#nitrogen fixer

[pnwnativeplants]

See this beautiful plant? It's a pnw native called bigleaf lupine (Lupinus polyphyllus) and it's a host plant for a number of native blue butterfly species! Bigleaf lupine is also a nitrogen fixer. Plant some in your yard, your friends yards, or even in neighborhood green spaces to help save these butterflies and your local ecosystem!

[goingtiny]

You don't see the white version of wisteria very often, but out and about with a friend we happened to pass this stunning example growing all along the front fence of a family home in north Seattle.

[inthecityofgoodabode]

Third Week Of May 2021

Tuesday: 

Wednesday: 

Friday... there were four strawberries but my queen ate two before I could take this photo. Also, this is the first Spring that we have been able to successfully grow peas. Temperature-wise, our Springs are normally too brief for most Spring crops: 

I’ll admit I had my doubts about hairy vetch when we first started growing it but I can’t say enough good about it now. It is a great cover crop that fixes nitrogen. Its vertical habit & airiness make it easier to manage than other nitrogen fixers like red clover. Mow it down & it adds biomass. Pollinators of all varieties & hummingbirds love its blossoms and it is a jungle where lacewings & lady beetles hunt aphids & other garden pests: 

So far this year, I haven’t gotten a lot of good bee photos. They’ve been really frenetic & camera shy. I’m hoping that will change as the temperatures warm:

My queen got these cool solar lights for the backyard that mimic torch flames: 

They are only around three feet tall so we put them in some of our taller flower pots for added height:  

[karlsauraus]

Lessons in being thankful. I could get angry that planting thirty black locust seeds only resulted in one seedling. Or I could be thankful as I tuck this one gift into the earth.

[divine-nonchalance]

Nature does the work, we just design it.

[sunsetparkapartments]

Little Marvel Peas - Pisum sativum

Little Marvel Peas – Pisum sativum

Little Marvel Peas produce a generation amount of sweet vigorous peas that will produce 3″ pods that are sweet and tender when they are fully ripe. (more…)

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[karlsauraus]

These hulless oats are near fattened up, swaying bluesy above the clover ripe.

[kebiana]

Vine Lilac, Purple Coral Pea

Hardenbergia violacea (Photo: Kathryn Brown)

Latin Name: Hardenbergia violacea

Common Name(s): Vine…

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