Best to ID the vines first. I use inaturalist for quick suggestions of what a plant might be if I don’t recognize it, then compare close up pictures to what I’m seeing. This will let you know if you need any ppe for the task and can inform what you need to do afterwards to keep them from covering the tree again.

To your question - yes, cut the vines at their base. Some vines secure themselves very tightly to the tree, others have a looser hold. If these vines are wound very tightly to the tree it would be worth cutting them, then letting the upper growth die back before pulling it from the tree. Doing it this way can prevent damage to the bark and cambium of the trees you’re freeing.

Beat me to it! I just had a meeting this morning with our library director about who’s going to be helping with our annual seed swap and seed library refresh (happening this Saturday and I’m stoked)

Don’t be afraid to get in there with some snips and open up some breathing room for the new shoots. Bending a few older shoots to get to the crowded sections won’t really do too much to hurt the plants while they’re dormant. There’s a reason so much information about bamboo is how to get rid of it - it’s very good at surviving. To add to that, if your plant is dormant for the winter, then almost all of the plants’ energy is in their roots until the signals are there to push new growth.

Speaking of roots - winter is a good time to check your plants for any signs of being rootbound in their pots. If you can, try to shimmy the whole root ball out and see how much unoccupied soil is still in there. If it’s roots all the way down, you can safely remove about a quarter of the root mass before replanting them (it’s totally fine to sift out the roots you’ve removed and reuse the soil). Doing this will keep them from strangling themselves, which can happen to any plant left in pots for too long (it can happen other ways too, but that’s not really useful here). Use a sharp knife or shovel - no use damaging more than you intend to - and disinfect your tool of choice in between plants with alcohol or bleach to prevent transferring any disease that might not be observable. That goes for what you use to cut the growth above the soil line, too.

Good stuff! I seeded out a tray of ramps this morning myself (it only took two years of trying to break dormancy)

I had to wear snowshoes just to get to the fruit trees for winter pruning =D

I know what you mean - our average last frost date isn’t for another three months

[Image Description: a red plum seedling reaches for the sunlight through a window]

Is the inner pot holding the roots sitting on the bottom of the larger pot? That would be contributing to the issue if it is. Some stones or another material to lift the inner pot off the bottom will allow the orchid to drain more readily.

I can’t really tell you about your situation, but my wife and I did the math for our ROI on a set of roof mounted panels by assuming that the power company would continue raising rates. We averaged the delivery increases and generation cost increases over the number of years we had been in our home, then ran that annual increase over the lifespan of the panels. Rather than being a twelve year break even point it worked out to about seven. In our case, Maine has okay laws about net metering so check what your state and municipality’s regulations about it are. Look at your overall financial picture. If you can’t do it without a loan, shop for your own loan rather than just taking the installer’s.

To answer your question anecdotally, this past summer we were very happy to only pay our grid connection fee of $18 monthly while our neighbors complained about $300 (or higher) each month. You might not hit your full generation needs, but you might make enough of a dent to make it worth your investment

All is well, far less free time now than this time last year when she was sleeping for eighteen hours.

I’m glad it was better! Fwiw my wife and I did a bunch of eye rolling during the snack breaks and on the ride home from several of the classes.

Our kiddo is doing really well, we hit 1y4m last week - she has all teeth except her 2 year molars (tons of fun), is transitioning from two to one nap a day (tons of fun), and is doing her darndest to use words for things, which is actually fun.

That’s awful. We were lucky enough to take a course from a doula who worked out of the hospital system we did our birth care through. I still have all of our materials plus an unused code for an informational app, and would be more than happy to send you a little care package if that would help in any way

Changed up my whole approach to a writing project - I’m finally making progress again and being a little less down on myself as a result.

That’s actually the handle for holding it while you eat. Far fewer stringy bits get in the way if you pinch the bottom of it and split the peel from that end

🥰 it’s just the two of us today so we’re playing in the dirt pulling strawberry runners for markets this weekend

Fun fact: in the northeast US and eastern Canada, you can support their entire life cycle by planting tomatoes and Monarda spp together!

Wicked cute, thank you for sharing!

Look at those pollen pants!

In my experience, the ants that nest in our pots tend to favor the species we let have dry periods between waterings - in other words, our driest pots. If we can get the ants out of the picture, the aphids will lose their defenses and your predators can have a field day.

One method we’ve had some success with is submersion in water, using medium to large storage totes depending on the size of the pots. The tunnels flood and sometimes collapse, and you can flush them out.

Something else you could use is diatomaceous earth, which is generally available in garden and hardware stores. Make sure to liberally coat the soil surface and stem, and try to dust the aphids as well. Don’t inhale it. You’ll need to reapply it whenever it gets wet, so I’d recommend bottom watering whatever you can - I have a few small (1m x .3m) rubber boot trays I use for that. Something to note is that the DE is a broad-spectrum tool, so it won’t discriminate between the ants, aphids, or the predatory insects.

Someone on the town crew was out with the boom flail mower, mowing on the sides of the road. Ostensibly, it’s to keep the drainage channels clear and to reduce plants from reaching out into the road. Guy mowed my entire front row of ferns, skipped some lilies, then mowed down my flowering and decorative grasses. At one point, he must have lifted the boom to avoid an Iris, but then brought it back down on another flowering grass in the middle of my front gardens. They’ll survive, but my front garden is going to look destroyed for a few weeks at least while they recover.

In more positive news, we had some friends and their son visit on Sunday. My wife took the other ladies around to walk in the gardens at one point while I was cooking - I found out later that we’re part of the inspiration for some folks who are looking to start a sober living space!