May Lotito

So wonderful you have as many bamboo canes as you need. I have difficulty growing bamboo and at one point it was on the brink of dying. https://permies.com/t/242089/bamboo-grow-faster-bigger

Following Jay's advice, I encouraged chickens in that area to add fertility, and gave the groove same mineral treatments as in my garden. The culms have grown thicker and have less winter die back in the last two years. I pluck young shoots in undesirable spot to control the spread. Those shoots are edible and chickens love them too if I help breaking them up. I also dig up long underground rhizomes and use them for basket handles.

Is that the same path you showed with water running over like a stream? I usually find seeds staying dormant for a few years in the soil if conditions are not appropriate for them to germinate. But if the volunteers do come up naturally, they are much earlier to emerge and survive freezing temperatures better than the pampered counterparts in designated garden.

I am thrilled to find the first Indian blood peach sprouting! I kept the seeds in the fridge moist until February and planted in ground. Pear seedlings are poking up as well. And all the elephant garlic are thick and robustly growing. Thank you very much for the seeds and plants!

They are field madder Sherardia arvensis. The roots are said to be a weaker version of madder for dyeing.

I make calcium citrate from egg shells and citric acid. The resulting product is so fine it is almost a milky suspension that waters in easily. I give it to seedlings and potted plants, especially the acid loving ones. It boosts their root growth.

I sowed winter rye cover crops in this year's corn patch. Spring in my area arrived 2-3 weeks early and forecast called for a dryer and warmer summer so I will be terminating them soon.

A kind of flute instrument is made from birdhouse gourd in China called Hulusi:

After reading about milkweed being edible, I ventured out of my comfort zone and picked some young shoots to try. I stir fried them in bacon grease with eggs just like cooking asparagus. And they are delicious! The stalk parts are milder but younger leaves are so flavorful. No bitterness or slimenes that I tend to associate with wild forages.  And they are everywhere, easier to grow than asparagus. I can't wait to try the pods this summer.

If you want to fo it organically, pomace, castings from worms fed with fruits, alfalfa pellets or manure from rabbits fed with alfalfa all have relatively higher level of boron, and other nutrients. A 50 lb bag of alfalfa pellet with 15% moisture and 50 ppm boron contains 1 gram net boron. It's analogous to treating anemia with iron supplements. If the situation is mild, correct it with diet; if severe, take concentrated form for speedy recovery.

Good to hear your soil has sufficient reserve. If you just need maintaining, 1 table spoon for 100 sq ft every other year is enough. Dissolve in water and apply evenly with a watering can. When plants transpire and uptake the boron, the excess will accumulate at the tips of the leaves and when it rains, it washes out and recycles back in the soil (drip line!). In our climate, toxicity is unlikely because of the high rate of leaching.

For me, I did 5 applications each of 4 lb borax on one acre from Feb to June last year, based on my local rainfall/temperature pattern. So about 2 lb of net boron per acre and 3 months prior to that I already put down hundreds of pounds of lime and gypsum to raise calcium level.  It was kind of high rate because I need to get it deep in the soil profile. I don't need to this year. My oldest peach tree finally has hundreds of flower buds surviving -12F and multiple warm-ups and freezes, after 3 years of nearly zero harvest. It might be able to fend of plum curculio without any protection as well.