​Having removed the invasive plants from my yard (aside from monitoring and maintenance), I am now continuing the next step, to add more native plant species to my yard. 

I have previously blogged about the many benefits of native plant species and shared some pics of some plants I bought at a native plant sale. Last winter I took a class put in by Wild Seed Project (https://wildseedproject.net/category/plant-profiles/) to learn about growing native plants from seed.
The class was great and the step-by-step instructions that I will briefly repeat here. I recommend you visit their website for details.

At the end of November, I started several species that I plan to add to my yard next fall:

1. columbine (wild-type seed collected from my yard)
2. rudbeckia (wild-type seeds from my friend Steffi's yard)
3. New England aster (wild-type seed collected from my yard)
4. heart leaved aster (wild-type seed collected from my yard)
5. Culver’s root (wild-type seed collected from my yard)
6. milkweed (wild-type seed collected from my yard)
7. butterfly weed (wild-type seed collected from my yard)
8. swamp milkweed (wild-type seed collected from my yard)
9. Joe Pye weed (wild-type seed from my friend Kristen's yard)

Note that in no case did I harvest seed from wild plants. Wild plants have enough challenges without stealing their seeds! If you want plants of a species that you or a friend do not have, buy seed from the Wild Seed Project.

According to the instructions from Wild Seed Project, I gathered the following:

1. Short unused plastic pots as well as some yogurt containers that I had been saving for this project (I punched drainage holes in the bottoms of the yogurt containers).
2. Soil mix. I used Coast of Maine Organic Seed Starter and my own compost from my outdoor composter. I mixed these thoroughly (50:50 by volume) in small batches to fill my pots. My compost was wet, so there was no need for me to moisten the soil mix (it clumped nicely when mixed).
3. Builder's Sand which is a coarse grade of sand used to cover the seeds. I got mine from Lowe's (my local ACE did not have it).
4. Plastic strips for labels (I cut these from the yogurt container lids) and a pencil.
5. Soil sieve.

Then I filled my pots and gently tamped the soil to create a flat surface about ½ inch from the top.
I organized these for the seeds and inserted labels with the name and sowing date pressing the label down below the soil surface along the edge of the pot. I sowed the seeds on top of the soil. I learned that you can sow the seeds closely (much closer than you would in a garden) and covered the seed with builder's sand by sprinkling it on top of the seeds so that each seed is covered to a depth of the size of the seed (a very thin layer for columbine and a thicker layer for the peony seed and plum pits).

With that finished, I put all of the pots in my raised bed garden and placed my soil sieve on top to keep any animals from digging in the pots to eat the seed or plant acorns (I see you chipmunks and squirrels!). My raised bed garden that gets part sun in the summer and is almost completely shaded in winter (because the house blocks the lower sun) was the perfect location. The instructions call for keeping the soil moist by watering gently weekly (I watered twice until we had sufficient snow and cold for the pots to freeze).
​
Now we wait while nature takes over to rain, snow, sleet, thaw, refreeze, and etc. Native seeds require a cold period to break dormancy and germinate. In March, I will monitor the pots for germination and move them from the raised bed in late April to a partly sunny location when I move my annual garden plants out to the raised bed.

One important note from the class was that germination may take a long time. Patience is required-- each native seed has its own timetable for germination. Some will begin germinating after the cool of spring and others will delay until the heat of summer.

I will post updates on how my seeds and plants are doing throughout the year.

Cheers,
Mark

From the blog archive; originally published on January 23, 2010

A grower in Taiwan contacted me to share a business model he uses. It was interesting, so I am sharing it.

Coordinate with local companies who have compostable trash, develop a group of friends to make vermicompost from the trash, sell vermicompost at the Farmer's Market.

Because businesses pay a lot in trash removal, this can be reduced if you find other people to take their trash and make worm compost to sell. You get the business to pay you to have members of your group members to take away the compostable trash ($1/kg). You sell your worms to your group and coordinate having them pickup the food waste. Then you pay the growers weekly to provide you with a fixed (2-5 kilograms) amount of vermicompost per month ($2/kg) and to pickup the trash (compost food removal at $0.25/kg).

You can sell the vermicompost for about $5/kg at a farmer's market in the city or online. Remember you also make money on the first sale of your worms to your growers and coordinating payment with the businesses.

Your growers will benefit because they only pay an initial start up fee and coordinate picking up food and delivering vermicompost to you. They get a monthly check from you for picking up waste and processing vermicompost.

If you can do this in a city (so you wouldn't spend a lot of money on gas), the whole group could make some decent money. Plus, if you coordinate food waste pickup at restaurants, you'll probably become a friend of the owner (because you save them money) and get some meals for free, too!

It takes some time to set this up, but it works!

Thanks Chen for sharing this. I would add that you could also make vermicompost tea and sell to local landscapers.

Cheers,
Mark

After many years of hard use, I needed to make a new soil sieve. My old one (shown above) was badly rotted at the corners. Even pressure treated lumber doesn't last forever. Note that the galvanized hardware cloth lasted longer than the lumber. Always clean your sieve after using it.

First step is to measure my old one and cut the lumber. I then laid out the cut pieces to make sure they fit together and are square. You want to size it so that it fits over your wheelbarrow to make sieving an easy chore.

Then square up the corners (using a framing square) and attach using framing corner to hold shape securely. I used galvanized nails with these galvanized corners.

In response to Natalie Jeremijenko's charge "...how do we translate the tremendous amount of anxiety and interest in addressing major environmental issues into something concrete that people can do whose effect is measurable and significant?"

I present the following list of things we can do to help the environment:

1. Reduce/reuse/recycle wherever you can: many garden centers will accept plastic pots returned after purchase.

2. Conserve ground water: build a rain garden to reduce runoff, collect rain from gutters for dry days, and water in the morning.

3. Put out native bee boxes: encourage local pollinators. See the Kate's Bee Boxes page.

4. Share your wealth: grow food for neighbors, and encourage them to grow their own and buy locally.

5. Use Best Management Practices & Integrated Pest Management for pesticides and insecticides you may use in your yard. Yes, you'll have to do some research on what you're using, but it will make the application more effective.

6. Grow natives: native plants require less work and are more hardy since they're already adapted.

7. Go renewable: consider renewable resources for mulch, potting mix, etc. What is plentiful in your area and how can it be used?

8. Start a worm bin. If you already have a bin, start a bin for a friend. Worm bins make great gifts!

9. Educate your family, friends, and neighbors: tell them about your successes with the above. You'll be surprised how many will adapt your ideas.

Cheers,
Mark

Originally published on September 24, 2008

We netted the blueberry bushes this year as usual, but we had an unusual occurrence. We caught a chipmunk! We net the blueberry bushes every year to improve the number of berries we get. Yes, we leave a few for the birds!

A few weeks ago, I was out walking the yard and garden around 6:30AM. I heard a rustling and discovered a chipmunk badly tangled in the netting. I ran to get my scissors and heavy gloves. I could not cut him out without risking escape while leaving some tangled around his neck (not a good thing!).

So I got a storage bin (intended to become a worm bin) and placed the chipmunk and netting into the bin. Then we all drove to the 24 hour animal clinic in Westbrook. They were willing to remove the netting from the chipmunk for free. Partway through the procedure the desk person came out to tell us that it was going well, but the vet was taking the chipmunk's blood pressure!

They gave him back to us in our storage bin.

Either this same chipmunk was caught twice or two weeks later we caught different chipmunk! This time, we got to him/her before he/she was too badly tangled.

For those of you who are skeptics about neck snares (and I am a recent convert!), I can assure you they work. I am not sure about whether I'll put bird netting on the blueberry bushes next year. If I do, let's hope the chipmunks are smarter!

Cheers,
Mark

Originally published on August 30, 2008