escape!!

another seven tenths of an inch of rain over night brings us to 9.8" for the month to dare...fully a quarter of the yearly average precipitation here in a month...which doesn't mean it couldn't dry out catastrophically over the next three...i am skeptical of that however...it has stalled industrial farming here...but it hasn't stalled the back yard...

the walking onions were pretty much been green all winter and have been going strong since early march...they are preparing to both flower and produce aerial bulbs...walking by august or so...

the concord grapes are chugging away and throwing out new tendrils to latch onto last year's anchors...

the rye is flowering...

and more ears of wheat are emerging...

the wild strawberry blooms are vanishing...because they are metamorphosing...

into the berries they were meant to become...

i count at least thirty-four stolons diving over the side of the bed...making a break to the north...why?

the way south is thoroughly blocked...the berries are relentless colonizers ( remind me to throw in a few photos of the east bed they share with only the deeply rooted and indifferent asparagus some time )...they are pragmatic colonizers as well who will secure the northern reaches of the south side of the house at the expense of the lemon balm ( no mean colonizer itself )...the donnybrook continues.

planting, maintenance, and perhaps some damage

i went back to the grasslands early this morning...

because when i was there yesterday i noticed that some of the asparagus had begun to develop a serious lean...

so i drove in a tomato stake ( well away from the crown ) and pulled them back closer to upright with sisal twine..as i was doing so i heard an audible pop...which may not bode well for one of these spears...since none of them would lift up out of the soil when i pulled on them i am hoping for only a partial break and some healing and continued ferning/flowering...we will see...

there were a couple of leaners towards the other end of the row as well...i followed the same procedure...this time without the added pop...expecting continued robust growth here...

down in my bed the spuds have come along far enough that i can begin to hill them so i raked down the soil i had piled up when i dug the planting trenches to cover the plants up to the canopy...

i brought along a couple of additions to the bed's population...

so after i raked the soil i planted a tomato and a hat pepper...

between the rows of spuds...maize is next on the list but not just yet...

the season on campus is coming along...we will see what verdancy we achieve.

german butterball

the garden resembled a tall grass prairie when i got there this afternoon...leave it to physical plant to leave the garden as last on the list to mow...still...lots of clover for the bees...that's fine...

the asparagus is looking well...i found no new spears..which isn't surprising since the weather is warming...someone ( or some thing )snapped another spear off above ground...i have been complaining about that because i have been harvesting asparagus below ground as long as i have been harvesting it...probably because the gardening books i read when i started out said that this was the proper way because it protected the plants from disease and insect infestation...recent research reveals that, like anything else you hold a viewpoint on, there is a diversity of opinion on this matter with a "below ground" camp and an "it doesn't matter" camp...old and set in my ways i will continue to harvest below ground an dress the snapped spears as i find them...

my bed seems to be doing okay...nothing tragic to report...

both alfalfa plants have adapted well to their new home and continue to produce good new growth...

the government spuds are very green and son it will be time to begin hilling them...

and the german butterball i 0planted at the end of that row has finally put in an appearance...

the elmer's blue and bisons in the other side are looking vibrant as well...all of which is pleasing...

an admittedly poor photo, however the teocintli i planted last week has all produced leaves...they still have shallow root systems so i gave all three a shot of water...because...despite the literal total washout the month has been so fast i do not trust the rain...i had mentioned warmer weather and i will give these three another week to see what they do before i put any of their descendant maize in...i want them well started before their heavily modified progeny go in...

finally, some clover has migrated to the corner of my box...i will be leaving it...it is doing no harm...perhaps it will bloom.

eleusis

a day in the life of the winter rye hasn't changed it much...except in one detail...

one ear has begun to flower...others will follow..then fertile grain...to eat and to sow...

this is what the header is about though...there are fully emerged ears of wheat in the wheat bed...eleusinian mysteries are in the yard again and there is another connection to the deeper past of human and plant interaction...co-evolution...not, perhaps, the symbiosis of man and maize...but an ancient connection none the less...i'm geeked...you may not be...that is alright...

berries are edging closer in the south bed...

and they have turned into relentless producers of stolons...

the berries are looking green and robust in the rain/sunshine/rain cycle of the past month...and they need to be...

one day may have changed the winter rye in a measurable way...however the change was one small flower...

two days have seen changes in the jerusalem artichokes that must, at least from the berries' point of view, seem ominous.