Mark Trail

Joylynn Hardesty wrote:Goumi is a fruit. Burnt Ridge Nursery has a good write up on it's benefits.

I don't see anything about grafting goumi scions onto autumn olive stock as a means preventing unloading a massive invasion of aggressive exotic shrubs on your neighborhood. And no information on plant hardiness nor how invasive the goumi itself is.. Around here, Eastern Red Cedar is a native potential privacy tree that could eventually be harvested for fire starter, moth repellent or furniture. Tea camellia is nutritious, has winter foliage, winter blooms and is not invasive here in zone 7B and zone 8.

greg mosser wrote:for what it’s worth, mark, topworking with goumi will also work to keep the autumn olive from fruiting.

Greg, is goumi a chemical that prevents fruit formation?

I would caution against any blanket statements that "invasive exotic plants are not that bad". Privet, Nandina, English ivy and kudzu are a scourge on the earth here in the Southeast. Come to Georgia and see for yourself. Horticultural grade vinegar with dish soap as a surfactant is respected for its ability to kill weeds (and careless users), but it breaks down into harmless byproducts. Smart growers wear goggles and gloves and usually survive the weed kill.

This stuff is way too invasive. Birds eat the fruit and spread them to to neighbors. Find another hedge that is easier to control. This forum covers too many life zones to suggest a specific shrub but in general there are quite a few berry bushes available for most climates that will not invade your community. Show some love to the folks around you!

I took some pinto beans out of a storage jar several years after purchase and presoaked, changed water and boiled for 8 hours. They were still crunchy and tough. Looking it up , I found that other people have similar experiences with old beans: they refuse to get tender. I was determined to use them, so I put them in the blender and made refried beans out of them. I will try to eat beans before they get old, but at least there's a way to use tough beans in lean times.

If you want the smokey taste of bacon, add a drop of liquid smoke to vegetable oil. Olive oil smokes easily on a skillet. Instead, use avocado oil when heating. Olive oil is poured lightly on your food after you remove the refritos from the stove. Fermentation takes time and stove space,  so consider adding cider vinegar for tartness. Cumin, oregano and salt to taste will enhance flavor. A little vinegar goes a long way. I sautee minced onions prior to adding to refritos. Mexican crumbling cheese and minced cilantro is a good garnish after bringing the refritos to the table.

Here in Georgia and much of the nation, pecan trees provide a ready source of high quality, tasty oil. I have no problem personally with peanut oil, but pecan oil will probably be safer for sensitive people. Pecans are remarkably cold hardy,  they just need irrigation or access to ground water such as you find along a creek bottom.

A second window of time would be mid to late October. Our rainy season begins in early November most years and we'd have less concern about watering, but we've had frost as early as the end of October and our tropicals have to move to the greenhouse when nights start getting well below 50 degrees F.
But our fall crops are mostly planted by mid-October. We might miss some of the cool season mushroom harvest, but we'd simply have to find someone to fill in for us and water until the rains come back.

There is a great long-term Permaculture apprenticeship in Atlanta offered by Shades of Green Permaculture. Combined with one of the Georgia Extension Service Master Gardener certification programs and you might be able to cobble together a marketable cert with the organic principles taught by Shades of Green. In addition, you'd get training on plants that live in the Southeastern USA, Zone 7B and 8 to be precise.
In my previous post, I said I have a red clay soul. While that is true, I meant to say that our soil is red clay!

Jungle plants grow in low light on the  forest floor, but tend to need more humidity than a home in winter can provide.
Two solutions:
1. Create a moist micro-climate by putting plants in a broad saucer with pea gravel and a bit of water or enclose your planting area with clear pliastic or glass.
2. Select plants from tropical forests that have a dry season rather than rain forest plants. These plants can handle lower humidity better than rain forest plants.
You could start by trying Cast Iron Plant (Aspidistra), Selloum philodendron (gets large), Mother-in-law's tongue (Sanseveria) as has been previously suggested, Draceana.
The list of suitable plants is actually much larger, but this should get you started.

July or August works best for many southern gardeners if we can find someone to water the garden for two weeks. It takes 4 to 5 days to drive to Montana from Georgia, so build an an additional 8 to 10 days on the road for the round trip. Late summer is "layin' by time", traditionally a time to pick veggies and water but no major planting or plowing. .We garden winter and summer here, but fall seed sowing does not start until late August or early September. We have Master Gardener classes here, but they do tend to push agri-chemicals as a remedy. But a short course with organic alternatives might make a good patch on an otherwise comprehensive Master Gardener certification. Unlike Montana, we grow tropical ornamentals and vegetables in our long hot summer and we need to learn universal principles. Our abundant bugs, red clay souls, high humidity and high heat fungal diseases, create unique challenges for anyone who would attempt to grow here.