i went to campus this morning to see how things were doing after a couple of raw, rainy october days...things are about what i expected this close to the end of the season...everything is winding down like the intermediate wheat grass in the top photo...the seed heads are dry and shatter readily, so the plot is reseeding itself...the second photo is of a cluster of asparagus berries...those plants are at the end of their third season and are established enough that they are reproducing as well...i will wait until they thoroughly die back to mulch the beds and see if the berries produce new growth next spring...the stand of zea diploperennis is still up and running, but i fear their days are numbered...i will be mulching that bed to in hopes of renewed growth in the spring...i am not sanguine about the chances of a sub-tropical perennial wintering over, but i will try anyway...the winter wheat has nor been happy since last friday...i planted it a week later than i wanted simply because life got in the way of the garden...however the weather is supposed to moderate for the next four or five days and hopefully that will encourage them to germinate...i counted thirty plants up...a miniscule portion of the number of seeds i sowed...so to be on the safe ( or ,possibly, hopeful) side i sowed more today both on campus and at home...the last photo is of the northern tepehuan teosinte and the chinese yams...the teosinte lost a limb in the wind and the yams are ready to be harvested...this season is about done..i have preordered seed potatoes and i have wild potato seeds as well as more teosinte seeds...i think next season on campus is covered...from the end of november to the beginning of march is time for reading (there are more books on the way)...more on that and the mulching and winter wheat as it comes up.
Here in Colorado, the Zea diploperennis i planted last summer did not survive over winter into this summer like i had hoped it would. One Northern Tepehuan teosinte (native seeds) germinated this summer, but it was damaged by a squirrel, so i was unable to see it make it to the pollen stage like i did last year.
ReplyDeleteHowever i did plant Zea mexicana this year, and it seems have suffered some frost damage and is dying, but it almost has some mature seeds on it. This was the closest to make it to maturity. It has silks and seeds, but i haven't seen any mature pollen on it yet, so the chances that it self pollinated are slim. I tried putting some old dry corn pollen onto the silks, but it's doubtful that was successful either.
Next year i plan to plant many plants of both Zea mexicana and the N. Tepehuan teosinte in the hopes that they will cross and produce viable seeds before winter hits. I may even start a few in pots and transplant to get an early start. I will post some pictures i took of the teosinte seeds last week today on my photobucket site, so check that soon.
http://s1010.photobucket.com/albums/af224/keen101/Garden 2011/
i'll take a look at your photos this weekend. i have a northern tepuhan plant out back with fourteen ears and immature seeds that i have been covering with frost cloth at night in hopes of getting them to fruition. i knew when i did the math it would be a close race with the weather...we'll see...i fear the zea diploperennis is doomed, but i have gotten more seeds from the usda and will be growing more next spring.
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