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Native Plants

1/9/2021

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​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
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Making a Soil Sieve to Screen Compost

5/27/2017

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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.

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Supplies and resources needed to make a new soil sieve:
  1. PT lumber (2"x4"). Lumber from recycled plastic would have been better, but I could not find it in 2"x4"
  2. Hardware cloth (1/4"). Other sizes would work, too. I like 1/4".
  3. Framing corners and staples (shown later). I used galvanized everything to prevent corrosion from using dissimilar metals.
  4. Total cost is ~$25
  5. Time to complete ~60 minutes
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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.
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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.
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Now comes the tricky part-- attaching the hardware cloth. Flip the frame over so you have only wood (no framing corners) and attach the cut-to-fit hardware cloth to the frame using galvanized double pointed staples.

Two tips: 1) cut hardware cloth as close to inside as possible and mount so it doesn't come outside the wood-- this prevents snagging it on your clothes when carrying. 2) Hold staples with needle-nose pliers when nailing to save your fingers.
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You did it! Your finished soil sieve should look like this (bottom is shown on left and top on right). Notice that it fits my wheelbarrow nicely.

This one is build better than my old one. I'm thinking it will last for more than 30 years. That means I'll get to pass it to the next generation.

Cheers!
Mark
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    Mark Follansbee

    Vermicomposting and beyond! Check out what I've been up to on my blog.

    Please note that I'm migrating my blog from its original site. I'll be reposting previous entries until the move is complete. Click here to visit the full Blog Archive.


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