MCDuncanLab

Associate Professor at the University of Michigan. I frequently post photos of my cat and garden, and helpful tips for running a lab.

Science: Cell Biology, Membrane Traffic, Clathrin, Golgi
Interests: Gardening, Education, Biking, Environment, Art

Public Key

npub14k3sv7gtyhujmep00nkx86m4h6yv2rsna740rasupl93h00d2fvq26yep4

NIP-05 Address

mcduncanlab_at_mstdn.social@momostr.pink

Profile Code

nprofile1qqs2mgcx0y9jt7fdushhemrrad6mazx9pcf7l2h37cwqljcmhhk4ykq08ehvk

Author Public Key

npub14k3sv7gtyhujmep00nkx86m4h6yv2rsna740rasupl93h00d2fvq26yep4

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Last Notes

2024-10-16 00:09:43

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I'm in SE Michigan. I start peppers and tomatoes in March. Eggplants in February. All under grow lights.
The alternative is buying seedlings in May when they become available. Most of our nurseries and big box stores only sell seedlings starting May 1.

2024-10-15 14:48:52

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Oh that's interesting. my tomatoes are usually spent by the end of the season, but I could go with a cutting.
I overwinter peppers and sometime eggplants, but this year I only have one pepper plant that is health enough to consider overwintering.

2024-10-14 14:46:54

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Lovely!

2024-10-13 17:16:45

Hey Gardeners,
Some of our container leeks are pretty small. Should I just bury the pots in a pile of leaves and pull them out in the spring and see what happens or eat baby leeks now?
#Gardening

2024-10-13 17:10:37

Hey Northern Climate
Gardeners,
If you want to overwinter eggplants and peppers, now is the time to prune them off and bring them inside.
#gardening #GrowYourOwn

2024-09-29 23:06:26

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Do you reuse and supplement potting soil or it all fresh? I usually do 1/2 to 1/4 fresh

2024-09-29 21:37:51

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Wow. I'm sold I'm going to try this next year. I usually try carrots in the ground and get nothing.
I do have some little globe carrots in a pot that @npub129c…ckue shared with me, fingers crossed on those.

2024-09-29 20:36:09

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All 100 from one pot? How deep is it?

2024-09-29 17:28:31

Not the abundance of a month ago but still getting a couple of days of veggies from the garden each week.
#Gardening
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2024-09-24 00:52:27

I tried something new with food preservation this year. I saved the peels left over from peeling the tomatoes before canning and dehydrated them and ground them to a fine powder. This powder is apparently a nice punch of tomato for sauces, stews, and soups. Eager to try it out!!
#Gardening #FoodPreservation #Tomatoes #GrowYourOwn
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2024-09-23 00:06:14

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So seriously this is what I do with all the technology at my fingertips?!?
#Gardening
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2024-09-22 22:43:26

The putative chestnut mushrooms continue to grow slowly. These logs were inoculated with chestnuts last summer. The logs are supposed to be partially buried once they are fully colonized, I guess this the the signal for us to bury them.
#Gardening #GrowYourOwn #Mushrooms
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2024-09-22 22:22:23

Oops, we didn't harvest this bitter gourd soon enough and now it's going to eat Detroit.
#gardening
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2024-09-15 17:32:16

Hi Folks,
I'm considering trying vermicompost this year because our kitchen scraps serve as deer food in the compost pile.
Any tips? I'm considering just using the worms from my compost pile and not red wigglers since they are not native and can easily escape.
I'm planning to use the three-bucket method.
#gardening #vermicompost #vermiculture #WormComposting
#GrowYourOwn

2024-09-12 13:16:03

With the cooler weather we're starting to get more of our early winter 2023 logs producing mushrooms. Here's oyster (Blue or Italian I need to check my records) and shitake on silver maple.
What a difference following the instructions make. In 2023, we seeded with the appropriate density and voila, mushrooms from most logs within 2 years.
#mushrooms #Gardening
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2024-09-06 17:51:09

Hi, All. I'm looking to join/nucleate a support accountability group for mid-career molecular biosciences people. Basically, it would be a weekly or more frequent check-in on goals and struggles. Do you have any suggestions?
#AcademicChatter #PILife #Science #MolecularBiology #CellBiology

2024-09-04 13:55:48

Wow! My garden gave me such abundance yesterday. I'm pleased with how varied the bounty has been this year and happy for all of the tips from the gardening that have helped me this year and the foraging community that helped me realize much more of my garden is edible than I realized.
#Gardening
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2024-08-18 01:00:36

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Our Okra is bad this year too. Last year was bad for everything, but this year only the okra and summer squashes are struggling.

2024-08-17 19:42:10

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My husband loves using the manual mower, I find it too much work.

2024-08-17 19:39:55

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We have a manual mower. My husband uses it over grass and weeds, it’s a workout. We sharpen it every 4th or 5th time. He’s worn through three sets of handles, it’s a Scott’s and there’s a weak spot in the design.
The manual won’t work for chopping the leaves, you need something going fast enough that it’ll suck the leaves into the blades.

2024-08-17 15:43:56

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Some years, I'm lucky, and the guy whose leaves I collect for compost will run them over with his lawnmower a few times to chop them up. We don't have a motorized mower so I can't do it myself.
If you have a mower, you can chop leaves with it, which, for me, are the majority of my compost pile.
I'm slightly tempted to get an electric mower simply for the leaf chopping.
I tried using a string trimmer in a barrel, but it wasn't very effective.

2024-08-14 18:58:38

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Results may vary on deer. Our deer don't eat daffodils, but they do eat our alliums.
You can also plant crocuses, which come in a little earlier than daffodils, and tulips, which come in a little later.

2024-08-10 00:09:41

August 9 harvest.
Not quite the tomato extravaganza I thought it would be, left a lot of them on the vine to ripen. Not sure if I've got enough to can this weekend.
Found a stealth cucumber (top left) that evaded me and the garden sitter. It was almost completely orange, so I think that vine will probably die.
#gardening #cucumbers #tomatoes
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2024-08-04 15:51:32

#silentsunday
Path just off the WSU Vancouver campus, a three minute walk from Mom’s house. so jealous of ppl who can live in the PNW
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