Winter Sowing

Posted by User ImageJoe Bauer on January 2nd, 2009 filed in landscape, plant
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Free plants?? Well almost. Winter sowing is one of the cheapest and hassle-free ways to grow new plants. You get some seeds, put them in a little clear container with some dirt and stick them outside. Yes, outside now, in the winter. Then you forget about them until the spring when the start coming up. Here are the details:

Seed selection

Winter sowing works best with native plants. In Michigan the plants I’ve had the best luck with are Black-Eyed Susan (Rudbeckia hirta), Purple Coneflower (Echinacea purpura), Prairie Blazing Star (Liatris pycnostacha), Wild Lupine (Lupinus perennis), and grasses like Little Blue Stem (Schizadyrium scoparius). Native plants are especially good for this because they already have evolved to withstand and grow in the local conditions. By winter sowing you’re just giving them a little helping hand and maximizing the ratio of seeds that survive.

Planting medium

This is easy. Dirt. Just plain old dirt. I like to use fresh compost or the cheapest dirt I can find at a store. If you use dirt from outside just be aware that you may get some weeds or other plants, so you’ll want to know what your seedlings look like at early ages so you don’t accidentally weed out all the good seedlings.

Vessel preparation

I like to use old, clear plastic two liter pop or juice bottles. I tried milk jugs but didn’t get great results from them. With an exacto knife poke about four or five small holes for air around the top, then about two holes on the very bottom so that water won’t collect. Then cut the bottle nearly in half, leaving a little ‘hinge’. (see photo) It should go without saying that the pop bottle should be well rinsed before use.

Winter Sowing container

Planting

Fill the bottle about a third of the way with your dirt. Place your seeds in the dirt (usually two times as deep as the seed is long is a good rule of thumb). I find it easier to do one plant type per bottle rather than mixing them up. Give the dirt a small splash of water (just so it isn’t completely dry), then tape up the bottle along the cut so it stays closed. I’ve had good luck with regular masking tape. Then write the name of the seed in permanent marker in a few locations on the bottle (the bottle cap seems to keep the marker the best).

Spring harvest

As it gets warmer out in the spring you’ll start to see little sprouts form. Around the first week of May I start to poke more holes in the top of the bottles. Then after about a week or two I take off the bottle caps. Then at about mid May, after the threat of frost is gone I untape the bottles. The hardest part of winter sowing is determining when the seedlings are ready to plant. I tend to get excited and plant too early, so I usually wait longer than I think they’d be ready. But usually it’s before June when you plant them. I just take some scisors and cut the bottle open so I can easily scoop out the dirt as a whole unit. Then you carefully divide them and plant them. Remember to water them a lot as they grow.

The first year

Some plants like Purple Coneflower won’t flower until they’re two years old. So, don’t get too worried if your yearlings don’t get too big or flower. They’ve got a lot of work to do that first year. You’ll find that some plants work better than others, so have fun and experiment.

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Lighter Footsteps in the New Year!

Posted by User ImageA. Caleb Hartley on December 31st, 2008 filed in blog, green
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Happy New Year to all my readers…here’s to a green, clean, and prosperous New Year to all of you!

In that vein, I want to point you to a great website that has all sorts of great ideas, articles, and plans to help you and your family live as green as you want to:  Lighter Footstep.

Some of the great articles you may find on this site are (among MANY others):

On that note, I’ll let you go and enjoy your New Year’s Eve.  Have fun, enjoy your friends and/or family, and be careful!  Talk to you in 2009!

Namaste,
A. Caleb Hartley

I’ve been reading Thomas Friedman’s Hot, Flat, and Crowded, and have been enjoying it immensely. I’ll post about it after the New Year - and I highly suggest you buy a copy
and read it yourself.

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Eco-Aviation Today

Posted by User ImageA. Caleb Hartley on December 10th, 2008 filed in Air Transport, aviation, energy, fuel, jet, oil, transportation
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Long-time readers will know that I am a pilot and aviation buff as well as being an environmentalist.  I go out of my way to find out what is happening in the aviation industry to minimize its impact on the Earth.

So imagine how excited I was when one of the free, digital editions of an aviation industry magazine I am subscribed to opened up an “Eco-Aviation Today” edition!

Air Transport World opened up TODAY with their Eco Aviation Today edition - you can sign up for emails from them, or just go to the “Eco Channel” on their website.

Check it out today to read about Continental Airlines, Boeing, CFM International, and Honeywell planning a January 9th flight using 50% biofuel and 50% regular Jet A fuel.  Nothing new, you say?  I already wrote about bio-jet fuel, you say?

True, but this fuel, according to Continental, is “a special fuel blend including components derived from algae and jatropha plants, sustainable, second-generation [sources] that don’t impact food crops or water resources, and don’t contribute to deforestation.”

Namaste,
A. Caleb Hartley

What do you think about bio-fuels? Do you think they are a viable solution to the world’s “oil issues?” Let your comments flow about this issue!

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environmentastic! scheduled maintenance

Posted by User ImageA. Caleb Hartley on November 20th, 2008 filed in blog, host
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I just got a message from my host (Hostgator) that they are going to be upgrading the server that environmentastic! is hosted on in a few days.  The letter is copied below, but in a nutshell it says that environmentastic! might show a generic “Under Maintenance” page for no more than 45 minutes on Nov. 24th, at about 11pm eastern time (that’s 10pm central, 9pm mountain, 8pm pacific, and 4am GMT the next morning - everybody else will need to figure out the times for themselves).

I just want to give you all a heads up if you happen to notice that env! is down for a bit, this is probably why.  Hostgator has been head and shoulders above my last host in keeping me informed as well as in general reliability.  I can’t recommend them highly enough!

Here’s the email I received:

***

Dear HostGator Client,

We will be performing scheduled maintenance on your server on November 24th @ 10:00 PM CST. During this time we will be upgrading our Apache web server to version 2.2.10 (from 1.3.4x). We will also be upgrading the operating system from CentOS 4.7 to CentOS 5.2.

This upgrade will allow us to provide you with a higher level of performance and security. During the upgrade we will also be installing a new set of mod_security rules which will add to the overall protection our clients websites. We will also be upgrading our firewall software which help deflect distributed denial of service attacks and ensure that your sites are kept functioning at optimal levels.

The server will stay online during this time however while the Apache service is recompiled your websites and your client websites will be unavailable for an estimated 30-45 minutes. During this time an unbranded, generic “Under Maintenance” page will be displayed instead of your normal content.

We have more information located on our forums here:

http://forums.hostgator.com/reseller-apache-2-migration-schedule-t41308.html?p=148175

Please do not reply to this e-mail. If you require assistance or further clarification please contact us via forums, live chat or a support ticket.

Thank you,

HostGator Support

***

Boring, I know, but I’m just happy to have received any notice at all that maintenance was going to be performed and that my site my be down temporarily because of it.  Moving to Hostgator = the best hosting choice I’ve ever made!

Namaste,
A. Caleb Hartley

If you have a website, what host do you use? Are you happy with them? Why or why not? Let us know in the comments!

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Zoo you know much about animals?

Posted by User ImageA. Caleb Hartley on November 10th, 2008 filed in Zoo
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How much do you know about zoos?  Do you know that most zoos are deeply involved in conservation studies that try to stem the tide of extinctions that are happening faster and faster these days?  Did you know that they engage in educational outreach about animals and the environment and how loss of habitat and pollution and climate change affect different species?  Answer the questions below to join the conversation about zoos, and maybe I’ll see you at the Columbus Zoo one of these days!

Namaste,
A. Caleb Hartley

How often do you go the the zoo? Where is your favorite zoo? Why? Feed the comments with your opinions and answers!

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