HOT

it has been exceedingly warm and dry hereabouts the past few days so i have been making daily trips to campus to water ( and then going home and watering...no-one [particularly me] said these projects weren't labor intensive...always something to do...or read about...or write about...but that's exactly the point...to be engaged by the environment, contribute to it, and learn something from it ...even failure is a learning experience...as much as any success...perhaps a bit more so ) with good reason...when i got there at about 4:07 ( the freeway is open again...much quicker ) the zea diploperennis in the top photo was fairly unhappy...since i took the spring wheat out it is exposed to full sunlight all day ( the ones behind it get some shade from the jerusalem artichokes on one side and the gamagrass on the other ) and today some of its leaves were curling in protest of the heat and water loss...i immediately dumped a gallon of water on it ( i used thirty gallons to day, altogether ) and then went back to my truck and grabbed all the loose straw, leaves, stems. stalks, dead roots, and any other organic matter i could find as well as a bout half a bag of composted manure...i utilized this to do a mulch job on the fly ( i knew there was a reason [ beyond a slight preference for things on the point of decay ] that i hadn't cleaned that stuff out of thee bed )...by the time i was ready to leave about an hour later the leaves had begun to uncurl and the plant was looking decidedly happier...the sunchokes in the middle and the cowpeas on the bottom are in their element and doing just fine...there are about twenty cowpeas up now and the jerusalem artichokes are so intertwined that they are self-mulching...it is dark,cool, and damp under there...a hide-out for toads, mosquitoes, and dragonflies...predators and prey...a niche in the environment...things are moving along.