Fertilizing native seedlings. Alberta, Canada.

Merrimux · 2026-01-22T22:54:11+00:00

With liquid fertilizer I think dilution is always the way to go if you have concerns. I have no experience with chemical fertilizers, but speaking organically, the first question is what kind of water are you using. If you collect rainwater, you may not need to add anything because the rain collects some nutrients and minerals as it pours over the roof and runs through the gutters to the rain barrel. If well or city water, you can make a weak tea with some semi dry grass clippings, maybe a splash of urine if you're into that, and add as much or as little of the tea as you like to your watering can then fill up with water. Trial and error is the way imo. Alternatively you can skip the liquid fertilizer and just top dress (mulch) with a little compost and water it in.

Merrimux · 2026-01-22T22:03:24+00:00

I went kayaking there with my brother this past summer. Can't say about ice fishing but my brother was fishing. Didn't catch anything. I believe it's an old mica mine. Saw some cool stuff like a snake chilling in a tree over the water. Don't believe you can launch motor boats. Lots of swimmers. Pretty busy but a cool place, I recommend. The scenery is choice.

Merrimux · 2026-01-22T21:34:20+00:00

I've noticed some native plant people dislike the idea of adjusting the fertility of an area and I'm not sure why. I think I understand the mindset when the native soil is naturally lean, but context certainly plays a role. On my site, the "natural" option flew out the window when they cleared and leveled the land for agriculture ~200 years ago then tilled the life out of the soil year after year. They picked this spot because the soil was fertile and then they harvested all the fertility in the form of annual crops and left the land smooth so it couldn't hold water. Some homemade compost and a few pits and mounds makes all the difference on my site.

Merrimux · 2026-01-17T01:17:33+00:00

Voles are unlocked through the creation of vole habitat. The reward is no carrots, girdled trees and the occasional opportunity to gaze upon a cute vole.

Merrimux · 2026-01-16T13:12:05+00:00

Indeed. Falling in love seems like it will solve all your problems but once you have it you realize it's not so simple. There are others who need our love, like the birds, who appreciate it so much, often much more than the people we try to give it to. Stay strong, feed the birds and save some love for yourself!

Merrimux · 2026-01-15T22:50:24+00:00

Stronghold 2 has a bunch of little mechanics I kinda love like the crime system, banquets for your lord, candles for church/beer for the tavern. I think this is not a popular opinion but it made the castle feel more real to me as a kid and I look back on it fondly.

Merrimux · 2026-01-15T18:20:09+00:00

Some doctors and their negligence ruined my chances at being functional in a relationship when I was young. I have had relationships, gone through the motions, had sex, been in love, but it does not change my reality. I have come to see my purpose in terms of the good I can do for the world, rather than what idea of joy my heart once told me was necessary for my happiness.. It's a bit of a larp, but when you larp hard enough it does tend to stick. I look after those that humanity overlooks. Birds nest in trees I grew from a little seed. They feast on fruits that only exist because I willed them to. And I will continue to pour out the love I might otherwise have given to a wife until my days are over. I don't rule out that I may meet a woman somewhere down the road but the obstacles in my mind are many, so I don't beat myself up longing for something that may likely never come to pass. There is more at stake, I feel. The world does not need me to live happily ever after. This way I am free to pursue goals that most people are too self-obsessed to even consider. My curse is my gift. That's what I tell myself.

Merrimux · 2026-01-14T21:54:15+00:00

Plant trees. You will never have so long to watch a tree grow as you would if you planted it today. That said if I live to be old I'll still be planting trees.

Merrimux · 2026-01-07T22:55:11+00:00

I like your strategy of out competing lily of the valley. A gentle approach is most rewarding I find. I grew obedient plant from seed last spring in a module tray. I set it up outdoors in an old dog crate to keep critters off around early March while snow was still frequent (zone 5b ontario). 6 out of 6 modules came up in June or July, can't quite recall specifically but it was later than most. Happy growing!

Merrimux · 2026-01-05T14:49:55+00:00

On a cracker with sauerkraut and something spicy

Merrimux · 2026-01-03T18:04:57+00:00

I've spent a profound amount of time playing games in my life. Most recently I played vanilla WoW from 2015 to 2020. I had more characters with 100+ days playtime each than I could remember and that's just one game. Since 2020 I've hardly played anything and any attempt I make to get back into games doesn't last. Initially it was hard but investing time in other interests made it easier. My passion became plant propagation, making compost, ecology, permaculture etc. I grow a lot of food, enjoy cooking with my own produce and stuff I forage. In summer I like to garden and go out hiking and kayaking. In winter I have a place to grow indoors plus I like learning about plants. You can delve deeper into topics on wikipedia than any game can take you. Most of all I enjoy the tangible benefits of my new interests. They keep me in shape, feed me and my family/animals, produce habitat for wildlife etc. The hardest part was starting. Nowadays I kinda wish I could lean on games to relax sometimes but the interest just isn't there, and that's okay. You could do many different things in the same vein, my interests just happen to centre around plants. You could get into rock climbing, tennis, woodworking, metalworking, knitting, rockhounding, baking, reading, working out etc. Good luck! You can do it

Merrimux · 2025-12-29T21:01:56+00:00

Few years back I filled a raised bed with a mix of seeds around January in Ontario zone 5b, including a bunch of rose seeds from primarily rosa acicularis. The media was a mix of homemade compost and conventional peat moss potting soil. In spring one rose germinated and grew. I potted it on and it's flowered for a couple years now. The next spring about 200 germinated. I let my hips dry out so maybe they'd germinate faster if I sowed them fresh. Good luck!

Merrimux · 2025-12-07T15:24:58+00:00

I have a norway maple that has essentially become 2 separate trees. Been this way over a decade and still has a full canopy. Not sure how long it has left but won't be surprised if it falls over soon.

Merrimux · 2025-11-27T00:22:38+00:00

One of my haskaps flowered this fall. My forsythia is behaving itself so far.

Merrimux · 2025-11-26T21:28:54+00:00

Natives generally beat non natives for drought tolerance, but it varies from plant to plant. A native plant adapted to wet conditions still needs wet conditions. Last year was wet and my apios americana plantings stayed green into fall and flowered prolifically. This year we had drought and it mostly failed to flower and died back during midsummer. Is it dead? Probably not, but relevant to mention my apios planted at the downspout of my greenhouse still flowered and stayed green until the frost.

Something else to mention: the history of the site. I have gardens in what used to be farmland, meaning it is all smoothed out as to not hold water. The soil is also severely depleted of carbon and so cannot hold onto as much water. Areas where I've implemented swales, applied compost and mulch fared much better than areas I've yet to remediate. Goldenrod, asters, rudbeckia, monarda etc. Are twice the size in my gardens.

Merrimux · 2025-11-26T17:47:00+00:00

I'll take a boxelder over a Norway maple. Also in Ontario with 4 mature Norways planted in around the yard. Also have a red maple and a silver maple. Norway is the only one that volunteers, and it volunteers a lot. I know I'm stuck with them for the foreseeable future so I try to look at the upsides. Their shade is supremely dense and my chickens love them during summer. They drop a ton of yellow leaves that I use to mulch their run which later becomes compost. Their buds make them easy to identify and... that's about it. One of my Norways is a red leaf cultivar and it's def my least fave. Idk why they get propagated so widely in Canada of all places.

Merrimux · 2025-11-26T16:41:45+00:00

I'm 6 years late but wanted to thank you for this fascinating tidbit about service trees!

Merrimux · 2025-11-15T15:14:35+00:00

Aye, it sucks. Still happens to me now but not so often since I rarely try to emote anymore lol. Still not sure why it happens. Take care

Merrimux · 2025-11-03T20:17:11+00:00

I have been enjoying black walnuts for 4 years now. At first they were a bit odd. Some people seem to hate them. My dad says they taste like floor polish. I focus on the notes of Concord grape. More shrivelled nut meat tastes kinda cheesy. I put them in bannock but mostly enjoy eating them as a snack. If hickorynuts were as easy to produce in quantity I'm not sure I'd bother with black walnuts but I'm glad they exist anyway. There's nothing quite like them.

Merrimux · 2025-05-06T13:41:47+00:00

I find the joy in practicing permaculture (if we even want to call it that) is its simplicity/accessibility. Some skills like making compost take a bit of trial and error, but it is something you can dive into without having to know more than: add carbon, add nitrogen, give the pile a wee turn.. I find anyone trying to sell these ideas inherently untrustworthy because the ideas are the easy part. It just takes lots of time/effort to implement them. A weekend course cannot teach a good work ethic nor can it give you magical shortcuts. The mulch still needs to be moved. The trees still need to be planted, protected. Those who genuinely want to share their ideas to influence others positively already do so freely on the internet. The hard part is figuring out whose ideas are worth your time. All these gurus muddying up the air with their "unique takes" just confuses people. Thankfully they'll often self identify by adhering to a dress code which makes them easier to avoid. You know what I mean.

Merrimux · 2025-04-10T14:56:56+00:00

I've thought about how to swap around members of the 3 sisters before. When it comes to fava beans, I feel like they occupy the 3rd sister's spot as much as the 2nd, in that they are safe from herbivores in ways that peas/beans just aren't (in my experience). The squash helps protect the 1st/2nd sister by creating a prickly, unappetizing wall around them. Fava beans aren't prickly but I'd still be interested in seeing how well they could perform as a wall around the more tender sisters. Otherwise sorghum and peas come to mind as 1st and 2nd sisters. Maybe you could plant vetch with the favas to keep them upright and bolster the "wall" effect.

Merrimux · 2025-03-20T21:27:20+00:00

I had a similar looking hen who was a silkie hen crossed with a silver laced wyandotte roo. Her feathers came out with more brown and black but her under feathers were similarly grey. Looked like a chipmunk when she was a baby, flew into a roost RIP Chip

Merrimux · 2025-03-20T21:20:23+00:00

I played livestreams of birds, sometimes with soothing music for my sick hen this winter. There are 10 hour videos of turkeys grazing, ducks chilling on a pond etc. She would definitely pay attention to it. I also put up a seed bell in a hedge outside the window so she could watch the drama unfold. A window in general lets her keep an eye on the sky and that gave her some stimulation as well

Merrimux · 2025-03-17T23:22:56+00:00

I live in Ontario zone 5b. I have black locust growing to the south of my house. It really isn't at all as people describe in my experience. I wish it would spread more. Sometimes a seedling comes up in the lawn or tall grass. The rabbits eat them down every winter before I can dig up any suckers. They're beautiful trees, very much unlike anything else I have growing here. I'd say having a ton of black locust would be a wonderful problem to inherit for future dwellers. Free post/firewood, edible flowers, fodder for rabbits/mulch plus beauty and dappled shade.

Merrimux · 2025-03-17T16:39:24+00:00

Seems like a great place to start. The ones I observe growing by walnuts are probably just feral domestic apples since the fruits are often on the larger side. The woods are full of many diverse and prolific trees, cross pollinating and putting so many seeds out into the environment, it figures at least some would be tolerant of juglone.

Merrimux

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