more shade

microclimates have been a subject of some interest to me for a while now...i have been tracking rainfall in different parts of my back yard and am toying with the idea of spreading thermometers around to augment the data and see what sort of variations may be found there...the idea extends beyond my back yard ( actually i first came across the idea when reading a book by steven brush on crop diversity and the microclimates for potatoes provided by the altitude increments of the andes...different altitudes provide conditions suited to different varieties of spuds ) and i do believe i am looking at in in the ironic industrial cornfield ( first photo ) by the supermarket...at least some of the corn has grown in the past week and the rows are beginning to have arched made of corn leaves ( second )...there are still significant height differentials in the plants ( third )...some have reached thigh high ( fourth ) while those in the shade of the big maple seem doomed to be stunted ( fifth )...there are other trees growing in the berm of the field like the elm in the sixth photo that , left alone, will eventually throw considerable shade on any crop...it doesn't end there though i don't think...there is considerable biomass in the berm...poke weed...thistle...ragweed...tall plants that are only going to grow with the season and the row that immediately abuts the berm ( seventh ) is significantly shorter than the row next to it...location is seemingly important when you're dealing with a non-native crop that has been the object of intense artificial selection exacerbated by engineering...seemingly they have not engineered the distaste photosynthesis has for shade out of the corn...shade is not a proper niche for dense yellow #2