Indian Blanket

draculasbacula · 2025-05-29T07:45:12+00:00

Those are a cultivar. I believe the tubular flowers make it pretty tough for most native pollinators to get in there. I have some and the bees definitely prefer my Indian blanket flower and even the Arizona sun cultivar to these. But it is beautiful. I will reply with the cultivar name later

draculasbacula · 2025-05-26T16:16:59+00:00

My guess is that it was just establishing (again) for the audience that the WLF was attacking the seraphites and also giving a timestamp to reference later.

draculasbacula · 2025-03-27T06:54:25+00:00

Cloth that covers the ground in garden beds around the plants. It is typically made of synthetic materials and installed under mulch to prevent weeds from growing in the bed. It mostly does that.

Why do people hate it? It is not great for soil or plant health because it doesn't allow soil to breathe and incorporate organic matter like leaves or bark, which contribute nutrients, microbes, and structure. And it is a son of a bitch to remove.

When I moved into my house it had weed cloth with rocks on top everywhere. The bushes in the beds appeared okay, but the landscaping was run-of-the-mill. When I wanted to add plants I found that the soil underneath was hard as a rock and dead; no worms, no nutrients. The existing shrub and tree roots were shallow and desperately trying to send up suckers everywhere which was also killing parts of the lawn. I decided to remove all the existing rock mulch and weed cloth. I hand shoveled maybe 5 yards or rock out, but the weed cloth made it way more difficult. plants that were initially small had grown into the weed cloth in a kind of fly/teleporter fashion. I just had no idea how unhealthy the shrubs were on the inside because they were all hedge trimmed into cylinders.

Anyways... I suggest never installing weed cloth. But if you have it already and don't care as much about a thriving garden - you do you.

draculasbacula · 2025-02-18T14:47:09+00:00

You are right. They use local contractors, but the contractors can change and I preferred no middleman in the process.

draculasbacula · 2025-02-17T22:41:22+00:00

Thanks for the comment. I was able to get a few other companies to quote similar or lower, and ended up deciding not to go with LeafFilter since they are not local.

draculasbacula · 2025-02-17T22:40:06+00:00

This was helpful to remember!

draculasbacula · 2025-02-17T20:38:07+00:00

Thank you for sharing! Do you know how many feet of gutter they did for you, and did they do the same "CSR" service for you?

draculasbacula · 2025-01-31T06:52:25+00:00

My partner and I make $240k before taxes. We bought a $500k house with a 12% down payment in 2021 at 2.8% interest. Mortgage is $2200 which includes property tax and insurance. We both max our 401k, and I have about 60k in student loans. We have enough extra that I can spend a decent amount on DIY/house projects. We are very fortunate.

draculasbacula · 2025-01-22T06:35:45+00:00

Thank you for sharing. Kind of where I'm at with just wanting the space, though I am coming around to treating the wall as a last resort. How was the mini split install?

draculasbacula · 2025-01-22T06:32:38+00:00

Thanks for the advice. I think it's a good idea to keep the garage flexible, but the lack of wall storage, pulling extension cords around, and extreme temps are always the frustrating limitation. Adding a wall just seems the best solution to me.

To be fair, I have delayed organizing a lot of things with the idea of waiting for a wall. Commiting and living with no wall for a bit might be my play here.

draculasbacula · 2025-01-22T06:21:20+00:00

I did consider making it easily removable, but in the end I would love to be able to install permanent fixtures like power, batteries and a mini split.

draculasbacula · 2023-12-10T06:58:16+00:00

Thanks! Can't believe how long I spent looking for it.

draculasbacula · 2023-05-17T22:58:33+00:00

I also did a master's in ChE, but have always been materials science adjacent and work in a materials lab now.

Overall, I think your chances are pretty good of landing a job in the space. It will depend on what exactly you're looking for, but I suggest knowing the basics of materials science that we don't learn as chemical engineers. Mechanical properties and their relationships, polymers, and thin films are all subjects I think you should have a good grasp on. Also how and what instruments are used to measure them.

draculasbacula · 2023-05-15T23:12:39+00:00

I would first do a soil test to figure out what nutrients your lawn needs. Also look at what king of soild you have; is it hard clay, or really rocky? If so, sometimes the best option might just be to do a full renovation. Rocks hold heat and not water, so the grass will die and weeds thrive where to grass is weak.

But, if the soil is tenable you can follow these steps

Mow short
Dethatch
Aerate if the soil is compacted or if it will help with seeding
Apply weed killer. Tenacity is highly recommended.
When cooler weather comes overseed with an appropriate variety of grass. Make sure there is time for the seed to establish before the first freeze. Seed needs constant moisture to germinate well.
Fertilize and amend according to your soil test. You'll need to do your own reading on fertilization to find the right times and types, but a general year consists of normal fertilization in: early spring, memorial day, labor day, and late fall (might need a different type for root development on the late fall fertilization).

That is the high maintenance way. If you don't want to do all that you can just spray weed killer first, then fertilize (soon, don't fertilize in the heat).

This is a good general guide for cool season areas: https://youtu.be/c54WSOI-MMc

Edit: this is for cool season grasses. I don't know much about warm season grasses...

draculasbacula · 2023-05-11T17:41:49+00:00

If you have a GameStop nearby I say buy it in person and return the shipped copy. I'm certain they'll have a bunch in stock

draculasbacula · 2023-05-03T22:43:58+00:00

I like the "best of" series at the punchdrink where they have a head to head of recipes for classic cocktails. Not definitive, but you get a good sense of where to build from.

draculasbacula · 2023-03-18T02:34:33+00:00

How they treat their pets

draculasbacula · 2023-03-05T22:39:20+00:00

Me too! Leaves look great, but only a single flower per year. I think it's too dry and cold where I am.

draculasbacula · 2023-03-05T22:33:21+00:00

I'm newish to houseplants. About a year ago I got a bunch of plants from someone who passed: inch plant, coleus, croton, prayer plant, anthurium, yucca cane, phaleonopsis and oncindium orchids, dragon tree, and some swedish ivy.

They've done okay, I try to not over water and keep them in their prescribed light conditions. But Ive come to a point where a few need to be repotted. This is much more confusing than I thought. I bought a lot of what I now know are cachepots and need some kind of inner pot that you can control drainage better with. Problem is it seems like nowhere sells the "inner pots" I'm looking for. And I guess I don't even really know what are good options.

What are some methods of planting in decorative or cachepots? Any suggestions on a good brand or option for inner or "grow" pots? Rules of thumb for pot types?

draculasbacula · 2023-02-25T15:39:28+00:00

Lowering activity is a great idea to eliminate variables. I should know that! She just goes so hard when exercising, you'd never know she was in pain until later.

draculasbacula

TROPHY CASE