October 5, 2009
Mondo Propagation Experiment
Mondo Grass (Ophiopogon sp.) is a mounding perennial with a form that visually mimics grasses. Larger species and cultivars of Mondo look similar to Monkey Grass (Liriope sp.), a landscaping staple in the southeastern United States.
The Mondo Grass in this photo is a dwarf cultivar of Ophiopogon japonicus that I am thinking about using as a low-growing ground cover in a shady part of the yard. In my endeavor to actually cover more than one square foot of ground, I am attempting to propagate these plants by division. It’s not that difficult really – in a purchased pot of Mondo Grass, each tuft is its own tiny plant – you merely have to dig them up and tease the roots apart. Mondos can reproduce vegetatively by sending out underground offshoots, and it’s a propagation method much preferred to saving and sowing the difficult-to-germinate seeds.
So here’s my question: Assuming there is room to spread out, do Mondos put out more offshoots when they are isolated or crowded? I’ve planted a few pots with crowded centers and a few that are more spread out to see which fills in the fastest. Any thoughts on this are welcome.
September 17, 2009
Garden in a Box
I recently moved into a new place that doesn’t have much good space for growing vegetables – the yard is small and most of it is heavily shaded. The one patch of lawn that does get sun is, of course, completely infested with crab grass. I don’t want to use chemical herbicides to get rid of the crab grass, so I’m thinking about sowing in a cover crop of winter rye and hairy vetch to see if that will smother it out. In the mean time, I really want to get in a few late-season crops before winter so I found an alternative – the salad box.
I came across this idea while walking past a television set my roommate had left on in the living room – Martha Stewart was building a “salad table” with guest Jon Traunfeld from the University of Maryland. I happened to have just the right materials lying around to quickly put together this smaller version of their salad table. Instead of using soilless potting media, which is mostly made from peat (technically peat is a renewable resource, but it is rarely sustainably harvested), I used a mixture of potting soil, compost and manure. Hopefully the mixture will not be too heavy for germinating seeds.
I’m planting the box with ‘Black-Seeded Simpson’ lettuce, ‘Munchener Bier’ and ‘Rat’s Tail’ heirloom radishes, and ‘Bull’s Blood’ heirloom beets. If it works out well, I may invest in building a whole table for growing my vegetables, rather than digging up the yard.
