closing in on a new year

six days ago it was reasonably cold...

now it is "unseasonably mild"...

and, unfortunately ( this is relative...certainly the outcome had a fortunate side as well...i am dealing with the microclimate of my back yard, not the overall geography of the area ), the storm that brought the cold only brought a couple of inches of snow...not nearly enough for the wheat's purposes...

it is not at all happy...

all the brown in these photos i would call ex-wheat...so for what would seem the third consecutive year cold has preceeded snow which is the direct opposite of the wheat's needs...i am assuming ( and i could be wrong, however i think not ) a truncated crop again...could we call this a climate change index here at the south end of the inland sea...if it continues yes...we will see what the variables bring...

there is still a portion of green in the asparagus...dwindling to be sure...still some green...

the berries are still very green...cold hardy, they have obviously ignored the cold...only the onions can say the same...

and in the basement the teosinte continues...so does the spud...it was sleeping so i did not disturb it with the cmaera...more as it comes up.

winter wheat, an indoor season, and a bureaucratic note

it is cold in my back yard...then again it is cold in most everyone's back yard in most of the country so don't get the idea i am complaining...

the winter wheat finally has some snow cover...but not enough to cover everyone...i am uncertain about spring outcomes...we will simply have to wait...

it is christmas eve...something like four degrees or so ( fahrenhait ) and there is still a touch of green in the asparagus ( yes it has mostly died back...but not all )...just saying bureaucrats...

downstairs where it is about sixty degrees warmer there are four tesointe plants coming along well...time to transplant to larger homes soon...

the michigan blue down there is tall and leafy...productive is another issue...another "wait and see"...a lot of this is wait and see...that's how it is today...more as it comes up

a bit of zea morphology

teosinte in my basement yesterday...

heirloom maize in a community garden bed this past june

quiet planting

it has been raining here lately...

which should tell you that the temperatures have been mostly above freezing...at least in daylight...there have been evenings in the teens here already...

and since there has been cold with no sonow the wheat is, once again, looking less than happy out there...beyond that it is a quiet yard...

inside the teosinte seed from 2021 that i soaked is coming along...

to the point that this particular seed is ready to plant...

so perlite, compost, and worm castings into a peat pot...with distilled water making a rather muddy consistency...

and a seedling has a new home...

under the lights from last winter's berry colony ( they came in a year and a week ago...there are no berries out there trying to bloom at the moment )...for now...if this succeds there will be a bigger home and taller lights...

the michigan blue spud has more than topped the bucket it lives in and there are more leaves on the way...

the rest of the seed potatoes from last season's harvest are still resting quietly...we will see for how long...

and, in a final note to the bureaucrats, yes the asparagus is dying back...and yes there is still ample green as well.

success/failure/i'll go on

the michigan blue spud i planted in the basement eighteen days ago has cleared the top of the five gallon bucket that is its winter home...

and is coming into leaf nicely...we will see what we get by way of production somewhere along february...

the teosinte seeds i soaked twenty-three days ago failed entirely...perhaps it is too soon after harvest...or, perhaps, i just picked out seed that was not viable...so i pulled some seed from 2021 and soked it just to be sure i wasn't losing my touch and they have responded...

sprouts and one with a developing root...so there should be teosinte in the basement as well this winter...it has done well down there in the past...just don't hold out hope for ears ( i won't )...

outside things are fairly quiet...there is still some green in the teosinte ears...

however, when green ears freeze the seeds die and become skeletal in appearance...and they are not viable...

i looked around anyway nand did find some ears with what i believe are viable seeds...

probably the last gleanings of the season which gives me near a thousand seeds...

the winter wheat is not looking all that happy...again there has been winter cold before any snow cover to speak of and this is not ideal...one wearies of driving in snow...one wishes for snow for the wheat...a winter dilemma...

note to the bureaucrats: there is still green asparagus in my yard....

the serendipitous peanut ( left by one of the jays i am thinking...it was not knowingly planted ) died back with the hard freeze and i finally remembered to have a look...

i found and cleaned nine legumes in the roots...

they are now thoroughly dry and will be stowed away fro future planting...knowingly this time ( although there may be more volunteers next season if someone here continues to leave raw peanuts out for the jays )...next up...planting teosinte...probably within the next week.

event time

there wa still green in the campus asparagus thirty-two days ago...

when the bureaucrats insisted i hack it back...

just to be clear, thirty-two days later there is sitll green asparagus in my back yard...bureaucrats will never understand event time...they are by the clock...by the book.

unseasonably cold

today's high temperature is forecast to be thirty-five degrees ( fahrenheit ) which is a might chilly for mid-november here...and lows are forecast to be in the single digits over the weekend...that has not deterred this michigan blue from screaming it is time to be planted...so...

i found a five gallon bucket with the requisite drainage holes...

tossed in some perlite...

and mixed it in with the compost i added to keep the soil loose for young roots...

and gave the spud a home in what resembles an alien landscape with alien included...then i went outside...

to have a look at the teosinte and search for some seed...

i found a few that may be viable to add to the harvest, however i am afraid anything out there that is still green will not be maturing...that harvest is, i believe, ended...we will look some more when the weather moderates next week...i am not especially sanguine though.