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YOU ARE THE REASON
2025 on Tumblr: Trends That Defined the Year
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@nursery-shitposts
Trees communicate with chemical signals in the roots we all know this. Do you think there's that one tree in the forest that everybody hates? Like, oh that's [oily, low pH chemical signature] from the grove next door. Fucking opossum walks by and he sends out a large herbivore warning to the whole neighborhood. Like dude, fucking chill. I can't be wasting my acrid compounds on a fucking opossum my leaves are gonna be delicious went an actual deer shows up. Even his name tastes like an douchebag. Alkaline as fuck. Will somebody chop that guy down already?
Ten Mistakes New Herb Gardeners Make (and How to Avoid Them!)
Mistake 1: Growing from seed. When you first start out trying to grow fresh herbs, I recommend you begin by trying to grow from seedlings rather than planting your own seeds. These great little starter plants are widely available in grocery stores in the late spring. For the same price as a packet of fresh herbs from the produce section, you can buy your own little starter plant. Lots can go wrong in the seed to seedling transition (including not thinning out plants properly), so its probably best to begin by skipping that complicated task or you are in danger of washing out before you really begin.
Mistake 2: Starting with the wrong varieties. I recommend you start by trying to grow fresh basil. It is the perfect trainer herb. First, basil grows quickly, allowing you to observe the effects of your care more easily. Second, basil leaves wilt visibly when not watered enough, but recovers well if you water the wilted plant. This makes basil a great ‘canary in the mineshaft’ to help you figure out how much water is enough.
Mistake 3: Watering herbs like houseplants. Instead, water herbs a moderate amount every day. While some houseplants flourish with one solid watering per week, most delicate herbs require moderate and regular watering. This is particularly true during hot summer months. If you have good drainage at the bottom of your pot (at least a drainage hole, possibly rocks beneath the soil), it will be difficult to water herbs too much.
Mistake 4: Not cutting early and often. As a novice gardener, it may seem like your puny little plant just isn’t ready for a trip to the barber, but then you will find yourself sitting there wishing for leaves without much success. Again, basil is a great herb to practice pruning. As with all herbs, you want to cut the herb just above a set of growing leaves. With basil, when you cut the plant that way, the originally trimmed stem will no longer grow. However, two new stems will grow around the original cutting, creating a “V” shape (see the photo above, can you spot the Vs?). If you don’t trim basil aggressively, it will continue to grow straight up, and become too tall and top-heavy. Making your first trim approximately 3-4” above the soil produces a nice sturdy plant. Of course you want to be sure you are always leaving a few good sturdy leaves on the plant (see below). As it continues to grow, continue to prune it approximately every 3-4" for a nice solid plant. I like to let it grow for some time and then cut back to within 2-3 inches of the original cut. After only a few early trial cuts, this usually makes for a nice clipping with plenty of basil to use for a pizza.
Mistake 5: Taking the leaves from the wrong place. When you are just starting out it seems to make so much sense to pick off a few big leaves around the bottom of the plant, and let those tender little guys at the top keep growing. Wrong. Leave those large tough old guys at the bottom alone. They are the solar panels that power your herb’s growth. Once your plant is big enough to sustain a decent harvest, keep on taking from the top, as you have been when you were pruning. That way you get all those tender new herbs that are so tasty, and your plant gets to keep its well developed solar power system in place. Plus, if you pluck from the base and leave the top intact, you get a tall skinny plant that will flop over from its own weight (and yes, I know this from experience). When you pluck from the top, instead of clipping off just below a pair of leaves, you want to clip off just above a pair of leaves. It is a bit counter-intuitive as a novice, but trust me it works. The place where the leaf joins the stem is where new growth will occur when your plant sends off new stems in a V.
Mistake 6: Letting your plants get too randy. If you are pruning regularly, this may never become an issue, but unless you are growing something for its edible flowers, be sure to cut back herbs before they start growing flowers. My friend once brought me to her backyard garden and pointed, frustrated, at her wimpy, small basil plants. “I just keep tending them, but they don’t even produce enough leaves to put on a salad!” she lamented. I pointed to the glorious stalk of flowers at the top of each plant, “That’s your problem” I explained. Because herbs are kind of like college boys: if you give them half a chance, they will focus all their energy on procreation and neglect growth. If you want leaves, keep cutting off the little flower buds whenever you find them (see photo above), and it will encourage your plant to focus on growing more leaves.
Mistake 7: Using tired soil with no nutrients. Tired soil that has been sitting in your garden or lawn for ages often looks grey and a little depressing. Would you want to grow in that stuff? Give your plants a dose of the good stuff and they’ll thank you for it. I grow my herbs in a combination of potting soil, used coffee grounds (with a near-neutral PH, available for free at Starbucks), and organic compost. If I have some on hand, I also throw in crushed egg shells. Those without access to compost (and no deep commitment to organic growing) may find Miracle grow useful. My momma swears by it for tomatoes. A diluted solution of Miracle grow occasionally can help many herbs flourish.
Mistake 8: Getting in a rut. There is an element to passion about herb gardening. In order to be good at it, you need to feel rewarded. So don’t stick too long with one or two herbs just because they work. Branch out to a few other basic herbs that you will use regularly in your kitchen. There are few things more rewarding as an urban foodie than being able to pop out to the fire escape to clip fresh herbs to use in my cooking. Once you have become comfortable with basil, I recommend moving on to try growing oregano, mint, rosemary and thyme. All are regularly useful herbs in the kitchen, and all are relatively easy to grow. You will notice that rosemary cleaves after cutting in a somewhat similar way to basil, but grows much more slowly, so the effect is difficult to notice. Some plants also respond to clipping by throwing out more full leaves at their base. I have long wanted to grow cilantro but have not had much luck with it.
Mistake 9: You mean there’s more than one kind of mint?When choosing herbs, read the label carefully. For example, there are two main varieties of oregano: Mediterranean and Mexican. Mediterranean oregano is the more common variety, and what you likely own if you have conventional dried oregano in your cupboard. I have Mexican oregano growing on my back fire escape. I love Mexican oregano in spicy dishes, for making beans from scratch, and often use it in tomato dishes where I don’t want the flavor to seem too much like marinara. Similarly, there are many different kinds of mint. You don’t want to be thinking of the pungent spearmint plant and accidentally take home the much more subtle (and not mojito savvy) applemint by mistake.
Mistake 10: Feed me Seymour! If you are planting in soil instead of pots, take care that your cute little herb seedling doesn’t become a giant plant that takes over your garden. A word of warning for oregano and mint: both can be voracious growers. If you are planting outside in a garden, rather than in pots, you may want to consider potting these herbs and then burying the pots in the ground. This will add a measure of control to the root systems of these herbs, which can otherwise take over a garden and strangle nearby neighbors. When in doubt, check out wikipedia, they usually are careful to point out which herbs are in danger of overwhelming your garden.
Some really useful info here if you’re new to herb gardening.
held a satisfyingly large acrocarpus moss this morning and had some amount of peace restored......still chasing that high
everyone look at this...........it had weight to it and everything
George Francis Atkinson - Botany for High Schools (1910):
Fig. 51. A. cross section of the stem of an oak tree thirty-seven years old, showing the annual rings. rm, the medullary rays; m, the pith (medulla). B, cross section of the stem of a palm tree, showing the scattered bundles.
banana tree: *slurred* hold my cocktail
Y'all check this cool Lichen I found in a carex sciotii
Calling all black and/or LGBTQ+ environmentalists! I work for a nonprofit in the Bay Area called Our City Forest. Our primary focus, as an organization, is to ensure that everyone has access to green spaces by planting trees in low income neighborhoods on a donation-based system. I am currently looking for folks to either take testimonies from about your experience encountering harassment or exclusion in the field (it can be completely anonymous) or, if you're willing, I would also love to speak with you over a video chat about how you have influenced the field in a unique way. If you are a black environmentalist or an LGBTQ+ environmentalist please DM me so we can chat and I can give you more details!!
🦋 butterfly lovin
We support biodiversity in this home
ok ill bite. what the heck is tree sexism
Ah since you asked my dear friend, tree sexism is the phenomenon that has occurred because folks do not want "female" trees since they bear fruit, which is messy. Therefore, many nurseries only carry male trees, since so many people prefer them, hence sexism. The problem, however, is that the fuckin male trees make hella pollen, trying to sex up some female trees, but there's no female trees around! This then causes the pollen to fly into the air aaaaaaand straight into your nose. Tree sexism is a part of what has caused the slow but steady increase in allergies every year (surprising no one, the main cause is climate change)
I see you sneezing and I feel for you.
We support biodiversity in this home
SELFIE PHOTOSHOOT DAY
Holy shit I love those pants so much
I know I just posted one of these, but today I went to a state park I’ve never been to, and they were all over the place. Easily saw dozens, on all kinds of plants. No wonder there is so much concern about this invasive.
Spotted Lanternfly, 4th instar nymph (Lycorma delicatula)
July 18, 2019
Marsh Creek State Park, Downingtown, Pennsylvania
First discovered in Pennsylvania in 2014, this Chinese native has now spread to 15 PA counties as well as sightings in New York, Delaware, New Jersey, and Maryland. They can cause damage to 70 different species of trees and agricultural crops such as hops and grapes.
More reference photos:
If you’re in the USA this is one bug you should absolutely destroy on sight—and if you’re in a county or state where they haven’t been seen before, report them to your local department of agriculture ASAP, with the specimen preserved or photographed if possible.
environmental racism isn't a thing. God how can people be so stupid. Plants don't have fucking opinions.
I’m … legitimately blown away that you think environmental racism is about the marginalization of plants.
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Hi Simon! Have you heard of bee balm? My mom's garden has it and every summer it attracts swarms of bees! If you're trying to turn your garden into Bee Paradise that's my recommendation.
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Silver maple seeds are ripening, and if you have access to a tree you know hasn’t been treated with herbicides or pesticides, you can eat them (or plant them, obviously)! The winged outer case is called a samara, which can be peeled away from the seed. They’re edible raw, roasted, steamed, or ground into a flour.
More info on silver maple.