Reid Bennett

Thanks folks! Indian Grass is maybe a little upright for what I was imagining but it is native, golden, and very decorative during the summer months as well. Definitely up for the running.

I'm in Southwestern Ohio and I just installed a gravel patio with decorative landscaping for my parents, on the east side of the house, and the spot I am looking to plant this grass gets sun all day being off the north east corner, and is the foreground for any sunset views from the patio. I'm looking for a golden straw colored grass (or "dirty blonde") that moves freely with the wind and shines in the sunlight. Most "golden" decorative grasses I have seen such as golden sedge are more yellowed with little sheen, a more solid colored appearance. Most of the grasses I have seen with the desired texture have a very straight, sturdy upright growth. Attached is an image of a wheat field, and I am aware of the editing involved but I have seen wheat fields exactly like this in person in South Dakota, and was speechless at the coloration of these fields with the sunset as I have never seen texture like this. I have considered just planting wheat but I would prefer a perennial. I have thought about inland sea oats but they have maybe a bit more of an upright growth pattern than I would prefer, and they stay green for quite a while, but their seed heads hold this desired color and texture. Maybe a cultivar that has a larger seed head would allow more color to show during the summer and be more weight bearing on the stems?

For any other consideration, we have also in this area purple cone flower, swamp milk weed, woodland stone crop, creeping phlox, bluets, wild geraniums, English lavender, little blue stem, lemon thyme, and Pennsylvania sedge

Posting in Permies because I figure your ideas will come from a really good place, as this landscape is meant to be quite interactive with the local ecology and that is a consideration for all of the plant selections here. Thank you in advance.

Wow, never realized that there has been such a boar problem in this state. Must have gotten really out of hand since I looked into hunting them a couple years ago.

I suppose I could control that, if that problem comes my way, with really really reallyx10 good fencing around the immediate vicinity of the home. RV is still probably the cheaper and more "outfitted" option. Thank you for bringing that to my attention.

But yes, I am looking for empty land. Most of the land I found has water and electric hookups, which would mean that I have to pay a little for them even if I'm not using them. Honestly, might not be a bad thing given that I won't need much of either, and the entry costs of going solar are really high. Probably too high to justify sinking the money in for a property that I probably won't live in longer than a decade.

I'm coming to you today with a question but I am really seeking any kind of pointers that can lead me the right direction with my own research. I'm not too lazy to do my own research, but google's algorithms are getting me nowhere, so hopefully someone can send me down the right rabbit hole.

I am a young man looking for land, preferably 2+ acres for less than 25k. Low property taxes are a plus too, but with the land values I'm seeking I doubt that they will be very high.
I hope to start a small homestead close to where I am familiar as I grew up in a suburb of Cincinnati. I'd like to start with a temporary living space like the ones listed, but I don't want to get into one of those temporary living space agreements with the government, where people live in an RV until their house gets finished as that will likely be many years down the road, if I even decide to build on this property. The counties I'm looking at are Hamilton, Butler, Warren, Clinton, Highland, Brown, and Clermont.

Technically, living in an RV is federally illegal, as per the definitions of a livable dwelling to the US government. However, like with marijuana, some states/counties are friendlier to RVs than others, and don't have any ordinances against them. Some do but have a police department ran by bubs who aren't interested in arresting someone for that. I would NEVER do ANYTHING that would go against the wishes of the crown, but I might be okay with buying property in a county that doesn't enforce these rules, just to, you know, legally go camping there and store my rv.

A lot of the rules that apply to rvs seem to apply to tiny houses and wall tents too. I've lived in a garage for several months, and spent a lot of time in tents and RVs, so I'm pretty comfortable with the challenges that come with these types of living situations. I'd do almost anything to prevent myself from being drowned in crippling debt.

Anybody with meaningful interpretations of the rules for these counties, or has a sharp eye for "loop holes", I'm all ears. If you know of any content creator that does a similar thing in this area that might have some helpful content, I'm all ears. Thank you Permies in advance.

That’s very helpful, and clears up a lot of the confusion, I really appreciate your insight! I’ll probably get some cuttings of those caprifigs you talked about and do some more intentional breeding work. Thank you!

Too long, didn't read: Has anybody outside of the fig wasp's range grown fig fruit from seedlings?

I have a hard time finding information about fruit genetics, especially with figs and apples. These subjects are popularly misunderstood in my belief because of click bait articles and old wives tales.

I just bought dried figs from the store, not imported. I've seen many people in fig groups on Facebook having success germinating seeds from grocery store purchased dried figs. However, I'm not seeing many people growing fruit from these trees. As I understand, they usually take 7+ years to produce fruit from seed.

I purchased "Mission" figs, and I think it is fair to assume that these are of the "black mission" variety, which, according to the usually correct Wikipedia, is a "Persistent (or common) fig - that [does] not need pollination for fruiting." The problem that I have with this statement is that this sub-category of figs are refereed to as "common figs", which is also the species name. The other 2 types of edible figs, according to Wikipedia, are Caducous (or Smyrna) and Intermediate (or San Pedro). According to a quick google search, all 3 of these types of figs are Ficus carica, otherwise known as the "Common fig". Being that they are of the same species, they can breed with each other, and produce what type of fig? Will Persistent figs produce Persistent seedling figs if they are pollinated by themselves? What if, since they are all apparently the same species, the seeds are crosses? Do they always take the type of one of their parents? Kind of confusing in my opinion.

This confusion makes me concerned about the pollination and sex of the future seedlings. From what I understand, some fig trees are male, which produce hermaphroditic flowers inside of the fruit that are pollinated by the wasp and house the wasp to lay her eggs without killing her, and they produce inedible fruit. The female trees produce figs that are indistinguishable to the wasp from the male figs, and they trap the wasp, break her corpse down, and produce the accessory fruit that is edible. I cannot find reliable information on how pollination and genetics work with the self fertile figs.

Despite my concerns, I am a permaculturist, and like many permaculturists, I like throwing seeds in the ground just to humor me and see what they do. Problem is, that if it's a, say, 1 in 10,000 chance that I grow a tree that produces fruit in my environment, then its not worth my time and space in my pots to try this.

Another question related, is how to induce earlier fruiting in fig seedlings? I've seen apple breeders graft 1 year old seedlings onto precarious dwarfing root stocks to get quicker results in their efforts, and I plan to do the same with apples. Should I  also do this with figs? Maybe another thing I could do is prune aggressively to put the plant in "breed or die childless" mode? Just a thought, but maybe somebody with experience in this could chime in.

I live in Ohio but I spend some time in the Rocky Mountains in Montana. A lot of growers have struggled to cultivate huckleberries, especially outside of their native range. The huckleberries in Montana are Vaccinium membranaceum, the “Common Huckleberry”, “Black Huckleberry”, or “Mountain Huckleberry.” I have several blueberries in Ohio, also in the Vaccinium family, on my property. Has anybody grafted huckleberries onto another Vaccinium species?

My theory is that I might achieve more success if I take a cutting in Montana and graft onto an established blueberry plant in Ohio, than trying to start a huckleberry from seed or by rooting a cutting in Ohio. I feel that the roots from the blueberry (which isn’t native here but grows near this region) will have better adaptations to this environment that may add vigor to the not adapted huckleberry, along with the fact that this individual blueberry plant is already established in it’s growing spot and healthy.

Thank you in advance for your insight.

I appreciate the input! I've been watching David for some time now, it's about time I support him and buy a book.

Hey permies, I'm toying with an idea here and hopefully some people can help by firing out some thoughts.

I saw a video from Ross Raddi about growing sugarcane in colder climates. If you want the link, here it is, start at around 4:30 to see what I mean here:



Anyway, something about the video caught my attention. Near the end of it, he mentions that he is growing figs and sugarcane right outside of philly (USDA zone 7 I believe), and he cuts them at the base and lays a tarp over them for the winter. Both of these plants can overwinter this way in cold climates, and grow vigorously enough that they can produce a harvest-able crop, even though they have very little lateral mass to start the year out with.

This leads me to believe that in colder climates, especially in close proximity to a house, one could greatly diversify their food supply by grouping up vigorous tropical and subtropical plants, cutting them near the base in the fall, and covering them with leaves and a tarp over the winter.

So as demonstrated by multiple people including Ross, I already know that figs and sugarcane can be grown in this manner. I hypothesize that papayas might work too, given their quick production and growth. Are there any other plants that can produce in this way?

Hopefully with this method, I can grow some of these tropicals and subtropicals in the ground rather than in pots, which tend to be more temperamental, need indoor winter storage space, more inputs, and attention.

Also, after many years of scrolling through this forum, and with google's search algorithms landing me nowhere with this idea, I have finally made an account here and posted my first thread, I am very excited to communicate with fellow permies.

I am propagating and planting fruit tree cuttings in groups of 3, so that the roots cause the trees to dwarf each other. I am going to use wood chips as a mulch, and leave the tree trunks space from the wood chips as to not spread disease.
My concern is that young trees from cuttings are very delicate in that they have very little established rooting, and want to encourage root growth and prevent root competition from any companion plants or weeds. I am wondering if I should hold off on planting companion plants for a certain amount of time, or avoid certain plants altogether?
Also, any advice on propagating and planting fruit trees would be appreciated. I am planting almonds, peaches, pears, figs, cherries, and apples. I am in zone 6a. Cincinnati, OH.