Amir Salvatore

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since Jun 01, 2013
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Recent posts by Amir Salvatore

John Elliott wrote:

Amir Salvatore wrote:
I do not have any willow near by, will anything else work as a rooting solution?



Oh, there has to be some growing in your neighborhood. Just pull over, leave the engine running, and snip a few branches.

it was on a major road, and it felt weird to just start digging to china out of no where with a shovel



Oh pshaw, you're already an eccentric by being a Permie, what's a little more digging on a public right-of-way going to do? Now excuse me while I go take some more cuttings from up the road and see if I can get them to root.



haha, gotta admit, I need to be a little less stiff with my ways! Wish I had someone with your mindset around, I'd get a lot more done with experimenting around my garden! I should've just dug down and got the root:( darn it! As for a willow, I will have to look around! I'm sure there's one around somewhere, just probably never noticed it!

In the mean time, any other rooting agents? or will just water be fine?
9 years ago

Roberta Wilkinson wrote:I successfully rooted a passion vine cutting in a jar of plain water, so I think they're pretty willing rooters. Fingers crossed!

Any chance you have some willow around that you could use to make a rooting solution to water the cuttings with?



Fingers crossed indeed! The cutting off the main vine I took is currently in water, so hopefully that works!

I do not have any willow near by, will anything else work as a rooting solution? Sea weed maybe?
9 years ago

Joylynn Hardesty wrote:My experience...
While visiting friends, I admired her passion flowers dotting the pastures, "Do you want some?" Why, of course! How could you ask such a thing?
As we continued to wander the property, she delegated the digging to the kids. I would have been a bit more careful, myself, but hey, free.
They dug up 20ish, most of which had broken roots. We put them in a Wallmart bag with just enough soil to cover up the roots, ran water over them to ensure dampness, and parked them in the shade. For 3 hours until I left. Then I threw the bag of plants in the trunk, and drove for 2 1/2 hours. Since I have insufficient skill to balance a flashlight whiled digging holes, I left them in the bag, but not in the trunk. The next day I found out I was out of potting soil AND pots. Ooops. So I plopped them in the damp dirt under the blackberry bushes. They were planted sometime before noon.
I don't have the precise survival rate, as I didn't mark each one, but enough made it through the experience to make me happy. I think they are fairly forgiving plants.

Caution: I now tend to take the attitude of plant enough of X and some will survive. I was getting way too stressed over the survival rate of my plants.



Awesome story! Glad to hear yours made it, hopefully mine do!

John Elliott wrote:Get yourself a good sized shovel and dig it out by the root. If you get your spade under the main part of the root, you may be able to lift out a good size piece of the vining root with it. That it what the plant will grow from.

I dug two plants out of the ditch up the road at the end of last summer. They both suffered from transplant shock after I moved them and looked dead, but one started to put out new leaves about a month later. That one overwintered and is now growing, albeit slowly. I think the best time to try and dig them out is right after a heavy rain. I didn't try digging them after they went dormant in winter; I figured I would try it again during the growing season this year.



Thanks for your sharing your experience as well! Unfortunately I already severed the plant from the root it was on a major road, and it felt weird to just start digging to china out of no where with a shovel, though I should have at least dug a bit with the scissors... oh well Maybe the main plant doesn't make it? I still have a good cutting from it, and there was a smaller plant next to it growing that I pulled up, so maybe I'll have some luck!(:
9 years ago
Hello! I was shocked to find a 5ft tall passion flower along a main road, just under a metal guardrail. I'm guessing a bird pooped the seeds out there a year or so ago!

I kinda rushed from excitement, and tried to pull the plant from the root by "twisting" the plant at it's base in circles. This usually has worked for me before to remove a stubborn plant, but this time it didn't. The plant snapped off at the base of the root. I understand this is a vine, so maybe the roots are different? Will this plant still propagate? Should I cut off the new growth and propagate that separately?

Currently the plant is in some soil. The plant also had one other side shoot growing on it, which I cut and am propagating in soil too. I put honey on it as a rooting agent, not sure that'll do anything, but it's all I got. Anyways, any input would be helpful!
9 years ago
Hey Justin! Sorry, I think I confused the situation - itntially I meant I only have room for either a keyhole, or create two rectangle beds, as the keyhole bed will replace the current rectangle bed in that exact location!

Perhaps if I spent more time, I could fit both... And make the keyhole smaller? But then it would fit in the yard awkwardly, and lose sunlight! So I don't think I want to expierment with that, but I'll keep it in mind!
9 years ago
Long time no see Permies! Was hoping the folks here could pitch in their opinion of my first raised beds! I went ahead and made one, but I realized I messed up (not sure how I did that?), so I'm going to re-vamp this bed I just made, and I'm deciding between 2 options. I am hoping to have this finished by this Friday, or ASAP!!!(:

Currently the bed is;

- 6ft L x 4ft W x 1/2 ft H.
- The area gets about 5 hours max of sunlight due to the poor aspect of my backyard.
- When I made the bed, I took the top soil and flipped it upside down, then laid the soil we purchased on top of that.
- My yards natural soil is a sandy loam!
- Yard in untreated, and filled with diversity!
- The space I'm working with is about 10 feet, and is comprised of a space between two bushes in our yard (we call them "happy bushes"). Right behind the space for the bed, the yard slopes down a few feet, so I can't go back much without having to worry about that.

[[[ See Image 1 ]]]]


OPTION 1: 2 square beds
- I was thinking of just turning the current bed sideways (easier said than done), and placing another along it to form an isle. I could form two 6 x 4 beds this way in the same spot, instead of hogging it all with the current one.

[[[ See Image 2 ]]]]

OPTION 2: A keyhole bed!!!
- Looking through my Permaculture books, I thought, why not just make one key hole bed there, then next year create two more in the area of my yard that gets maximum aspect, and crop rotate?
- For the keyhole bed, The mock design below is about 10ft diameter. Inside is about 3ft diameter, and the planting space spans about 3 feet across.

[[[ See Image 3 ]]]]

- So I was wondering what you guys think? Keyhole, or just two rectangles?
- If I go keyhole, is 3ft diameter walking space too much..? And is 3ft garden space too much..?
- Is it ok that I'm just flipping the top soil over?
- Because I can only do 1/2ft of depth, should I do anything to the the space between the ground and new soil? Should I place branches/grass clippins..? or put cardboard (I'm weary about toxins!)
- Should I mulch this bed once finished with say, straw from home depot? (if they have any), or pine needles? Or just grass clippings from my yard?

If anyone has anything else to add, or advise or question, please pitch in! This is my first bed, I already made one mistake, I'm NOT trying to be perfect - just want some experience, and to actually grow some food:D Over time, I could always raise the height of the bed another 6 inches to made it 1ft deep, if money is there for it, otherwise I have just 1/2 of soil I'm bringing to work with!

9 years ago
I don't remember seeing this last year, and it looks quite similar to poison oak - which I've never seen in person before.

Thanks(:
10 years ago
Hello!

Unfortunately, our circumstances have changed and me n mom will NOT be able to make the conference. It's heart breaking, but it's just not going to happen. I understand this is a last minute thing, but we were hoping to try and sell the tickets to recuperate at least some of the cost. We purchased 2 of the early bird tickets priced each @ $695. We're looking for offers & are willing to go super cheap. I believe payment through Paypal sounds good.

If anyone's interested or knows someone who might be, please let me know! I'm hoping to get these sold ASAP to make sure they're not wasted!
10 years ago
Just backed $5. Not much money to work with here, but I wanted to contribute(: