We have a bunch of these ceramic pots which often come as gifts when people give us plants.

No drainage holes. What use are they? They’re so small I think only succulents would be an option, but wouldn’t they just rot in water?

A nice day for a hike to around the craters and to the top. Snow shoes required!

Looking out over (from left to right) Bifröst (town), Hreðavatn (lake), Grábrókarfell (crater), Hraunsnefsöxl (mountain peak). The mountain range in the background has been seeing increased seismic activity over the last couple of months.

We moved into this house about a year ago. I've been making an effort to have a mix of wild and cottage vibes for the garden, as this was our first winter I've been able to get some decent designing down. Last year was a bit of a panic as we didn't know how the sun would lay and with moving in, our planting was done really late. But this year is the year I establish hedges as even though we're in a wood no one has anything in their front gardens and not much in the rear including mine.

I put a pond in last summer after liberating a water tank out of a skip which lives in the wild part of the garden. So the plan is for the native hedging to run the length of the garden, with intermittent decorative ones like the sweet briar for the parts closer to the house.

The front of the garden is going to be the nepeta as it'll be easy to control it from spilling onto the path. It also allows people to see the front garden while giving us a bit more of an established boundary that grass alone doesn't really do.

Are there any tips or suggestions for anything I might be missing?

Now independently run, the MnSeed Project continues to create a free, locally adapted native seed economy through collecting, saving and preserving seeds. The group are so passionate about this that all the seeds they collect are given away for free at workshops they host and events they attend, such as seed swaps.

For Tchida, seed saving is a natural outcropping of her lifelong exploration of finding ways to support the environment. “This is such an obvious and easy way,” she says. “The connection you make intrinsically with the plants throughout their whole growth process is so much fun.”

Are you planning big changes, or minor tweaks to a working system? Are there new-to-you plants you're excited to try your hand at? Let's share our dreams and goals and inspire each other!

cross-posted from: https://programming.dev/post/23382188

The study, which was published in 2023, found that daily dietary fiber intake for the gardening group was 1.4 grams higher than the control group. This may not sound like a lot, but dietary fiber, found in plant foods such as legumes, fruits and vegetables, is linked, for instance, to a lower risk of cancer. And the health benefits go beyond the nourishing food that gardens provide.

Katie McGillivray, a horticultural therapist with Ottawa-based Root in Nature, confirms that these are among the benefits of the practice. “Gardening naturally encourages physical activity, from gentle movements like walking, watering and weeding, to more vigorous tasks like digging, raking or hoeing,” she says.

The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommends a weekly goal of 150 minutes of moderate-intense activity or 75 minutes of vigorous-intense activity. Only 22.5 percent of adults, in 2022, met guidelines for both muscle-strengthening and aerobic physical activity. McGillivray and the CDC agree that chores involved with gardening burn calories and improve dexterity, muscle mass and bone density.

cross-posted from: https://slrpnk.net/post/16130943

My mom was complaining that the city has limits on how many leaves that they'll pick up, and she's got bags and bags of leaves stuffed into black garbage bags. This seems like a problem that should have some kind of backyard solution.

I've done a cursory search, and see that leaves are very compostable. They can also apparently be turned into "mold", though I don't fully understand what this means.

But I also see that there is a lot of variety in compost bins, and they're quite expensive. So I'm wondering: what's the best strategy for making leaves go away? She's not specifically interested in the product of the leaves, she just wants to find somewhere to put them after she rakes them up. Any ideas?

cross-posted from: https://pixelfed.crimedad.work/p/crimedad/768208296088675514

I guess this old glove isn't mine anymore.

Glad I noticed the new residents before trying to put it on. Any guesses as to the species? Maybe some type of mud dauber? I guess I'll just leave it alone and see if they emerge in the spring.

#bee #wasp #bugs #insects #pupae

@[email protected]

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.crimedad.work/post/152929

Here are the other two photos from the series on Pixelfed:

cross-posted from: https://pixelfed.crimedad.work/p/crimedad/763216516514804651

Walking Lichen!

I was grilling some steak on my deck when I noticed this camouflaged lacewing larva. Check out this site for better photos and cool facts about it: http://jimmccormac.blogspot.com/2014/10/a-murderous-mobile-lichen.html?m=1

#LichenSubscribe #Mosstodon #Macro #MacroPhotography #bugs #camouflage

@[email protected]

Hey folks, just sharing a video I made (<4 minutes long) during my time transplanting blueberries yesterday. If you decide to watch, thanks!

cross-posted from: https://slrpnk.net/post/15197450

This is another appreciation-post on how awesome semi-hydro/ LECA can be.

Today, I want to show you how my propagator dome works and how to build one for yourself very easily!

TL;DR

• It uses inorganic media like expanded clay pebbles, Seramis, pon, perlite, or whatever you choose.
• You fill small modified cups with the media and then place your seeds or cuttings in them.
• The media is completely inert and can be sterilized, so you don't have to worry about mold, fungus gnats, or whatever!
• You can't over- or underwater it, it's always moist, but very well aerated.
• This is my personal aerocloner-killer!

Why I build it (backstory)

I've always had trouble getting seeds started, especially for soil plants. They almost always got moldy and the success rate was low, especially due to waterlogging. And because I didn't want to mix soil with hydroponics, I had to search for an alternative.

Some people use rock wool for that, but I always found it too expensive and impractical.

Propagation via cuttings has also been hard for me. Like most people, I started with just a glass of water, but this very often caused rotting due to a lack of oxygen.

So, I built an aerocloner this year. This is basically an aeroponic cloning unit, where cuttings are placed in, which get sprayed with small droplets all the time. It worked really great, but my main issue with it was the noise. It needs an air pump running 24/7, which I found annoying.

I also needed a separate dome just for seeds, which feels redundant.

Many people also just place their cuttings into peat or coco, and they root very well too, as long as they get enough oxygen.

How it works

All semi-hydro substrates have some intrinsic wicking capabilities due to capillary action. This means, that if they stand in water, it gets drawn up all to the top, making the whole medium moist.

In between (and IN) the beads is a lot of empty space. Media like those can only store 30% water or so in their pores, and the rest is air. Air the roots need to breathe!

This means, that the LECA is always wet, but never water logged or compacted like coco, soil or other organic media can be!

Advantages

• Inorganic media are inert, they don't decompose or get eaten by mold or bugs
• As long as you refill the water in the tray once a week or so, you don't have to worry about too dry conditions, both the substrate and the air humidity. And even if you forget to water, it will stay moist for more than a few days after it has run dry.
• No waterlogging (anaerobic conditions due to overwatering) possible.
• Roots are already adapted for both soil AND hydro environments.
• No fungus gnats or other bugs, because they can't eat or live in the hostile substrate.
• Added stabillity for cuttings.
• No spillage, no mess.
• The LECA beads are very easy to remove without harming the roots.

How to build it yourself and use it

What you'll need

• A humidity dome/ seedling starter (available everywhere)
• A bright spot, e.g. your grow tent or windowsill
• (Optional: heating mat)
• A few small cups with lids, optimally made out of HDPE or PP
• A nail, lighter and something for holding
• Destilled water
• LECA or another medium. I like LECA with a small size (4-8 mm) the most for this use case, especially for cuttings.

Preparing the cups

• Separate the lid from the bottom
• Heat a nail and melt a few holes into the bottom. They can be very small, and 4 are sufficient. Try to make the edges as smooth as possible. Too many holes can make removing the roots harder. https://slrpnk.net/pictrs/image/72fc6f2a-56b0-4f69-afe2-368fb6abf0cc.jpeg
• Burn a hole into the lid and but a section off. Otherwise, it will be hard to remove.
• Fill it up with your medium
• Turn it around, take your cutting and push it into the hole while shaking lightly. That way, the stem will just slide into it without effort. Turn it again and give it another small shake. The medium is now locked up and the cutting can't move.

How to use

• Moisten the LECA with a spray bottle. If they are dry, the wicking won't work as great or will take longer.
• Try to water the tray, not the top of the substrate at first. Fine seeds might get washed out otherwise.
• You can just sow the seeds directly onto the substrate and put the lid on it. As soon as they germinate, the roots will "burrow" themselves very lightly into the pores of the hydroton and be fixed there.
• Some heating from below with a heating mat is beneficial

Here are some pictures of a cactus (right after germination) and some cuttings (Tradescantia, hops, Ctenanthe) I made just a few days before:

We're having some trees removed soon (they're dying and leaning towards our house) so today I spent some time carefully relocating some volunteer lowbush blueberry plants from where the heavy machinery will be working.

What's growing on with you all?

Obligatory pedantry:

We would also accept "soil", since we're talking about the life in the mineral earth