went out to campus to check up on it after work today and things are coming along...the yam vines in the top photo are nearing ten feet in length and are still developing auxiliary vines at the nodes spaced along them...no sign of flowers or aerial bulbs yet which is a puzzlement, but i've only been growing them for two years so till time to learn...the second photo is of the northern tepehuan teosinte on campus developing flowers...good news...now i can cross pollinate the one at home with the one on campus so hopefully there will be seeds...we'll see how long this takes to develop and if we can beat the end of the season...the bottom photo is of the cowpeas...they are vining furiously and filling in the trellis and climbing the posts soon to reach the yams...both are tenacious plants so i don't anticipate trouble...the cowpeas are the same deep green color they were last year as the sugar/bacteria/nitrogen symbiosis accelerates...i collected 454 grams of winter wheat seed form 383 individuals that grew in the plot on campus, so as the cowpeas' season ends i will be sowing the wheat to act as a reservoir for all that nitrogen...saving it for next season when i turn most of the wheat under prior to planting ( i will be leaving a few stands on campus and at home [i have cowpeas in all the raised beds that i have harvested here] to keep the program going)...a simple green manure/nitrogen retention scheme...farmers in northwest indiana used to do this in their fields every year when i was a child ( used to see it all the time on the way to my great aunt and uncle's house in fair oaks ) now chemical inputs have replaced the old system ( for now0- so i just borrowed the idea once i found a source of nitrogen ( any pulse will do just about...garden peas fix nitrogen too...illinois bundleflower will as well if you can stand the smell)...this year all the winter wheat i saw was left to mature as a crop because wheat prices are up... i'll give it back if they ask...but i want to see how it works first
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