Garden on Corliss Homestead Journal

I don't know why, but I have really keen on learning about moss. Truly, I don't understand why I find it so interesting at the moment.

I have had this plastic egg carton sitting on my bookshelf upstairs for over a year now. It provided two layers on top to secure the eggs which caught my interest. I haven't had a use for it until I started onto wanting to try and grow some moss indoors. I have a few patches of moss on my property so I took a few bits carefully and brought them indoors. I added a little soil to the bottom of the egg carton and figured with the two layers of clear plastic it would hold in the moisture rather well. I'm taking an educated guess and figuring this might let the moss grow faster. What will I do once the moss grows to fit each of the cells?

Well my dear friend, I still have yet to figure that part out.

Step one, try and grow my little bits of moss into bigger bits!

It should work. 2 early springs ago I left a failed seed starting tray in a shady mossy area. Early spring, the moss bloomed as it does. That following fall I had moss starts! The tray is (ahem) still In a shady out of the way place. Maybe this year they'll get planted under my maple tree, the reason I saved them. My unknown variety of moss likes cool weather. It goes dormant in heat. See the empty pot? That's due to the leaf cover. Oooops.

Checked on the moss experiment, this all looks positive to me. Not sure what I'm looking at but I have the afternoon to research.

First step to my moss empire!

Ooooh! It's blooming!

I have finally worked up a gameplan that eliminates multiple birds with few stones.

The moss that I am learning to propagate will now have a purpose. I am going to gather a variety of mosses that seem to grow on rocks/ground/cement and choose those as my propagation targets. I will create colonies with the intent of splitting them in half as they grow to the size of my propagation container. Half will remain to regrow the colony while the other half will be utilized for moss slurry.

I have been trying to figure out a way to utilize broken concrete rubble and broken concrete block. One answer would be to bring it to the recycling center to eventually find its way into a hole in the ground. I am now going to utilize it to make reptile habitat AND as a substrate for growing moss. I will gather the rubble together, cutting a bit into the ground where I am planning on placing it. I intent to make a little bit of a hibernaculum for insects and creepy crawlies as well as creating a delineation of property lines on the farthest corner of my property.  It is dappled light from overhanging trees and is an underutilized spot on a hillside.

Hypothetically, I take the moss I want to grow and add some kind of dairy such as buttermilk. This is blended well together and 'painted' on the substrate you want to grow moss. You keep it moist by spraying over a few weeks and ideally you will get moss formation. By growing batches of different mosses, I am hoping to refine my technique and increase success over time.

I really need to start figuring out how to identify moss species so that I can learn more about their preferences. That is going to be a big step towards this project's success.

Is this what age does? Is this what my life has come to?

I almost did a little dance because I drove home from work to a big beautiful pile of arborist chips that I have been craving so I can continue my quest to turn lawn into productive space. One of the negative things about only having a third of an acre to live on is that I MUST rely on outside inputs in order to complete projects each season. Waiting to generate enough just isn't in the cards. A local friend that I mentioned in past posts has been keeping me in mind when he does his arborist work nearby and sent me a message he had a load. My neighbor as well has been trying to get his hands on some woodchips so I have offered him to take as much as he needs.

The weekend is here and I plan on putting in some hours. I'll be taking pictures and showing my process. I'm planning on cutting a line in the lawn utilizing my fruit trees to delineate what will be chip covered and what will be grass. The chipped area will sit for a while as I work on my proper garden beds but once the chips are down time now is working on my side. The soil underneath gets nice and workable so planting berry bushes and such can be done with relative ease. These spots are outside my fenced in grow area so I have to be conscious of wild herbivories (rabbits, turkey, and deer) but that isn't anything I haven't already dealt with.

I'm so pleased with myself. I love the spring.

Timothy Norton wrote:Is this what age does? Is this what my life has come to?

You know you're a Permie when.......!

Have I mentioned I love spring?

This sturdy straight growing hibiscus is gorgeous. I've got it in a 5 gallon terracotta pot and it does really well. I have an adjustable grow light ring right above it.

I need to grow more flowers, I get the appeal now.

I'm tuckered out.

Two days, roughly 15 man hours in total had led to the majority of the chip being moved. I guestimate the whole pile was 8-10 yards so I might have a couple left to shimmy around. I am going to need another load of chip!

If there is open space, there are plants.

Spring is underway.