Balance: how to sustainably harvest native plants
Dave Anderson
7 years ago
last modified: 7 years ago
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wantonamara Z8 CenTex
7 years agoRelated Discussions
Sustainable Fertilizer: Urine And Wood Ash Produce Large Harvest
Comments (12)Here's the study. Surendra K. Pradhan was interviewed on CBC radio this week. Discussing the benefits of urine as a fertilizer, on public radio - it's a new day. He suggested a time lapse of a few days between applying the urine and the wood ash, to avoid ammonia offgassing. By coincidence, or intuition, we've been tossing urine and wood ashes, and occasionally manure, on our scrubby roadside wild rose hedge in hopes it would grow and help block the sight and sound of traffic. The hedge, which was growing virtually in gravel, is now three times the height and breadth it was ten years ago, blooming beautifully, and admired by visitors. It's maybe not surprising that so much groundbreaking R&D on waste-separating toilets and waste as fertilizer is coming from northern countries like Finland and Sweden. My sister-in-law, an outpost nurse in rocky northern Canada, says heaps of disposable diapers can be seen in the brush around communities from the air as she flies in - there's nowhere or way to bury them. Here is a link that might be useful: study...See MoreShrimp Plants - How to harvest the seed
Comments (9)Which Shrimp Plant? I'll assume you're talking about 'Pride of Gibraltar' or Blue Shrimp Plant. If not, disregard and tell us which you mean :) These are really one of the easiest plants to harvest seed from since they pretty much fall right onto the ground when ready and are easy to see - just pick them up. A pod will form where each bloom is and will open when the seeds are ready. They'll be ball shaped, large and black. Just keep checking them and it'll be pretty obvious where they are. Just tip the pod into the palm of your hand and they'll fall right out....See MoreHow to balance weeds vs desirable reseeders.
Comments (3)I can certainly empathize with you as 2 years ago I had several dumptruck loads of 'topsoil' delivered to fill low spots in my extended house yard and to enlarge and raise my center bed. Unfortunately that soil was loaded with weed seeds. I spent a lot of time weeding the bed and had any visitor :D who could hold a weedwhacker cut down the others in the outer yard. My weedwhacker is too heavy for me to use. I've finally eliminated the weeds in my center bed and have mulched my entire inner house yard with a thick layer of shredded bark which I hope discourages most of the weeds. It's taken 2 years to get it to a manageable state tho. Keep at it and don't let those weeds discourage you or win! I don't know what laws may be in place in your area re: wild plants but if you do transplant make sure you take lots of soil with them as some need specific soil and many don't like to be moved....See MoreBalancing harvesting versus maturing a fruit for seed on zuchinni
Comments (1)You've asked the great Catch-22 question. If you leave a zucchini on the vine to mature, it slows down the other zucchinis. It's just part of the cycle of the plant. You might be a little too obsessed about this idea of saving one from every plant. As long as you have seeds to grow the next year you're in good shape. Allow a few to stay on the vine and mature, but otherwise pick them and eat them. I don't mean to sound bossy or mean. You just have to find balance. In my neck of the woods zucchini grow out our ears. We put them in each other's mailboxes when our neighbors aren't home. We can't bear to throw them away, but we can't eat them. One summer my mother cooked them in lasagna and even in the brownies. We didn't trust that anything we ate didn't have zucchini shredded and mixed in! You'll do great. Good luck....See MoreDave Anderson
7 years agoDave Anderson
7 years agoDave Anderson
7 years agowisconsitom
7 years ago
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