Show threadPollinatorsFeb 26
@mtechman @kellyromanych Also, the regional National Weather Service forecasts have lost accuracy from all the staffing cuts. It appears computers guessing the weather is not as accurate as professionals predicting the weather forecast. However, the Southern Minnesota weather has trouble being as far off as the kellyromanych weather. #Pollinators, #nativeplants, #zone4b.
PollinatorsFeb 25
February 25, 2026. Field report. We ambled in the afternoon sun of southern Minnesota. Crunchy snow remains on the ground. And what did we spy? A bright pink nose and the small opossum, our only marsupial. #megafauna, #minnesota, #zone4b, #getoutside
Show threadPollinatorsFeb 25
@Broadfork Yes. Our planting space will have smaller numbers of soil blocks. What size soil blocks do you use to start the onions, shallots, and leeks? These seeds have nearly 100% germination rates. #gardening, #zone4b
PollinatorsFeb 14
February 14, 2026. Reporting from the southern Minnesota composting space. The compost was covered last fall to moderate the temperatures to get more days of biological action. This compost is frozen solid for our gardening friends in warmer places. The space is a three bin space with imaginary dividers. This works well for managing the materials with a pitchfork. #Zone4b, #compost, #nodig, #compostodon, #minnesota
Show threadPollinatorsFeb 8
@LifeTimeCooking We have a three year crop rotation for the garlic, onions, and leeks. There are many varieties of garlic! We grow Aja Rojo, Belarus, Krasnodar Red, Red Grain, Red Rozan, Rosewood, Armenian, Bogatyr, Chenok Red, Estonian, Georgia Crystal, German Extra Hardy, Lotus, Music, Persian Star, Shangdon, and Siberian. #gardening, #zone4b, #minnesota, #nodig, #compost
Show threadPollinatorsFeb 7
@feinschmeckergarten Excellent. Your gardening methods have been helpful for years. No till helps the creatures overwinter too. Our locality has row crop farming mixed with wood lots, wide drainage features with willows and seasonal hay making. Therefore woods edge birds and the insects they eat have habitat. However, remnant tallgrass prairie bird habitat is rare. This locale was the edge of deciduous woods and oak prairie savanna in the times before Europeans. #nodig, #Zone4b
PollinatorsFeb 6
February 6, 2026. Gardening report. Winter season pruning of our apple trees is happening. The temperature was a pleasant 1 C in southern Minnesota. There was a lot of growth during the 2025 season. Some of the waterspouts at the crown are two meters long. Pruning can be a time of zen. #gardening, #apples, #Zone4b
Show threadPollinatorsJan 28
@joewynne Thank you for adding diversity to the habitat for the pollinators. The stiff goldenrod is an attractive plant through the seasons. We also have stiff goldenrod seeds doing the cold stratification in the refrigerator. #nativeplants, #minnesota, #Zone4b
PollinatorsJan 10
Natives are beautiful. We are growing as many varieties as we can. The idea is to have a diverse ecosystem with a seed bank. The positive thinking is that hundreds of varieties will add resilience for nature. These lovely seeds were collected from a two year old swamp rose mallow. We are doing cold moist stratification in damp sand for many native plant seeds. It is an activity that helps the soil and the pollinators. We need them. #nativeplants, #minnesota, #Zone4b, #compost, #pollinators
PollinatorsDec 27
December 27, 2025. The garden seeds arrived! The photograph has a few interesting varieties. Purple cabbages were successful in 2025. We will expand with the Copenhagen variety. The rocket arugula will be planted in many more spots than last year. The Suyo Long cucumbers produced all growing season. They are back. It’s a big carrot year in the spiral notebook planning. We added a summer squash for fun. And we added another Arikara bean variety. #gardening, #minnesota, #nodig, #Zone4b