the height of human rights. the ability to scavenge for plants. my brother in christ, this is where we started.
weeds
there’s no such thing as a weed.
Yes there is. Noxious invasive species that have no natural checks are most definitely weeds.
Consider Scottish thistle in Oregon. It literally locks off grazing and food for wild animals, and our climate and ecology does not provide any natural checks against it’s growth unlike it’s natural habitat.
It’s a horrible, 6-8ft tall, 4-6ft wide sprout of thorns and hate that is wrecking wild lands and cultivated land alike.
A weed is anything you don’t want in a particular area. Even the most hardcore people with wild gardens probably have a few plants that they definitely do not want.
Like an entire yard of blackberries bushes, or giant hogweed which burns you if you touch it, or others which have noxious pollen, etc.
Freaking mint
Tell that to the noxious invasives.
Was gonna comment this earlier but decided not to. Glad someone else did.
A weed is just a plant that you didn’t plant.
A weed is just a plant someone hasn’t figured out how to market it yet.
I have a fair sized yard that I’m largely letting go natural. If we could afford it, I’d lay down a metric shit ton of clover. And it’s working! There’s more life in our yard than anywhere on the block. LOL, my wife is screaming back at the frogs we’re so overrun.
If you’re in an area that doesn’t freeze too hard, or if you can put in a large enough pond, get some water going. I have “ponds” from 15G to 150G and only the smallest one isn’t thriving. Plants are healthy, but it’s too small for animals, temps change too fast. If you don’t attract animals to eat the mosquito larvae right off, look up “mosquito dunk”. Got that trick from lemmy!
I’ve spent nearly nothing for all that, don’t even use pumps anymore. Biggest expense was the 150G Rubbermaid, about $150, but I had discounts, paid $110. All the plants came from the creeks and rivers and swamps around here. Cut them out, take 'em home, toss in the water, nature does the rest. I was astonished at how quickly the 150G went wild! Two weeks vs. the months I thought it would take.
Bird feeders are cheap enough, and you can certainly roll your own along with bird houses. Feed’s not too pricey. I use black sunflower seeds, but you can sometimes get a generic mix that’s a little cheaper. Hummingbird food is stupid easy to boil up. Find a feeder that takes standard mason jars and you can make and freeze a whole year’s worth in a half hour. Get the jars at the thrift for 25¢, they don’t need good tops. Pull spent feeder apart, rinse it out, screw in the mess-free frozen cartridge. :)
Only things I actively kill are carpenter bees and fire ants. Carpenter bees are wildly destructive to one’s home, and the traps only catch those particular insects. For fire ants, use bait with hydramethylnon, nothing else will do.
that sounds like a fantasy. i’m really intrigued.
may i ask, have you tried competitive species instead of insecticide/traps? if so, did you find it was ineffective? i’ve always had this idea of a native garden tending to a local species of endangered ant. i was hoping that with some management maybe i could help the relatively docile native ants outcompete the fire ants, but most people are so afraid of ants to begin with… they think all ants are fire ants or crazy tawny ants. i like social insects :)
anyway i was just wondering it sounds like you might have relevant experience and intereting anecdotes.
And because I can’t edit my damned comments.
My wife came home from work and started watering. Here’s the 150G, but you can’t see anything. The cucumber vines and wild flowers have covered it.
The vines are loofah sponges! There’s also purple martin bird house gourds mixed in. Got some corn and okra on the left, pear tree in the back. Only pic I have unfortunately.
Been down with COVID for the first time, haven’t been out for two weeks.
wow, looks like a little slice of paradise. it’s so green.
strange, i came down with covid for the first time this year, and i spent 2020 and most of 2021 getting bounced between shelters and a halfway house. shit sucked. glad for vaccines. i think it must be complacency, everyone stopped even pretending to wear masks, and don’t get me started with handwashing, which was already an unacnowledged public health crisis before covid imho.
I read something about loofah sponges a few days or a week ago or so… aren’t they related to bottle gourds? have you actually used them for like, scrubbing? probably a silly question but i don’t suppose birds could actually nesti in the gourds?
No idea what might compete with carpenter bees, but se seem to have killed most of them off along with all the other insects.
As to fire ants, they’re invasive, no natural predators I know of, and I have zero issue annihilating them. The destruction is unreal. They can take a patch of soil and turn it onto straight desert in a week or three. It’s hard to overstate how bad they are down here.
Can’t edit my comments.
Didn’t read well enough! Sounds like you are already familiar with fire ants.
Even better for hummingbirds is native plants that feed them. We have planted red cardinal flowers that attract them and butterflies
Wife’s friend gave her a Rose of Sharon that we almost killed. Survived outdoors in a pot last winter, even through the record-breaking snow! Damn, that thing blooms non-stop and the hummingbirds are all over it.
Paywall
I was posters would do the work up front.
Then use one of those sites that gets rid of it if there is a paywall for you.
I didn’t find a paywall? Worked fine.
Good for you
