i was out across a couple of counties this morning doing errands and everywhere i went the sky looked threatening,...
there were grey clouds at the bean field behind the big box stores ( i had need of some bamboo...we will get to that )
from the looks of the dead, brown stalks ticking up above the beans and the brown down the rows i'd say the field has been doused with herbicide...glyphosate or s-metolachlor ( the atrazine of the bean world )...the population of "native plants" in the filed has declined since my last visit...a chemical investment in a crop that may be less than remunerative this season...we will be keeping an eye out...
they don't seem to have sprayed the berm however...these herbicides do have a residual effect...it is not permanent though..the "native plants" will reestablish themselves soon enough...barring another dose of herbicide...the filed is still for sale by the way...had been for years...no takers it seems...
after i purchased my bamboo i headed back west to the community garden...where it was...raining...
the cucumbers and banana peppers were alright with that...
so were the cherry tomatoes and their cousins the spuds behind the asparagus which was replete with raindrops...
my maize is looking robust and the largest of them has to be pushing seven feet in height...they like the compost hill...
the largest one is also in full flower and i believe i see the first sign of ears on the way...
and while we are talking ears...i have a teosinte plant with four branches that is developing ears down the stems and which has begin to lean perilously because of the growing weight...
so i put three of the bamboos in around the plant and circled it with some jute twine just to give it enough support to keep it upright...the support is not rigid...i put the bamboo in with the smaller diameter in ground so it will move in the breeze...it will have the added advantage of being a perch for the dragonflies i have been photographing lately...
as a final note, the ears on that spindly rteosinte plant are developing silks...the zea family is working its season towards fruition all over the county.
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