Volt229

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as promised, the transplanting tutorial

most sources make transplanting sound incredibly difficult, but transplanting young seedlings from areas with sparse dirt, like a driveway or roadside, is actually incredibly easy and can get you some great stuff. Once I worked out the method, i've had a very high survival rate

it took me like a month of trial and error to figure this out so you don't have to.

It is a common belief that native plant gardening is hard and expensive but plants are free. They're everywhere. They just do their thing.

It is common for seedlings to grow in places they cannot survive longterm; the side of the road, pavement crack, gravel driveway.

How did they get here? Plants spread their seeds in a variety of ways. Some of the main ones are:

birds: when birds eat berries and fruits, the seeds are not digested and sprout in the ground when the bird poops.

wind: lots of seeds have fluffy parachutes of helicopter wings so they can be blown far away to find a place to grow

water: rain and streams can wash seeds away and leave them in a muddy area to sprout

mammals: acorns and nuts from trees are foods for families, who bury them later. sometimes they sprout into trees instead

A seed will do its best to sprout... whether it's a good place for a fully grown plant or not. Plants that sprout in harsh places are sometimes beautiful and vulnerable species, and they are easy to transplant.

Here's how:

you will need

a pot: A red solo cup is the right size for most transplantable seedlings- don't use anything much smaller. You can also use an orange juice carton or even a cardboard box. Make sure you cut holes or slits in the bottom so it won't be soggy forever when you water it.

potting mix: it's not the same as dirt- it's lighter, fluffier and drains easily.

a place to put it: put them outside where they get some sun, but not where they get direct sun all day long. If they're on a surface that gets hot, elevate them by putting them on a cardboard box or something.

The idea is to transplant seedlings that wouldn't survive where they are. Don't just uproot plants that aren't in any danger. Obviously don't do anything dangerous or illegal. AVOID roads with frequent traffic or main highways. Do NOT put yourself at risk of being hit by a car.

I collect from roadsides because I live in a neighbourhood with no outlet. If you grab an invasive species, it's in a pot where it can't hurt anything and you can just kill it.

NEVER plant anything in the ground without knowing what it is, though.

A seedling this size (about an inch) or smaller is most likely to survive. The two most important things are to keep as much of the root intact as you can and to make sure the roots stay damp. You can wrap the roots up in a wet paper towel.

How to transplant:

From gravel: seedlings growing in gravel or pebbles are easiest to transplant. Remove bits of gravel one by one and carefully pry up the pieces that are stuck, until the roots are exposed. Mulch can be removed the same way.

From a crack in the pavement: Very carefully pinch the stem as low to the ground as you can and shift and tug until you pull it free. Be patient! Breaking small roots is fine but if you hear the main root 'snap' RIP to the plant.

From dirt: Digging around the whole plant is hard to do quickly and seamlessly. Soaking the ground in water or searching after a rain can help you gently pull small plants up.

How to put them in a pot:

Carefully put potting mix around the roots. Don't crush them.

Don't touch any part above the lower stem with dirty hands... especially not new leaves. A speck of dirt on a delicate new leaf can make it start rotting which will spread to the whole plant. Water, immediately. Get only the potting mix wet, not the leaves (that can make them vulnerable to rotting).

Seedlings with broad, big leaves can dry up easily from direct sun exposure, but many aren't happy in the shade So you can cut one of these (cardboard toilet roll centre) in half and put the half around the seedling like a "collar".

How to take care of them:

After transplanting, plants are very weak. It's like recovering from an injury or illness.

Check on the plants at least a couple of times a day and water a little if the potting mix is dry. I like to adjust their location at different times of the day- newer seedlings might need to be moved to a shadier spot when it's sunniest, but later in the evening plants in the shade benefit from being put in the sun.

Don't be discouraged if they die, they had a very harsh early life and some of them won't make it.

As they get bigger you can identify the species you have and decide if you want to plant them. My policy is to plant only species that are native to my area. You WILL find invasive species and you want to get rid of those, trust me. Uprooting them and leaving them on a concrete surface kills just about everything. Don't throw an invasive plant in the grass and DO NOT try to compost them.

[ID 1: a tweet from thegallowboob showing an image of a railing covered in braille apparently describing the view for blind people. (It’s a nice view) accompanied by the text of “this railing on gazebo in Naples has braille describing the view for blind people. More of this please.

There is a reply from transastro that reads “Uhhh, maybe we should dismantle nuclear weapons first? Just a thought. End ID.]

[ID 2: a news article with a title that reads “Selfish: This man found time to build a birdhouse while JonBenét Ramsey’s Murder is still unsolved” accompanied by an image of a man building a birdhouse, and a smaller image of (presumably) JonBenét Ramsey. End ID.]

@diamondot speaking for myself, i just decided to learn it one day a few years ago (i had a viking phase ok) and simply started with it. It's surprisingly easy since all the info is available on the net. Honestly, i don't remember where i started since it has been so long ago and now i just browse pinterest for patterns alone. Google tablet weaving or card weaving (same thing, different names) patterns and some basic explanations and yt vids for how to turn and weave the stuff. Things like

S and Z threading are there for a reason, so mind your card orientation. Start with some easy pattern like simple wave or diamonds above, 6 - 10 cards are good for your first project. Don't lose hope in initial stage. Streching and threading all that yarn can take anything between 20 minutes and 3 hours depending on how big is the pattern and how skilled you are. Since you need some lenghts to secure ends and to turn cards, use about 40 cm more than wished lenght of your final product. Secure lose ends after threading through cards so you won't end with a bundled mess. Streching/knotting them to something is one way. Taping each card threads together or using weights (check pictures below) is another way (good only for shorter stuff though). Cards could be made out of anything as long as they have smooth edges and rounded corners. Cardboard, thicker plastic sheet, literal cards cut into squares with holes punched through them, whatever. These are mine 2 decks, minus cards i am using atm.

When you start weaving and pattern looks like a total mess, try turning cards in opposite directions. It usualy solves the problem (all that forward/backward can be a bit tricky and mirroring motions/patterns/card orientation can be confusing at first seemingly messing all your work even though you are doing everything right technicaly, just in opposite order/direction). Don't lose your hope. I still manage to mess up like first 5cm of every other work i start. It's not an issue as that start usualy gets cut off anyway (the tension is not right for at least first 4 rows, aka 1 full card rotation, until all threads go up and down at least once no matter what you do. Don't sweat it). You don't need any fancy startup either. Historicaly, people used to weave like this and this and this:

I just strech the thing between 2 chairs myself. Door knobs work as well and so does staircase railing. Wherever you have some space. Long hair clips are your friend, especialy when you are done with weaving for the day and you don't want stuff to tangle

This website is where I learned, twenty years ago while u was intending on Sturtevant Wi.

These books are both great, Collingwood is more comprehensive, but harder to just pick up and weave from.

The thing is that the technique looks complicated due to the fact that there is 100 something and that number alone is scary. But. Actually several buts.

But number 1 - the technique is OLD. Meaning - while being somewhat tedious just like any other textile craft, it has been used and learned for a long long time and there's plenty of resources (check out links above or any youtube video explaining the process) of varying difficulty from complicated af to easy peasy lemon squeezy with closed eyes

But number 2 - there is only one core principle/step you need to understand and that is when some threads go from up to down or from down to up (aka when they cross), you need another thread going in between so they won't simply snap back again. That's it. That's the basic principle behind every weaving ever. What card weaving does compared to standard weave is that instead of a single thread going up and down in the single row, you get 2 or 3 or 4 or 6 or whatever number of threads your pattern calls for in the same row

But number 3 - the number of rows = number of cards. Simple as that. Cards turn around to make a cord like when you are twisting 2 or 4 or whatever numbers of threads to make a rope. If some of those threads have different colours, you get a repeating pattern.

But number 4 - card orientation or S/Z orientation or whatever other fancy name for the twisting direction simply means that if you turn all your card in the same way at the same time, which one of them will make the twisted rope in this / angle and which one will do that in this \ angle. That's it. That's the whole mystery between S/Z threading.

But number 5 - you can start with as little as 4 cards to make a custom set of shoe laces or a key strap or whatever and call yourself a weaver. Because you did that. And it was nice. And it was easy. You just turn and thread and turn and thread and then you keep repeating this while watching a movie or something. There's no need for the math finals level of concentration here.

But number 5 - no one, literally NO ONE starts with a pattern like this

No. Everybody starts with something like this

Keep it simple, keep it easy, make 10cm and be done if you want to. It's perfectly fine.

But number 6 - you don't need any fancy items for starting. No hooks, no needles, no loom, no anything. If you have 2 balls of yarn in different color or some remains of your old cross stitch project or whatever and some card-like stuff you won't be sad for making holes in it, you are all set. Back side of the sketch pad is good. Poker cards cut to squares are good. A sturdy enough sheet of plastic is also good. You remember that old pexeso pairs stack you didn't touch since you were 9? Guess what!

First thing the sales guy did after I laid down the rules was turn to Sean and go, "What's your number?" And Sean said. "Oh, no, you negotiate with Gayle."

So, strike one for the sales guy. Could not divide and conquer us by implying THE MAN would not surprised at what I laid down.

Sales guy then had to confer with his manager and left us at his desk for several minutes. I have a vague recollection (this was 16 years ago) of Sean and I amusing ourselves doing bits about the other people there to look at cars. I am sure we did not give off the stressed or nervous energy they were hoping for.

Guy comes back. His first offer is fifty dollars a month more than I told him we could pay. I looked at him and said "I gave you our upper limit."

"Well, but what's another 50 bucks a month?"

"Something I can't afford."

He didn't know what to do with my open and unashamed admittal that I had a budget because my money was finite.

He went back to talk to the manager again.

It took two more rounds of "I told you what I can afford" before he finally came back 20 bucks under what I'd stated as my max.