Godless in the garden

Comment

Comment by Sentient Biped on January 5, 2013 at 7:41pm

Growing furniture.

Artist Phil Ross grows furniture from sawdust, which he shapes into furniture, grows fungus to create texture and strength, then bakes and finishes.  NewScientist.

This link.

Then there's pooktre method for shaping trees, for furniture and ornament.

more photos of pootre method here.

How to?  arborsmith.com

Alex (or Axel) Erlandson was big into shaping trees.

Or a willow cathedral?

All in fun.  I'm taking a grafting class this month, but I'm not likely  to graft furniture.  Maybe some multigraft fruit trees.  I do have a source of willow that might be fun to shape....   Who knows?

Comment by amer chohan on December 28, 2012 at 1:10pm

My wife says God is punishing the infidel this winter by opening the heavens again and again and destroying his cactus. Do Gods in America behave in this cheep manner too?

Comment by amer chohan on December 28, 2012 at 6:16am

Sentinent! Its ok with beans but never try opuntia seeds. One of the hardest thing on the earth.

Comment by Sentient Biped on December 27, 2012 at 9:45am

Seed catalogs coming in the mail. 

For short-season and cool-summer areas like mine, I'm sticking with the seedsavers.com, vermont bean seed co, territorial seeds...  and looking at days to ripeness.  Burpee has some very enticing pictures....  but this year I'm trying not to be seduced by the flashiest.  Trying.  Trying.

Comment by Randall Smith on December 27, 2012 at 7:34am

I plead ignorance to opuntias. So I learned something here. Interesting.

Comment by Sentient Biped on December 25, 2012 at 3:43pm

Amer,

Maybe I'll try again.  There are hardy varieties.  I enjoy opuntias a lot.

Comment by amer chohan on December 21, 2012 at 12:01pm

Opuntias are less frost hardy than many other cacti are but hardy enough to survive upto freezing tempratures. Primary reason for the loss was perhaps too much wet weather(water standing arround the roots for long time). It could be easily manged by adding corase fine sand in the upper 6 inch layer(30%). It provides many benifits such as

!- Water does not stand in roots

2- If it rains too much only roots beneath the layer are destroyed. Plant take root again from surviving roots in the sandy layer.

3- In winter rains soil dries in double quick time. 

4- It provides soft soil for roots to flourish.

5- It improves soil breathing.

I don't have much experience with other plants but it works miracles in case of cacti.

Comment by Chris Breman on December 21, 2012 at 9:44am

Those opuntias are beautiful! Do they grow different coloured flowers on one plant or does it only look like that?

Comment by Idaho Spud on December 21, 2012 at 9:18am

Sentient, amazing cactus in Mexico.  I wouldn't want one of those pads to fall on my head!

Those cacti flowers are very beautiful.  They look like the kind that grow wild around here, and every once in a while, I think about transplanting some to my garden.

Comment by Sentient Biped on December 21, 2012 at 9:11am

Amer, beautiful Cacti!

I used to grow more cacti but my cooler wetter climate was not cactus-friendly.   I like the big opuntia most of all - edible pads (nopales), flowers, and fruits.  Wish I could figure out how to grow them here!

I had this one in my yard 5 years ago.  It died in a freeze/wet winter.

This was from an old postcard I found on the internet.

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