Silly Question: Does all this mulch hinder self-seeding?
janetgia
14 years ago
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seamommy
14 years agoNell Jean
14 years agoRelated Discussions
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Comments (14)Hey, Pam! Here's what I'm thinking. Your VP/drystall is going to be very water-retentive unless you make the Drystall a large fraction of the soil, but let's assume you're not going to use a lot of Drystall, because I know you're leaning toward the VP. First, perlite would probably be a better choice than the drystall because it will be more effective at reducing water retention. Perlite has no internal porosity, so would hold less water than the Drystall - and it's less expensive. If you have more questions in that area, just ask & I'll help; otherwise, I'll leave you to figure out how to deal with the 'making' part of your soil. How to rig your containers to take the most advantage of gravity to help you drain your containers: Hang them by a corner, or from wherever you need to to ensure the container hangs at as close to a 45* angle as you can make it hang. Drill your drain hole in the lowest spot, and insert a wick. This makes the soil that the perched water occupies cone-shaped or pyramidal, and a 6" pyramid or cone standing on its apex holds only about half the soil as a 6" cube. Since the PWT will occupy only (about) half the volume of soil it normally would if the container is level, you'll reduce the perched water volume by half PLUS whatever extra the wick will remove. You'll lose some soil volume because the container is tipped, but that you'll have a much higher % of soil with air i it instead of being saturated, you'll actually GAIN volume in the 'healthy' soil dept. You aren't the only one here trying to escape the mud-in-a-bag you referred to. Many have passed this way and embarked on a path different than that which they arrived on. I'm glad you see the folly in remaining chained to what you already know wasn't working. I applaud your initiative. ;o) Al...See MoreAdvise on self seeding butterfly boarder
Comments (3)I have mulch on various beds in my yard, and they have yet failed to reseed, so they should be okay. The roots will just go down into the soil after germination next year. I do have to say, though, that my 'Cosmis Orange' cosmos did not reseed well. I had some new seed, though, and sowed it in a large pot. It did so much better in that pot than it did in the garden bed. I have tons of seed this year, which I'm including in the seed swap. I think once you get cleome, you have cleome. I bought some years ago in the 90s and it's still reseeding. Doesn't get out of control for me, but it does reseed nicely. Susan...See Moreself seeding garden?
Comments (10)For many years I've had an area that I call my wild bird garden because it's near the bird feeder and birdbath. Unfortunately it's become more and more difficult to manage and I must make some changes to it this year. I've considered saving a few plants then weedwhacking and laying down cardboard and mulch to get rid of the quackgrass, thistle, and other weeds. The birds bring in a lot of weeds that otherwise wouldn't be there. It was very pretty and for years only needing a quick weeding to keep it so. The main plants in this area are lilacs, yarrow, shastas, feverfew, lamb's ears, 4 big rhubarb, and some flowering perennials that survive from a wild flower mix planted years ago. I think a self-seeding garden works for me only if I tolerate weeds and this bed is too close to my house and tended beds to do that. I'm planning a wild self-seeding bed further out. Wild garden looking out early in the season - those 5 compost bins are no longer there as that area is being landscaped. Looking toward my tended garden, again early in the season... Shastas, feverfew, yarrow, and lamb's ears in full bloom... Lilac... Swath of old irises... Hesperis Matronalis... weedy but rather pretty, I deadhead this so it doesn't take over. Every year in my main garden beds many of the perennials need to be dug up, the weeds removed from the roots, and replanted. I'm using more cardboard and mulch so hope that will reduce the frequency of having to do this....See MoreSilly question about hybrid seeds
Comments (25)Please see my two posts on March 30, 2014. Only the earliest of hybrids released had two parents,and both parents are known for some of them. Later hybrids can have up to 4 parental inputs in each breeding line,as I explained in a previous posts I mentioned above so 8 parental inputs in each line.The last one in each line is crossed with the last one in the other line to make the stable F1 hybrid. Yes,there are many companies that breed F1 hybrids,mostly in the Netherlands and Israel and Japan and China,some still in the US such as Petoseed,which does custom breeding for Burpee although Burpee now has some breeders back in PA but I don't know of any releases yet,and do so since commercial farmers want F1 hybrids and preferably determinate ones to facilitate machine harvesting and those in areas want ones with tolerance,no such thing as total resistance,where soilborne diseases are found,which is not in all places of the US.. Companies don't breed OP heirloom varieties, for that would be the antithises of the word heirloom and let us NOT get into a discussion of what an heirloom is or is not,I mean you can,but there are many threads here already about that,no one definition,and I'm out on that subject.,LOL. Heirloom tomato varieties are sourced from many places and most of them,well maybe some,end up being listed in the SSE Annual Yearbooks,where they are then available to SSEmembers. To date I've grown about 4,000 plus heirloom varieties and have in introduced close to 300 new ones from various sources myself. And if you look at Tania's superb data website she has individual pages for about 5,000 now and taking all the ones that are in seedbanks in different countries there are probably close to 20,000, I should live so long being 77 this June.LOL...See Morebluesunflower
14 years agojanetgia
14 years agolynnencfan
14 years agopfmastin
14 years agoianna
14 years agogldno1
14 years agoquilt_mommy
14 years agojanetgia
14 years agoianna
14 years agoquilt_mommy
14 years ago
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