Walnut Genesis

Rowan 4/30/2011
[2] comments
http://irregulartimes.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/04/walnuttreeapril.jpg

Within the branches, sugar is rising to build solar panels in the towering nut factory.

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Daffodils and Crocuses in my lawn?

Jim Cook 4/29/2011
[5] comments

I’ve got a gardening question for you. I’ve noticed that up here in Maine the crocuses and daffodils have already bloomed, while the grass has only gotten green in the last day or two and certainly won’t need to be …

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Stump Garden

Rowan 4/29/2011
[2] comments
http://irregulartimes.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/04/stumped.jpg

From the crevice left by the disintegration of the pith of a fallen cedar, moss and ferns.

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Options in Lawn Aeration

Jim Cook 3/31/2011
[5] comments
http://irregulartimes.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/machineorsquirrel.jpg

I could get a big, heavy contraption to aerate the yard outside my house… … or I could let the squirrels do it. Later this spring the earthworms will leave their castings on top of the grass, fertilizing it and …

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Manicured Lawn Aphorism

Rowan 3/21/2011
[1] comment
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Irregular Aphorism: A person with a manicured lawn mistakes the earth for a fingernail.

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St. John’s Wort and I, Bent

Jim Cook 3/20/2011
[7] comments
http://irregulartimes.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/stjohnswortwintersend.jpg

As winter turned to spring a year ago, I looked at the flattened form of a St. John’s Wort bush I had planted the year before. Leafless and listless, it seemed utterly broken by the weight of the season’s snow. …

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Blooming Hope

Rowan 3/16/2011
[0] comments
http://irregulartimes.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/crocushope.jpg
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Northern Sea Oats Against Global Warming

jclifford 3/1/2011
[1] comment
http://irregulartimes.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/seaoatsseeds.jpg

The old northern sea oats that falls down year after year will only partially decompose, leaving a good deal of carbon in the soil and building up a rich thatch. Instead of being the location of the release of carbon dioxide into the air, the patch of northern sea oats will be a small carbon sink.

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#4 Way to Make Things Better: Save Seeds

Jim Cook 1/4/2011
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How can you preserve the environment by reducing trucking and grow the economy by freeing up money at the same time? By saving seeds from last year’s garden and planting in them in the spring, that’s how. By drying your …

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Testing Organic Seed Search

The Green Man 12/21/2010
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What’s the benefit of using OMRI’s system? I can’t think of one. It offers me fewer choices in finding materials that are simple to locate through other means.

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Is A Leaf Blower Really Faster?

Jim Cook 11/2/2010
[6] comments

On a walk early this morning, I encountered a darkly comic sight: three grown men with leaf blowers tackling a strip of grass 50 feet long by 20 feet wide. On my way back 20 minutes later they were still …

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Pet Plants

Rowan 10/24/2010
[3] comments
http://irregulartimes.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/10/generalshermansmall.jpg

Do we really need to obsessively feed and water our small gardens, or can we find the equivalent of sequoiahs for our back yards?

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October Garden Economy

Rowan 10/21/2010
[1] comment

Trying to make ends meet in this economy feels like my experience trying to fit in a little last bit of gardening this October 21st afternoon, pulling up thick patches of turf to replace them with edible ornamentals while a …

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Rent Goats To Mow?

The Green Man 9/28/2010
[2] comments

Not every lawn alternative idea works in every location. Be flexible, and keep trying, and it won’t be necessary to bring in either lawn mowers or goats.

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Sunflower Equinox

Jim Cook 9/22/2010
[0] comments

Time lapse of this last morning of summer, just down the hill. Enjoy the change.

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Free Food in Process: Drying Green Beans for Seed

Jim Cook 9/16/2010
[3] comments
http://irregulartimes.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/09/greenbeansdrying2010.jpg

My plan for free food by 2011 is underway. Having bought sugar snap peas and green beans as seed in 2010, I’ve harvested a portion for seed. The key is not only to pick them when they’re big and brown …

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Japanese Beetle Bug Traps: Is there a Catch?

Jim Cook 8/24/2010
[7] comments
http://irregulartimes.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/mountainashandbugbag.jpg

While some nature lovers among us may declare that Japanese beetles are a part of nature and should be permitted to chomp away at the greenery, I don’t find myself among that set. For one thing, if we want to …

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Compost Challenge Pumpkin Patch Postmortem

Jim Cook 8/8/2010
[1] comment
http://irregulartimes.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/pumpkinsindirt.jpg

The compost test I’ve arranged in my garden this year has come to an end with the long-drawn out death by nibbles of the pumpkin sprouts I planted as seeds in plain dirt in June: Just a few feet away, …

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