I planted mine already but maybe it was a mistake. We’re past the chance of frost but experienced gardeners are telling me the soil is too cold still. Also it was hailing torrentially yesterday lol. We’ll see how it works out I guess.
It’s a small garden so if they don’t make it I can always try again.
They usually use a coring device. In theory it should survive just fine although I don’t know that long term effects are well-studied.
But I mean this is one reason some big old trees have such bogus ages reported. Either they’re too big to reasonably core or they don’t want to risk any damage. Or sometimes the middle of the tree is too rotten to count the rings. It’s OK to say we don’t know the age rather than making something up.
It’s the main accurate way, at least for living trees. By the way, I’m including cross-dating here since even though it’s slightly different from ring counting, it uses the same basic idea just extended to a wider group of trees.
There are other methods but none really have a proven track record of accuracy the way tree-ring based methods do.
For well documented trees that coexisted with literate cultures, historical records can be used, though these records can sometimes be wrong. Some trees have ages from oral tradition too but these are difficult to verify.
Overall, I view non-ring-based methods with skepticism and some are outright preposterous, especially the common claims you see online which have no methodology listed. But even some published estimates using alternative techniques seem dubious. Perhaps they will be replicated and proven in the future but the evidence is tenuous today.
Also, if you didn’t count the rings then you don’t know how old the tree is. I don’t care how old your uncle thinks it is. You have no idea how often this comes up and how many completely implausible tree ages are just posted as fact on the internet.
Cool! I just subscribed. I’m not really too fussed about aesthetics so my back yard where I grow this stuff is a total mess that I’d be a bit embarrassed to share but I’ll think about it. Maybe if I get any flowers this spring. Or I could share some of the native plants I see around my neighborhood in other spaces.
Calochortus has been a bit tricky, the others were quite easy. I just collected some seed from nearby empty open spaces and put them in pots and they grew. You have to know where to find them though–they’re mostly in the hills now because those were never plowed, but there are small areas here and there that weren’t laser-leveled with the rest of the valley. iNaturalist can be helpful for these.
They seem to do better if you extend the growing season with irrigation in fall and spring but even without they do fine. So far they don’t survive when I put them in the ground though, not sure why. Pest issue maybe.
Interesting that miner’s lettuce is rare where you are. It’s a weed that grows in the sidewalk here. I guess it does like a lot of moisture, and it gets a lot drier further south. We get about 18 inches of rain here which is plenty in winter, and since it dies back in spring it doesn’t mind the summer.
Phacelia is another one I’ve been wanting to try. There’s one at a local park that is always teeming with bees.
Feel free to ask questions or post about your ideas on !treehuggers@slrpnk.net. Right now it’s mostly news but I want to see more content like that–people taking action to reforest the earth.
This sounds very cool! I am also in the valley, up in Sacramento. It’s somewhat of a tough climate for the ornamental native gardener since a lot of stuff turns brown in summer which can piss off the neighbors. Love me some Triteleias though, that might be my favorite native species–since you’re a forager you may know the bulbs are edible. I’m also growing Brodiaea, Sanicula bipinnata (which I call wild cilantro, it’s edible and tastes similar), milkweed, miner’s lettuce, and calochortus. Phyla nodiflora is another great one for a lawn alternative if you want that.
Fennel is actually an invasive species in CA so I wouldn’t recommend this.
However, foraging for it is great. Plenty to go around already.
I’ve heard people claim that Mondragon depends on a lot of workers who aren’t members of the co-op but this isn’t really mentioned. Perhaps this change happened after the period this piece is focused on?
How exciting!
Not to diminish your accomplishment since growing fruit in containers is very difficult but for a Californian with hundreds of these that I never end up using this is a little funny.
Haha I meant to direct more at the general audience, as in does your yard look like this?
Is this your yard? No shame! Many people inherit landscapes like this when they move in and haven’t found the time to make a change. Check out the sidebar for resources on how to get started on a more pollinator-friendly landscape!
You don’t have to remove the whole lawn at once if it seems overwhelming. Even a small insect-friendly garden area or changes in how you manage the lawn can make a big difference.
This Xerces Society article also has some basic and easy steps: https://xerces.org/blog/bee-friendlier-with-your-lawncare
Where’s your proof?
Oh I’ve got the link, but it’s paywalled. I’ll find the full paper later.
Thanks, this seems more in line with what I was wondering. But I’ll need to see if I can get access to the full paper. The example given in Australia actually fits my hypothesis since they historically lacked felid predators. So I’d like to see the full list to see the location and severity of the effects they’re reporting.
I guess you are going off of the genus Felis which is probably valid since I expect their hunting behavior is similar enough. However the map I saw showed they were absent from most of Russia and China, so there are exceptions.
Again it would depend on where those are—threatened species are disproportionately located on those islands I mentioned. Furthermore it doesn’t assign any causation to cat predation.
Maybe cats are a serious conservation threat on continental areas but I’m just saying I haven’t seen evidence of this.
Needs less head before crab.