Diane Kistner

Artie Scott wrote:A fairly random and sudden appearance of dog vomit slime mold - aka fuligo septica, appearing after a week of cool rain.

Either that, or my dog is sick!  ;).

I get dog vomit slime mold here and there a lot. Some of it looks like yours does, and some of it is a very bright yellow! Doesn't last long. I figure it's doing its work of breaking down organic matter....

Lidia Martinez wrote:Hi, I think this is a Coprinopsis type mushroom. Is it? If so then a decomposer, a result of the decaying mulch in bed. So what to do, just pull them and remove any dead wood. Seems that after a rain there is quite a lot of them. Please advise? 

Those look like the inky caps I have sprouting up all over when I first mulch a bed. They are doing good work. They will soon melt away. I wouldn't worry about them one bit. And why would you want to remove the dead wood? Let it rot down.

Trace Oswald wrote:
There are some people down the street from us that make a big pile of ornamental squash every year for people to pick up for Halloween decorations.  I was thinking of doing something similar.  I may see if I can put a small table on  a friend's yard in town so more people see it, but I may start doing it just by word of mouth.  I thought about setting up a small table at our local very small farmer's market with a sign that said something like "Pay what you like", but I don't want to hurt the business of people with stands that make their living, or at least supplement it, with money from the market.  I'm just not sure yet how I will proceed.

In any case, here are a couple update pictures....

Wow, that's a lot of work! Good job! I like the idea of using the pathways to feed off into the surrounding soil, so I'm going to be trying something like that, too. I can't dig like you can, though.

I like the idea of putting stuff out on a table in my front yard with a "take what you can eat, leave the rest for your neighbors" sign on it. I guess I'd need to get a few of those picnic table umbrella food-covering things to keep squirrels and birds off of it, though. But that's a thought!

Will bunnies eat water lettuce that's reproducing wildly, along with mint? I have an area that is getting overrun beside my pond. Maybe I need to borrow somebody's bunnies....

Daron Williams wrote:

And I would love to hear what you think about purple tree collards. Have you tried to grow them?

I started two Merritt tree collard cuttings late last fall, and they're doing well in the ground now. How long did you wait to harvest yours?

Joseph Lofthouse wrote:Squash have tendrils, and vines, so that they can outgrow the shade, and catch every bit of possible light.

Glass to read this. I've got dappled shifting sun all over the place and no place that gets consistent 6-8 hours.

Ah, Trace! That reminds me...you sent me some comfrey roots maybe a year or two ago, and the first year they didn't do very well. It's very, very wet here, and I've had nothing but comfrey failures. But this morning I was out and about in the garden and saw your comfrey coming up in four or five places! I think I'm going to let these get very well established before I try to get more roots from them, but I get a very nice feeling of closeness to you when I see the plants. So thank you again!

Jasmine Dale wrote:Fascinated to hear that Diane, and will really sit with that, and pass on perhaps to others using the process. Food for thought indeed.
Also, been doing some 'inner work proces' here myself, and the figure 8 came up for me as a way to keep centred and yet engage with the world from my own axis.
Thank you for feedback

Yes on the 8! That's exactly how I experience my garden walks. Very conducive to observance at many levels.

Jasmine Dale wrote:Although it's a bit of an investment, I reckon it would take many months to follow all the activities diligently and my aim was that it was still cheaper than an equivalent online course. I made a pdf, though the publishers keen to keep it paperback for now, partly as it's design is to write in it as you go / doubling up as a record of all your thoughts and findings. With the 25% discount by Chelsea Green hoping it makes it affordable. Thanks for having a good look, maybe one for the birthday / christmas list? xxx

Hi, Jasmine! This reminds me that I need to review your book, which I won here last time. What I find is that your book puts me into a meditative state...and I do a lot of thinking. I went into a kind of spiral, literally, on the design portion (where you talk about the different ways to lay things out), and I realized that I was already following an order that arose from me internally...kind of a spiraling figure-8 arrangement that's just grown as I've "sensed" into it. And, like a spiral, I find I'm working through your workbook in stages, at first deliberately NOT writing anything into it, then writing things down after I've thought out levels and levels. I think the way you've written the book, with the handwritten style, is very conducive to a creative introspection until one is ready to take up the pen and write things down. So thank you!

Dennis Bangham wrote:You can always graft another mulberry onto what you have.
I planted a Hana early last year and it is well underway in leafing out.  
Scratch the bottom bark off, that is above the graft, to see if you see green. If you see nothing but brown, it is dead. I lost two Mansamoto this year.  
I started some Giant Fuyu from seed so I will replace with these.  I am hoping one of them is a male so I can get more seeds.

It still looks green, so I'm hopeful. Let me know how your Giant Fuyus do! I've never grown persimmons of any kind before, so this is an adventure for me.