Sunday, March 17, 2024

10 Fantastical Things Learned from the Garden - 2024 Vibes

"It does not matter how slowly you go as long as you do not stop."
- Confucius

Man in Hat
Pondering things learned

Apparently I'm on a two year cycle of writing a new top 10 things learned article.  The first one was in 2020 and the second in 2022 and now the third is upon us.  No intro is really needed so alas here is latest and greatest, top 10 fantastical things learned from the garden:

1. Stay on top of the weeds and they will go away with time.  Weeds are indicative of a soil health issue plus the ground does not want to be bare.  If you have bare ground, weeds will grow - this is the earth trying to heal itself.  If you plant something and weeds grow instead, you've got a soil health problem.  There are two main approaches to weed control 1) obsessively  try and pull every single weed or 2) let the weeds grow a little bit, then right when the seed heads start forming just cut the seed heads off, when your ready for the entire weed to be gone, just cut it off at the base and let the body of the weed decompose back into the soil.  This makes the weed spend all of its energy into growing then it can't reproduce so over time your weed problem goes away.  Keep an eye out for useful weeds - such as dandelions - which you can eat, make wine out of, or a hand balm, etc.  Just because it's considered a weed doesn't mean it's useless.  Beauty is in the eye of the beholder.

2. You do not know everything despite what you think you already know.  Not even close.  Approach every day in the garden with a mindset of "I know nothing, what can the garden teach me today?"  Do that and you will learn an immense amount every single day.  The garden / nature has a infinite amount of wisdom it's willing to share with you... if you are willing to listen.

3. There is such a thing as too much compost.  Compost is jam packed with nutrients.  If you are producing a high amount of compost and you have a somewhat small growing area, it is certainly possible to add too much compost and overload the ground with nutrients that the plants then can't absorb.  Too much of a good thing... is a thing.

Friday, February 23, 2024

Bee Sting Remedy

"Look deep into nature, and then you will understand everything better."
- Albert Einstein

Bee on Dahlia
Bee loving the dahlia.

Stung by a bee?  This is all you need to make the pain and swelling go away, fast:
-Honey
-Lavender

Grind up the lavender in a mortar and pestle (or in-between your palms).  Mix it in with a little bit of honey.  Apply mixture to the bee sting.  Cover with a band aid.  The pain starts going away almost instantly.  Leave the band aid on as long as possible.

Friday, February 16, 2024

Seeds 2.0

"The tiny seed knew that in order to grow it needed to be dropped in dirt, covered in darkness, and struggle to reach the light." - Sandra Kring

Seed
Seed getting planted - 2024

An update to the original Seed article is in order!  It turns out that all seeds are not created equal.  As plants grow, they adapt to their local environment then when they produce seeds those seeds are better adapted to that specific climate that the parent plant grew in.

If you take these seeds across the country to a different environment, the plant may struggle, because they're in a completely new environment that has different conditions than where they came from.