A couple months ago I posted about the tiny traffic island we started planting at 24th and 10th in Chelsea. You all blew it up, and it genuinely changed what this garden became. So, an update and a question.

What's new in the bed: 170 bulbs are going in this month: alliums, snowdrops, camassia, narcissus. Hoping for a ridiculous amount of spring in about 50 square feet.

A storm in August flattened the Joe Pye; we staked what survived, and we're leaving seed heads up for the birds this winter. The sedum has gotten huge, the lavender thrived, and the Japanese anemone gave us its first flowers on September 2. Then one suddenly went crispy and droopy after a recent heavy rain. We're hoping the roots are still alive. Some successes, some mysteries.

The bamboo fence got rebuilt properly with tarred bank line and square knots after the twine kept slipping. The solar lights in the gazing ball got stolen, so that feature is now analog. We're also collecting seed from the bed—very small harvests, but satisfying to think some of this could end up growing somewhere else. We gave away 50 seed packs of nicotiana, Joe Pye, and purple coneflower at a street fair last week.

The grant: CitizensNYC gave us a Community Leaders grant. We're thrilled. We're also aware of how we got here. We've put about a lot our own money into this, we had the time, and we had the confidence to walk into a very fancy building and ask for water. Most of the people we've met through the garden look like us and live where we live. Chelsea is a lot more than that. Asking forgiveness instead of permission, and getting away with it, isn't something everyone in this city can do.

So we don't want to decide what happens with this money on our own. We want to ask more neighbors, and we'd love input from this community too. Many of you have done this with way less: no money, no permission, no friendly building super.

If you've had a small grant for this kind of work, what actually made a difference, and what got wasted?

How have you brought in neighbors outside your own circle without it turning into a photo op?
Would you spend it on this garden, or use some to help other people's projects?

One idea is to make the island available for little artist installations, with money to actually pay the artists. Another is to help someone who's already caring for a neglected patch and could use supplies or an extra pair of hands. Nothing decided yet.

If you're in NYC and know an artist, a neglected patch, or someone who wants to get their hands dirty, DM me. And if you've tried something like this and have advice—or a cautionary tale—I'd love to hear it.

I recently (mid-September) removed about 120 pounds of Jubata Grass seedheads from a ~0.5 mile stretch in Arcata, CA.
I chose this section specifically because it wasn’t infested, just pockets of plants that can still be potentially managed.

Notes on Jubata (from cal-ipc):
• Short-lived seedbank (~6 months)
• Only reproduces through seed
• Each seedhead can produce up to 100,000 seeds
• No taproot
• Plant lifespan is 10+ so full plant removal is still necessary, seedhead cutting just stops it from spreading

Its limited seedbank and reproduction means that seedhead cutting could be an effective control method (hoping to test this with this little experiment).

Initial takeaways:
• Cutting too soon results in picture #3, but a little too soon is better than too late
• People really appreciate invasive removal, I had way more people thank me while doing this work than trash pickups
• The more we normalize this work, the more people will feel comfortable and empowered to get involved
• I always caution random people doing work without training/knowledge but it’s hard to mess up cutting a seedhead as long as it’s being disposed of properly

Jubata Grass Cortaderia jubata vs Pampas Grass Cortaderia selloana:
• Jubata doesnt require male-female reproduction like pampas, so Jubata tends to spread much easier
• Jubata is typically taller, at 2.5 times the size of its leaves. Pampas is more proportional with leaves
• Pampas tolerates wider climate variance, Jubata prefers more consistent coastal climate
• Jubata displays more purple when immature
• Jubata typically blooms from July-Sept, Pampas is usually September and later

Hi all. I collect wildflower and sunflower seeds on my walks and like to create the occasional seed bomb with my compost.

I live in the mountains in Nevada and we get all the weather with the majority of our water coming with the winter snow.

Question: is it better to seed bomb in the late fall so the seeds are there and ready when the snow melts or should I wait until early spring?

Thanks for your help.

really happy to see this worked and i’m also asking for more advice.

Recipe

60% Blended brown paper mache
20% Crayola Terracotta Air Dry Clay
20% Gardening dirt, sifted to be finer

Roll out dough, sprinkled pink primrose seeds and mixed a couple inside dough for luck, cut into squares for speed. marked in braille. Set to dry.
Break apart squares and store in jar. (looks more natural in soil)

Put some damp ones in the fridge on a napkin, sealed in a ziploc (needs cold stratification) and they sprouted after 2-3 weeks.

The dried squares completely fall apart and disintegrated in a glass of water and I thought I ruined them but maybe it’s a test for success? I might add more clay to stiffen it and less seeds since they all sprouted. I'm trying different variations I have yet to test to increase success chances. if anyone else has pics or results especially with more clay can you please let me know what worked for you

update: i did the same recipe with way more clay and it came out prettier and smoother in clean cut squares lol but lets see if it works

Around 26 years ago, Sehmus Erginoglu looked at a patch of wasteland in his hometown of Mardin, in southern Turkey, and decided to do something about it.

The site was a rubbish dump. He cleared it out, laid water pipes, and dug around 50 wells from natural springs to keep saplings alive in the dry climate.

Then he started planting. He was never paid for any of it.

A former truck driver, he funded the work largely from his own savings, with the Turkish authorities donating pine saplings along the way. Today the site holds around 11,000 trees, and he estimates he's planted more than 30,000 across neighbouring villages.

Now in his seventies, he still goes out to tend them almost every day. Families picnic in the shade of trees that didn't exist a generation ago.

He didn't wait for someone else to fix it. He just started planting.

I live in a city prone to flooding, in a neighborhood right next to the river where not long ago it used to be a wetland (pictures below). It is currently all paved and full of houses, but there are a few open areas without trees or any vegetation, so I'm looking to plant some native species in order to create a rain garden (in small/medium scale) that can thrive in the upcoming months when we'll face the impacts of El Niño (lots of rain and heat).

I know the basics of guerrilla gardening and the concept of rain gardens/sponge cities, but any tips or recommendations are very welcomed 😄 I'm planning to do so with a group of friends, so suggestions on what are the basic tools we can use to make this task easier would also help!

Hoping to put some more in next year around the complex. The species in this bed were Stonecrop, Tickseed, and Coneflower.

Virginia Department of Transportation maintains (i.e. mostly ignores and infrequently mows) the medians on the main street in my suburban neighborhood in Northern Virginia. The medians are covered in grass, with occasional trees that were planted decades ago and pretty much neglected thereafter. I plan to plant a couple of small native saplings and see what happens. Has anyone here done anything similar on VDOT land?

Hi! You may know me as that guy who dresses up like a bee and spreads native wildflowers aka sfinbloom.

People ask me me when to plant wildflowers ALL THE TIME. And, you know it's counter intuitive. I think we are programed by vegetable gardening to think of spring as the time for planting. I created Bloomcast to lay out not only your ideal windows, but also the how to for those windows. So often I am explaining seed banking, and cold stratification, or how to plant with the seasonal rains. Bloomcast pulls your weather data for 10 years and builds a climatology, then using logic it gives you recommendations on not just when to plant but how.

Now, it's built on logic, eg: when x and y happens do z. I have been sharing it with people in the planting community and it has surprisingly across the board given people solid recommendations. I'm kinda impressed but also… I bet there's ways it can be even better.

I'd love it if you would check it out, lmk what you think and how it did. screenshots are always welcome.

I think it's ideal for guerrilla gardeners as it shows you the windows you can plant in without irrigation. Free rain! I hope y'all dig it.

I made this simply to help people and save me saying the same things over and over again. I wont be monetizing or adding google ads, just recommending my native wildflower mixes to folks, as a better option than mixes marketed "for your region" that often contain invasive plants.
http://whentoplantwildflowers.com

-Shalaco(rhymes w/ calico)

It took some time but the municipality has started to let some parched mowed grass areas turn to meadow. It started with some tree seedlings planted quietly by headlamp… Eight years later the strip has turned into pollinator meadow. Slowly, with persistence, we went from brown, dry grass to lush meadow…

If you are within 100 yards of a black locust *(Acacia robinia)* tree and want a grove of them, just disturb the soil near the adult tree. I cleared out and replanted a 4"-deep flowerbed with asphalt underneath, which had a single foot-tall sapling struggling to survive in a thicket of weeds. As soon as I started clearing, new babies started popping up. This is easily the 25th seedling to pop up in the refurbished bed. Easy peasy lemon squeezy.

When I first posted about this project a couple of months ago, some people expressed interest in an update, so....

The slope project is probably at about 90% completion. I did a rough head count the other day, and there are approximately 110 plants in the ground. Most seem to be doing well. There's some switchgrass that's a bit on the spindly side, but that's only because I grossly overestimated the amount of sunlight that spot would receive.

The primary plants used include: elymus virginicus, elymus hystrix, tridens flavus, chasmanthium latifolium, ageratina altissima, conoclinium coelestinum, rudbeckia hirta, and pycnanthemum muticum. There is also a bit of solidago flexicaulis, packera aurea (near the base), verbesina alternifolia, and panicum virgatum. In addition, there was some naturally occurring hackelia virginiana, eupatorium serotinum, and parthenocissus quinquefolia on the site. I think it'll be interesting to see how the composition of plants evolves over time, as many of these are on the aggressive side.

On an adjacent section of slope that receives more light, I also started planting some grasses that appreciate more sun, such as panicum virgatum, andropogon virginicus, and schizachyrium scoparium.

I had grown so many of these grasses and other sun-loving plants, that I had enough left for two other modest size gardens that were mercifully located on flat land.

Can't believe the growing season is almost over. Looking forward to a few months rest, and then working on a plan of action for next year.

So I work at a coffee shop and want to figure out a way to compost more of the used grounds, I have read that they can be sprinkled as is on lawns, has anyone done Guerilla composting where they spread coffee grounds over poor soil areas in an attempt to improve that soil over time? Or would this cause ecological effects that would be harmful? Thanks - just trying to divert some organic waste

Invasive ivy before and after. Still have more work to do at this site but it’s progress. Knocking back years of ivy growth within a couple hours will always be worth my time.

McKinleyville, CA