tomato called “Shimmer” I grew a few years ago, and a French beefsteak called “Mama Marmalade” that I’ve been eyeing for a couple years.  So I ordered 1 plant of each, except for the Super Paste of which I ordered 30 seeds. I have a lot of seeds left in inventory: Pink Beefsteak; San Marzano; Green Zebra; Big Rainbow; Mr. Stripy; Brandywine; Giant Garden Paste; Mortgage Lifter, Black Russian, Black Seaman and Cherokee Purple.

Watermelon:  I chose “Faerie Hybrid” an early maturing (just 60 days), yellow rind with red inside.

Winter Squash and pumpkins: I’m sort of over my fixation, except that I saved a lot of seeds and am still mad about the squirrels eating all my squash and pumpkins.  So, although I am not buying any squash or pumpkin seeds, I have the following in inventory: Japanese black pumpkin; Honeyboat; Dumpling; No-ID other than “small winter”; Cheese pumpkin; Queensland Blue pumpkin; Butternut; Honeynut; Spaghetti squash; Giant pumpkin; Jester squash; Cherokee bush pumpkin.

Zucchini- Burpee fordhook heirloom is an excellent staple, but the Burpee’s Sure Thing variety really does well with less sun, and is very resistant to powdery mildew so I’m going with that one because last summer was just not hot enough for zucchini.  

Roots:

Beets: Pinetree “Beet Mix”

Carrot: Territorial Seed “Giants of Colmar”, large winter harvest carrots for stew. Park Seed’s “Rainbow Blend” purple-red-orange. Pinetree  “Culinary Blend” yellow-white-orange.

Radish:  Not interested! So, of course, I ordered some radishes that don’t look like radishes or even have the same growing season as regular radishes:  “Minowasa Summer Cross No.3 Diakon” from Territorial Seeds, which looks like a white carrot and grows in the summer.  

Potatoes:  Pinetree “Pinto Gold”, a medium sized gold potato with violet patches, and “Blackberry” small, jet black potato from Territorial Seed.

Sweet Potatoes: “Japanese Marasaki” from Territorial Seed. Purple skin with white interior that is sweet and pecan nutty, but with a firm, dry texture of a russet potato.

Turnips: “Hinona Kabu Japanese” from Pinetree, these look like pink carrots and are specifically for pickling.

No celeriac, rutabaga, parsnips, radishes, burdock, scorzonera, salsify, milk thistle….until I end up planting them anyway.  

Greens:

Arugula:  Pinetree Seeds “Astro” quick growing for clipping.

Chard: Pinetree “Peppermint Stick” Swiss chard. I don’t like red or yellow chard because chard is closely related to beets and the red/yellow coloring makes Swiss chard taste like beet greens.  I like beet greens but I also like chard that does not taste identical to beet greens.  So maybe peppermint stick will be a good, colorful choice that won’t taste too much like beets.

Claytonia: It is a succulent green that looks like a bouquet of little lily pads. Terrirotial Seeds “Miner’s Lettuce”.

Escarole: Burpee “Sugarloaf” This is a very tight-headed, upright variety that looks like a pointy cabbage.

Lettuce:  Burpee “Four Seasons Blend”, “Heatwave Blend” and “All Season Romaine Blend”.

Mache:  “Marcholong Mache” a super early corn mache from PineTree.

Nettles: “Stinging Nettle” from Hudson Valley Seed Company.

Orach: a violet red, velvet leafed spinach that grows on an 18 inch, upright stalk. Pinetree “Double Rose”.

Spinach: Park Seeds “Space”heat and mildew resistant.  “Renegade”a high yielding, weather indifferent variety is sold out! So I ordered “Imperial Star” very cold hardy.  And I’m going with “Lakeside”, a failure-proof, everything hardy, spinach from Territorial Seed.

Purslane: Pinetree “Goldberger Purslane”a larger, paler and more succulent variety, with a lovely golden bloom.

“Salad Burnett” a cucumber-tasting salad green from Pinetree

“Saltwort”, a succulent green from Pinetree

“Upland Cress” , a spicy, mountain cress from Pinetree.

Brassica:

Asian Greens: Park Seed “Li Ren Choy” pak choi;   Pinetree “Purple Pak Choi” and “Tatsoi Greens” and “Misome”; “Green coin” tatsoi and “Yum Choi Sum” Asian chard, from Territorial Seeds; “Rainbow Tatsoi” and “Komatsuna” tender green, from Hudson Valley Seed Company.

Broccoli:  Territorial Seed’s: “Aspabroc” and “Emerald Crown”, I have two rows of winter/spring broccoli mulched with straw in the garden that I am trying to overwinter.  And I have plenty of “Homegrown” broccoli mix seed in inventory.

Cabbage: Not a single cabbage succeeded last year.  So this year we start earlier and we start fresh. Territorial Seed “Kalibos” a pointy red cabbage, and “Wa Wa Tsai” an early, mini Napa cabbage, Burpee’s “Red Dragon” open leaf, red, napa cabbage.  Pinetree’s “Point One” green head super early (48 days) cabbage. I have some “Round Dutch” green cabbage left in inventory.

Cauliflower:  Park Seeds “Veronica” which is that weird, green pyramidal Romanesco – Sold Out!, so Pinetree “Romanesco”, and “Snow Crown” - 53 Days to maturity. I have some “Fioretto” open head cauliflower and “Burgundy” purple cauliflower seeds in inventory still.

Collards: I did not order any seeds, yet.  I have a row of seedlings mulched with straw that I am trying to overwinter.  I have “Champion” collard seeds leftover from several years ago.

Kale: “Portuguese Kale” from Burpee.  I have often described it as looking like giant green roses. It tastes more like cabbage than kale.  “Amara Ethiopian Kale” (looks like shiny, kohlrabi leaves, and matures in 40 days) and “Kosmic” perennial kale, from Territorial Seed.  I have 2 surviving Sea Kale (perennial) seedlings in the orchard. We’ll see if they survive the winter. And “Organic Kale Garden Blend” from Park seeds.  I also have a lot of Red Russian Kale seedlings I mulched with straw to see if they will overwinter. And I left some Portuguese Kale standing to see if it will re-sprout (if only to give me some more seed to plant in the fall).  I have lots of very old curly blue kale seeds leftover.

And, because they seem to go with the brassicas in planting rotations, the alums:

Leek: Territorial Seeds “Succession Planting” threesome of Zermatt, Tadorna and Bandit (seeds).

Onion: Burpee’s “Sweet mix” for shorter days.

Scallions: Park Seed “Warrior”.

Garlic:  I planted garlic in the fall, and it developed green shoots and roots.  I mulched it with straw and hope it will sprout in another 6-8 weeks.

#seed list garden zone 5b