iuncg 6-25-2020

i want to make it clear that i stood in public spaces and used the "zoom" features on my cameras to take these photos...i did not wander onto university property ( unless, of course, they lay claim to the alley and the sidewalks...not beyond them i imagine...and we could launch into a discussion of the increasingly corporate structures of universities here...however this is a gardening blog so i will refrain...or save it for another venue )...i wouldn't want there to be any misunderstanding...i also wanted to have a look...

someone did have the foresight to cover the beds with landscaping fabric to reduce the number of native plants that found their way into the fallow beds...a logical and well thought idea...

and it proved mostly effective across most of the beds...except...

maintenance doesn't seem to have been part of the thinking...late spring and early summer storms have brought wind as well as substantial rain and some of the fabric has come unmoored...exposing the beds to colonization...

and among the natives i found a thriving population of the non-native carolina horse nettle...

some of which are happily blooming which signals that they have been up and running for weeks, not days...the fabric's unmooring is not a recent development...

and even around the edges of the covered beds the opportunistic natives are moving in...

over in what was/is my bed i was pleased to see they left the alfalfa uncovered...it is blooming if unruly and in need of some containment...if the garden should reopen that will be one chore to see too...and there has been an irruption of volunteer spuds there...i never seem able to retrieve all the tubers they set the previous season...there are volunteers in the wheat and rye beds in my back yard as well...for the second year running...

finally, the asparagus is mostly green and fully "ferned" as it should be...however it really needed to be staked upright...unfortunately it is probably too late now...the stems have surely become woody in the heat and attempting to straighten them would likely snap many off...so...bent it will be...there is talk of "reopening" with masks, gloves, social distancing, consent forms, and waivers of responsibility as the university, like any good corporation, covers its legal ass...the "other" community garden is practicing social distancing as well...on the honor system...no paperwork...we are getting along fine.

june storm

the wheat and rye that were green and upright at the beginning of the month had begun to ripen...

hints at a maturation had begun to creep into the grains' color...

something over an inch of rain in two short, sharp bursts this afternoon...

bludgeoned them both...not a disaster...i believe they will simply ripen in a more prone position...

some of the maize found itself at odd angles as well...

its ancestor teosinte has a marked inclination to fall over of its own volition without much of any damage...maize is not especially prone to falling over on its own...however, thanks to its genetics it doesn't much mind it either...just set it back upright...no harm, no foul...

the onions, jerusalem artichokes, and chinese yams shrugged it off as just another day...

while the blooms on the spuds saw fit to close up shop for the day...

the onions and roses stayed open.

leaf cutters

my bee cocoons arrived today and it must have been a warm trip because the mesh bag was alive when i opened the container..so i p[ut thiem in the refrigerator for about fifteen minutes to clam them down...

except for the male that escaped the mesh bag and was on the loose...him i took outside with me while i put the finishing touches on the bird proofed hatchery...

after they cooled i opened the bag...put it in the contraption...closed the critter net..and put the back and lid on...

the already hatched bees warmed fairly quickly and began to come out to explore their new home...

which included one of the boys ( you can tell by the green eyes ) having a wander around my left index finger...

and one of the girls ( black eyes ) having a stroll on my left hand...

i put out a new bee house and covered it in critter net...that won't keep the damned earwigs out but it will keep the birds away...they are on their own now...the alfalfa is blooming on schedule and they have food, nesting materials, and habitat...the rest is up to them...i have seen some earlier this week that hatched out form somewhere around here...five years of bee release may finally be having a local impact...or so i hope.

second sister

made the short trip to the community garden in portage this morning and bed six seems fine...

the spud corner has some blooms opening and the probability of more on the way...a sign of fair health...

the turnips, kohlrabi, and celery are moving their season along...

the peas will be wanting a trellis soon...

some jalepeno and sweet peppers have joined the population...which is all good but not the main focus of today's jaunt...

the maize row begins to resemble a john stewart curry painting...

and the plants have all reached the requisite six inches in height...

to allow the planting of the "second sister"...

so i did...a few inches in front of each maize plant...a ready made trellis for each bean...all we do now is water and wait...

in the meantime out in the back yard the egyptian walking onions are beginning to bloom...

as is the bittersweet nigthshade...

which is attracting some agile bees...

the spuds, which are the bittersweet's cousin...are blooming here as well...

unfortunately, so far, the blooms are just falling off...there doesn't seem much chance of potato fruits this year...spuds are finicky about producing seed...

the asparagus is in full bloom...

while the alfalfa is just starting...

and the rye and wheat are done with all that and will begin to ripen directly...

and while we are talking wheat, ancient dna has cropped up again out back as the very old variety emmer is still producing ears around ten thousand years after it was first domesticated...

no one should have expected the jeruasalem artichokes to give up...in the past two weeks they haven't...

then again, they have not intimidated the onions holding their own out front of the horde..or the chinese yam vine that has taken to the trellis and will be producing aerial bulbs soon enough...another relentless colonizer, this one has stared down the sunchokes for years...

and finally...there are bees in the hawthorn...

and an old friend dropped by earlier in the week...always something going on out there.