out back late may

just a short tramp around the yard after i got home...the chinese yam that suffered a broken vine ( first photo ) is showing its invasive resilience and has sprouted a new vine ( second ) which is only the first of several more to come...its dna will not be deterred...the northern tepehuan teosinte( third ) and zea mays parvaglummis ( fourth )plants are samples of the population which is coming along...three beds of spuds ( fifth through seventh ) do not include the plants in containers to those yet to be planted..it will be a tuber bonanza ( i hope )...there is more wheat up than i expected..it seems as if seed i sowed last autumn as part of the winter wheat crop that failed in the bed that now has spuds in it has come up on the periphery of the yard ( eighth ) and it is mostly in full flower ( ninth )...finally there are jerusalem artichokes...more tubers...i am okay with that.

robust bed

took a run out to the community garden after work to have a look around and i am okay with what i found...the zea mays parvaglumis ( top photo ) that survived is thriving and i have a few more seeds germinating in an effort to provide it with some company...the rock mulch seems to be holding moisture for the plant and i dressed it with some compost last time out...the potatoes are just fine ( second ) and growing well..no leaves on the new ones i planted last week...they will come along...the relentless jerusalem artichokes ( third ) are moving their season along...they have almost subsumed the walking onion ( fourth ) however the winter rye is still keeping ahead of them ( fifth and sixth )...down the row the asparagus has pretty much past the harvesting season...( seventh ) it has "ferned" out and is now flowering ( eighth )...hoping to see berries eventually...with reproduction the new focus there won't be any new spears until autumn...just in time for season's end.

spuds, roots, and grass flowers

i decided to spend some time planting yet more spuds ( i believe i am now up to forty-six ) so i cleaned out some containers and let them dry in the sun and then went to work...there were three plants in peat pots still on the deck so those got homes first...the smaller container got an unidentified ( first photo ), viney looking spud which we may eventually id...or not...the second got a cobb lee ( second photo ) and a yukon gold ( third photo ) from bins in the basement and the third got two elmer's blue from the deck ( fourth and fifth )...the two elemr's blue are of radically different sizes and there is a reason for that and it has had an impact on th eplants...it seems pretty clear to me that the smaller of the two ( sixth photo ) was getting more sunlight on the deck ( there are many plants out there yet...there is still work to do ) and as a result put a lot more energy into establishing a root system ( seventh photo )...it was significantly pot bound and i took the peat pot completely off and scrubbed the exterior of the roots lose...the larger plant ( eighth ) was in a shadier area and spent more energy on leaves and stems to collect light, so...fewer roots ( ninth )...while plants need varying amounts of light ( ramps are averse to too much...so is ginseng ) these two plants of the same variety show what a variation in light would do...my best bet is that the smaller plant will produce more tubers...we will see if the larger can catch up root wise...finally the last two photos are of wheat ( tenth ) and winter rye ( eleventh ) flowering...just to prove grasses do flower.

thorns and a bit of a break

after i transplanted it yesterday the carolina horsenerttle looked a bit root shocked ( top photo )...this morning it looks a bit peppier and the thorns are put in full force ( second through fourth )...we will be careful around this one...the chinese yam has suffered a broken vine ( fifth ) i found the missing piece ( sixth ) on the ground this morning...no worries...down towards the base of the stem a new vine has sprouted ( seventh )...the plants grow multiple vines s i doubt this was in response to the break, however, a new vine would have appeared...the seventeen leaves on the original vine ( eighth as an example ) will continue to energize the plant...along with whatever energy might be left in an underground tuber ( i will not be digging around for those until fall...the set tubers deep...it is an excavation, not just a dig )...they are resourceful and resilient...the plabt will be fine and the trellis will fill...over in the ramp beds the leaves are dying back and the plants that intend to flower ( ten so far ) are investing their energy there...i am, as always, hopeful of many seeds...we will see.

solanum in the garden

i hadn't been tot he community garden in a few days...life has been militating against a trip but it relented a bit this morning so i went...the fist thing i found was a failure...the replacement tesointe has died ( first photo )....so even though it is late i believe i will germinate a replacement and keep trying...the other plant has deployed a fourth leaf and seems happy enough ( second photo )...and the rest of the bed seems to be doing well...the egyptian walking onion ( third photo ) is almost two feet tall and the aerial bulb is coming along...the spuds ( fourth ) are looking robust and there is an ear of rye ( fifth ) racing to finish before it is subsumed by the growing jerusalem artichokes ( sixth )...i looked in on my government spuds this morning and found the time to plant had arrived ( another trigger for a trip ) so i went and planted five more spuds..a dark red ( seventh ) which is not a government, rather a locally procured seed potato...one from accession bs286 ( eighth ) ..a blue shetland ( ninth )...one from accession gs427...and an early blue ( tenth )...finally i deiscovered some carolina horsenettle growing in the old biology club bed...i took some home..more on that in the next post.