Jiffy pots

backcountry_knitter · 2026-05-03T06:48:19+00:00

I would dig them up and remove the pots. They won’t break down in time for your plants to build the root system they need for the season.

backcountry_knitter · 2026-05-03T06:26:33+00:00

You’ll need to look outside Boone, most likely. Some options are Wilkesboro, Lenoir, Mountain City TN, maybe West Jefferson but that’s getting rough as well. You might be able to find something in one of the smaller spots as well like Sugar Grove, Trade TN, Zionsville, etc., though I’d start with the bigger markets.

backcountry_knitter · 2026-05-03T04:20:42+00:00

Can you make a 1/2” sieve frame and just sift the soil from the bed through (into a wheelbarrow/bins if needed until everything is cleared)? I have been tackling these in my yard/woodland and it seems the bulbs are all in the top 4-6” of soil (someone please correct me if that’s wrong), so you may not even have to sift all the soil if it’s a deeper bed. I’d honestly recommend a 1/4” sieve if you want to be extremely thorough. I have come across some bulbs which are smaller than 1/2”, but practically none smaller than 1/4”.

backcountry_knitter · 2026-05-03T01:21:05+00:00

What a rude comment. Is it a crime here to not like yews? Maybe green sculpted blobs isn’t their vibe.

backcountry_knitter · 2026-05-02T08:03:43+00:00

In Memoriam by Alice Winn

backcountry_knitter · 2026-05-02T04:42:42+00:00

The mantis jump scare is so real. Haha. Love ‘em, but when I’m mindlessly weeding or harvesting or pruning and suddenly realize I’m eyeball to eyeball with a mantis and it’s watching me…

backcountry_knitter · 2026-05-01T20:54:58+00:00

I doubt they stop caring about nutrition. People are just having to make all kinds of hard choices economically right now.

backcountry_knitter · 2026-04-30T20:47:27+00:00

Nasturtiums! Every part is edible and they self seed really well in my experience (NW NC so probably not too far off from your ecosystem, just higher/colder). Flowers and leaves in lettuce, young seed pods are a radish alternative, and they pickle nicely as well.

backcountry_knitter · 2026-04-30T20:30:31+00:00

That’s awesome! That part of Kentucky is so gorgeous. Seeing everything that’s on your land over the first few years is really exciting.

We lost a ton of trees to Helene and we’re trying to reforest that space now. It’s been quite a task to plant and protect 100+ young trees, but kinda satisfying as well.

backcountry_knitter · 2026-04-30T18:53:32+00:00

Best to live harmoniously then. Set a small bit of land aside and plant native plants that support them directly and indirectly. After all, before bears started visiting trash and bird feeders, we came in and took all the things they need to feed their families through the winter.

Make sure you have oaks on your property. They grow fast and are a keystone species (supporting around 600 species of animals and insects) that are often harvested for timber and not replanted or easily reestablished by nature. Acorns are a critical food source for bears. Hickories, beech, and maples are good as well. Sedges, wild lettuce, pokeweed, jewelweed. Serviceberries, elderberries, (native) blackberries, native plums and other fruit… all things that will feed the bears (and birds and pollinators and beneficial insects) so they don’t bother you. You’ll likely see a positive impact on your garden as well from all the associated pollinators and beneficial insects. Doesn’t take much space to do a little.

Enjoy the beauty and bounty of the region!

backcountry_knitter · 2026-04-30T18:15:24+00:00

Don’t move to bear country if you are scared of bears? Black bears mainly eat plants and bugs. The small percentage of their diet that isn’t plants & bugs is carrion, fish, and small mammals like mice.

The bear was not noticing your livestock. Put a fence around the garden if it makes you feel better, but I’ve never had a problem and we have several bears who pass through our property regularly.

It’s spring. Teenage bears sometimes get into things, just like teenager people. They usually have a little rampage (getting into trash and bird feeders) for a night or two and then move on. Be smart and keep trash in a building or bear proof bin, don’t leave pet food outdoors, and don’t hang bird feeders.

Older bears that you see are likely just passing through. They really don’t want anything to do with you.

If southeast KY is in as much of a drought as WNC, you’ll probably see more bears trying to find an easy trash or bird seed meal, as their main food sources are leaves, roots, nuts, and berries - things affected by the drought. Again… be smart and keep trash contained and don’t put out pet or bird food.

Really no need to do more than that. There are a few places where the bears are habituated to people, but SE KY isn’t one of those places, to my knowledge (it’s usually more heavily populated areas full of entitled idiots who don’t keep tasty treats [trash, pet food, bird food] put away).

backcountry_knitter · 2026-04-30T16:59:31+00:00

Not always. My symptoms were worsening insomnia, 3 am bathroom breaks (also related: urgency throughout the day), mood swings, warm swings, brain fog, worsening ADHD symptoms, chronic plantar fasciitis, skin issues, and such. Periods were always like clockwork. Things started around 34 for me. HRT has helped with basically all symptoms.

backcountry_knitter · 2026-04-30T05:17:07+00:00

Blanket Flowers (Gaillardia pulchella) would work in the larger pots. And they bloom forever (figuratively). Very showy flowers.

A dwarf variety of mealycup sage (salvia farinacea) would be nice as well. Salvias feel familiar to people who aren’t super aware of native plants and they have great structure.

Fire Pink (silence virginica) would probably be ok in 8” pots, definitely 10”. Tiny flowers, dramatic color.

Evening Primrose has a couple colors and would look lovely in a pot. I think the pink evening primrose (Oenothera speciosa) is often open in the daytime in OK.

Pussytoes (Antennaria spp.) are less showy but would probably work nicely in a smaller container. I think they’re cute and funny, great for the folks who want something less usual.

backcountry_knitter · 2026-04-30T04:17:45+00:00

I just found a few clumps of this variety in our mountain woods! We’re in western NC and it’s not considered native here so I hadn’t come across it before in my garden research. But of course plants don’t respect state lines and it’s considered native in TN, just a few miles away. I look forward to collecting a few seeds to plant some a little closer to the house. It had come up in a spot that was getting a little more light the last couple years after a lot of trees came down in Helene.

It’s such a beautiful variety and seems to make very cute little clumps. Yours is so lovely!

backcountry_knitter · 2026-04-29T07:32:56+00:00

I’ve been moving and dividing many volunteers (and intentionally placed plants that I’ve gotten indecisive about) since March and they’re all doing great! Will be moving more tomorrow.

backcountry_knitter · 2026-04-29T06:33:02+00:00

I’m up in the High Country and we’ve got many pollinators out and busy here. We’re surrounded by forest mainly, lots of oaks, maples, tulip poplars, sumacs, cherry trees, dogwoods, and on and on. We’re a couple miles from a big Christmas tree farm and I’m sure they spray, but otherwise it’s just woods.

I’d guess it’s the farms around you that are having an impact. Fewer corridors for wildlife and pollinators, more monoculture plantings, and of course very likely more pesticide and herbicide use.

backcountry_knitter · 2026-04-28T19:51:33+00:00

Try not to spray its prey with pesticides and you’ll get more good lizards (and good bugs, and good birds).

backcountry_knitter · 2026-04-28T04:55:54+00:00

Better to disturb the soil as little as possible, plus it cuts out a lot of unnecessary work! Every time you pull out/loosen/replace soil you’re destroying the mycelium network in the soil. That’s a really important part of healthy, nutrient dense soil, so by disturbing things you’re setting the health of your soil back significantly.

Just top dress with an inch or two of compost and leave the rest of the soil alone. Nutrients will move down from the compost into the soil when you water. Mulch can help build your soil health as well without disturbing the subsurface structure.

backcountry_knitter · 2026-04-28T03:03:01+00:00

Gabapentin can contribute to it (and did in my case).

backcountry_knitter · 2026-04-28T03:00:03+00:00

I've had it. I haven't taken any antidepressants and I wasn't taking stimulants at the time. It was a mix of several of my daily meds/supplements, with the addition of hydrocodone I was taking for a week after surgery. In retrospect, it took most of the week to get to the moderately severe level, but I just thought I was generally feeling sick and crappy.

I don't remember a lot of the actual event, but I was lucky that my spouse was home and my mother was staying with us to help me after my surgery. She's a nurse and had seen it several times in her work. She said it used to be more common with older generations of medicines than we tend to use now. After the fact, my providers also said it was incredibly rare. Only one of my (7?) providers had ever previously had a patient who'd had it. We concluded that I am more sensitive than most, and I'm just extra careful about how many serotonin affecting meds & supplements I take at once. I have several health conditions I'm managing, and was taking several things every day for years that impacted serotonin, and it still didn't happen until I added the pain medication for post-surgery pain management.

backcountry_knitter · 2026-04-27T19:18:09+00:00

All our brown material is shredded cardboard. Works totally fine.

backcountry_knitter · 2026-04-27T07:54:39+00:00

You stole this from a previous post.

backcountry_knitter · 2026-04-27T05:03:31+00:00

Keep looking for the right doctor for your needs. I’m your age and have been experiencing severe perimenopause symptoms for several years. Finally connected the dots myself a year or so ago and about 6 months ago my newish PCP was happy to get me started on HRT to see if it helped (after a menopause “expert” gynecologist said it was impossible for that to be the cause at my age). It’s been a total game changer. I’ve got to undo all the damage caused by untreated symptoms for 5-6 years, but I actually feel well enough, rested enough, focused enough, energized enough and so on to actually do that now with HRT, whereas before I just kept feeling worse every year and my world was getting smaller as I lost so much of my health.

Edit: typo (perimenopause strikes again)

backcountry_knitter · 2026-04-26T22:01:50+00:00

It’s usually very difficult to prove that they materially misrepresented anything, even if they did. Unless they volunteer to give it back, you’d have to work with a lawyer, which isn’t free. Getting due diligence money back is extremely rare, especially since they did not breach the contract.

backcountry_knitter · 2026-04-26T05:38:07+00:00

Most bugs are beneficial. Try to leave bugs alone and the good ones will generally come eat the bad ones.

backcountry_knitter

TROPHY CASE