after culling seventy-nine unwanted jerusalem artichokes from various locations in the garden, i had hoped to be done with rouges...but i had forgotten that almost all the perennials i planted last year are classified as invasive...colonizers that move in relentlessly unless vigilantly controlled...my memrory was refreshed by the two rouge chinese yams (one in the top photo)...i collected nearly five hundred aerial bulbs from the vines and the ground around the yams over the couse of last season...obviously i missed at least two of them and they are growing far too close to the asparagus to be allowed to prosper...another facet of human intervention into the lives of plants endemic to agriculture...i read an interesting article by daniel zohart called " unconscious selection and the evolution of domesticated plants" in which he maintains that by providing an environment free of the competition and and disease that comprised selective pressure in wild plants humans unconsiously substituted othere selective pressures that modified domesticated crops as much if not more than the conscious selection for things like larger seedheads and resistance to shattering...we cannot know all the consequences of our acts ( and speaking of evolution, can someone tell me what possible selective advantage could be represented by allergies? i am in hystamine city)...the Zea diploperennis is doing well too (photos two, three and four), as it is here at home...i am planting my own corn to provide some photos to contrast the morphology of corn and its ancestor...i have heard from mark millard, the usda maize curator who has given me some suggestions on what to do with the Zea perennis if it doesn't germinate in the beds...many thanks to him and hopefully we will get another strain of teosinte up and running this season...the bottom photo is a shot form the west end of the garden about 10:00 this morning...asparagus, intermediate wheat grass, and winter wheat are prominent...later in may and everything is up and running...the complextion of the garden will change as the spring crops end their season and new plants take their place in the rotation... autumn root crops will be planted in mid-summer and green manures are on this year's agenda again along with the addition of cover crops to retain the nitrogen through the winter...learning as i go and tweaking the system so it becomes more self-sustaining...how much more fun could i ask for?
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