the regional campus and the community garden don't have a monopoly on my time and attention...the back yard has more space to work with and a variation in conditions from full sun to perpetual shade that offer some different opportunities...of course there are familiar plants as well...the top photo is northern tepehuan teosinte...one of half a dozen so far...i would like to reproduce the success i had in developing ( if not maturing ) teosinte ears and seeds season before last...the second photo is of emergent zea diploperennis...you can spot it a mile away...remind me to come back to this photo when the hopi blue comes up so the family resemblance can be illustrated as starting at a tender age...there are no jerusalem artichokes in the pgp this season because of the wheat grass from kansas ( and i hesitate to introduce them in the community garden ) but there are several clusters in the back...the heavily invasive lemon balm has gotten a start in one of the sunchoke beds and i will be interested to see which fiercely territorial plant prevails...my bet is on the jerusalem artichokes...in addition to the government potatoes in the containers and half barrels i have thirty-one red nordlands up in the potato patch in a sunny spot recently cleared of trees ...hopefully a more impressive harvest this season...the beets are up and running as well as the turnips...in the works cucumbers, kohlarabi, squash, and sweet potatoes as well as some herbs and a radish or two...i planted some ginseng last autumn in some of the shadier parts of the yard as well as some ramps...ramps can take up to two years to germinate and i haven't seen any yet so i am thinking next year ( if none show up i will replant the bed )...no sign of shang yet either... i am told it is a notoriously fickle plant that may or may not show up this year ( another native by the by as well as the ramps ) that too can be replanted deeper under the trees in the fall if necessary...2014 may see me over run.
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