We’ve had an overnight low of 21°F already, despite the unseasonable daily high temps. One of the things I prefer to do after our first few frosts is harvesting our Jerusalem artichokes (Helianthus tuberosus) because of the chemical changes they undergo - the starches change and they become a little sweeter.

If you haven’t yet (and you haven’t), please suggest a plant nursery doing good things in your region (or a region other than your own, that’s fine too) so others visiting can put their plant dollars towards nurseries engaged in good works and social equity.

What’s growing on with you all?

  • xylem@beehaw.orgEnglish
    3·
    21 days ago

    I recently harvested and processed my luffa! Four good gourds, plus a few smaller ones that’ll just be compost. All but one were very green still, so I roasted them in the oven at 250F for an hour to make the skins workable, squeezed out the pulp and seeds, cut them into a flat sheet, and then soaked in a bleach solution overnight to kill any mold/bacteria before leaving them to dry. I’m excited to make some sponges!

    I’ll be definitely be planting more next year, the super long vines are very fun, especially the one that grew along the top of my garden fence this year.

    • xylem@beehaw.orgEnglish
      2·
      21 days ago

      Some luffa pics -

      Sheets drying

      Four gourds

      Luffa growing on the fence - I had to add some extra support here, the weight of the gourds was pulling the fence down!

      aesthetic

      • LallyLuckFarm@beehaw.orgOPM
        2·
        21 days ago

        Awesome photos, thank you for sharing! You’ve made me envious, I’ll have to grow some of these next year

  • autumn (she/they)@beehaw.orgEnglish
    3·
    22 days ago

    i have photos somewhere on my phone, but we began clearing the back section of our yard for the eventual meadow installation in a year or so! we raked up all the leaves/sticks/junk and got about 1/3 of it covered in cardboard to kill everything off. i need to read back over my materials, but i think the idea is to uncover for a month every few months to let the weed seeds germinate, then cover it back up to kill them off.

    actual seeding will happen in early october of next year, likely with a mix from prairie moon.

    • LallyLuckFarm@beehaw.orgOPM
      2·
      22 days ago

      The seeds should germinate just fine under your cardboard, unless you’ve got a ton of the species that need light to germinate (most don’t, in my experience). That’s awesome though, I can’t tell you how excited I am for your project!