#bootesstar

[solarpunkani]

Hi! We've talked once before (about the dubiousness of purple milkweeds in commercial wildflower mixes), and I was working on a garden spreadsheet (what vegetables to plant, when/what pests to look out for) for a friend of mine, and it suddenly occurred to me that a discord server for people who are suddenly trying to start growing their own food (bc, y'know, the horrors) could be potentially really helpful both new and old gardeners? Had this realization somewhere between setting a calendar reminder to start cucumber seeds and helping a completely different friend ID the brown spots on his tomato leaves. I don't have a server set up yet, but I'm thinking about trying to get that ball rolling in the near future and I was wondering a) if you/your followers would be interested in joining something like that and b) if you have any ideas on how to do it RIGHT. Because the idea would be that it would function like a big, welcoming garden club, but because of how gardening works (growing zones, regionally-specific advice) I'm concerned we'd all immediately doxx ourselves and that could...potentially be a problem in a big, welcoming online group. I also don't have experience as a moderator (unless you count DM-ing tabletop games), and I've been a part of enough online communities to know that without actual policies and planning going in, they tend to fall apart when poorly-modded drama inevitably crops up. Which wouldn't be ideal for a community where the idea was growing food, especially because most people suddenly getting into that are doing it bc the economy's going to hell, and it would be especially bad if we'd all partly doxxed ourselves bc we were excited that our peas were sprouting. As gardeners tend to do. Also you don't have to have answers to any of this (please don't feel pressured!), but I'd gladly take your input if you have thoughts, and if you know anyone else who you think might have ideas on how to do this right, feel free to show them this/pass along the idea, etc.

Hey!! Sorry I'm getting to this so late, I only just saw it!

A Discord server for that would be helpful, yeah!

I do already have a gardening server, for just general gardening stuff but its swiftly leaning towards native plant/pollinator gardening with food stuff on the side. From my experience, get someone you trust or maybe even three someones you trust to be your mods, decide on rules for the server, and don't waver on em unless you're given a genuinely good reason. I can send an example of my server's rule set, if you want later?

Regarding concerns about doxxing, in my server I guess we tend to lean a little lax on that but for the most part there's been no serious self-doxxes? Generally people say what state/country they're in, maybe what part of the state/country they're in, and general expectation is to never get more specific than that. Someone could say they're in North Florida or South California or West Australia and that's generally enough to get advice. Sometimes someone will say, like, 'i'm near the Boston-ish area' but no name dropped cities asides from that. I also have a self-pick role system where people can assign themselves a role for their USDA growing zone.

TLDR; strong rule set and set and exemplify boundaries, people'll get the hint and if they don't get specific. Give a way for people to get region-specific advice without getting too specific.

If anyone has any ideas, sound off in the replies!

[redcookies-bestcookies]

10 characters/10 fandoms/10 tags

Thanks for the tag @naoko-world! I love games!

10 characters I love from 10 (different?) fandoms

1. Pavitr Prabhakar - Spider-Man Across the Spider-verse. Current baby, beloved, look at him

2. Bruno Madrigal. The blorbo. - Encanto

3. Ed Teach/Blackbeard - Our Flag Means Death. I know he's insane but I love him.

4. Wanda Maximoff - MCU. She's alive :)

5. Marshall Lee - Adventure Time/Fionna and Cake

6. Alastor - Hazbin Hotel

7. Stanford Pines - Gravity Falls

8. Nico Di Angelo - PJO/HOO. (Art by @viria)

9. Ballister Boldheart - Nimona

10. Tori Spring - Solitaire/Heartstopper

And for the non pressure tags! @geat-26 @avi17 @seanettlles @jenolicho @cheetour @witchy-rook @bootesstar @chronic85doodler @sionnaach @omgcheez :D

[er0gutz]

aaa thank uu!!!!!!! @fishermansfriendsworld @digiblueslush @gerardwayscrustyeyeshadow @smellsimi @ryanrossguitars @zombieshaveheartstoo @patrickstumpsboyfiend17 @cyanidesunset999 @j3sus0f5uburb1a @geometricallyepic @thexie-and-stars @mrsway @lola-thepsychic @rebelrobinrules1984 @lilithangelion @patronsaintofbrokenstrings @selfryed @pridefulpaladin @urlocalcryptidxx @tired-or-d3ad-inside @bootesstar @silkiiso @walkthenightalone @sarahparcakart @ketchup-is-green @depths-of-misery @iusedtomakeoutwithvampires @punk-o-ween @emoregressioncore @marssmithmustdie @fabulousk1lljoy @bloodyvampwings @myassakiratobitaka @scarecrowwannabe @wannabescemo @axel-ist-cool @le-freaknasty @blushcomet @lobot0mmy @mug-of-nyoom @hotel-bella-morte @dem0lition-lov3r @therealaxlrosereal @priisakilljoy @pissworm39 @mickonmain @thelivingdeaddd @4t432 @bloodybuttons @bad-at-living @venus037 @puke-ur-gutz @mychemicalkiana @celineocean @vxmpty0 @poinkyboinky @riverx0x0x @thewitchesghost

i appreciate all you guys sm!!!!!!!<3

You are someone’s treasured mutual.

[solarpunkani]

Saw your tags on that post about swamp milkweed about having trouble getting it started--you may already know this, but milkweed seeds need light to germinate! They only need a light dusting of soil on top of them (and putting them somewhere with a lot of light helps!); if you can't see the seed through the soil, it's buried a little too deep. They basically want to be laying flat on the surface of the soil rather than poked down into it, with just enough soil on top to help them retain moisture. Yes this does make it kind of annoying to manage moisture because you don't really want them drying out either (sorry 😭) but I hope this helps!! I mention it because this is the most common issue I see with people trying to grow milkweeds from seed. They also want 4 weeks of cold stratification (cool temperatures like in a fridge while also being in contact with moist soil; you can plant your seeds, pop the whole pot in a ziplock/cover it with cling wrap, and just refrigerate it for a few weeks) so don't forget to do that!

You know

it's really funny

because i like to call myself the self-proclaimed milkweed queen of tumblr (at least on my gardening blog but still)

And yet

I

constantly fucking forget about the light thing

IDK if that'll fix all my problems (the soil at my house is pretty sandy so I think that's the problem when it comes to transplanting at least) but regarding getting those little shits to germinate??? that might be the ticket

(one of the other problems I face sometimes is the seeds deciding to mold when they're in the fridge cold stratifying, i lost a good chunk of seeds to that last year but i don't see any signs of it happening yet this year so fingers crossed everyone)

[redcookies-bestcookies]

Thanks for the tag @naoko-world!

✨when you get this you have to put 5 songs you actually listen  to, then tag 10 of your favorite followers✨ (non-obligatory)

Okay so TW: most if not all of these songs or videos are sad because I'm an emo child at heart.

1. Sleepwalking by All Time Low. This song is my obsession right now. I'm also kinda grieving that they just came to my city and I couldn't go to their concert.

2. Kill Ur Vibe by All Time Low. So more ATL. Now this is my current shipping song.

3. Staying Gold by Brick + Mortar. Fun fact: I wanted to make this band my OCs favorite band because the music vibe is similar but the lyrics are too fucking sad!

4. Fake Out by FOB. I love FOB

5. Way Less Sad by AJR

Now I'm gonna tag some new people and friends so sorry if you don't like games and sorry if I let anyone out. I'm tagging @jenolicho @miraculous-hearts @littlefreakkitty @witchy-rook @bootesstar @cheetour @dancingmantis @rosellacwrites @thecrazyashley-blog @omgcheez but if anyone else wants to do it feel free to do it. Also sorry if you were tagged already.

[redcookies-bestcookies]

These are so cute and accurate. Halloween, gay, croissant love and silly face, yes, that's me

No pressure tags: @geat-26 @ghostingcrows @maybeebeee @bootesstar @avi17

Silly new tag game!

Rules: Go to emoji kitchen and click randomised. Post the first 4 emojis you get here for a 'true' not totally random and made up insight into your personality!

No pressure tags! @cositsamarvelfan @ominoose @hamster-on-fire @leh2393 @jayke0 @alwaysmicado @strangerhands @queerponcho + anyone that would like to join!

[solarpunkani]

*slides back onto my own post* hello hello! Loving all the discussion here tbh no worries about making it long! I've definitely found that 'wildflower mixes' from cheaper companies (*cough cough* Ferry-Morse *cough cough*) will include all kinds of seeds from all over the place (I get the feeling I shouldn't plant California Poppies all willy nilly in Florida, yknow?), but some companies will at least give the Latin names of what's in the packs--this is the first one I've seen that hasn't, and it's been making it real hard to find out what's native in these packs and what's not. (Off topic but, Prairie Moon. Gods, I just realized they sell Florida native plants too and now my impulse shopping brain is on red alert.) But yeah, looking at a pack of wildflower seeds in the store and then going online and buying packs of actually native Wildflower seeds is jarring the first time, and I feel like things like this definitely don't encourage someone who's newer to gardening to actually go and make the effort to source native, you know? Regarding what Bootesstar said, I 100% agree! I definitely found it suspicious that they didn't include the Latin names for the plants--and surprisingly enough, that fact alone was making it real hard for me to find the native ranges of the different plants because some sites just. Didn't have that information for some, but did for others? But then, of course, even if I did manage to find a correct range map for the plant in question, who's to say that's what's actually in the packet? Also after reading what you'd said, I was 100% about to gear up and start planting Sundial Lupine in my garden, but unfortunately the Karner blue butterfly's range doesn't even come near my humble little shall not be named Florida hometown, though the plant goes alllllll the way down the East Coast so I may plant some anyways! I'll definitely be checking out BONAP! Thanks for teaching me how to search it, I'd stumbled across the site but has no clue what I was looking at lol. Anyways TL:DR; Everyone, make sure the seeds you source are genuinely native, and genuinely native to your area of your country (for example, a native California seed blend could do more harm than good in Florida, if it even grew at all). With that in mind, be wary about generic 'wildflower mixes' and seed bomb kits, especially if they don't offer the Latin names of their plants (double especially if, like the case with this kit, you can't even see the specific common names they chose to use unless you purchase and open the kit.) Instead, source your seeds from a reputable source, ensure they’re all native (or at the bare minimum make sure they’re noninvasive I swear to god but native is WAY preferred), and consider making your own seed bombs. If you don’t have the materials for that, try seed paper/seed confetti, or even using a salt shaker to spread your seeds around! Don’t trust kits like this unless the kit is FROM a reputable, native source. At best, the seeds won't grow in your environment, or maybe some will and some won't. At worst, you're spreading invasive plants that'll do more harm than good in the long run.

Guerrilla Gardening Commodification (?)

Alright friends so I was shopping at Target with a friend and I went to check out their Spring/Outdoors section because of course I did and I saw an assortment of ‘seed ball’ gardening kits. See below.

Now, this caught my eye for several reasons. For one, I’d been thinking about making seed bombs (another term for seed balls) for awhile now, but hadn’t figured out where exactly to get the clay from. I’ve also already started thinking about what I wanted to grow in my garden, as well as what I wanted to put in my hypothetical seed bombs. Not to mention, they’re bright and colorful.

Perhaps I’m reading into it too far. But the origin of guerrilla gardening is gardeners planting things–food, flowers, etc–on land that they don’t have the legal rights to. It’s been a form of direct action and protest from the beginning, and not necessarily one that always has positive connotations either, depending on who you ask.

Granted, in recent years, it’s gotten a lot of positive press–I’d heard of the idea of guerrilla gardening in this time, where lovely positive articles were being written, morning news shows were doing quirky little shorts showing off seed bombs as a cute fun activity with your kids in the backyard, and guerrilla gardeners were getting TedTalks. Hell, the first time I’d heard of a ‘seed bomb’ was volunteering at the zoo as a teenager and making and selling them for a dollar donation to help save tigers. It was literally the whole thing that made me want to garden in the first place! Is the positive PR a bad thing? Not in my opinion, no. Sharing positive radical ideas and concepts, drawing attention to the lack of green spaces and food access in communities, and boosting the amount of habitat for pollinators are all fantastic things! But at the same time, I don’t know how to feel about these kits. It sort of feels like commodifying and capitalizing a revolutionary act, sort of ‘sanitizing’ it to be more PR friendly? Again, I could be overreacting.

The entire air these kits had to me was sort of a 'hey, make seed bombs, toss them in your backyard! How fun!’ Am I going to demand that the company making these puts an entire history lesson on the back of every package, mentioning the origins of seed bombs and their revolutionary nature? Not necessarily, but still.

Obviously, this seed bomb kit could be the thing that gets someone into gardening, which is always a plus in my book. Maybe people will use the seed bombs for their intended purpose, and throw them into empty lots and neglected spaces to create some color in their worlds (though, at that note, I’m not sure how excited to be about people throwing tomato seeds into lots where they may pick up toxins from the ground that people may try to eat later). But still, in the moment, I was getting a very heavy 'oh hey we’re sanitizing your movement’ sort of vibe.

History of guerrilla gardening aside, as a pollinator gardener, I wanna talk about the stuff included in the wildflower kit.

The front of the box has cute pictures of hummingbirds, bees, and butterflies, hanging out around drawn and labeled flowers; dwarf snapdragons, plains coreopsis, sweet william pinks, dwarf cosmos, coneflower, and milkweed (if you know me you know I love milkweed). The back lists all the flowers included in each 'set’ of seeds. But you’ve gotta wonder… are these native? And to where? It says it was made in the USA, but the USA is pretty big, with a wide variety of different pollinators and pollinator plants in each region. Something native to one area can be invasive in another, which is never really good. The company making these kits, Modern Sprout, is based in Chicago, Illinois. They have a lot of other products on their website, many of which are all very cute, but. There are over 100 species of milkweed native to the United States, and they don’t all grow well in the same places or are even native to the same places. The back of this kit only says 'Milkweed.’ Thank you. Which one is it? Am I going to plant swamp milkweed (Asclepias incarnata) in an area better suited for common milkweed (Asclepias syriaca)? Am I going to be planting the mildly-controversial tropical milkweed (Asclepias curassavica) all over my neighborhood? This doesn’t even begin to address the other plants in this kit, which I recognized the names of but not enough to know intimately if they’re native to my area. The idea of someone intending to do good but accidentally spreading an invasive species around is scary because it’s possible.

I don’t think I’m allowed to critique too much, seeing as I did end up impulse-buying the kit. I’m going to double check and see if these are all native (maybe the inside has more information, specific species names?), and if not I’ll just use the clay and worm castings to make my own seed bombs. I just had a lot of thoughts, and wanted to start a discussion of sorts?