It was a rainy today but I still spent some time in the garden. I started another bed, though I did not get too far because the rain picked up. So, I fled inside and chatted with the current owner of the house that will soon be ours. The green manure on the second bed has sprouted. An animal has reestablished exits from under the bed. No life on the spinach and beans yet. Many small bushes are waiting to move into the garden. #KateGrowsRoots #Gardening

The fast ground cover mix is quickly covering the first bed. I have to see a doctor tomorrow but I will be back in the garden on Wednesday. Maybe the other beds will also have sprouted by then. #KateGrowsRoots #gardening

Played with apples yesterday to see where the bed outlines will go. Yellow apples make surprisingly nice bed outlines--well, temporarily. By now, I know where things will go, and what will need to be taken out. Speaking of: Forsythia can go. They are ecologically rather useless without pollen and fruit. I rescued a slow and a pear from the bushes overgrowing them and trimmed the pear to get rid of dead and dying leaves. More work will follow. #gardening #Homesteading

The new episode is online! Let's travel back in time to end of June when I left the first garden, harvested currants and garlic, and then spent hours sorting garlic. Watch:

Kate Hildenbrand

Goodbye first garden #156

With only a few days left to return the first garden, I drove there to clean everything out. I also harvested some currants, before returning to th...

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156 Goodbye first garden | Roots & Calluses

Website of Roots & Calluses, a project by Kate Hildenbrand, ecologist, educator, and regenerative gardener.

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Website of Roots & Calluses, a project by Kate Hildenbrand, ecologist, educator, and regenerative gardener.

#Gardening #Homesteading

Moneyterm can't read CSV files and that's the only thing I get from my bank. So, unfortunately, no moneyterm for me. I'll have to continue my search for a working budget tool. Suggestions? (preferably free, self-hosted)

Barely sat down at my desk, and the first coffee is already empty. Yesterday sits deep in my bones. Social interaction, long car drive, city chaos. i'd planned two more errands for the city but had to push those off. It was too much. It took an hour from when I saw the university building to when I dropped off the letters. I was stress-sweating. Good morning, my lovely people. I think I've answered you all. If I've missed you, let me know, please.

I've had the electric car for a few months now, so here's a thread with my summarized experience: First, let's talk charging: I can slow-charge within walking distance, fast-charge in the next town. We don't yet have a wall box. There is absolutely confusing charging station chaos with unpredictable pricing in Germany. But I use the same charging card everywhere and pay 59 ct/kWh without stress. 1/x

The mint is alive! I completely neglected to containers with mint in the far-away garden. All dead. Well, placed them outside with the rest anyway. A few weeks later, both pots now have fresh tiny mini mint. The plants just won't die. One of them has completely died back multiple times now but there has always been enough live underground to resprout and try again. #Gardening

On what's soon our land, there's a dawn redwood (Metasequoia glyptostroboides) growing next to the garden beds for cultivation. People keep telling me to chop it down because it will take the water from the garden and get oh-so big. After some research, the current plan is to keep the tree. Do any of you know Metasequoia well enough to tell me if that is a bad plan? And does anyone know if the deciduous needles (what a concept!) compost like leaves or needles pH-wise? #trees #gardening

My lettuce seeds are starting to be ready for saving. I'd never had a chance to let lettuce go to seed before. Fascinatedly, I observed the entire life cycle. We've now reached "blow ball" stage, and I can pull the seeds off to save them. This year, saving seeds seems to be the main purpose of gardening. Without grow space, it's more than I'd hoped for. Lettuce seeds, salad seeds, marigold seeds, three kinds of bean seeds, spinach seeds, and corn salad seeds. It's something. #Gardening