Druidic/Wiccan Gardening

[shaberon]

I think what I am witnessing is a case of sunburn vs. lack of nitrogen.

For example, the rest of the licorice seedlings, I did not dare plant those. We got a week of that high pressure, dryer air from the midwest. So temps were cooler, but the sunshine was brighter. The licorice, which I believe has enough nitrogen, being in potting soil, started to turn yellow; pulled it back into more shade, and it's green again now.

Similar with year-old oregano and ashwagandha plants, that I have in a mix with native "sand". They have never grown, they build up a bit, yellow out and die back. Put them in more shade, and more green now. Ashwagandhas I grew from seed in the past few months, look much better than year-old plants, since they never lacked nitrogen.

The best I can do is run around with some fish emulsion as an "emergency response" to things that are burning up, but, without an expensive soil test, the general word from the county is that you're not going to grow anything without some nitrogen and lime. Although it doesn't *look* true since many things grow just fine, it certainly turns out to be true when you try to introduce something from somewhere else.

So I don't believe it's heat vs. water, but I do believe it's UV vs. nitrogen. If it was UV *or* nitrogen, you can tell the difference, because a sunburned leaf will still be pretty securely attached; a leaf that the plant is killing due to a lack of nitrogen, will just about fall off from touching it. But when you have both, well, you have both.

And, I have realized a very similar problem coming from the use of flimsy plastic containers, whether they are little cups for seedlings, or something bigger that comes from a nursery, these are all completely unfit for harboring any kind of plant at any age.

Even the chamomile, it's really just bolting, putting out teeny flowers and withering. I think one of them has already died from the core. And, as I guessed in a previous post...the second wave of Madder took a few weeks to get through its "allotment" of nitrogen, and now those are falling apart like the previous ones.

Note to self: you cannot even grow "fire and forget" plants without soil amendments. Most people whose yards are not made of dust can expect better results with less effort.

[shaberon]

I can't take this too personally; this seems to be a global phenomenon.

In broad terms, over the course of my lifetime, both the sun itself has gotten brighter and the ozone thinner, so most of us are receiving levels of uv that have not been around for centuries. Lots of farmers and gardeners report reduced biomass and yield, excessive browning-yellowing, over approximately the last thirty to fifty years.

Recently, companies have started making sunscreen for plants. One such simple formula is 62.5% calcium carbonate suspended in water and glycerin. I doubt you'd make it very well by running eggshells through a coffee grinder, but I bet you could do it with some industrially micro-pulverized stuff. In any case, using it seems to make a huge difference.

I'm pretty sure it's *mostly* sunburn I'm witnessing, as the majority of yellow leaves are still fairly well attached. Fortunately some clouds and moisture are about to show up, but, for future reference, this is not the friendly golden sun we grew up with. It's a platinum screamer extra harsh to vegetation, so if you are seeking to raise things outdoors and see this happening, looks like sunscreen is a must.

[BlueMoon]

I enjoyed reading this thread. The wonderful picture of Salvia reminded me of my own plant which I still remember, as if it was yesterday that it withered ...
Out of two cuttings, one of them survived, after shedding all its leaves twice before it finally adapted to the new conditions and started growing normally. After 2 years, she just didn't do well, I suppose there was too much water in the soil. A very sensitive plant.

I have a nice garden with lots of herbs such as sage, thyme, marjory, mint, melissa, oregano. After I worked on improving the soil of my garden before this season started, all of my plants are growing nicely without any special attention - and the weeds like it as well, which is slowly becoming a problem and calling for my attention.

Each and every plant prefers a different type of soil, climate, amounts of water, nutrients, minerals, etc. Plants with specific needs (the ones that can't survive outside on their own, depending on where you live) should be grown in pots, that way you have more control over everything. Many seedlings also require special attention and so it is better to have them sprout in some containers and keep them there until they grow big enough to be outside - but don't "baby-sit" them too much, and before you transplant them, try to adapt them to new conditions by slowly exposing them to the conditions outside - full sun, for example.

But for all of the plants that will be growing outside, the most important thing one can do is to improve the soil. Stop throwing food waste in the trash can and rather make yourself some compost. Wonderful addition to your soil (if you're not putting **** food in the compost, that is). Coffee grounds add nitrogen, eggshells for calcium, banana peels for phosphorus, ashes for potassium. And lots of green stuff, like weeds and other plant waste. It will also attract worms which are beneficial to your soil, but the compost can also attract some other animals, like rats for example, if you're not careful (they're looking for food, such as potatoes). Just don't let them in, that's all.

To further improve the soil: you have to have a balanced soil. Not too much sand, not too much clay. Absorb enough water, but not too much. Read some useful things about soil here.

Do not add too much chemical fertilizers. Try to find natural fertilizers instead. The plants also need different amount of nutrients in different stages of growth.

The plants also adapt to the environment - slowly. They acclimatize. If you want to have any impact on this and benefit from this, make your own seeds. Select the seeds from the plant that was the healthiest/biggest/resistant to drought/had the best tasting fruit, plant them for the next year, and repeat the process. Genetic modification of the plants is here only because we have eliminated most of the plant species that give us food. Biodiversity is very important and through selecting the seeds and mixing different plant species we can achieve the same results as with genetic modifying - no, what am I saying? We can achieve better results, with no risks and guessing if this new plant is good for human consumption or not.

And, since we're talking about Druidic and wiccan gardening, I'm sure it would only be right to mention the effect of the Moon on the plants. If you don't know about Maria Thun yet, check out what she was doing. The various calendars which supposedly use Maria Thun's findings on the internet differ from each other. So the best thing you can do is to research the correlation between moon phases (also moon signs, position of the planets) on the plants on your own. The most simple rule is to sow the seeds when the moon is waxing (not at new moon though). When the moon is full, the juices of the plant are above the ground, so that time is useful for harvesting the above-ground parts of the plant - such as leaves and flowers. When the moon is waning, the juices slowly go into the roots. This is also the best time for transplanting, as the plants are focusing their attention on the roots.

I hope any of you can find some new and useful information in my post. Take care

[shaberon]

Nice post Blue Moon, +1 for "melissa", i. e. lemon balm.

Yesterday I saw a green Chinese mantis, which had developed the yellow and brown of dying leaves. Don't think I've ever seen one like that before.

And on that note, I'm 90% sure that the sun is the true culprit of the high mortality rate I've faced. From looking around here and the neighborhood in general, well, some, mostly larger things, are unaffected...however, the tendency seems to be, that most or many plants simply de-leaf in July/August, and start over now. If the plant is small, it stands little chance of surviving the onslaught.

So after the struggle, my survivors are starting to look normal and full. All I added was some dolomite lime. I did start compost for next year.

As one example, the one year old lemon balms, a sun-loving mint that will take over your garden...they all withered into nothing. Now, a few of them that are mostly shaded, have started some baby leaves. Definitely a container plant for around here.

No licorice survived the beating, but in that same spot of maximum sunlight, hyssop, calendula, yarrow, and butterfly weed are doing fine and actually look like the real thing.

Next I'm going to try to make a properly amended patch for the remaining licorice and regular garden stuff. Again, the tiller "may" be fixed for this, which would be a lot more useful than just a hoe leaving all those chunks of grass to reassert themselves. I think I am done using a spade to slice out grass by the roots, you wind up with a hundred pounds of stuff from digging two square feet, and I'm out of space to dump huge mounds of topsoil.

Also, I've discovered that for an emergency dose of calcium, you are well off to foliar feed with about a 10% milk solution. Skim milk works best, as higher fat doesn't mist very well. It won't fix blossom end rot on tomatoes, because it is "non-mobile"; which means, the plant can distribute calcium gained from its roots, but as a foliar, it can only be used where it makes contact. As a top dressing, lime seems to take some three weeks to work its way in to be useful. Pre-mixed or amended is definitely best; of course, I haven't done much of this by way of plans, more like last minute rash opportunities. So if you don't have the money or time to basically plunge your whole life into growing, some milk may come in handy, if you see light brown spots developing darker edges, stems going weak and droopy, that's probably from a lack of calcium.

[shaberon]

As almost anyone who lives in the U. S. knows, around new year, we got blanketed with two weeks of Greenland. That was very unusual for the south. Here, it gets as cold as up north, but usually only for about three days. It was warmer in Alaska. It was the deepest freeze I can remember, and pretty much expected most of the plants to go poof.

Here's what seems to have frozen to death: nothing. Maybe calendula. Those are either annuals or can't take freezing.

I thought nature's trick was that foliage drops, but roots live, because a few inches underground, they're not frozen. Obviously that doesn't apply to containers. Two weeks of sub-freezing and below twenty turn them into ice cubes. I would expect that to be fatal. There were some anise hyssop and licorice plants I thought were already dead that I just left out there. Some of them were just in plastic cups. Multiples of each are leafing out now. That's simply mind blowing. Other container plants that survived outside with no maintenance include strawberries, yarrow, and valerian.

Yarrow and valerian also survived in ground, as did Hyssop, St. John's Wort, Primrose, Lemon Balm, Belladonna, Parsley, Lavender, and Rue, which did not even lose its tops. I've never succeeded with much, so it's kind of rewarding to have some survivors popping up in February, which is apparently the beginning of summer.

Looks like wormwood can be added to the survivors; pretty good for something that received maximum neglect.

[shaberon]

Hrm. A few Madder and Astragalus are trying to come back. I see a few Butterfly Weeds, which I thought were killed by fungus. I think some Calendula either lived or re-seeded, hard to tell as they are not very distinct when young. And, I think, even a couple of German Chamomile.

I believe that makes a few representatives of *everything* I tried to start, and some of them are even flourishing. It's like a handshake or hug with the Earth, very refreshing.

The one Primrose has sent out multiple pups, one of which went under or through some Parsley about ten feet away from the parent. Those things are serious business! It did not spread towards the shade at all, it moved toward the light, same as the original plant which was six feet across, but folded in half for that reason.

[shaberon]

I see a few new volunteers in one of the "slow" planter boxes from last year. They were in the basement and then outside and most likely caught a freezing cycle and now are sprouting multiples. What am I talking about? Not sure. I believe it is the schisandra, called wu-wei or "five flavor" fruit, a type of Chinese magnolia. Has full, rounded cotyledons; one of the stems may be turning reddish and sending out a vine tip. So I think that's what it is. One of the most difficult seeds to sprout; the Chinese dip them in sulfuric acid. No results for an entire year, and now seems to be about six of them.

If so, then I would have to conclude the boxes of Aconite and Gentian were variously spilled and otherwise messed up by creatures, so I can't report much on them. Schisandra is one of those rare things in herbal medicine that doesn't require any processing, you just eat the berries, which are still probably a year away. Anyway, it does germinate, just in a very unusual way that takes quite a long time, and freezing may be a requirement.