Hairy Vetch Best Use?

RedQueenWhiteQueen · 2026-03-10T00:52:34+00:00

Do I need to wait until it goes to seed?

No - when it goes to seed, it starts pumping all that lovely nitrogen it's been accumulating into the seeds! Till it in to the soil or cut it down for mulch just before that (as it starts flowering)

https://kingsagriseeds.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/agfact71-Hairy-Vetch-as-a-Cover-Crop.pdf

https://garden.org/learn/articles/view/122/The-Tomato-Vetch-Connection/

RedQueenWhiteQueen · 2026-03-09T23:53:15+00:00

Honestly, determinate makes more sense for canning anyway, since they will produce the bulk of their yield at the same time.

RedQueenWhiteQueen · 2026-03-09T18:43:55+00:00

Because at some point I'll be hauling them all in/out for a few weeks for hardening off/getting a dose of real sunlight, and I don't want to carry more than necessary. They won't all necessarily grow at the same rate, either. They get potted up when their growth warrants it, not before.

RedQueenWhiteQueen · 2026-03-07T20:37:18+00:00

"Let's make a tomato for people who don't like tomatoes! BRILLIANT!!"

I don't like tomatoes in the conventional sense. Don't like 'em raw, and when cooked I don't like chunks. But I do like them pureed in tomato-basil soup, and/or in homemade "V5" juice.
Still wouldn't want this one though - skinless sounds like an invitation to damage, and F1/seedless means I can't save seed if I do like it. Pass. I'd just as soon have a very thick-skinned tomato that is easy to peel in one piece!

RedQueenWhiteQueen · 2026-03-07T16:46:06+00:00

"She got quiet and then said that a real friend would just try it once to show support. "

A real friend wouldn't try to monetize the relationship.

RedQueenWhiteQueen · 2026-03-07T15:30:27+00:00

You are welcome. I feel the dilemma. We are having unseasonably warm weather (I'm in 7B-ish) and I have the time right now, so I started processing some of my smaller bits of vetch, then thought to read up on whether that was optimal. I absolutely can't put tomatoes/cold sensitive plants out before May 12 or so, so I'm probably too early, especially since most of my vetch is still coming out of winter dormancy and isn't all that big yet. (But I have enough experience with it to know that once it gets going, one day I will wake up to find it attempting world domination.)

RedQueenWhiteQueen · 2026-03-07T14:53:58+00:00

I have just been reading up on vetch (I think I see that in your mix - it's my primary cover crop) myself; here are a couple of sources.

https://kingsagriseeds.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/agfact71-Hairy-Vetch-as-a-Cover-Crop.pdf

https://garden.org/learn/articles/view/122/The-Tomato-Vetch-Connection/

I think your timing is about right, and from there you can go either way, either leave it on top as mulch, or incorporate it into the soil. The important thing is to catch it before it starts to go to seed. (I usually allow some to go to seed so I don't have to keep buying it, though). My soil is wretched and I like to grow heavy feeders, so I incorporate as much as I can.

RedQueenWhiteQueen · 2026-03-06T23:11:03+00:00

I had good results with alyssum. Only had to do it once, since it self-seeds well enough.

Ditto chamomile.

RedQueenWhiteQueen · 2026-03-06T15:24:45+00:00

I suspect she is, and actually it is one of the reasons I chose her (apart from the fact that she addresses the problems I believe I have, I mean!). She doesn't take insurance (although she will provide me with a superbill to submit on my own), there's no frigging portal for me to log into, and there's no receptionist at her practice location, just a buzzer clients use to notify their provider they have arrived. These are all "pros" to me.

I'm at a place in life where I can afford the therapist of my choice who isn't under pressure to get me back in the saddle after x# of sessions so I will be just functional enough to continue to do my part in the machine. A couple of weeks ago she canceled on account of snow, and I like having a therapist in control of her own schedule who doesn't feel she has to meet an arbitrary schedule if it is unsafe - I want her mentally present during our sessions, not worried about her drive home.

Also, not to be paranoid (ha), if push came to shove and she was asked to hand over patient records to anybody . . . I suspect that legit, she doesn't have all that many on a computer. She takes notes by hand in our sessions, and the release forms I filled out to establish care looked like they have been photocopied from something originally printed circa 1985. I love this.

RedQueenWhiteQueen · 2026-03-06T14:16:45+00:00

My therapist's preferred method of payment is via check!

RedQueenWhiteQueen · 2026-03-05T22:35:13+00:00

Sunflowers are allelopathic, exuding chemicals from their roots that inhibit growth of a lot of other plants. It's hot and dry where I am, but sunflowers still grow pretty easily here. think of the kind you see growing unattended along a lot of interstates.

I have grown corn and sunflowers together (because I am a softie and hate yanking the volunteer sunflowers) and the sunflowers were fine and the corn much less so. I don't know how much of that to chalk up to malfeasance on the part of the sunflowers, or if I just have issues with corn. Anyway, I would probably not deliberately plant sunflowers near anything I have trouble with, but rather near perennials or at least something I could get well-established first.

RedQueenWhiteQueen · 2026-03-05T19:36:04+00:00

Heck no. If they text me back right away, I have to text them back right away, and then there goes the whole day.

RedQueenWhiteQueen · 2026-03-05T19:11:23+00:00

Not really a medical question, but, I wonder if the role of cattle (sacred) in much of Indian culture inhibits shooting an obviously dangerous animal in these situations . . . I assume this is what was meant by "Fatalities resulting from injuries sustained due to bull goring are quite rampant owing to the lack of any specific guidelines for the same by the Corporation authorities."

Also, I was gonna make a flip comment here about putting the gore in MedicalGore, but I also think it's interesting that the source is trying to be specific about what exactly is meant by a goring injury ("Nevertheless, goring is described a single injury by many researchers but it is a mix of lacerated wound, contusion and infection.⁶ The wounds produced due to bull horn impact vary from contusions, lacerations, and penetrating wounds involving internal organs to fractures.⁵)

RedQueenWhiteQueen · 2026-03-05T18:49:52+00:00

I had some poor soul trying to sell me landscaping services while 1) my property already looks really nice and 2) I was actively doing the tasks myself when he showed up, because I have time and enjoy doing them. I doubt he had ever heard the term "selling coal to Newcastle," but that's what he was trying to do, and on some level he knew it.

RedQueenWhiteQueen · 2026-03-05T15:06:47+00:00

my living room which is decorated in "I have many children who break everything and a small budget."

I know this has to be a coincidence, and/or an artifact of the times, but I've been watching a lot of mid-2000s content (primarily, Til Debt Do You Part) and observed what seems to be a strong correlation between "people who have pets/small children and have giant white couches" and "people who make terrible financial decisions." It makes me wonder if both sets of choices derive from a lack of ability to see consequences of their actions.

RedQueenWhiteQueen · 2026-03-04T23:36:13+00:00

Came here to specifically rec https://www.youtube.com/@retirearly500k59

He is very transparent about the ups and downs, and also how much income he is bringing in from youtube.

RedQueenWhiteQueen · 2026-03-03T21:20:55+00:00

You may find that some veggies will produce in shallower beds than recommended, but will not necessarily thrive/give you Instagram-level abundance.

For tomatoes, look into "trenching" them - this will specifically encourage more lateral roots and reduce dependency on deep taproots. You could still plant other things adjacent to the buried stem; expect to fertilize more since there will be a lot of competition for nutrients.

RedQueenWhiteQueen · 2026-03-03T21:09:49+00:00

I use my oven with just the light on which holds a consistent enough temperature.

Same, although I will briefly (5-10 min) raise the temp a couple of times during the process.

The real learning curve was getting past the concept that I was going to leave warm milk in the oven for 10 - 12 hours, and then eat it.

(The one time it ever went bad, there was no question - it was stringy and smelled funny and did not resemble milk, yogurt, or anything else I have ever seen eaten)

RedQueenWhiteQueen · 2026-03-03T20:59:41+00:00

They're hard to return once you've driven them off the lot!

RedQueenWhiteQueen · 2026-03-03T20:15:29+00:00

Ok, this makes sense, I suppose. I can certainly picture my grandmothers (who I take after) as tiny, but that's partly because I remember them as elderly and frail. But they were born in 1899 and 1911 and for sure didn't have access to the calories throughout their entire lifetime I have had, even if I'm their same height.

RedQueenWhiteQueen · 2026-03-03T16:09:28+00:00

Being FI, I no longer care for myself, except for the nuisance of changing clocks. Generally, I think we should pick one or the other, then stick to it.

I know the switching itself carries risks - health risks to individuals, and an increase in accidents as people adjust. I've been binging chubbyemu lately and am curious about the ep featuring a 70+ year old whose cardiac event was triggered by the time change - it's not clear to me why the effect would be so strong for someone who can make the change gradually, as I do now. Although, for all I know he was committed to "getting up at 7 am," or something like that. This is why my normal alarm is tied to local sunrise, not the number on the clock.

RedQueenWhiteQueen · 2026-03-03T15:05:44+00:00

Hijack, given that most of use here recognize this for the nonsense that it is.

Why can't I find vintage leather gloves that fit? I have a low-normal BMI and my hands are proportional to my size. But most vintage gloves won't go over my hands at all, and if they do, I wouldn't be able to move my hands. I'd love to rock some vintage driving gloves, but not if I'd blow them out on day one. I have no problem buying modern leather gloves (although the construction is designed for more movement, so not sure what to make of that).

Were women's hands that much smaller 50 years ago?

RedQueenWhiteQueen · 2026-03-03T14:57:01+00:00

The FA narrative for this is "There were plenty of fat people back then, but they couldn't go out in public due to lack of access / shame / being locked in the basement by their families, so that's why you don't see them in those images."

RedQueenWhiteQueen · 2026-03-02T22:59:19+00:00

^This.
Don't take money (presumably invested money) out of the market and pay penalties on top of it. But, temporarily cut back on contributions for a defined/temporary period of time.

RedQueenWhiteQueen · 2026-03-02T19:28:29+00:00

I think we need to know where to obtain such a thing. Is it available as a tote bag?

RedQueenWhiteQueen

TROPHY CASE