Elizabeth Griffith

Hello Lori!

You worked hard! You are not lazy,
you just conserve your energy until you are ready to let it loose
and accomplish awesome feats like this one.
You're in 10b? I am in 10a.Too hot for apples, too cold for guavas.
Some currents do well here: Ribes sanguineum/aureum,
Douglas's Thornapple, fruiting silverberry,
and a few others. I am hoping my Lemonadeberry (Rhus family member) and salal make it.
I am thinking about a dwarf mango or Jujube, although the pot I wanted
to use has a resident that appears to have survived this winter's freeze. It may meet with an unfortunate accident.
The Goji berry came back. The taste of the fresh berries remind me more of ground cherries than dried Goji berries.
Goji plants are pricey, though. At least they are self-fertile.
The property I am planting in is too small to avoid falling fruit, so I can't really do the big pitted ones.
Tell us how this goes!

- Liz G

Number one looks like Twinberry - Twinberry honeysuckle.
The flowers aren't as large and whiskered as other honeysuckles.

Here's a page with some info:
https://plants.usda.gov/factsheet/pdf/fs_loin5.pdf

I hope this helps

Hello!
I found a sciencie article about microclover and it said:

It does fix nitrogen - woot!
It "dies back in the winter." Might be a bummer, but it your summers are mild, it might not.
Extreme heat and drought will kill it. (I don't think the test plots are large though, so there was not enough of a population to stolon out. Perhaps with  larger reservoir of plants, less would die)

I found that here:
http://plantscience.psu.edu/reduce-runoff/questions-about-microclover

I am doing that in my Bay area yard! I call it my Pseudokulture bed.
Some of my logs are larger, but many are the size that your pictures showed. The edging I used was cement holders for pressure treated lumber.
I am filling in with some nice garden dirt and some Nitrogen sources like cheap coffee grounds. The water is so alkaline here the bed can use some acidity.
I wanted pollinator plants, but my cardoons took over. A few garlic bulbs. I need to keep the kitties out so I can plant some flower seeds.

Good job Perming in the Bay area!
Go us!

Hello!
My two ongoing projects that I fuss over are:

A raised bed hugelculture hybrid. I wanted it to be fallow so I could plant bee friendly annuals and some squash in Nov/Dec for the Spring.
Instead I transplanted some potted cardoons (I am new to cardoons - and one thing not to do to them is pot them) and a curassavica to test the new soil.
I am hoping that the new residents will keep the bed from harboring pests and might finally lead to a crop of cardoons.

Growing a lilac. In my latitude, only one type of lilac grows, and mine is not doing so well. Sigh.

See you in Indiana fairly soon!

Liz

From BBC World Hacks:



The Great Green Wall will span 11 countries and uses acacia trees! I hope I get a chance to see it when it gets growing.

Greening the Sahara, who hasn't dreamed of that?

I am happy that it doesn't seem to be a prolapse.

The shape makes me think egg binding, but it is so low.
If it is a cyst, a warm bath may help - if you can get to into it.

I am sorry, Tirzah, I have nothing definite for you.

I will apologize up front: If this is what it looks like, it could be pretty bad.
I do not think it is egg binding.
It looks like a minor vent prolapse. If a prolapse gets worse, it can be fatal.  There could be an egg involved
I have a link to a site with a fairly tame picture and a set of instruction on how to reverse the prolapse.
A vet can do this is they accept chickens.

So, here is the tale of Anna the chicken:
http://www.the-chicken-chick.com/2012/04/prolapse-vent-causes-treatment-graphic.html

P.S. Anna recovers.

A video of prolapse with egg: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vveBgm_Cc7Q
Merck Veterinary Manual page: http://www.merckvetmanual.com/poultry/disorders-of-the-reproductive-system/prolapse-of-the-oviduct-in-poultry

A vet would be the best one to make the call on this issue.

I hope your hen gets better!

These are popping up in my garden this year.
I did some online research,

Our American Nightshade is Solanum americanum, not nigrum.
Good 'ole Wikipedia has a great article on it https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solanum_americanum
German Wiki has a great article on S. nigrum and tries to pinpoint the cause of S.n and S. a's dual nature.
Translated from the German wiki page on Solanum nigrum: Due to the high content of alkaloids , especially in the immature berries, the plant is often categorized as a poisonous plant, but ripe berries and the leaves are used as vegetables in some parts of the world. Include all parts of the black nightshade which the glyco alkaloids attributed to steroid alkaloids solanine , Solasonine , solamargine and chaconine, The concentration of these substances varies very strongly and is probably dependent on the climate and type of soil in which the plant grows, in addition the concentration decreases with increasing age of the plant. This explains why there are numerous evidence that either categorize the plant as a poisonous plant or describe it as a foodstuff. In fresh leaves, 1 mg / 100 g of ascorbic acid (vitamin C) was detected. [1]

There is a book about Nightshades I found FREE online. https://books.google.com/books?id=nfau8bsLyUUC&lpg=PA5&ots=KirxF8-AYT&dq=solanum+nigrum+medicinal+uses&lr=&pg=PP1&hl=en#v=onepage&q=solanum%20nigrum%20medicinal%20uses&f=false

The USDA site:https://plants.usda.gov/core/profile?symbol=SOAM
Calflora: https://www.calflora.org/cgi-bin/species_query.cgi?where-calrecnum=7647


In German, the name translates into Black Night Shadows which sounds very poetic.

I hope this helps!

liz