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Relationships with Words
This post feels a bit heavy-handed on “words” — but given that the physical tethers have been stretched thin during COVID, words are often all we have to go on in our relationships. I can be a vulnerable person, or at least come off as such, in the way I use written word to process feelings. When I feel prolonged dissatisfaction, shame or sadness, I often work my way through and rise above them by wrestling with words. It’s like…
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Meet the Coturnix Quail
Here at Love Sown Garden (I feel a little ridiculous naming my garden), there is a new flock of feathered friends. I went to the monthly flock swap at The Urban Chicken and came home with six young quail. Why? They were there, and I had a grow-out pen that could comfortably hold them. I honestly had no intention of getting into another kind of animal, but some of my friends have been talking up the ease of raising quail…
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Friends of the Arboretum Annual Plant Distribution
I’ve heard rumors of this event for years. Members show up at the JC Raulston Arboretum on a Saturday morning to rush a field of plants to help empty the greenhouses. This April I finally became a member so my husband and I could gain access to the newsletter, member pricing on events, and passes to this event in particular. Last night we drafted our list of desired plants from the 80 plants listed, and this morning we watched the…
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Raleigh Fall Vegetable Gardening begins in the Summer
Hey friends! While it’s blazing hot outside, it is time to be planning and planting your fall garden. We are in USDA plant hardiness zone 7b and have a relatively long growing season: April 9 through October 27. These dates are our average last and first frost dates, meaning half the time the first frost of Fall will start up to two weeks before October 27, and half the time it will start up to two weeks after October 27.…
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Squash Pollination
Pollinate Squash by hand with a paint brush
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Upgrade Your Pond with a Bog Filter System
As we prepare for a third summer managing our 300 gallon stock tank garden pond, we have a new upgrade to share. During the last two summers, we conducted pond water changes by taking buckets of water out of the pond and pouring them out on the garden beds. This was a fairly labor-intensive process, which I didn’t mind, but I knew there was probably a smarter solution to make use of the fish waste and keep the pond water…