volunteers

i was out roaming around the yard after work, looking in on the teosinte after a couple of nights of intense rains ( 3.8" in two days by my rain guage )...

and wondering how a colony of jerusalem artichokes had established itself out by the alley ( i certainly did not plant them...not that fool hardy...rodents i am thinking )... i was walking past a patch of maize...

when i found an ear ( partially gnawed...rodents again? ) of purple flint maize on the ground...several kernels had begun to germinate on the cob...doubtlessly spurred on by the sudden abundance of mositure...

which brought to mind some yellow dense #2 i had found germinating in a field after harvest a few years ago...

i have a weakness for dna trying to replicate in difficult circumsatnces...remember puddles? ( and the puddle she germinated in? ) well this maize was never going to reach maturity before a frost...

so i pulled them off the cob...a couple had rooted into the cob already ( about twelve pounds of nitrogen in a ton of cobs...not altogether void of nutrients )...

and planted them...

putting the peat pots in the sunshine on the patio...as i said these wil never make it to maturity before a frost so you are probably looking at the start of the indoor season here...maize under the lights...i can only surmise how this may turn out