#plantstodon — Public Fediverse posts

More pruning of the birches, and I've removed all the copper wire I'd used to guide the direction of growth of some of them.

They are all growing into quite interesting shapes and have some healthy side branch growth too.

I think I'm not doing more than one more major pruning session this year, I want them to gain some strength before winter. I'll continue molding them next spring.

But I'm really happy with what I've done with them so far.

#gardening #plantstodon #plantiverse

Did a tiny bit of pruning of the birches.

There are way fewer aphids than before, I'll chalk it up to regularly removing them.

Side branches have started growing wildly on all the trees. Very pleasant to look at! I also noticed that all the leaves that were on the trees in the past (and that I always toss into the pot after removing, because I'm giving the soil as little intervention as possible, other than some mild fertilizing, and those leaves would be there if the birches were living in the wild) have properly blackened and fungi seem to have taken to them (as opposed to just being dried-up leaves that lie on the ground).

Something about this is pleasing as well. Some of the leaves have become almost indistinguishable from the soil. Circle of life and whatnot.

The branches that I shaped with copper wire seem to be upright the way I wanted them to be. There's a good chance that I'll remove the wire in just a few days and reapply it elsewhere, and possibly add more.

#gardening #plantstodon #plantiverse

The birches, after I cut their tops off, decided to do nothing.

I check on them nearly every day so I was dismayed that day after day they had no growth at all.

Well, until now. In one day, one of the birches sprouted out two branches and they're instantly like ALL leaves and shit. And one of the branches is like 5 cm long, I kid you not (that's two inches if you're weird :3 ).

I love birches. From nothing to "fuck this shit we're going all iiiiiin aaaaaargh". Can you tell why I feel a spiritual kinship with birches?

Birches are the best plant and I love them what I decided to be a Very Normal amount.

Other birches haven't started yet but I'm sure they will, soon.

Meanwhile the oaks grew one thin stalk with no branches over nearly a year and two rosettes of leaves, one of which is odd and malformed.

The oaks and the birches are like that meme with the sad dog sitting down and the muscular big dog.

While the oaks are busy struggling to live, the birches are like "yo, let's fuck this shit up, let's gooooo" and being awesome.

Gardening is fun :3

#gardening #plantstodon #plantiverse

The birches are better wrt aphids although the side branches haven't started growing since I cut off the tops. Presumably they need a little more time. Hopefully that's still gonna happen before autumn.

The oaks' leaves are now free of that weird white residue! Whatever it was, they've overcome it. And the leaves have grown quite a bit. I think the danger is gone for now.

Growing plants, especially plants I've collected and brought up from nearly nothing, is such a good feeling. It's a powerful feeling to be a lifegiver.

I love taking care of plants. I am surprised how much.

#plantstodon #plantiverse #gardening #fedicoven (that last one on account of the work very much having spiritual and magical meaning for me)

Time to deal with this chaos!

#gardening #plantiverse #plantstodon

I am happy to report that both oaks are alive. Their leaves are green and rapidly growing.

Except they still have whitish residue all over and their shapes are downright terrible. Thin and malformed and weird.

I don't know what it is, whether they were eaten by some insects before they grew so that they are now doing their best, or the heat got to them, or what.

But I want it to be clear, I love all my plant children, even the malformed weird little mutants!

Birches, on the other hand, holy crap the birches.

They're two to three times taller than their tallest* when harvested. They were short but they had sturdy main branches, and they had powerful roots (they were... basically mostly roots, that's how I picked them). Almost all their initial branches, and ALL their initial leaves, died but sometimes apparently things have to die for other things to live, because they are now sprouting leaves all over and they are just long and powerful, if a bit too thin to support their own weight in some cases.

And that's despite the aphids constantly returning in truly horrifying numbers. Birches really are strong little fuckers, huh.

Little do they know, however, that the day of reckoning is coming. They have grown enough that another round of pruning is at hand, and I will now actually be shaping them into desired directions, and possibly cutting them up so that side branch growth is promoted.

I've waited for a while to make sure they were strong, but these guys are STRONG. They can handle it.

So now it's time to give them bulk, otherwise they'll just keep growing one long, thin branch each that is too flimsy for their own good anyway.

I'm really, really proud of how well I've dealt with my little trees. I may have a knack for gardening after all?

#gardening #plantiverse #plantstodon

*How's that for alliteration xD nine "t" words in a row.

Setting aside my depression and self loathing for a second to try and think of less self destructive things.

I am so drawn to the imagery of birches and magpies.

Why does it matter?

My 40th birthday is coming up and I still hope to somehow be able to get a tattoo. I've even finally settled on a tattoo artist I like, which took me a while.

And I want the tattoo to reflect my spirituality and path I'm taking into witchcraft. I want it to be intensely personal, meaningfully symbolic and like... real.

Incidentally, I've heard a lot of people say they were like that with their first tattoo and then they've mellowed out and just started putting pretty pictures that they like on their skin.

But I don't feel it's gonna be me. And I low key resent the frequent implication that this desire to have a meaningful tattoo is kind of a phase. I don't think I want tattoos for the sake of having tattoos. Or ever will.

But, I digress.

I want my first tattoo to be very "me", to reflect what kind of woman and what kind of witch I aspire to be (honestly, those two things are so intertwined they might as well be the same thing). And I definitely have *some* ideas, like getting tattoos of three supernatural women that I find meaningful, that being the goddesses Marzanna and Dziewanna and the mermaid of Warsaw.

But those are not first tattoo ideas, I don't think.

So I keep looking for things that feel right, that reflect me and my magic. Especially plant motifs, because my magic is very closely connected to forests and plants. Plus, I want to honour a former headmate of mine who basically thought of itself as a plant spirit. It's a whole thing.

So I looked up many trees and herbs and what-have-you and their significance in Slavic mythology and religion and magical practice and folklore and medicine. Same with animals, to a lesser extent.

But my mind keeps going to magpies and birches. They feel right.

But the symbolism isn't there. The only meaning that somewhat fits me is magpies' affinity to shiny and beautiful things (I've actually described myself as a magpie in this context, many many times), and the general connotations of femininity for birches.

But it seems so tenuous? It's not strong symbolically.

I know I could just say I like the imagery of magpies and birches for aesthetic reasons. Which I do. They're pretty!

But I have this desire for meaning. A tattoo feels like a big deal. And I've wanted my prospective tattoos to be spiritually important for years. Really.

On the other hand... maybe this draw IS an indication that there's a spiritual pull I'm feeling. Maybe birches ARE my plants and magpies ARE my birds, spiritually.

I just don't know.

Yes, I'm a massive overthinker, sue me xD

Thoughts and comments and Boosts welcome. Maybe I need an outside perspective.

#fedicoven #plantstodon #tattoo #neopagan #witchcraft

So as I've mentioned before, last autumn I planted three acorns, and two of those acorns grew into little oak trees.

But, as I've also mentioned, I planted them inside. So they were very confused about seasons. They grew in the winter and then just sort of... stopped. They never lost their leaves, but they stopped growing.

So I moved their pot to the balcony in spring. Because I'd read that temperate zone trees will eventually die if they are not grown in a proper environment with four seasons. They're just not equipped for that.

They were still in that weird limbo. Their leaves are a bit dried out at the edges, but still haven't fallen off, and clearly the plants weren't DEAD, but they were stuck.

I'm happy to report they've decided to give it another go. Small but robust bunches of leaves are growing near their tops, and I expect now that they are subjected to the normal rays of sun and will experience summer, autumn and then winter as normal (with minimal protection because obviously their roots aren't very deep in a small pot so they wouldn't survive harsher nights mid-winter), they will grow as Mokosz intended.

I also put nitrogen fertilizer sticks in all my houseplants and outside plants alike. Won't hurt and may help.

#plantstodon #gardening