move 'em out!

as soon as it was warm enough this morning i went out and took the buckets i used to cover the strawberry plants last night and let them back into the sunlight...then i went downstairs...

i did not want to grow potatoes in the basement under the lights...they are not happy there...the light just isn't of a broad enough spectrum for them and the get "leggy"...i only planted them because they had chitted and would have shriveled and died if i had not...it isn't completely pointless...they do produce, small tubers that can be used as seed for an outdoor crop in spring...but these hadn't even gotten that far yet...so...

i took the whole basement population outside into natural light...

the ones i planted in smaller containers as a stop-gap were desperately pot bound, so i loosened their roots...

and planted them each in a larger container as deeply as possible to see exactly what we can achieve through the end of their season...

while i was moving bags of compost i found an earthworm which i happily relocated tot he wheat bed...

finally...this teosinte plant has hit about three feet tall and has also begun to flower...we will see what it does for the rest of the spring out back...there will be more joining it soon as i germinate seed and plant seedlings from the seed i got from the usda...soon enough it will be an all outdoor season...and i can clean the plant room.

nascent blooms...and a frost advisory

the hard red spring, einkorn, emmer, and dwarf syrian wheat are all developing their third leaves...

the small stand of winter rye has reached about six inches in height...

there are seventy-eight ramps up in the bed...

in assorted sizes, from the smallest plant that has sprung up from seed to a few that are on their third season and will, hopefully, flower later in the summer...

the egyptian walking onions are booming along this late april...

in the meantime the new york import wild strawberries are evincing good new growth...and...

little white blooms...so strawberry season has begun and it would seem at least some of the plants' energy will be geared towards berry production as well as the inevitable daughter plants...there is a frost advisory out for tonight...the wheat and ramps will be fine...and even though the grower i purchased the new york imports from told me they were "tough little plants" i have covered the ones working on blooms with five gallon buckets for the night...not taking chances.

late april progress

the ramp bed has come alive...today's count is sixty-five up and running...

most of the ramps are one or two years old...ones i bought or transplanted tot he new bed i put up on the north side of the house...when the older ramps sprout two robust leaves emerge from a sheath ready to deploy like this one...

this one is nowhere near as developed...small and spindly it has what appear to be very small leaves just beginning to grow...there is an explanation in that this plant has emerged in an area i seeded with some of the bumper crop of ramp seeds the plants produced last season...they need a period of heat followed by cold in order to germinate so they can take two years to begin growing...i planted those seeds in august of last year so i seem to have been on schedule to have them appear this spring...we will see if any more crop up in the next few weeks...

the wild strawberries imported from new york state are showing good new growth...

and the hard red spring...

einkorn...

emmer...

and dwarf syrian wheat have all begun to produce second leaves...hoping for tillering soon...this is just getting started...from yacon and spuds to teosinte there is a long haul ahead...finally out of the basement.

jean's puddle wheat

it has become a warm and sunny day ( finally ) here...

so i took jean's puddle wheat and its cohabiting onions out for a sunbath...

i took the two onions tot he bed on the south side of the house to place them in a more permanent home...

both plants were extremely pot bound after a winter in the basement so i shook their roots loose...

and planted both in holes deep and wide enough to accommodate their root systems...

while i was digging the holes i turned up an earth worm which always pleases me...it tells me the soil is organically healthy and that the fertility isn't out of a box of chemicals...a good sign of healthy soil...obviously the onions are staying out...so will jean's puddle wheat unless the temperature is near the frost level...it will be coming in then...it never has the proper conditions to reproduce in the basement...no ears of grain in sight...still..it was a fair season downstairs from its germination in a puddle until today...we will see how long it can go on...stay tuned.

green around the yard

because inter species concern and cooperation probably shouldn't be reserved to one conscience salving day a year

brussels sprouts

hard red spring wheat

einkorn wheat

emmer wheat...

wonter rye...

ramps...

egyptian walking onions...

alfalfa to set nitrogen and provide nesting material for the solitary bees as well as another nitrogen setting legume, winter vetch