Ungardening in January: Seeds

Straw mulch over seeds protects a meadow planting. New growth will be augmented with plugs in Spring.
Jacque Schiller
Straw mulch over seeds protects a meadow planting. New growth will be augmented with plugs in Spring.
It is time to think about seeds for spring planting and time to plant seeds that require overwintering to break their dormancy and germinate in the spring. That is my January project, planting the native seeds collected mostly from my garden, the meadow and the woods. I will use the tried-and-true method, re-using plastic gallon jugs which I have saved for this purpose. I cut around the jug, four inches from the bottom, leaving about an inch of the plastic attached so that it hinges open. The bottom is filled with soil and dotted with seed, then I tape the top to the bottom to create a kind of greenhouse. These can be left outside until it starts to warm up, and the tops can then be removed. Be sure to label the jugs in a way that will not succumb to the elements – even Sharpie ink can fade over the winter. I use a wood plant label stake inside the container before I seal it up as well as a tag sealed with clear tape attached to the outside.
I’m also planting seeds directly into the ground in the meadow. The meadow was not mowed last year so there is an excess of grass and thatch covering the soil. I decided to use the propane weed torch to selectively burn the grass where I want to plant the seed. I waited for a morning after a big rain to start this experiment. Holding the torch steady in one spot for a few seconds created an approximately 5-inch patch of char and bare soil. I then used my boot to push back a bit of the newly uncovered topsoil. Onto this moist exposed soil I pressed a few seeds and then covered it lightly with the soil I had pushed back. My foot tamped it down gently and then I loosely covered the patch with some dry grass. With help, I was able to create about forty of these bare patches into which I planted seeds from six different native plants suited to the sandy riparian soil.
We ‘started’ the meadow three years ago on about an acre of land across the stream from our house simply by not mowing it anymore. We had no idea what would grow. And when it did, it was not impressive; mostly non-native weedy plants took over: sheep sorrel, hawkweed and several non-native grasses. But also some promising signs – a few yarrow, horsetail, evening primrose and wild strawberry. The following year, after a June mow, we planted little bluestem seeds, mostly as they did not need the overwintering that perennials typically require to germinate; they grew in well. Last spring I spent way too long pulling out the sheep sorrel and planting partridge pea seeds. Over the season I added a few more flowering perennials: Rattlesnake master, Eryngium yuccifolium, Culver’s root Veronicastrum, Bienial Gaura, Gaura Oenothera. From these and a few more species I had enough seed to spare for this planting experiment.
On New Years Day I was chatting with Jacque Schiller -about seeds- at a mellow afternoon party in North Cornwall. Jacque had planted a small meadow in the area where the septic system of their house which had been replaced. She relayed how she spread seeds- a wildflower seed mix specifically for Connecticut from Urban Farmer - last August after the septic work was complete and planned to augment with native plugs this spring. When I got home, I went on the Urban Farmer website to look at the details of the seed mix she used. I was sad and not surprised to see that about 70% of seeds in this particular mix is from non-native species. The company does offer a native mix for the Northeast which is found alongside the other seeds on offer but does not make a distinction between native and non-native seed for the state-specific mixes.
I asked Jacque if she thought her meadow was comprised of native plants; yes, she had. Her error is a common one; I too have bought plants thinking that they were native when they were not. Not all wildflowers are native, of course, but the nomenclature and the way they are sometimes marketed can be confusing to people whose intentions are to plant native. So why is it done? I suspect the wildflower species included in the CT mix are showier than the native alternatives. And perhaps even hardier, as there are fewer animals that eat them or their pollen or reproduce on them. Consumers want aesthetic success, and non-natives can do that but they do not deliver on preserving the native habitat and food chain for native insects, birds and even mammals. Moral here: Buy seeds from reliable sources such as native plant specialists. Exchange seeds with people you trust. Read labels well.
If you are looking for native seeds, there will be a native seed exchange Jan. 25 from noon to 3 p.m in the Munger Barn at The Dudley Farm North Guilford, Conn. Organized by national organization The Wild Ones, the event is a bit far away; but will be a worthwhile trip. For more information, go to mountainlaurel.wildones.org/news/
Dee Salomon ‘ungardens’ in Litchfield County.
Join The Lakeville Journal for a community celebration, featuring local nonprofits and businesses, festive family fun, great food, and engaging activities.
What to Expect:
See you at the Lakeville Journal Street Fair!
If you have any questions, please email streetfair@lakevillejournal.com
Cobbler n’ Cream
5 to 7 p.m.
Freund’s Farm Market & Bakery | 324 Norfolk Rd.
Canaan Carnival
6 to 10 p.m.
Bunny McGuire Park
Canaan Carnival
6 to 10 p.m.
Bunny McGuire Park
Cocktail Party
5 to 7 p.m.
Douglas Library | 108 Main St.
Canaan Carnival
6 to 10 p.m.
Bunny McGuire Park
Boot Drive
8 a.m. to 2 p.m.
North Canaan Fire Co. | 4 E. Main St.
3rd Annual Fly-In
8 a.m. to 3 p.m.
Triumph Airfield | 547 W. Main St.
Canaan Railroad Station Museum
10 a.m. to 6 p.m.
Canaan Union Station
New England Accordion Connection
9 a.m. to 8 p.m.
Canaan Union Station
Canaan Carnival
3 to 10 p.m.
Bunny McGuire Park
Berkshire Resilience Brass Band
5 to 8 p.m.
Canaan Union Station
Barbecued Chicken Dinner
5 to 7 p.m.
St. Martin of Tours | 4 Main St.
Canaan Fireman’s parade
6 p.m.
Foxtrot Farm & Flowers’ historic barn space during UAW’s 2024 exhibition entitled “Unruly Edges.”
Art lovers, mark your calendars. The sixth edition of Upstate Art Weekend (UAW) returns July 17 to 21, with an exciting lineup of exhibitions and events celebrating the cultural vibrancy of the region. Spanning eight counties and over 130 venues, UAW invites residents and visitors alike to explore the Hudson Valley’s thriving creative communities.
Here’s a preview of four must-see exhibitions in the area:
1. Wassaic Project (37 Furnace Bank Road, Wassaic)
“So It Goes” is a powerful group exhibition curated by Eve Biddle, Bowie Zunino, Jeff Barnett-Winsby, and Will Hutnick. The title, drawn from Kurt Vonnegut’s “Slaughterhouse-Five,” signals a reckoning with how we process the horrors of the world. Through play, reflection, and immersive scale, 43 artists respond with urgency and imagination. Installations can be seen throughout the town of Wassaic at Maxon Mills, Gridley Chapel, and Luther Barn, each space transformed by this deeply thoughtful show.
2. Foxtrot Farm & Flowers (6862 Route 82, Stanfordville)
“Queer Bestiary,” a group show curated by Charlotte Woolf, is inspired by Patricia Ononiwu Kaishian’s book “Forest Euphoria.” The exhibition investigates queer ecology and human relationship to land through the work of 10 artists using painting, sculpture, textiles, and photography. The exhibit is accompanied by a variety of interactive experiences including tattoo pop-ups, karaoke, book readings, and pick-your-own flowers.
3. ChaShaMa North/ChaNorth (2600 Route 199, Pine Plains)
ChaShaMa North (ChaNorth) will have open studios all weekend and has partnered with Paradice Palase, a platform for emerging artists, to mount a site-specific sculpture exhibition featuring 20 artists entitled “Alone, You Are Heard.” On Saturday evening, July 19, stop by for Weird Music Night for an audio-visual synthesis of experimental music, performance art, and unexpected happenings. Don’t miss this opportunity to experience an eclectic lineup of acts that redefine the boundaries of performance.
4. Millbrook Arts Project(3 Friendly Lane, Millbrook)
The Millbrook Arts Project is hosting a curated exhibit entitled “Generated Utility” at the newly renovated gallery at the village library. The exhibit will feature the work of artists Natalie Beall and Kathy Greenwood. Additionally, visitors will have access to 12 open artists studios across town. The weekend culminates in a free outdoor concert on Saturday evening at 6 p.m. at the Millbrook Bandshell. Enjoy the Indie-Folk sounds of Strawberry Runners and She Keeps Bees.
For more information and a complete list of participating artists and locations, visit: upstateartweekend.org
The late Glenn May on one of his favorite rivers, the San Juan in New Mexico, circa 2010.
My nomadic attorney Thos is planning a fishing and camping trip of major proportions later this summer, starting in New Mexico and working his way north through the Rockies into Canada.
So I wanted to reconnect with a fellow named Glenn May, who was my main fishing buddy for several years in the 1990s when we both lived in Albuquerque and worked at the same bookstore. Last I heard he was living in Colorado, which is on the itinerary, more or less.
An email bounced back so I tried Facebook, only to learn he died in his sleep in February.
He was a little younger than me, about 60 I guess.
This was disconcerting.
I was already working at the bookstore when he came on board, and we recognized our mutual interest when I found him trying to carve out a shelf or two for fly-fishing titles amid the general chaos of the sports section.
I had a Ford Escort, which was good on gas but didn’t hold much gear, especially when you factored in critical supplies such as beer.
He had a gigantic and battered Ford F350 which was terrible on gas but would go anywhere and could hold everything. It also had a long-expired Delaware license plate, which made for some tense moments.
We managed to wangle the same two days off, Sunday and Monday, and we’d often bug out after our Saturday second shift and fetch up somewhere around 1 a.m., pitch a tent and be on the water at dawn.
The bookstore did not pay much, and out West the distances (and gas consumption) are exponentially greater than in the relatively compact East.
If it was near the first of the month, we took the Escort. Mid-month when we were feeling bucks up, we’d go with the truck.
Glenn was a dry fly guy to his core. I had been trained in similar fashion but was dabbling in the dark arts of subsurface fishing, so when one of us was catching the other was often fishing.
He was also a Dallas Cowboys fan. They were suffering through a particularly bad season one year in the mid-90s, and as we drove from river to river we listened to the games on the radio. He lamented, and I privately gloated.
I wandered back east but Glenn stayed put, eventually becoming a fairly big name in the New Mexico newspaper world. He wrote about fly-fishing for the Albuquerque Tribune and about everything for the Santa Fe New Mexican, and that’s not a complete list.
Then he was off to Cameroon with the Peace Corps. And then Turkey, not in the Peace Corps. He did a stint teaching English in South Korea.
I occasionally got cryptic emails describing the fishing in places like Bulgaria, and he kept up a Facebook presence, so I had some idea of what he was doing.
More recently he was back in the Four Corners, working for the Ute tribal nation in some capacity. I think there was a wife in there too.
I’m struck — again — by how, over the years,I have spent a lot of time with fishing friends and I know next to nothing about them except they dislike fishing with dropper rigs and have a weakness for hazelnut coffee.
The other thing that stands out about Glenn was that he was the best trout spotter I have ever fished with. No scouting flies for this guy. He was almost always aiming at specific fish, where I was working specific spots. To use a sports analogy, he played man-to-man while I played zone.
I spoke to him on the phone in 2004. We reminisced about the time we were edging around a canyon pool and when he looked back all he saw was my ballcap floating on the surface. (I was underneath temporarily.)
Or the time the drunk idiots chucked rocks into the pools we were working. They were poor shots so the rocks came very close to hitting us. They also called our fly rods “fairy sticks.”
We snuck up on them later when they were cavorting in a hot spring and let the air out one of their tires. Only one. We wanted the punishment to fit the crime.
They recovered enough that we encountered them later at a rustic saloon that sold flies and had a collection of brassieres attached to the ceiling. Luckily they didn’t put two and two together, probably because they were engrossed by the decor. We prudently oiled out and made our escape.
I’ll wrap this with a story about the famous New Mexico tailwater, the San Juan River.
The first time we tried it together he was doing well with miniscule dry flies, size 24 callibaetis, and long leaders tapered to 7X.
I think this was when my antipathy for what I call “specks” started. No matter what, I could not lay out my speck the way he could.
So while he was horsing big fat rainbows into the net, I was fumbling with tackle and cussing.
Finally, I tied on a big gaudy Royal Coachman fly with a pink post and about twice the normal amount of hackle. I think I bought it at the brassiere bar.
Shortening my leader to something around seven feet and 3X, I heaved it near the streamside vegetation while Glenn watched. He may have smirked a bit.
A nice rainbow, probably rejoicing at the prospect of a square meal instead of nibbling on specks, smacked the ridiculous fly and we were off.
It was big enough, and I had consumed enough beer, that Glenn kindly assisted in netting the beast. He looked at it, the fly and at me, shook his head, and said “Now that is some raggedy fly-fishing.”