Ready For Spring...! @rooted-and-reaching - Tumblr Blog

Spring 2021. I thought that by now we might have rebuilt the garden, but the universe had some other plans this past year. From Opa’s original garden, there are three beds that are in decent enough shape to be used again. We spent an afternoon recently weeding them and prepping to plant a smaller summer garden soon. Three and a half (long) years later, #opasgardengrowsagain ♥️🌱

michaelnordeman

The bumblebees really like our Japanese barberry.

It’s been years since I posted or anything. Damn, I miss you all. Is the old farm cult group still around?

I bought some seeds this year, and I’m going to garden in my free time. My in-laws live between my work and my home, so I can stop by on my commute a few times a week, and when I can’t I can just bully my brother to water. ^^;

megansplants

This pretty plant is for sure becoming a favorite…

Philodendron squamiferum

grinnersmiler

Obsessed with this fucking tiktok

justnoodlefishthings

I wish there was less of a push for organic animal products and more of a push for humanely raised

justnoodlefishthings

like I could care less if the animal had to have antibiotics at some point

I care more if chickens had access to pasture and if a cow had access to enrichment

justnoodlefishthings

gardencorekid

With all the talk about telling people to start planting and growing crops to feed themselves and their communities during this time of crisis, I’m surprised I haven’t seen much about HOW MUCH to plant to feed people. Here’s a good article to serve as a jumping-off point, to give people an idea of when to plant and how much to plant to keep people fed. Keep in mind that unless you live on a fairly sizeable plot of land that has ideal growing conditions, you probably won’t be able to completely feed a family of four, at least with traditional gardening methods. However, you can still heavily supplement your diet with homegrown food if you plot your garden carefully.

It's time to plan the vegetable garden, but how much should you plant per person to feed your family?

Some things you can do to save space include growing plants in stackable towers rather than flat rows. Not everything can grow this way, but growing herbs or even strawberries or some kinds of tomatoes in them can save a lot of space. Bonus points if you can get some vertical vining plants like beans or tomatoes to grow up the sides of them to maximize the space used.

Hanging planters can also be used for things like tomatoes, herbs, some berries, etc. The people who grew up watching TV in the 2000s may remember ads for the topsy-turvy tomato planter. I can’t vouch for the effectiveness of them, but it may be good inspiration for creative DIY hanging planters.

Many people don’t seem to know this (to be fair, it’s not very intuitive), but small melons and gourds can be grown vertically on a trellis. You will need pantyhose or something else that can act like a sling for when the fruit gets large enough, and you’ll also want to make sure the trellis is very sturdy. Here is an example of a watermelon growing on a trellis, with squash growing in the background:

Other good options that require a bit more DIY are hydroponics towers and walls. It’s basically just a series of pipes with holes for plants to grow out of. The only downside is they will require very regular fertilization and supplementation with other micronutrients that are essential for plant growth, because the plants are typically grown in either a non-nutritious medium like coconut coir or nothing at all.

Planter walls are the next step down, basically just building shelves with pots in them to fill with soil. Put these on a wall that gets good morning sun and some afternoon sunlight for best results. These and hydroponics both also have the advantage of being able to hook up to your gutters so that rainwater will go towards watering your plants rather than just being wasted.

If you want to get really fancy, aquaponics is the next step up. With aquaponics, you create a system that circulates water between plants and a tank full of fish. The fish waste provides fertilizer for the plants, and the plants help filter out the waste so the water stays cleaner. I’ve heard they’re a bit tricky to establish, but once you find the right balance, all you’ll need to do is feed the fish. This has the added bonus of providing a source of fish for people who can’t eat things like nuts and legumes but need protein. Here is a link to an article explaining what aquaponics is, how it works, and how it differs from hydroponics.

WHAT IS AQUAPONICS? What is Aquaponics? Many definitions of aquaponics recognize the ‘ponics’ part of this word for hydroponics which is gro

I also want to add that if you don’t have the space or ability to maintain a large garden, there are other options. Find or create a group with access to enough food to supplement or completely fulfill your diet, and offer another service. If you have space for a vermicompost bin or tower, that can still help contribute to the garden. Learning other skills like soap making, cooking, sewing/knitting/crocheting, electrical skills like wiring and soldering, welding, woodworking/carpentry, etc. means you will still have valuable skills to contribute towards the group, and this will set up the basis for a larger mutual aid network within your community.

everythingfox

The reason the water wasn’t coming out

(Source)

biggest-gaudiest-poltergeist

recently learned about a horticultural technique called Espalier, it’s the funniest goddamn thing i’ve ever seen.

Espalier allows trees to be trained into 2-dimensions, by tying the branches to a flat surface as the tree grows. They literally flatten the tree. They make the tree flat. Flat tree!!!

Look at this. This is objectively hilarious:

And people get fancy about it. Look at this nonsense:

(the first one’s called a Belgian Fence, and can be used as an actual fence)

Espalier is actually a very useful technique for

increasing fruit yield

gardening is small spaces

maximizing or minimizing sunlight (since the branches all face the same direction) and therefore extending the growing season

Like. this is a legitimately practical gardening method. but it looks like they squished a tree between the pages of a book. just squashed it flat like a sad little dried flower! i could use these trees as a bookmark!!!

But yes, it is also a healthy and clever way to grow lots of fruit in small spaces, in climates they might not otherwise be suited for. I’m still going to make fun of it, but it honestly looks delightful and delicious.

Espalier!

freddieardley

Yellow Beech Among the Pines - Photographed by Freddie Ardley

seattlesucculents

“If more of us valued food and cheer and song above hoarded gold, it would be a merrier world.”

J. R. R. Tolkien

indielowercase

#if more of us hoarded tiny hairy little men u mean

@plantanarchy are you gandalf

plantanarchy

Me, accidentally adopting a gaggle of fuzzy, small cacti who I am now responsible for despite being a really poor parental figure: just like gandalf

botanyshitposts

today in my plant evolution lab i saw a plant reproductive thing so weird idk how to describe it. like you know those little pill things that you drop into water and the pill dissolves and theres a little animal-shaped sponge inside that fills up and grows into a big sponge?? yeah its like that but a jelly fern leaf with sex organs hanging off of it

botanyshitposts

this is a pic of it expanding, the fully expanded ones were probably like 2 inches long. cursed sex being perpetuated by fern genus marsilea (evil) in our good christian ponds

botanyshitposts

hey btw remember when i posted this a week ago?? well what i didn’t mention was that the dried sporocarps (the ‘seed’ thing the jelly leaf is expanding out of in the pic there, it isn’t a seed technically and only holds the jelly thing that holds the plants’ reproductive organs but that’s what it’s officially called) that were dropped in water to show them to us were collected in 1945. the reproductive structures that slowly inflate in water are, naturally, long non-viable because that’s like, 75 years they’ve been sitting in a jar getting passed around classrooms teaching about this fern genus at my university, right. they still expand when the sporocarps are nicked a little and exposed to water because the carbohydrates that make up the weird ‘jelly leaf’ just…do that through chemistry. it’s a one trick pony, essentially.

except….plot twist, my professor left these guys sitting in their petri dishes after last week’s lab and this morning there were little baby ferns in there.

thats right lads……as it turns out, at least some of the reproductive structures there- those are the yellow things hanging off the jelly leaf itself, which produce both sperm and eggs- apparently still had viable sperm and eggs after 75 years in a jar and they just. were having sex back there all week. like, there were multiple of these ‘jelly fern leaves’ per petri dish to show us and they just went wild and now there are like, 20 baby aquatic ferns growing their first roots and leaves back there. because ferns don’t have the protection seeds and plants that make seeds do, this is nearly unheard of, but somehow, someway, god’s jock strap (the sporocarp) protected them long enough for this to happen. jesus wept

also, because i got some questions after posting this last week, this is what the adult plants look like; the genus is called Marsilea, aka ‘Water clover’ (it’s a fern, not a clover, but like…..i can see it). the sporocarps are produced underwater off the stems of the plants.