Small scale permaculture nursery in Maine, education enthusiast, and usually verbose.

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Joined 1 year ago
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Cake day: June 10th, 2023

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  • As a broad rule of thumb, any bulbs can be planted during the fall - onion sets and garlics do very well for us when planted this way in usda zone 5 / Trewartha Dca. The same goes for things like daffodils, irises, and other bulbing plants. Trees, shrubs, and perennial herbaceous plants will also benefit from fall planting, and come into the following growing season with a more extensive root system for it. We’ve also had success with things like kale, chard, and other hardyish cut-and-come-again leafy greens, so that might be worth experimenting with.

    True summer veggies - peppers, tomatoes, anything that melts at the first frost - I don’t start until late winter or early spring (and those are started inside). Annual summer flowers get pretty much the same treatment, especially any that have a relatively short time to maturity. You could work those seeds into areas during the fall, but you’ll have a wider range of results and less direct control (but chaos gardening is cool).



  • I’m a little surprised your local birds let them get to that stage, to be honest! I’ve only threshed them once, for reseeding purposes, but did so with ¼" hardware cloth, framed with 2" sides, over a wheelbarrow. The mesh catches the seeds but lets the duff fall through with a little agitation. Otherwise I’ve hung them upside down within reach of the birds we raise for them to enjoy.








  • That’s a great looking plant

    I think a broader pot is a good idea, as a wider mouth will make any root pruning or other work easier. We only have a few houseplants (because our cat hates anything that receives attention) but they get a bit of root maintenance done annually. It helps to keep them from strangling themselves and means I don’t have to use more floor or shelf space than I want.

    For trellising “lazy climbers”, think more along the lines of an “H” shape - something you can slide under a branch or stem and then secure into the soil to support the weight.


  • This has gone like other “cats are not native to everywhere and are massively impactful to the areas in which they are introduced” threads has gone, and while it has been more civil than the last, is going a bit sideways.

    Depriving cats of enjoyment and engagement is not nice, that’s why we as owners can play with them using toys designed to satisfy their predatorial urges. Leaving cats unsupervised outside is also not nice to local bird populations, or those unsupervised cats who suffer unspeakable outcomes.









  • Don’t give up, it’ll happen! I’ve only grown a few honeysuckle varieties but they’re fairly amenable to layering, if you’ve got the mother plant available to work with. If there’s a honeysuckle species in particular, let me know and I’ll check my books for you (it’s Dirr’s Reference Manual of Woody Plant Propagation usually)