Day 266

With the temperatures falling and the days getting shorter, minds tend to turn to the imminent winter and the somewhat depressing transition of green to gray. However, while winter is inevitable, certain steps can be made to help promote an even more colorful landscape once the desolate whiteness of winter thaws and spring brings back everything to life.

Fall planting.

While spring is an ideal time to plant a vegetable garden to take advantage of the growing season, the season of autumn should not be ignored as a great season to plant (and transplant) vegetation. When it comes to prairie plants, fall is an excellent time to transplant plants and prepare seeds.

At Craneview on Plainview, we are currently in seed collection mode. We still have at least one year of treating the land behind our house before transforming it into an upland prairie. Because it was recently disturbed, this land is still tepid with undesirables. From ragweed to thistles and everything unwanted in between, we would rather treat the land to deplete it from as much of the seed bed as possible before starting fresh. Until then, we can collect seeds of the plants we aim to get into the ground.

We collect native prairie seeds because we will utilize a fall seed dispersal on this treated land. To successfully start our prairie the seeds need to go through a process of cold stratification. In nature, mature plants drop seeds in fall and seeds that survive getting eaten “go to sleep” endure the cold and often brutal winter before “waking up” and sprouting under the right conditions. Seeds that don't go to sleep can’t and won’t wake up. So, throwing them down before a snowfall is ideal as the snow will help the seeds work their way into the ground and wait for spring. Because we aren't planning on implementing this process until next winter, we have time to collect seeds from the plants we desire. Seeds have a long shelf life so there is no need to get them in the ground instantly.

We aren't just collecting bags and bags of seeds. Fall is also a great time to transplant plants as well.