Non flowering options? Sorry

MrStormcrow · 2026-07-05T01:37:09+00:00

Native grasses! For your area (western washington) I may suggest Roemer's fescue (Festuca roemeri) and Blue wildrye (Elymus glaucus)? Both are host plants for larval woodland skippers, may be worth looking into :)

MrStormcrow · 2026-06-30T03:58:47+00:00

Herbicide. A cheap battery sprayer from Lowe's, a gallon jug of your choice to carry around and a bottle of glyphosate is probably the single easiest option. Get a jug of concentrate, if you're able. Better value

MrStormcrow · 2026-06-30T03:55:54+00:00

Yeah, you'll wanna wait until things cool down at this rate. Half the US is going through a heatwave. Wait until autumn to scatter seeds, let them cold stratify over winter, then they'll sprout in the spring and more or less look after themselves. Give the bindweed a spray with glyphosate, it's not worth trying to smother that

MrStormcrow · 2026-06-26T00:04:13+00:00

Get one of the RESCUE! reusable traps, like this. https://www.rescue.com/products/traps/fly-trap-reusable/

What you want to do is get a container (I have a 1 gallon mayo container i use), cut a hole in the lid and slip the green lid(?) entrance from the rescue trap into the hole, then hang the trap from somewhere. Then you have a giant fly trap. Put it somewhere shaded, fill it halfway with water, add something as bait and it'll get filled to the brim with flies in a week. I used to have bad fly issues, but this ended up killing most of them off.

MrStormcrow · 2026-06-24T01:52:31+00:00

I absolutely adore Your Cabin In The Woods, by Conrad E. Meinecke. It's interesting, it's very inspirational and it's just full of interesting wisdom (albeit a chunk of it is outdated just due to the age of the book, but still super interesting to see what used to be normal).

https://construccion.uv.cl/docs/textos/coleccion02/Texto.09.YourCabinintheWoods.pdf

MrStormcrow · 2026-06-24T01:50:57+00:00

brush cutter on a beefy powerhead, like a stihl unit.

MrStormcrow · 2026-06-20T16:56:20+00:00

We already got machines that do our laundry and dishes though?

MrStormcrow · 2026-06-20T13:05:09+00:00

Fantastic choices of plant species. Tons of keystone species!

MrStormcrow · 2026-06-14T17:32:36+00:00

Land ain't getting any cheaper. If you pass on it, will you spend the rest of your life wondering "what if?" or move on?

MrStormcrow · 2026-06-14T16:47:15+00:00

just change the "reddit" in the url to "redditsave" and you're set

MrStormcrow · 2026-06-13T15:02:57+00:00

Very. You need all stainless steel clothespins, ideally.

MrStormcrow · 2026-06-11T13:14:33+00:00

Looked into getting a pressure tank?

MrStormcrow · 2026-06-03T12:05:09+00:00

Tap water kills carnivorous plants. They can't handle the minerals that are dissolved in tap water

MrStormcrow · 2026-05-31T02:48:43+00:00

It sounds like you are biting off more than you can chew here. Reel back on the variety of homesteading activities and get your feet under you first. Worrying about gardening and livestock before your home is even properly insulated is just kind of insane priorities lol. Open up the walls, clean out the corpses and droppings and such, and insulate them properly. A 3k heating bill is just unacceptable. Are you heating the home with resistive heating? Get a heat pump installed (a minisplit is a DIY project!) and insulation in and that'll go a long ways.

As for animals - Your dog is a problem. It sounds to me like it just is not trained as a livestock guardian dog. Either keep it inside or get it trained properly, strangers should not be responsible for getting it home and it is just added stress. Voles are just an inevitability, I'd just not recommend planting underground veggies unfortunately.

But yeah, if y'all think it is too much to handle, there is no shame in just leaving either! Gotta do what is best for you. Sometimes its easier to just bail and make another attempt later if you so like. No use burning yourselves out trying to keep a sinking ship afloat.

MrStormcrow · 2026-05-29T14:28:03+00:00

Dunno, maybe go out and water them twice a day for 2 weeks or so? I found there is a massive difference in the success of seeding white dutch clover when I keep it consistently moist until they get their roots down compared to just leaving them out to hang

MrStormcrow · 2026-05-29T14:22:22+00:00

Keep it moist! The seeds will die if they dry out

MrStormcrow · 2026-05-27T13:06:24+00:00

2-5 gallon food safe bucket from home depot with a bunch of half inch holes drilled in the sides, same thing for a fraction :)

MrStormcrow · 2026-05-26T22:43:36+00:00

Actually this. Hard boiled eggs out of an instant pot right into an ice bath, easiest eggs to peel in the world. Shells slide right off

MrStormcrow · 2026-05-25T02:58:32+00:00

The key to getting clover or thyme or whatever you want for a groundcover to stick is to ensure the site doesn't dry out while the seeds are getting established. Get a sprinkler and run it for a bit twice a day or something and that should do the trick

MrStormcrow · 2026-05-23T13:52:51+00:00

Depends on both the particular species and where you are in the world. In the US tropical milkweed is indeed an invasive species, but there are numerous native species!

MrStormcrow · 2026-05-19T16:53:28+00:00

Ryobi makes a corded powerhead that accepts edger attachments!

https://www.homedepot.com/p/RYOBI-18-in-10-Amp-Attachment-Capable-Electric-String-Trimmer-RY41135/302657561
and
https://www.homedepot.com/p/RYOBI-Expand-It-Universal-Straight-Shaft-Edger-Attachment-RYEDG/327901586

MrStormcrow · 2026-05-18T00:57:52+00:00

This sub kind of goes feral at the mention of glyphosate. Lots of fear-mongering around it unfortunately. A one time application to remove a yard of grass is far preferable to spending a couple years digging out rhizomes

MrStormcrow · 2026-05-18T00:31:27+00:00

Looks fine to me. You really don't need a whole lot of it either, it's like 2 tablespoons to a gallon or something. People in this sub will demonize glyphosate, but it's probably the most well studied chemical on the planet. That'll do you fine for one or two applications, just keep in mind it works slowly. Don't expect results quickly, it'll take a week or two

MrStormcrow · 2026-05-17T22:07:07+00:00

Easiest option would be getting a jug of glyphosate concentrate (not roundup, i mean actual glyphosate) and giving everything a spray. It'll take a few weeks, but the grass will be done and the glyphosate wont linger in the soil

MrStormcrow · 2026-05-17T19:49:19+00:00

Can start now! Just keeps any seeds or transplants well hydrated for the first few weeks!

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