I dead ass had a pest company come to my door and offer to flush my lawn with pesticide to get rid of all the bugs in it. I said “my guy, did you know that global insect populations are crashing and we’re heading towards complete ecological collapse? I recognize everyone’s gotta get their bread, but this is pretty bad stuff you guys are doing.” He seemed interested and moved on. I doubt he quit the company, but a boy can dream.
Edit: no HOA, and my neighbors dgaf, so I can be a proud dandelion enjoyer. Planting tons of natives, we’ll see how it goes.
I mean that’s a growth market if you can convince people it’s something they need.
The best part is it’s outdoors, so the bugs will come back and then you get repeat business! I bet you even get some whales who get you out for it every month!
This is actually how “entrepreneurs” think. They’ll come up with these evil, manipulative schemes and think they’re being clever.
Yeah, fescue is not my friend. I’m looking into growing some native clump grasses and clovers and replacing my lawn with that. There’s some downright interesting plants that used to be all over the San Joaquin valley. Drives me batty when people say that nothing used to grow here before it was settled and cultivated.
Right now I’ve got California Poppies, Black Sage seedlings and Coyote Mint seedlings. There’s an epilobium species growing here that might be native and edible or non-native and poisonous (I’m an experienced and cautions forager; seems like epilobiums can be kinda bastards to tell apart, so I’m not going to proceed further there), and red clover. I’m looking into getting some Nodding Needlegrass, Three-awn grass, and some Triteleia spp. I was looking at Owl Clover, but it’s parasitic on grasses, and I don’t to piss off the neighborhood by setting off an epidemic of parasitic owl clover (my power level isn’t quite that high yet).
oh! you’re in central california! there’s some really cool stuff out there. there’s cool drought tolerant tall purple grasses.
or you could grow something more utilitarian; like vegetables or herbs or something. that’s also really nice. they don’t look as pretty, but they smell AMAZING. plus you can attract cats.
I edited this in after you posted. Right now I’ve got California Poppies, Black Sage seedlings and Coyote Mint seedlings. There’s an epilobium species growing here that might be native and edible or non-native and poisonous (I’m an experienced and cautions forager; seems like epilobiums can be kinda bastards to tell apart, so I’m not going to proceed further there), and red clover. I’m looking into getting some Nodding Needlegrass, Three-awn grass, and some Triteleia spp. I was looking at Owl Clover, but it’s parasitic on grasses, and I don’t to piss off the neighborhood by setting off an epidemic of parasitic owl clover (my power level isn’t quite that high yet). I’ve also scattered some nettle-leaf hyssop seeds, but I seem to be coming up zeroes on that front. Now, my neighbor is a heavy irrigator and always floods my side yard after years of asking them to manage it better. Nothing grows there but mud or water-loving non-native grasses, so I got my hands on some cattail seeds (and dill and fennel) and scattered them in there. I’m curious to see if I can get some cattails going.
fennel is great for spots you expect to flood. lots watery spots in CA have fennel, and it’s a unique regional anisette flavor nobody can ever put their finger on. great for salads and tomato sauces.
you could also try putting in a water break, or doing the owl clover just so your neighbor has nothing to water. fix the problem.
Lmao, I’m hoping I might get a reaction when swamp plants start coming up on their side of the fence. At any rate, cattails are such a dead useful plant, if I get a good crop of them (or better, a mix of them and dill/fennel), I won’t be too mad at the neighbor.
It’s taken years of small, persistent effort, and it’s an ongoing process. One day, I aspire to become a forest spirit that randomly terrorizes too-well-manicured suburbs and gets featured in creepypastas. Anyone can do it, it just takes time, interest, a bit of applied effort, and some luck. If you find an already experienced botany nerd in your area, you can really give yourself a boost, but YouTube U is a pretty decent substitute. There’s lots of good books that your local library can help you get a hold of too!
I dead ass had a pest company come to my door and offer to flush my lawn with pesticide to get rid of all the bugs in it. I said “my guy, did you know that global insect populations are crashing and we’re heading towards complete ecological collapse? I recognize everyone’s gotta get their bread, but this is pretty bad stuff you guys are doing.” He seemed interested and moved on. I doubt he quit the company, but a boy can dream.
Edit: no HOA, and my neighbors dgaf, so I can be a proud dandelion enjoyer. Planting tons of natives, we’ll see how it goes.
Or the obvious, these bugs keep the yard healthy
I’m sorry, he wanted to exterminate your garden?
That is the stupidest thing I have heard in ages.
edit: as in, stupid on the pest company.
I mean that’s a growth market if you can convince people it’s something they need.
The best part is it’s outdoors, so the bugs will come back and then you get repeat business! I bet you even get some whales who get you out for it every month!
This is actually how “entrepreneurs” think. They’ll come up with these evil, manipulative schemes and think they’re being clever.
Yeah, exactly right. I was fucking flabbergasted at first, but I had to make sure dude understood what he was doing to earn his bread
Hopefully you saved some other insects from him.
One can hope
there are a LOT of cool native ground covers in most places. grass isn’t just wasteful and ecologically devastating; it’s ugly as hell.
Yeah, fescue is not my friend. I’m looking into growing some native clump grasses and clovers and replacing my lawn with that. There’s some downright interesting plants that used to be all over the San Joaquin valley. Drives me batty when people say that nothing used to grow here before it was settled and cultivated.
Right now I’ve got California Poppies, Black Sage seedlings and Coyote Mint seedlings. There’s an epilobium species growing here that might be native and edible or non-native and poisonous (I’m an experienced and cautions forager; seems like epilobiums can be kinda bastards to tell apart, so I’m not going to proceed further there), and red clover. I’m looking into getting some Nodding Needlegrass, Three-awn grass, and some Triteleia spp. I was looking at Owl Clover, but it’s parasitic on grasses, and I don’t to piss off the neighborhood by setting off an epidemic of parasitic owl clover (my power level isn’t quite that high yet).
oh! you’re in central california! there’s some really cool stuff out there. there’s cool drought tolerant tall purple grasses.
or you could grow something more utilitarian; like vegetables or herbs or something. that’s also really nice. they don’t look as pretty, but they smell AMAZING. plus you can attract cats.
I edited this in after you posted. Right now I’ve got California Poppies, Black Sage seedlings and Coyote Mint seedlings. There’s an epilobium species growing here that might be native and edible or non-native and poisonous (I’m an experienced and cautions forager; seems like epilobiums can be kinda bastards to tell apart, so I’m not going to proceed further there), and red clover. I’m looking into getting some Nodding Needlegrass, Three-awn grass, and some Triteleia spp. I was looking at Owl Clover, but it’s parasitic on grasses, and I don’t to piss off the neighborhood by setting off an epidemic of parasitic owl clover (my power level isn’t quite that high yet). I’ve also scattered some nettle-leaf hyssop seeds, but I seem to be coming up zeroes on that front. Now, my neighbor is a heavy irrigator and always floods my side yard after years of asking them to manage it better. Nothing grows there but mud or water-loving non-native grasses, so I got my hands on some cattail seeds (and dill and fennel) and scattered them in there. I’m curious to see if I can get some cattails going.
fennel is great for spots you expect to flood. lots watery spots in CA have fennel, and it’s a unique regional anisette flavor nobody can ever put their finger on. great for salads and tomato sauces.
you could also try putting in a water break, or doing the owl clover just so your neighbor has nothing to water. fix the problem.
Lmao, I’m hoping I might get a reaction when swamp plants start coming up on their side of the fence. At any rate, cattails are such a dead useful plant, if I get a good crop of them (or better, a mix of them and dill/fennel), I won’t be too mad at the neighbor.
your life is so much more botanically interesting than mine.
It’s taken years of small, persistent effort, and it’s an ongoing process. One day, I aspire to become a forest spirit that randomly terrorizes too-well-manicured suburbs and gets featured in creepypastas. Anyone can do it, it just takes time, interest, a bit of applied effort, and some luck. If you find an already experienced botany nerd in your area, you can really give yourself a boost, but YouTube U is a pretty decent substitute. There’s lots of good books that your local library can help you get a hold of too!
No drop of rain blames themselves for the flood.