Habitat of the Month Contest — contest begins April 2013

4-Habitat of the Month Contest No Responses »

Apr 022013

Contest Entries

During each calendar month, Spore Lore will accept postings of residential wildlife habitats to Spore Lore’s facebook page, Habitat It and They Will Come.

Click to post your Habitat of the Month entry.

Contest entries must include:

1) The name of the garden habitat.

2) The 4 components of wildlife habitat:

SHELTER =

FOOD =

WATER =

SPACE TO RAISE YOUNG =

3) At least one picture of the the wildlife habitat.

Entry Awards and Contest Winners

All Habitat of the Month Contest entries will receive a “Habitat It!” bumper sticker. Habitat of the Month, as in the The Winner, will receive a signed copy of Tony McGuigan’s book, Habitat It and They Will Come. The month’s winning habitat will be chosen from a review of Comments (facebook) posted to the entry AND ALSO from Tony’s impression of the contest entry. In the case of a tie, two (2) winners, both declared “Habitat of the Month” will be announced.

Contest entries (postings to the facebook page Habitat It and They Will Come) will be accepted till noon (Pacific treefrog time) of the 28th day of the month (26th day for February). Contest winners will be announced by 6PM (Pacific treefrog time) on the 30th day of the same month (28th for February). Contest winners will be announced primarily at Spore Lore’s website (sporelore.com\Blog\Habitat of the Month Contest) and at Spore Lore’s facebook page (Habitat It and They Will Come).

To receive your contest entry “Spore Lore” sticker, and/or receive a book if your habitat is chosen as Habitat of the Month, please email your postal address to habitatofthemonth@sporelore.com; please include the name of your habitat in your email.

Please enter your garden habitat one time only. However, if significant changes have been made to the habitat and/or significant documentation (like pictures!) of the habitat is available, then the same habitat may be re-submitted as a new contest entry.

Create wildlife habitat and have fun.

Post your habitat to Habitat of the Month.

Good Luck!

Fine Print — Other Rules

There is no cash value for any contest rewards or contest prizes.

Participants/Entrants of the Contest give Spore Lore permission to leave contest posts on Spore Lore’s facebook page, https://www.facebook.com/HabitatItAndTheyWillCome, and to post Contest entries and Contest winner announcements to Spore Lore’s facebook pages (Habitat It and They Will Come, Spore Lore, and Tony McGuigan), as well as Tony McGuigan’s/Spore Lore’s other social media sites (Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest, YouTube) and Spore Lore’s website (sporelore.com). Spore Lore reserves the right to use the winner’s name (if provided in the contest entry), habitat name and habitat location (if provided in the contest entry), for publicity purposes only in connection with the Contest and for no other reason.

Spore Lore is not bound to announce contest entries/winner/winners.

GOVERNING LAW: Contest governed by the laws of California and subject to all applicable federal, state and local laws and regulations. Accordingly, all issues and questions concerning the construction, validity, interpretation and enforceability of these Official Rules, or the rights and obligations of the Contestant and Sponsor in connection with the Contest, shall be governed by, and construed in accordance with, the laws of the State of California, without giving effect to any choice of law or conflict of law rules (whether of the State of California or any other jurisdiction). The Contest is void where prohibited by any applicable law. Contestants, by participating in this Contest, hereby waive and release, and agree to hold harmless Spore Lore and all of its respective officers, directors, employees and representatives and agents, from and against, any and all rights, claims and causes of action whatsoever that they may have, or which may arise, against any of them for any liability for any matter, cause or thing whatsoever, including but not limited to any injury, loss, damage, whether direct, compensatory, incidental or consequential, to person, including death, and /or property, arising in whole or in part, directly or indirectly, from their acceptance, possession, use or misuse of any prize, or their participation in this Contest, or any prize-related activity. By participating in this Contest, Contestants agree to be bound by these Official Rules and the decisions of Sponsor. Except where prohibited by law, by accepting a prize, winner agrees that Spore may use the winner’s name, address (state), photograph, likeness, and/or prize information for advertising, publicity and promotional purposes and to the use of statements made by or attributed to winner relating to Spore Lore or to this Contest and grants to Spore Lore any and all rights to said use without further notice and/or compensation except where prohibited by law.

20121130 Planting Garlic 6 of 6

1- Residential Habitats -- Critters and Their Homes, 2- Food Forest Gardening No Responses »

Nov 302012

Shallot stalk, “Do you like my (oak leaf) hat?”

First a video re “Planting Garlic”, then some pics of “Young Garlic Plants AND Leaf Mulch” (below the video):

Planting Garlic 6 of 6 (video):

Young Garlic Plants AND Leaf Mulch (pics):

Rows of young garlic and yellow onion sprouts. The shallots, planted in the foreground soil (next to the collard), have yet to sprout – the best for last!

Garlic, yellow onion, shallots, and collard veggie bed along the sidewalk. Sure beats a lawn! Note the light covering of oak leaves as mulch, a good erosion protection from the winter rains.

Tree collard cuttings 3 weeks after propagation. Some cuttings have been chewed down by snails or slugs, but others are going to thrive past that onslaught of Nature. Sometimes you win, sometimes you lose. Plant enough cuttings to confuse the confounders! And, some of the collard cuttings will make it.

Shallot stalk, “Do you like my (oak leaf) hat?”

Cleaning up the sidewalk gives me plenty of rich, partially broken down leaves.

Rains are coming, so I fetched some sidewalk leaves to mulch the garlic/onion/shallots/collard veggie bed with. Cleaning up the sidewalk gives me plenty of rich, partially broken down leaves. The leaves were also used to extend the veggie bed in Tipped Wine Barrel (see blog entry next week?).

Garlic harvest from our sidewalk garden – Straw Bale Recliner Veggie Bed. Note how the garlic was rinsed to remove soil from the roots. The rack (a discarded baker’s tray) will allow the garlic to dry. Nice job, Frau Glory!

Happy mulching your veggie bed with leaves. See you tomorrow.

Tony

20121129 Planting Garlic 5 of 6

1- Residential Habitats -- Critters and Their Homes, 2- Food Forest Gardening No Responses »

Nov 292012

Straw Bale Recliner Veggie Bed planted with garlic, yellow onion, and shallots.

First a video re “Planting Garlic”, then some pics of “Garlic, Yellow Onions, and Shallots Planting Completed” (below the video):

Planting Garlic 5 of 6 (video):

Garlic, Yellow Onions, and Shallots Planting Completed (pics):

Straw Bale Recliner Veggie Bed planted with garlic, yellow onion, and shallots. The dark red dust is blood meal, an attempt to keep local cats from using the unmulched soil as a litter box.

A raccoon paw print IN THE BLOOD MEAL! The raccoon walked over the bed the first night of the planted crop. Well at least the soil does not look torn up by animals digging deeper in the soil or by cats using the veggie box as a litter box.

Happy planting garlic, onions, and shallots. See you tomorrow.

Tony

20121128 Planting Garlic 4 of 6

1- Residential Habitats -- Critters and Their Homes, 2- Food Forest Gardening No Responses »

Nov 292012

A bucket is used to break apart garlic bulbs into individual gloves.

First a video re “Planting Garlic”, then some pics of “Garlic Bulbs Dusted with Spore” (below the video):

Planting Garlic 4 of 6 (video):

“Garlic Bulbs Dusted with Spore“ (pics):

A bucket is used to break apart garlic bulbs into individual gloves that will be planted. The garlic papers will be strewn on top of the planting bed’s soil for mulch and nutrition.

Garlic cloves are moistened with water to thinly coat with mycorrhizal spore.

Happy planting garlic, onions, and shallots. See you tomorrow.

Tony

20121127 Planting Garlic 3 of 6

1- Residential Habitats -- Critters and Their Homes, 2- Food Forest Gardening No Responses »

Nov 282012

Tree collard cuttings left to thrive in water till planted SOON!

First a video re “Planting Garlic”, then some pics of Tree Collard Planting (below the video):

Planting Garlic 3 of 6 (video):

Tree Collard Planting (pics):

Full grown tree collard (left of Fuji apple tree).

The tree collard cuttings to be planted next to our sidewalk garlic bed came from this full grown tree collard. We harvest collard leaves to eat; the stalks leftover become cuttings to be propagated.

Tree collard cuttings to be propagated. Draw a line between the pruners and the leather sheath – that’s the expected soil line for the cuttings.

Tree collard cuttings left to thrive in water till planted SOON! The bucket contained rainwater and fallen leaves, a rich organic soup for the cuttings. Bacteria, fungi, and microbes in the water? Absolutely! And perhaps that’s a good thing. When I find out I’ll get back to you.

For more of Tony’s blog entries on tree collard, see:

20121106-Collard-Propagation–1-of-5-videos

20121107-Collard-Propagation–2-of-5-videos

20121108-Collard-Propagation–3-of-5-videos

20121109-Collard-Propagation–4-of-5-videos

20121110-Collard-Propagation–5-of-5-videos

Happy planting garlic, onions, and shallots AND planting tree collard. See you tomorrow.

Tony

20121109 Tree Collard Propagation — 4 of 5 videos

2- Food Forest Gardening No Responses »

Nov 112012

Comfrey leaves guarding tree collard cutting.

You have landed on Day 4 in this 5-day series of videos depicting propagation of tree collard cuttings. Enjoy!

First a video re “Collard Propagation”. Today’s video is part 4 of 5 (1/day) for the series! THEN some tree collard pics (below the video):

Tree Collard Propagation — 4 of 5 videos

Mulching Collard Cuttings (pics):

Tree collard cuttings mulched with straw, comfrey leaves, and collard leaves.

Dragon Spine Ridge planted with tree collard. The cuttings are mulched with straw, comfrey leaves, and collard leaves.

Close-up of tree collard cuttings mulched with straw, comfrey leaves, and collard leaves. The collard cuttings are left behind to share the wealth with slugs and snails looking for food -- but please leave our new transplants alone for now. Note the cut back comfrey plant to the left; its leaves are used to mulch around the new collard starts. Cutting back the comfrey releases nitrogen to the soil via the die-back roots AND through the decomposing leaves themselves.

Mulch surrounding tree collard cuttings. Note the chop-and-drop'ed dock plant to the right -- all its leaves were used to mulch with or add to the compost for soil making. The leaves were yanked but the plant is expected to grow back, over, and over, again.

Comfrey leaves guarding tree collard cutting. The tree collard cutting (center of leaves) has taken a beating by some night marauders, probably slugs and/or snails. Perhaps the hairy underneath of the comfrey leaves will deter critters long enough for the cutting to catch up and thrive.

Happy collard propagation and see you tomorrow.

Tony

20121110 Tree Collard Propagation — 5 of 5 videos

2- Food Forest Gardening No Responses »

Nov 092012

2-month old roots of the young tree collard start.

You have landed on Day 5 in this 5-day series of videos depicting propagation of tree collard cuttings. Enjoy!

First a video re “Collard Propagation”. Today’s video is part 5 of 5 (1/day) for the series! THEN some tree collard pics (below the video):

Tree Collard Propagation — 5 of 5 videos

Young Tree Collard Starts (pics):

Tree Collard cuttings/starts after 2 month's growth, left pot only. Healthy!

Close-up of tree collard cuttings 2 months old. Lots of growth.

2 month old tree collard cutting growing on Dragon Spine Ridge. The specimen of focus here is the collard plant on the right. I pulled it up to inspect the root growth (to show YOU!), dug the roots back into the soil, and pruned off its top. Pruning off the top was advised (by me) because the inspection most likely destroyed some root mass. Less root mass, THEN less foliage will be supported. I also wanted to top off the young plant to encourage it to branch out lower rather than higher. See the next two pics.

2-month old roots of the young tree collard start. Good healthy soil, good healthy root growth. A good day!

Young Tree Collard is back on its feet, a rock to help it hunker into the ground after my rude root inspection.

Happy collard propagation and see you tomorrow.

Tony

20121108 Tree Collard Propagation — 3 of 5 videos

2- Food Forest Gardening No Responses »

Nov 082012

You have landed on Day 3 in this 5-day series of videos depicting propagation of tree collard cuttings. Enjoy!

First a video re “Collard Propagation”. Today’s video is part 3 of 5 (1/day) for the series! THEN some collard tree pics (below the video):

Tree Collard Propagation — 3 of 5 videos

Transplanting Tree Collard Cuttings for Propagation (pics):

Transplanting tree collard cutting - 1 of 4. Note the bend in the cutting. Could be very difficult to stab this cutting into the ground and keep the leaves off the soil-mulch surface. But working with what we have, we'll lie the cutting on its side. The extra length of cutting (not pruning it back because of the bend) will allow more root development and better ensure propagation.

Transplanting tree collard cutting 2 of 4. Perfect fit for this tree collard cutting that has two 90-degree bends in it. Permaculture principle #1 = the problem is the solution. Because of its twists and turns, this cutting has primo real estate in the topsoil layer – look at how well the cutting, or new root system travels horizontally, along the rich microbe-abundant topsoil layer.

Transplanting tree collard cutting - 3 of 4. The topsoil layer is returned over the cutting. Leave it as you found it. The soil microbes have had a heck of a day (I hate moving!), but they will get a second chance at thriving, alongside the transplanted tree collard cutting. The green manure (boring people call them “weeds”) are also pushed back into place with the lightly packed topsoil. Those plants/greens are going to be mulched over (next pic) so they will boost the existing community of soil microbes. And the soil microbes and the tree collard cutting’s new roots will live happily ever after.

Transplanting tree collard cutting - 4 of 4. Rice straw (old, perhaps last year's bale) is used to mulch over the tree collard cutting. Moisture retention is critical while the cutting decides to thrive or not. Note the chop-and-drop'ed dock plant (lower right); see text below re chop-and-drop.

Note the chop-and-drop’ed dock plant in the above pic (lower right). Sure it could have been ripped out while I was digging in the transplant. BUT, I would rather have the dock plant’s large, voluptuous leaves soak in the sun’s rays, create carbon (sugars) and other organic matter in the form of more leaves and a more developed root system. THEN, I will come along again (for the umpteenth time!) and demand that the plant start all over. Besides perhaps emotionally scarring Dock, the leaves I’ve collected can be used to make mulch, compost, or salad. The root system that was supporting all that leaf growth dies back; the leaves are no longer feeding it. Those died-back roots then become food for the soil as well as organic material that retains moisture for the new roots to come as the dock plant regrows.

Chop and drop video by TrevorsGarden.

Happy collard propagation and see you tomorrow.

Tony

20121107 Tree Collard Propagation — 2 of 5 videos

2- Food Forest Gardening No Responses »

Nov 082012

You have landed on Day 2 in this 5-day series of videos depicting propagation of tree collard cuttings. Enjoy!

First a video re “Collard Propagation”. Today’s video is part 2 of 5 (1/day) for the series! THEN some collard tree pics (below the video):

Tree Collard Propagation — 2 of 5 videos

Preparing Tree Collard Cuttings for Propagation (pics):

Collard Tree prunings, ready to trim the leaves from the stems for a meal. The remaining stems will be used as propagation cuttings.

Preparing Collards for the kitchen and for propagation -- 1

Preparing Collards for the kitchen and for propagation. When given the chance, work outdoors. Good vitamin J (joy)!

Preparing Collards for the kitchen and for propagation. The edible leaves have been stripped off of the harder/woodier stems. For illustrative purposes, I arranged the stems on the table to show you how far each stem is pushed into the soil. The line between pruners and sheath represents ground level. Note how little leaf bulk is left on the stalk; root development is the priority.

Soaking tree collard cuttings for tomorrow's transplant. We recently had a good rain. Plenty of nutrition in that funky water. The bucket was left outdoors to collect water; leaves were a bonus.

Happy collard propagation and see you tomorrow.

Tony

20121106 Collard Propagation — 1 of 5 videos

2- Food Forest Gardening No Responses »

Nov 072012

Tree Collard (supported by bamboo poles)

You have landed on Day 1 in this 5-day series of videos depicting propagation of tree collard cuttings. Enjoy!

First a video re “Collard Propagation”. Today’s video is part 1 of 5 (1/day) for the series! THEN some collard tree pics (below the video):

Tree Collard Propagation — 1 of 5 videos

Preparing Tree Collard Cuttings for Propagation (pics):

Tree Collard (supported by bamboo poles). Harvesting the collard greens is as easy as pruning the stems and leaves off the main trunk. Leaves are cooked down/steamed like kale. Stem sections can be added to stir-fry. Thicker pruned stems are best propagated -- stuck into soil and left be; a little water helps get the roots going. Soon those cuttings will become their own tree.

20121107 Tree Collard trunk split during propping up trunk. The "tree" is best kept from growing too tall because the wood is weak -- more of a woody vegetable than a tree wood. The split was left to fare on its own -- an experiment on my part to see if the fast-growing plant will repair the wound quickly. My perfect kind of science experiment -- do nothing!

Tree Collard in March, showing the perennial leaf canopy -- food, privacy, and animal habitat. The young tree collard is growing just uphill from The Bog, between apple trees (top right of pic).

Happy collard propagation and see you tomorrow.

Tony